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Things I watched last week:

1) Threshold. Still enjoying it. Still think Carla and Brent are great. Still not sure whether there will be one too many X-Files ripoffs and it will all get too silly.

2) Desperate Housewives. It's like a train wreck: I can't look away, even though I don't like any of the characters. I am not usually someone who watches something because I love to hate it; even with Dallas in my youth, for instance, I rooted for Sue Ellen. On DH I just wait to see what terrible things the writers are going to do to the characters next and I can't figure out what the appeal is, but I watch anyway.

3) Rome. Every week it gets more violent and in some ways just plain nastier, and yet I can't look away from this one either (full frontally naked James Purefoy an episode ago didn't hurt any). Octavian, Vorenus and Niobe are the only characters I really respect, yet they're all rather entertaining to watch even when they're doing terrible things.

4) Commander in Chief. I love Geena Davis, and I love political shows (my father mistakenly told me The West Wing season premiere was next week instead of last Sunday - waah!) So despite some real silliness in the pilot script, there was no way I wasn't going to love with Geena Davis as the first female president of the United States. The real test for this show will be whether it tackles political issues as well as The West Wing has without everything being reduced to, "Oh my god, she's a woman!"

5) Boston Legal. I am not a regular viewer despite The Shatner, but it was easy enough to leave the TV on and be entertained. I don't love this show but I always enjoy it when I end up watching.

6) Veronica Mars. She ended up with the guy I hoped she would and the guy I never liked is justifying my hatred, yet somehow it all seems a little too teenagey right now. Last year the all-season mystery really made the show compelling. This season's starter just didn't have the same horror factor even though more people died. And adding Charisma Carpenter to any cast is not a plus in my book.

7) Smallville. It's not great, yet there's never been a moment where I could say "THAT's when it jumped the shark," so I keep hoping it will become great. Too much Lana and not enough Lex or Lionel in the season opener didn't endear me to this season; they should keep the stronger actors front and center and keep the eye candy out of the way. With Chloe and Lois around, I can't figure out what Clark sees in Lana anyway. And I'm tired of Martha and Jonathan taking turns in the hospital.

8) Star Trek. I must confess that of everything I watched last week, "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" was the most entertaining. Maybe comparisons between the old and the new are unfair, but it's true.

I have never watched more than three shows at a time unless I was getting paid to review some of them, so you can bet several of these won't be regular viewing. I wonder which will.

Trek BBS Today

Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-Should Voyager have been more like Battlestar Galactica?

-How come some Strange New Worlds winners go on to write more Star Trek while others don't?

-Any shows on the air everyone else seems to be watching that you can't stand?

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Trek Two Years Ago

These were some of the major news items from October 2003:

• 'Odyssey 5' Creator Pens 'Enterprise' Episode
  Manny Coto, creator of Showtime's Odyssey 5, penned Enterprise's "Similitude", which Scott Bakula (Archer) described as "one of our best scripts in three years" and a "great episode for Connor [Trinneer]".

• Blalock Unsure About Trip/T'Pol
  Jolene Blalock (T'Pol) said that she was uncertain about the possibilities for a more permanent relationship between her character and Trinneer's.

  They write it, I do it. I don't see it, personally...T'Pol's a Vulcan — how could she have a relationship? And he's so emotional. My goodness, he's like a nut case. So how are this nut case and this person who has her stuff together going to find common ground? Maybe that's the basis. We'll find out, because I'm not sure how that's going to evolve.

• Superman Flies Over 'Rajiin'
  Despite a storyline about a sex slave, Enterprise's overnight ratings dropped sharply when faced with direct competition from Smallville, which out-performed last-place Enterprise by 67 percent.

More news can be found in the archives.

Poll Results

Below are the results of the most recent TrekToday poll:

How will you celebrate Star Trek's 40th anniversary next year? What's the point in celebrating with no Trek on the air? 41.2% - (424 Votes) Collect the inevitable magazines and books celebrating the event and hope Paramount does a TV special. 16.7% - (172 Votes) Watch the original series on DVD. 12% - (124 Votes) 40? Eek! Maybe it's time I started watching another show! 11.3% - (117 Votes) Go to a big convention with celebrity guests. 10.4% - (107 Votes) Have a party with a bunch of Trekker friends. 5.5% - (57 Votes) Go to a small, more local gathering to hang out with fellow fans. 2.5% - (26 Votes) Total Votes: 1027

Please vote in our new poll on the new fall genre TV offerings!

Happy Birthday!

Tomorrow, Saturday, October 1st, is the birthday of Stephen Collins, who played Captain Decker in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Sunday, October 2nd is the birthday of the actress who played his character's love interest from that film, the late Persis Khambatta (Lieutenant Ilia). Sunday is also the birthday of Avery Brooks, who played Captain Benjamin Sisko on Deep Space Nine.

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