Television gets a bad wrap. Just because there are stupid publications doesn’t make people say “books suck.” And just because we have the Boston Phoenix doesn’t mean people say “newspapers suck.” And just because we have Rush Limbaugh doesn’t mean that “radio sucks.” The medium and the message – argue all you want about how they are tailored together, or at least theoretically should be, but one message doesn’t poison an entire medium.

I watch television a bit. Or perhaps more then a bit, but certainly less then the “average” American, and I am not ashamed of my watching habits. I watch shows that I consider to be either meaningful, distracting, or both meaningful and distracting. I like shows that are epic, as opposed to episodic. I like larger-then-life tales that span multiple shows, where plot is intricately and delicately developed over time and mysteries are revealed. Where you care about the characters, where multiple motivations are and ethics are represented and explored and understood.

I don’t watch sitcoms, I don’t watch adventure. I watch social satire, I watch drama, and I watch epic adventures. Things that have a point, morals, meaningful stories, or at least a lot of humor. Yeah, so, television gets a bad wrap. There is good and bad television, just like every other medium. Just because of some of the incredibly terrible storylines, characters, blatant product placement, and whatnot, that doesn’t mean the entire medium is evil. Okay, and that sentence was really…bad.

I write this because I’ve been catching up on Farscape on SciFi and the character of Zahn just died. So she is a tall blue alien plant thing from a distant galaxy. So what? I feel the loss, and that makes it good TV.

Oh, and Farscape Rocks!