Sitting down, there is nothing but hushed conversations. The crowd moves quickly, efficiently, almost reverently to their seats. Like a family going to Sunday worship, they gather and talk mundane things, looking towards the curtain, eager for it to part.

Then, the orchestra enters, and takes their seats, a melodious wave of musical tunes softly whispers to the audience: “Almost time.”

Flutes whistle through scales, violins tune, then pluck, then soar with majestic reverberations. The crowd slowly seat themselves, the hushed conversations grow quieter by the minute, as the orchestra finishes clearing its collective throat, and the conductor walks in.

The lights dim, the crowd is silent, so silent that you can hear shoes making noise on a carpet, the conductor raises his baton, the curtains open, a voice booms:

I do not fall for hype anymore, the last time I did was when I saw “Batman” in the theater and loved it.  (This is the Tim Burton 1989 “Batman”, not the Christopher Nolan excellence of “Batman Begins”) Then like a Chinese food meal, the stomach digested, and I was left hungry again in less than an hour. 

Once in a while, I fall for something popular, (“Lost”, “Buffy: The Vampire Slayer”) sometimes, I fall for something that no one cares a lick about (“Space: Above and Beyond”, “Firefly”), but all told, there’s a common thread between all these TV shows that I find fascination in.

I feel for “Space: Above and Beyond” because of quality characters, and writing that wasn’t seen on Television at the time. The type of show that didn’t take its audience for granted, that treated them like grown ups, who are paying attention, and understand what’s going on.

If you ever want to know disappointment, give yourself to a quality Television show, and then have it ripped away by some feckless thug in a corporate office wearing a suit I’ll never afford in this lifetime, who feels it’s his job to tell me what I want to watch.

TV became a wasteland, and while there were some high points, it was mostly low points. Even, what was the crème de le crème of Television; “The Sopranos” has gone downward, suffering the age old problem of the friend invited to dinner who stayed long past desert.

So when something clicks with me, I stick with it, till it clicks no more, until it gets so unbearable that the thought of watching gives my stomach terrible cramps, and sadness fills me over what once was great.

“Lost” comes to mind. Oh I will be there tomorrow night at 9pm to find out what’s happening on the Island, what’s up with Penelope and how did Locke, Ecko and Desmond survive the great white out, but if they don’t floor me by the opening credits, the clock of doom is ticking on “Lost” for me.

Yesterday, very very quietly, Xbox Live Marketplace updated the “Battlestar Galactica” folder with the teaser for Friday’s season premiere episode. Its maybe 2 minutes in length, and it shows me the inner feelings of each of the main characters, without a single one of them uttering a word.

To say I was floored is an understatement. How does a show with the simplest of premises manage to blow that out of the water on a weekly basis is beyond me. It was beautiful, poetic, and so full of energy, saying tons without saying a word. It was an orchestra tuning up, before the real action begins.

To those who have never watched the show, get on iTunes, or get up on Xbox Live Marketplace, download “The Story So Far” free on both services.  (Click here for the iTunes direct link)

Then, come Friday at 9pm, turn on the Sci-Fi channel, and watch an orchestra put your ass into a seat, and blow away every single one of your television expectations.

Do it for yourself, not for me. You’ll thank me later. I’ll sum up with a quote from Mr. Edward James Olmos, who plays Admiral William Adama on the show:

''The last thing that I wanted to be doing was science fiction on cable television,'' says Olmos. ''But this, to me, is a real gift. I'll be in science fiction every day of my life if they can give me this kind of drama.''