Firefly

I'm not in love with Joss Whedon. I didn't really follow Buffy or Angel. He writes quirky dialogue. Quirky is good.

So I finally got around to pulling down the Firefly 4-disk set from Netflix. I won't go into the maddening history of Firefly's amateur-hour cancellation. It's a show that should not have been cancelled.

I hereby declare that I greatly enjoyed this series. And I'll tell you why.

I can recommend this show without being embarrassed. I've always felt a stigma with "sci-fi" films or TV series. With the majority of these, there have always been elements which I simply felt the casual viewer would be immediately alienated. This is especially true of sci-fi television. Shooting straight from the hip, for the guy on the street, sci-fi is boring. The costumes are generally lame, the characters are unlikeable, and the stories are unintelligible. There was always the fear after recommending a show/movie/anime/comic that the question would come back, "You really like this stuff?"
Normal-guy-on-the-street wants good looking people, shooting each other, with funny dialogue interspersed. It is this market that has made Bruckheimer a powerhouse. This is a huge market that sci-fi as an industry should be exploiting.
Firefly offers this, but adds decent, grown-up storytelling to the recipe. Instead of themes that can be summarized in one sentence (i. e. Stealing is bad), this show offers shades of grey. The character's decisions are morally questionable (oh, crap, just like in real life). People kill each other. Sometimes in fair fights, but usually not. Sexuality is an often revisited topic. Sometimes it's a punchline, but usually it's not.

I guess what I'm saying is that Firefly has mainstream appeal, but it's more sensible than typical popular television. It avoids stereotypes, doesn't offer clear answers, and if there were any fart jokes, I missed them. It's a show for adults.

Go rent this or buy it. Then recommend it to others. You won't be embarrassed.