CBS

Number of Shows: 1
Effort: C
Conduct: F
Grade: D+
Comments: CBS had a winner in Now and Again and they dropped the ball. The promotion for the series -- outside of an occasional spot during other, non-genre shows -- was non-existent. The time slot chosen for this show was a virtual graveyard, yet the ratings were strong for a Friday night and consistently came in above its lead in show. Then, in a move that reeks of startling idiocy, CBS renewed a show -- yet another one set in a hospital no less -- that had a better time slot but lower ratings, leaving Now and Again fans twisting in the wind.

Show: Now and Again
Summary: Michael Wiseman, a middle aged insurance executive, is thought killed in a subway accident, but his brain is harvested by a secret government project and put into the perfectly engineered body. While Dr. Theodore Morris trains him to be Superman, all this Clark Kent wants is his old life back.
Cliffhanger: When his wife Lisa begins to put the pieces together, Michael suspects that Theo will go through with his threat to kill her and escapes, spiriting his family away only moments before the government agents and an enraged Dr. Morris arrive.
Standout Episodes: "Origins" (the amazing pilot), "There Are No Words" (a love letter to the written word), and "The Eggman Cometh" (both Michael and the Eggman escape).
Status: R.I.P.
S.O.S. Efforts: Save Now and Again, Save Now and Again Campaign

FOX

Number of Shows: 2
Effort: C+
Conduct: C-
Grade: C
Comments: Longtime genre killer Fox (Space: Above and Beyond, Millennium) finally chose a worthy victim in Harsh Realm, the putrid Chris Carter series which lasted three whole episodes. The lawsuit-inducing VR hour -- Harsh Realm creators James Hudnall and Andrew Paquette sued after their names failed to appear in the opening credits -- now airs on FX. Harsh Realm was one of many short-lived Fox series this year, and so it's hard to blame the network for their desperate The X-Files eighth season renewal. However, blame them all you want for their continued assault on their internet fan base, most notably Buffy and Angel sites, and for not picking up the excellent Morgan and Wong series The Wonder Cabinet last fall. The only thing keeping this network's score afloat is next season's genre onslaught, most notably Dark Angel and Fearsum. The shows may suck for all we know, but ya gotta give credit for trying.

Show: Harsh Realm
Summary: Lt. Thomas Hobbes is recruited by the military into a virtual reality simulator called Harsh Realm. Hobbes hooks up with rebel Mike Pinnochio to fight Omar Santiago, the evil bastard who has hijacked the whole system. Along the way, he encounters Matrix-esque FX and attempts to reunite with his doormat wife, Sophie.
Cliffhanger: Well, it didn't really get that far along...
Standout Episodes: The pilot. Fairly snazzy-looking, as 1013 product tends to be, it proved tedious and inane in a way decidedly un-virtual.
Status: Lingering in a coma on FX.
S.O.S. Efforts: Save Harsh Realm

Show: The X-Files
Summary: FBI agents Mulder and Scully search for The Truth... when they're not distracted by incoherent storylines, insipid cases, bogus guest stars, or disappearing supporting cast members.
Cliffhanger: Will Duchovny stay? Will he do a full season? Is the show coming back? What's up with that Lone Gunman thing? Wow, how many people are suing Chris Carter? As always, the real cliffhangers were behind the scenes -- we're blocking that whole Mulder abduction/Scully pregnant scenario out.
Standout Episodes: "X-Cops" (Vince Gilligan writes the best episode of the season), "Hollywood A.D." (Duchovny proves again there's a mind between that Speedo-clad bod), "Millennium" (too little, too late, and too lame), "Sein und Zeit"/"Closure" (possibly the worst two-parter ever), and "Requiem" (Nick Lea takes a shower).
Status: Alive and well -- in body, if not spirit.

NBC

Number of Shows: 2
Effort: C-
Conduct: D
Grade: C-
Comments: NBC's Saturday Night Thrillogy was created to cater to genre fans who actually knew how to set their VCRs before they went out on the weekends. Since its inception, the third show has floundered (Dark Skies, Sleepwalkers) leaving The Pretender and Profiler to carry on as a Twillogy (sorry, had to write that). While pulling a show after only two episodes is pretty bad, at least they were aired in order. Although this year's The Others did manage to have 12 out of 13 episodes, most of them were done so woefully out of order, completely negating any attempts at having understandable character arcs. And despite the veritable media blitz the network gave the show before it premiered, afterwards there was nary a sign that it was still on.

Show: The Others
Summary: College student Marian Kitt begins to have nightmarish visions of a young woman who died in her dorm room the year before. She is approached by a group known as The Bow Street Others, under the leadership of the wise Elmer Greentree, who act as a support group for those with supernatural abilities. Although Marian does not think that she want this gift of being able to communicate with spirits who have passed on, it seems that her destiny has been chosen.
Cliffhanger: Everybody's dead! Just kidding. But most are in danger of becoming spirits themselves.
Standout Episodes: "1112" (a wife grieves for her husband), "The Ones That Lie In Wait" (a Rabisu demon stalks the group), "$4.95 a Minute" (a loser clown offends an unsettled spirit), and "Life Is For The Living" (the Rabisu demon strikes)
Status: R.I.P.
S.O.S. Efforts: Save The Others

Show: The Pretender
Summary: Jarod is a genius with a gift for being able to become whatever he wants. He is a pretender. Having been stolen from his parents and heartlessly used for years by The Centre, their pretender finally escapes. While helping the weak and abused, Jarod leads Miss Parker, who is dedicated to capturing him, on a merry chase that often uncovers more and more clues as to the secrets of The Centre and the death of her mother.
Cliffhanger: As Jarod and Miss Parker, try to save their shared half-brother, themselves, and a hotel full of diplomats who were the intended targets of a bomb, both predatory and prey (as well as their baby brother) are caught in the inferno that follows the explosion.
Standout Episodes: From Season Four: "Survival" (Jarod in cammies), "Risqué Business" (Jarod as a sex therapist), and "Cold Dick" (Las Vegas and Wayne Newton. `nough said.)
Status: On life support. TNT will air the first four seasons starting in the fall and is considering new episodes.
S.O.S. Efforts: Operation Save The Pretender

ABC

Number of Shows: 0
Effort: F-
Conduct: F-
Grade: F-
Comments: The squirrels over at ABC didn't even try this year. Bastards. And they dropped David Lynch's Mulholland Drive before the season even began. Squirrel bastards.

The Sci Fi Channel

Number of Shows: 4 (original)
Effort: B
Conduct: B
Grade: B+
Comments: Grading this network is difficult as they schedule their shows a little differently. While the other networks have finished their run for "the year", SFC's original programming is currently only in midseason. That said... Although it earns major points for the intriguing and intelligent Farscape, its bone-headed decision to not air the original second season premiere -- leading to more than a few continuity blips -- and its promotion and airing of the idiotic and continually offensive Lexx keep SFC form earning top honors.

Show: Farscape
Summary: IASA scientist, astronaut, and all around hottie, John Crichton, Jr. is sucked though a wormhole and ends up far, far from home. He travels with a band of independent former prisoners who are fleeing from a mad, military commander. Last year it was Crais, and this year it's Scorpius.
Cliffhanger: The first season ended with Crichton and D'Argo floating out in space, hoping that eventually Aeryn would escape the notice of the Peacekeepers patrolling the area and could pick them up. In the meantime however, John convinced Moya to starburst out of the area so that she and the rest of the crew would not be captured by the determined Scorpius.
Standout Episodes: "Crackers Don't Matter" (the crew succumbs to paranoia) and "The Way We Weren't" (checkered pasts are brought to light).
Status: Vital signs are strong and getting stronger with every episode.

Show: First Wave
Summary: Cade Foster, reformed thief, is selected to take part in a secret alien experiment that determines the level of threat humans pose to a planned invasion. Despite having everything taken away from him by the Gua, Foster survives and thrives, discovering that he is "the twice blessed man", the savior of humankind as predicted by Nostradamus in a book that had been thought lost. Using Nostradamus' predictions, Cade, with the help of web geek and paranoid freak, Crazy Eddie, uncovers other alien experiments and gathers allies among humans and Gua alike, for the coming war.
Cliffhanger: The timeline was changed so that Foster might evade death at the hands of the Gua and continue his quest to prevent the coming invasion.
Standout Episodes: "Susperience" (Cade makes allies among a group of psychics), "Prayer For The White Man" (guest star Graham Greene helps defeat a plan to strip a Native American tribe of its spiritual center), and "The Purge" (the alien resistance).
Status: Vitals signs are stable.

Show: good vs evil
Summary: "The Lord kicks ass in mysterious ways." Journalist Chandler Smythe dies and is given a second chance at redemption by being partnered with Henry McNeil, a member of an organization whose duty it is to fight the minions of Beelzebub (Morlocks) and try to convince those whose souls are in peril (Faustians) to renounce their Satanic pacts.
Cliffhanger: A tale of desperate authors, greedy agents, and the imminent destruction of the greatest book ever written, leads to Chandler being trapped in a van that is precariously balanced on the edge of a cliff. It is up to MacNeil to save the day and his partner's ass.
Standout Episodes: "Renunciation" (Lt. Uhura is MacNeil's mom!) and "Airplane" (Okay, so this is from season one, but Richard Brook's sings his own composition, "Candy Thighs", during the credits).
Status: There will be no third season, but both The Sci Fi Channel and Canada's Space: The Imagination are scheduled to continue running episodes.
S.O.S. Effort: Show Support For GvsE, Save GvsE, Save GvsE

Show: Lexx
Summary: Three boring, brainless, stereotypical characters on a big, ugly ship go in search of incredibly stupid adventures.
Cliffhanger: Who knows? Who cares?
Standout Episodes: All of them. They all stand out as being godawful.
Status: No matter how much money we offer the nurses, they still refuse to accidentally overmedicate.

The WB

Number of Shows: 3
Effort: B+
Conduct: C+
Grade: B
Comments: The WB is a hard network to judge, because when they excel, they really excel, and when they air crap... well, sometimes we want to poke our own eyes out. The Warner fare seems to be almost exclusively teen shows, not necessarily genre, from Buffy and Roswell to Popular, Felicity and Charmed. Many of the WB's shows are shockingly bad but for some reason actually popular among their target audience, which is evidence of how successful the WB's tactics are: they actually promote and support their shows, for the most part. However, some things -- like Roswell -- just can't be forgiven.

Show: Angel
Summary: Leaving Sunnydale behind, Angel (David Boreanaz) sets up shop in Los Angeles, going into the soul-saving business. The Buffy spin-off also features familiar Sunnydale residents Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) and Wesley (Alexis Denisof), and regulars new and old like Kate, Gunn, and Nabbit. Dearly departed is Doyle (Glenn Quinn), victim of a freak Christmas light accident.
Cliffhanger: The big cliffhanger of the season is the return of Darla, which, rather than inspiring nail-biting tension, may simply cause nausea. We don't know why she's back -- or why she can be brought back from the dead but we still have no Doyle -- but the purpose is guaranteed sinister and the acting from Julie Benz guaranteed bad.
Standout Episodes: "City Of" (a premiere with great tone), "Rm w/a Vu" (Doyle helps Cordelia find a new pad), "She" (so bad I'm trying to repress it), "Sanctuary" (Faith shakes things up in LA), and "To Shanshu In LA" (though lacking in the dialogue department, still a solid entry).
Status: Landed early renewal from the WB; with this pedigree and creative team, don't expect Angel to go away anytime soon.

Show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Summary: Buffy Summers, vampire slayer, fights evil on the Hellmouth while trying to maintain a social life. Breaking the slayer mold, Buffy's assisted by her friends: Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), Xander (Nicholas Brendon), and Willow (Alyson Hannigan); rounding out the crew over the years have been beauty queens, vampires, werewolves, witches, and one ex-demon.
Cliffhanger: "What the hell will Joss do next?!" is a good enough cliffhanger for us. This season ended with a smash-bangin' showdown episode, followed by a more sedate, but definitely strange, one-hour dream sequence.
Standout Episodes: "Hush" (The Gentlemen scared us speechless) and "Restless" (how cheese figures into the nocturnal adventures of the Scooby Gang).
Status: Four seasons under the belt and still going strong; the show's still frighteningly popular, especially among teens. It was given early renewal at the same time as Angel and isn't going anywhere but up.

Show: Roswell
Summary: An overspill of Quaaludes into the water supply of Roswell, New Mexico causes the town's teenage residents to talk, like, really, like, slow and stuff. Oh yeah, and some of them are aliens, and they're full of pent-up angst and sexual tension. In other words: 9021UFO.
Cliffhanger: Will Michael and Maria hook up? Will Liz and Max hook up? Will I be able to stay awake long enough for that to happen?
Standout Episodes: "Heatwave" (Roswell Place), "The Convention" (Jonathan Frakes proves that he has no shame), and "Blind Date" (even a drunken Max is a boring Max).
Status: Alive and well, thanks to saving grace 7th Heaven and a Tabasco onslaught from the fans.