In a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, a critic discussed how television has improved. He noted the higher quality of television and I have to agree. It could be the case that I'm getting incredibly dull in my old age or that I can't afford a babysitter each time that a new movies comes out, but television has become very attractive lately. I don't remember having so many shows competing for my attention. Just a decade ago, I was lucky to have The X-Files, NYPD Blue or Star Trek Next Generation. Now I find that I have to wait until my TV card has some free space before I can audition the newbies. Fortunately, NetFlix exists so that I can audition those newbies off season.

My own pilot season begins in May when repeats and reality shows rule the channels. Recently, I've been pleased to find that all the good things I've heard about Battlestar Galactica and Rescue Me are true. Though both emerge from very different genres, but they share a visual style and narrative interests that I'm happy to see are very hip today. The smart, funny and sexy characters exist in worlds so bleak that even the slightest trace of hope shines brightly. In BG, the creation of human beings rebel against their makers in the name of that which created human beings. A small number of human beings have survived and spend their days fleeing the Cylons hoping against hope that an old myth about Earth is true. Rescue Me's depiction of post-911 NYC may not be quite as bleak, but the Denis Leary makes up for the difference as a painfully funny anti-hero.