Even as a fan, I'd suggest you might be disappointed by it. Some of the love it gets it because of what it did, when it did it. Back then, a serialized drama, with a pre-announced end-date, with things that happened in season 1 actually mattering in season 3, and 4, was unheard of. Well, in America at least. I remember watching shows like Blake's 7 precisely because the Brits weren't afraid of serialized dramas that shook things up.

When re-watching season 1 on DVD, I was shocked at how much it didn't live up to what I remembered. Seasons 2 - 4 are the best, with a finale that involves the fate of the universe, and plot threads that were being foreshadowed back at the beginning. Threats of cancellation forced the creator, JMS, to shove most of the juicy climatic stuff in to Season 4, so when the fifth season was ordered, it shows that the remaining plot threads dangled had to be stretched out to make something of substance.

So it hasn't aged as well as one might hope, but when it was humming along its had some good bits in there. The arcs of G'Kar and Londo are just amazing in character scope. Londo in particular.

I never got in to B5...but I only tried watching it during season one, and quickly tired of it. Maybe I'd actually enjoy the later stuff.

Or maybe I'd just continue hating it, and become even more confused about the love so many others seem to have for the show.

Yah, Babylon 5's first season is almost a non-event compared to the rest of the show, really topping out at the fourth season. When I first got the DVDs, I hadn't watched them since first broadcast (and had missed some huge chunks) and never saw them syndicated, so it was a big surprise reacquainting myself with it all.

There are a few other shows that are "better than TV". For a random recommendation I'd suggest that you and Nick might both like "Avatar The Last Airbender". Well, I'll bet that you would seriously dig that show (it's a cartoon), but I guess I don't know Nick's tastes well enough to say.

I haven't watched commercials for a long time. It's PVRd shows where I skip commercials religiously, or Torrent downloads, or DVDs.

I finished season 1 and started season 2 of B5. Holy crap. It gets intense fast. I forgot how different Sheridan is. I still like Sinclair better.

AND I can watch it on my own time. No waiting through commercials or hoping they haven't changed the time again. Or canceled it, for god's sake.

Babylon 5 is better than TV. Babylon 5 kicks TV's ass.

This from the fellow who currently has borrowed every single Babylon 5 DVD I own ;P

TV is the new books, man. Surrender to the warm comforting glow of non-interactive media.

This whole stupid piece of crap writer's strike just reminds me how irrelevant television has become in my life. Internet is all@