It's Back. Do I care?

HBO returned to the business of giving us our Sopranos fix tonight. I'm not sure I care, and I hope the people at LOST and Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who and Weeds (to name a few) are watching.

To my recollection it has been about 74 years since the last new episode of The Sopranos ran. In the interim we've had reruns on HBO: "Go fuck yourself!" and older reruns on A&E: "Go freak yourself!" Leaving the issue of the verbal mosiacing for another day I have to wonder if HBO gave us too long. I didn't get any kind of addict's rush when the theme came on in 5-channel surround tonight. When I was watching I didn't really think I cared what would happen, or more accurately how I have really not liked pretty much any plotline involving Janis or AJ - that made tonight somewhat less inspiring.

Mostly I was thinking how much I wanted to know what was going to happen with Vince and Ari, and how I was going to have to slog though an hour of Sopranos to get to Entourage (that and how thankful I was that there would be no more Dane Cook Tourgasm to dodge).

I know that the production paradigm that begun with The Sopranos (or maybe really NYPD Blue) was supposed to be something good for television. That excellent writing and complex, well crafted television is a good thing, and that giving people flexibility in their delivery schedules lets show go longer, hold on to better people, and gives them more creative freedom. I'm just not sure I care. As shows go later and later into the fall before premiering for a season, go to reruns earlier and earlier, and end earlier in the spring I have to wonder if maybe the harder delivery schedule was such a bad thing.

Or, perhaps watching TV on TV is what is over. I have friends that watch 24 that have never once watched it when it is on. They rent the DVD from Netflix and watch the whole series over three days. Maybe DVD and on demand video combined with strange production schedules will be the end of this whole discussion and ten years from now my own kids will wonder what I am talking about when I mention CBS's Sunday night lineup or NBC's must see TV - or watching Doctor Who with the lights off, an ear piece in, and my finger on the power switch late after my bedtime so I wouldn't miss it.

What I do know for certain is that coming back after a long hiatus with a Janice & Bobby story was weak. I certainly hope the people over at SciFi don't have a Geata story planned for their '08 premiere - Starbuck's back, Tigh is a Cylon, "hey lets do a Geata story!"

They can all go frack themselves.