videodrome

this weekend, me and the missus watched almost the complete seasons of ALIAS and 24 that we'd taped because we couldn't watch them earlier. it was great. i think you get more forgiving of shows like that when you watch them as complete seasons instead of parceled out in hour installments.

24 has the upper hand, however, because you get closure on a complete storyline at the end of each season. ALIAS is forced to keep you just short of closure, just short of victory, just short of vanquishing the BAD GUY -- or else the whole show's over.

i know ALIAS has two more seasons signed up, but i just hope they end the series with some closure. most dramatic american tv shows -- some of the best ever -- have had a lot of difficulty with endings.


i'm reading a book called RATS right now, it's pretty brilliant. It's about the history of rats in New York City, and elsewhere. The author, Robert Sullivan, does a great job of weaving a narrative and not weighing it down with numbers and statistics. I'm only about 50 pages into it but it's terrific.