ATTN JMS: The Run.

[B5JMS Poster]

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: Carl Dershem <dershem at ibm.net>
Date: 18 Mar 1998 18:11:05 -0700
Lines: 57

Joe - 

I wated until TNT had caught me up to where I begain recording the show
regularly (mid 3rd season), and had had the time to view the whole
shootin' match, to say it.

This has been the most ... fascinating experience.  You've built
something that will last a *hell* of a long time... as well as teaching
me a thing or seven about the fine art of writing.

When B5 first aired, all I knew about it was what you'd said in your
talk at the San Diego Comic-Con.  I expected more of the same, frankly,
and the little publicity the show got kept me doing so, even though I'd
heard your talk -- but I'd heard TV people talk before, and really
wasn't willing to give more than the usual inch.  I was a cynic, and was
going to wait and see.

The Pilot was intriguing, and looked at first like it had potential, but
the wait between that and the beginning of thw show made me wonder if
you really knew what you were doing.

The first season began, and looked like basic TV SF for the first two or
three episodes.  "yeah, yeah - good guys, bad guys, a little soap opera
here and there...", and then you started throwing curves, and having
*Acting*.  On a *TV show*.  "Waitaminit," I said "this guy isn't
following the rules."

BY the time the second season came around, and Kosh and Morden were
scampering around behind the scenes, I began to believe you actually
were delivering what you'd promised.  That was a first for me -- and
this from someone who's done TV.  Producers lie and exaggerate - it's in
the rules,or in the blood or something.  By the middle of season 2, I
was surrounded by people at work on friday mornings, so those who
couldn't watch (husbands hated SF, no cable, whatever) could get filled
in on the current goings on on B5.  Our sole nielsen family person
regularly turned all his TV sets to B5 when it was on.  People started
wearing those odd shirts with no collars to work - even into the
courtrooms!

Now season 5 is about a third done, and as I finished watching "Day of
the Dead" for the second time, I said to myself "this guy's for real." 
You've done something no one else has - put real drama, real acting,
real WRITING on TV and gotten away with it.  Sure - you made me re-write
my half-finished novel almost from scratch because all of a sudden I SAW
how all of the tools I've been fumbling with should and can be used -
far better than any professor ever has.  It's almost good now!  Your
discussion on-line here have both entertained and taught, and have
provided seeds for endless hours of pondering and thinking, all of which
have, I hope, not only made me a better writer, but a better, more aware
person.

Five years ... egads.  When it's done, I hope you can sit down and rest
for a little bit, and be satisfied, because you've made a difference.

Thanks.

cd

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 19 Mar 1998 17:55:57 -0700
Lines: 8

Thanks...every promise we made, we tried to keep.  On balance, I think we
succeeded.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
-***
-*** B5JMS SUBSCRIBERS: Replies to messages go to the list maintainer,
-*** <b5jms-owner at cs.columbia.edu>.  If you want to reply elsewhere, adjust
-*** the "To" field.  See http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~ezk/b5jms/ for all
-*** other information about this list.