I really enjoy your column; I ...
Question: I really enjoy your column; I read it every week! In light of recent episodes of
Battlestar Galactica and your
comment in your column about the practical impossibility of
Katee Sackhoff (or any other member of the
BSG cast in general) ever getting recognition for their work, I was wondering if you had any thoughts about the psychology of
why there is such a huge prejudice against sci-fi/fantasy/horror TV, even when it is often the best stuff on TV. (Other than
BSG, I'm thinking about
Buffy and
Angel, and, back in the day, the better
Star Trek franchises.) Personally, I've always been a little disturbed by what I see as an unnaturally strong aversion to good sci fi (aka not
Heroes — sorry, I tried, but it's just so ridiculously cheesy) on the part of many people. For instance, I know a family friend who became a fan of
Star Trek: TNG (not a "going-to-conventions-every-week" fan, just a regular viewer)
and whose wife subsequently forbid all sci-fi/fantasy TV shows and movies in the house because she felt, and I quote, "uncomfortable with entertainment that isn't 100 percent real." (Yeah, 'cause
Grey's Anatomy is just chock-full of realism!) While I don't think most people who vote for the Emmys feel exactly this way, I find their derision for sci-fi/fantasy TV to be extremely narrow-minded in a worrying way: They're like the "cool" kids in high school who pick on the "geeks" because they don't understand anything or anyone that's different, no matter how fun or smart they might be beneath the surface. That's how I feel, what do you think?
Answer: It is a paradox, isn't it? What would the entertainment industry be without its fantasy/sci-fi/horror franchises, on TV, at the movies, in literature, comics, etc? A lot poorer, for one thing. The fact that this sort of escapism is seen as a more juvenile or lesser pastime is nothing new, but it can wear you down. When I say, as I often do, that
The Twilight Zone is my favorite series ever, I'm not being a geek. I'm serious. What other enduring TV classic worked on so many levels: not just as suspense or fantasy, but as ironic and satiric allegory, as social commentary, as fable, told with a wit and humanism you rarely find in other TV of that era? The idea that someone would ban a certain type of TV show from their house, based entirely on genre, is ridiculously narrow-minded. For as many people who have an aversion to the fantasy genre, you can find people who hate sitcoms with laugh tracks, half-hour comedies in general, medical or legal dramas on principal, and so on. The good news about TV is that there truly is something for just about everyone, and while landing a hit in this particular genre isn't easy, it's not impossible, as
Lost and
BSG and (sorry)
Heroes have recently shown.
