Blayne Sucks

There have been two truly excellent television shows that I have been lucky enough to catch while they were / are at their very best. The first was The West Wing, which is arguably the best television series of all time and certainly gets my vote as the best ever. The second is Battlestar Galactica, which will begin it’s fourth and final season in 2008. If you are interested, there’s an interesting preview up on YouTube.

For those who might not know about either series, I should provide some background. Battlestar Galactica has not won nearly as many awards as The West Wing and appeals to a smaller audience, but I think they both tackle societal issues in a provocative way. The writing in both shows is excellent.

After Aaron Sorkin, the creator and lead writer on The West Wing, left the show, the quality of the scripts dropped off and the show went from being the best around to canceled in a few short years. This was my only real complaint with The West Wing. It always sucks to see a TV show or athletic team you love slowly get run into the ground by contract or ego disputes.

Ronald D. Moore, the vision behind the re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica, will be able to see Battlestar Galactica from start to finish. Plus, Battlestar Galactica will only be four seasons long plus a few smaller spin-off stories such as the introductory miniseries and the Battlestar Galactica: Razor movie. All of this means that it will probably avoid the inevitable slump that The West Wing and all longer running shows have. Also, there’s only three seasons of shows to try and catch up on so that you can enjoy the last season as it airs in 2008.