"The domestication of the dog continued unabated"

Given that the blogosphere is, essentially, promoting what one likes (and, by implication, demonstrating to the rest of the world how one is cool, and to a lesser extent, why one should be admired), I will take this opportunity to jump on the bandwagon to laud two television shows that don't need my assistance in getting people to watch them. Specifically, I will mention two shows that created a series of "webisodes" (brief episodes of original material available only on the web) to keep us entertained through the 'net until the fall season kicks into high gear.

First is the American version of "The Office", where all ten webisodes are available. Sure, the show just won an Emmy for best comedy (how did "Two and a Half Men" lose again?), so I'm figuring you've heard of it, and either have chosen to watch it or you haven't.

Second is perhaps the least geeky science fiction show ever (but I'm not enough of a geek to offer a sufficient analysis of the entire genre), the new "Battlestar Galactica" (not to be confused with its predecessor from decades ago, which was amongst the cheesiest sci-fi programs--not that I didn't love it at the time), where its webisodes started last week and will continue throughout September (with new ones on Tuesdays and Thursdays).


Okay, really, this is just here to remind me to watch these webisodes. (Some people use post-it notes; I use something with hyperlinks.) Also, I feel compelled I don't delude myself with the belief that liking these shows makes me cool.

There's plenty of other things I employ occasionally to delude myself into believing I'm cool, but not the fact that I enjoy well-done expressions of others' creativity. That's just having the good sense to appreciate what's good.

It's nice to see the World Wide Web being used for something other than, as Homer Simpson once noted, telling us what some geek thinks about "Star Trek".

Speaking of Homer, if you haven't heard "The Simpsons" season premiere airs tomorrow (and bravo to Fox for not making us wait until November again), you're probably not all that interested in seeing it. (The series was actually pretty good last season, so I'm reasonably enthusiastic about this one.) And as it turns out, there is a preview that can be seen on their website--not quite a webisode, but a third of the episode, so not bad.