A TV community

In about an hour, a website is going to post reviews of two episodes of a television series that has been off the air for nearly fifteen years. I cannot wait. I have been looking forward to this for weeks.

That website is the Onion’s A.V. Club and the reviews are for the last two episodes of the fifth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. What the what, you say?

I have been involved in a few communities during my years with Internet access. I first joined Compuserve in the late 1980’s in order to support a friend who was in an argument (with the author!) over a really bad Star Trek novel. After Compuserve I joined GEnie before it died where I was involved in discussion groups on Star Trek TNG, DS9, Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Babylon 5 as they aired. It was a technologically primitive, but glorious, time. Since then, I haven’t been a part of a regular discussion of TV, even as I continue to watch and love many shows.

Which brings me to the A.V. Club. I only discovered it within the last year, I don’t really remember how. But what they do there is review TV shows. New shows as they air, and, awesomely, older shows that the reviewer may or may not have seen during their original run. I’ve gone back and read the reviews of every episode of Firefly and Police Squad! I’ve read the reviews of Pushing Daisies, posted contemporaneously as the episodes aired and conveying the broad highs and lows as the show prospered and then was slowly killed by the writer’s strike. I’m currently reading weekly reviews of Babylon 5, now in the third season. I read reviews of Community, Futurama, SNL, Beavis and Butt-Head, The Walking Dead and Survivor after the shows air.

In addition to excellent and fun reviews, there are the comments. A.V. Club commenters are informed, intelligent and passionate about the shows they’re discussing. There are no flame wars and very little bad behavior. It’s a community of people who love television, talking about television. I don’t myself comment a whole lot, but I do on occasion and it’s always fun.

Which brings me to DS9.

Two Deep Space Nine reviews are posted every Thursday morning at 11AM EST by Zack Handlen. What makes them special for me is that Zack had never seen more than a couple of episodes of the show before he started watching and reviewing, so I’m getting to relive the show vicariously through him. It’s been great to see him grow in appreciation of this greatest of all Treks and it’s been thrilling to see him so excited about the twists and turns this series takes. This morning, he’s reviewing the final two episodes of the excellent fifth season, which ends on my single favorite image and episode ending in ALL of Trek. An ending better even than the end of Best of Both Worlds part 1. That’s why I’m so excited. I can’t wait to hear Zack’s reaction and be in the ensuing discussion.

If you’re interested in TV or catching up on an old show, head on over to the A.V. Club and check it out.