On the question, "Why *can't* they all be this good?" there is a very
simple answer: it's not for lack of trying. It's been said before of
television that it's a collaborative medium. Collaboration brings with it a
random factor. The script may be good, but if the director doesn't *get* it,
if the actor's having a bad day, if the continuity person lets a mis-stated
line get through, if the CGI doesn't quite cut together right...you begin to
chip away at the quality. This happens on every single television series ever
produced.

A while ago, in cat 18, someone observed correctly that a bad episode can
happen on any series through accident; but it's impossible to produce a *good*
episode by accident. (Or at least highly improbable.) And never a great one.
The job of a producer in my position is to pull the best possible elements
together, in the hope that the attrition that takes place in the course of
production doesn't diminish the whole too much.

Thus, the good episodes are overall far more emblematic of what a series
is capable of doing than are the weaker ones. If your best ones are so-so,
you've got a problem. If your best ones are *good*, then you're doing okay.
On any series, if you're *lucky*, you get one-third pretty awful, one-third
good, one-third very good. So far, in looking at all the episodes filmed so
far, I'd say half of them are *very* good, one-fourth of them are good, and
one-fourth are fair to middlin'. That is 'WAY ahead of the odds on any show.
Particularly in a first season.

(And even then, bear in mind that much of this is subjective. I'm not
that keen on a few of them, but some folks considered "War Prayer," for
instance, their favorite episode. Even at our worst, I think there is
something in every episode that will appeal strongly to someone. Which is why
I'm a bit leery of the original question; to some people, they ARE all "that
good." Tastes vary. We try very hard to make sure there is something of real
value in each episode.)

We really began this process not quite sure how far we could go, what our
limits were, how far we could push it. So we started off kind of tentative,
getting more aggressive as we went in, in terms of story and music and EFX and
all the rest. So you will continue to see an escalation in the episodes over
time. It's like anything else; as we learn more, and do more, we get better
at it. Yes, this series has been planned out for seven years...but it's like
planning a date. You can plan to your heart's content for days or weeks or
months or years, but INVARIABLY some things don't work out when you actually
go out on that date. So you learn, and adjust, now that you've encountered
reality. (As one general once observed, no battle plan every survived contact
with the enemy.)

We've worked hard to make this a good show. And it is a good show. We
occasionally hit speed bumps, but they're more the exception than the rule.
To say "Why can't they ALL be this good?" is like saying to a painter or a
composer, "Why can't your work ALL be on the same level?" There is always a
learning curve, always some works that are better than others. It's not like
turning out widgets in a factory where you can guarantee certain parameters in
production. To expect any art form to be consistent misses the point. We
could aim lower to avoid falling into the occasional valleys, but I'd rather
aim high, and occasionally fall on my face, if it means hitting some peaks
that would otherwise be unattainable. That's what taking chances means. And
I think that's one thing that people find appealing about this show: we're not
resting on our laurels, or aiming for the safe, lowest-common-denominator;
we're willing to take chances. We're right out there on the high-wire without
a net...no guarantees, no franchises, no built-in fan audience that will watch
us regardless of what we turn out.

And shows like "Mind War," and "Sky," and "By Any Means Necessary," and
"Chrysalis" and "A Voice in the Wilderness" and "Babylon Squared" and other
kickass episodes are the consequence. I think that in our first season, we've
turned out more really nifty episodes than some series do in their entire run.
Sidney Lumet once observed about his films that if you get just *one* really
golden moment on film, it's a success. If we transplant that to television,
if in one season you get even *one* truly spiffy episode, it's a success.

And we've got a hell of a lot more than one.

jms