“All Alone in the Night”
Almost exactly twenty years ago Babylon 5’s pilot episode, “The Gathering,” premiered, and I … had no idea. Seriously. I distinctly remember when Babylon 5 premiered on my local channel (KBHK Channel 44 as I recall), and when it did I was flopped on my bed in my apartment in Sunnyvale. I’d been looking forward to it for at least a week thanks to the commercials that aired during Simpsons reruns.
There’s only one problem. I moved into that apartment after the World Series that year, most likely around the beginning of November. So forgive my moment of surreal confusion after reading a recent io9 article.
Anyway, I was ready to love that show. I didn’t care for Star Trek: the Next Generation and badly wanted a science fiction television show to follow. But when the ending credits rolled for Babylon 5 I thought, “enh.” The ambassadors were pretty good and the telepath was cute, but the commander was wooden and the executive officer was worse. Not a good sign, since I presumed that the commander was the main character.
Boy did I miss out. My friends Ben and Turner periodically talked up the show until I considered giving it another chance, but then I would forget and not bother.
This went on for three years.
It wasn’t until 1998, when I was unemployed and living in Beaverton, that I really got into the show. Ben had convinced me that after the commander was replaced in season two the show really hit its stride. I still might not have bothered if not for TNT: they aired episodes of the first four seasons five days a week to promote the fact that they were showing the fifth and final season.
Once I had the chance to watch Babylon 5 develop, I appreciated its brilliance: the depth of its plots, the arcs of its characters – a more thorough and complete story than I had ever before seen on television. It’s one of my favorite shows of all time. And I almost missed it because I dismissed it after the pilot.
I got lucky. I caught up in time to watch “Sleeping in Light” when it aired for the first time.
What about you? Did you ever almost miss out on a favorite show because you gave up on it too soon?
