D.C. Fontana, a veteran writer who worked on more than one "Trek" series (and who has a host of non-"Trek" credits), gives a long rundown of the various veins mined by writers looking for ideas, including today's news, adaptations of printed fiction, events and places from their own lives, and tales already in the public domain. So is everything we get on the TV screen just repurposed content? No. "Some people have the ability to fashion remarkable worlds and characters," Fonatana writes in her Galaxy Online column. "What kind of minds created the little girl who fell down a rabbit hole into a world of wonder or a young boy who never grew up because he ran away to live in Never Never Land?"

Original thinkers? One gets the idea from Fontana that they still walk among us, but they're not the ones churning out material — er, "product" -- fast enough to fill endless cable channels and now a burgeoning streaming content market on the Net. Fontana again:

"Great ideas can spring into a mind fully blown, ready to be written almost as though the writer were simply a secretary taking transcription. mostly, though, using your imagination is darn hard work. You get an idea — feels good, has possibilities to expand, you may even know what the payoff is — but how do you get from the beginning kernel of idea to the satisfying ending? You must spend time plotting, developing the characters, doing research, possibly world building. Do you think [Frank Herbert's classic] 'Dune' happened in a month -- or a year?"

This may seem heretical in a Web publication during the startup days of the new economy, but it bears repeating (the thought, alas, is not original with me): 24-hour entertainment is usually little more than that-- entertainment. The thought-provoking works that really move us and maybe even disturb us enough to do something in our lives and for others' lives, are rare but worth waiting for and searching for. Instant 24-hour news and entertainment is largely being wasted.

Reader mail

Last week in Zippy's SF Loft, I recounted my unfortunate experience watching a particularly hokey scene from UPN's "7 Days" series. Two readers responded to my plea for defenses of the series.

Daria Gold writes, "Let me say first that I'm a very cynical TV watcher, although I'm optimistic enough to hope that I'll find something worth watching every week. What I actually have is maybe 5-6 shows I'll turn on if I'm reading or doing something else in the same room as the television. It's not the same thing as 'regular viewing,' but it's as close as I get. '7 Days' is on my list; I watch about every 3rd or 4th episode. That may sound tepid, but from me, tepid is high praise.

"You correctly noted that 7 Days veers into the unforgivably hokey, and it's not meant to be camp. Indeed, the real time warp on this show is in the weird combination of 1950s and 2000s sensibilities, although I also must note that you caught what is in my opinion the clunkiest scene ever to show up on the program. I like the main character, Frank Parker, and a couple of the older scientists (Mintner and Talmadge, I believe). The rest of the cast is okay, and the guest casting is at least adequate and often better than average. I don't mind the 1950s-to-2000s whiplash, and sometimes the shows are amusing. If you ever get a chance to see the '7 Days' version of 'Groundhog Day,' in which Parker gets stuck in the same time loop over and over, watch it--I thought it was hilarious and even taped the repeat. I'd like to see the writers take a few more chances and throw in a few more light moments, but I think in general they do better than most of the many insipid sitcoms (a redundancy, I know) or cookie cutter hospital/lawyer/other-contrived-crisis dramas on the other networks. 'Twin Peaks' was a classic with massively clunky moments; I consider '7 Days' to be on the edge of the same territory, but without the intensity."

Jon Delfin writes, "Bad timing on your part. You managed to catch one of the lowest dips of the roller coaster that is '7 Days.' Yes, it's uneven, and the premise itself has a major hole in it (what happens to the Frank of 'now' when the Frank from 'next week' arrives? and don't the people with 'now' Frank notice whatever is the answer to question 1? and what about Naomi?). But as Johnny Carson used to say, 'if you buy the premise, then you buy the bit.' And Jonathan LaPaglia is a hoot."

In other news and views

Speaking of repurposed content, Sony is developing a movie version of the old "Land of the Lost" series from Sid and Marty Krofft. To get you in the proper mood of expectation, Galaxy Online is going to stream episodes of the series beginning this Wednesday, June 21st. "Science fiction programming is hotter than ever, and we will provide fans of the genre with what they want," says Galaxy Online president and CEO, who goes on to threaten, "GalaxyOnline.com will continue to make deals for previously aired shows that are favorites, as well as develop new programming that highlights the strengths of the Internet."

This week's episodes

All times Eastern. Syndicated episodes are sometimes shown in different weeks in different locations, so your local broadcast may, naturally, differ.

Angel
WB, 9 p.m. Tuesdays; David Boreanaz, Seth Green, and Charisma Carpenter
June 20: In "I've Got You Under My Skin," Cordelia has visions of a boy needing help, so Angel and Wesley go for their first exorcism with a child with a 10,000 year-old demon possessing him.. (Repeat)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
WB, 8 p.m. Tuesdays; Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Charisma Carpenter, David Boreanaz, Kristine Sutherland, and Anthony Stewart Head; official site
June 20: In "Something Blue," Willow, sad about the loss of Oz, casts a spell that goes awry, leaving Buffy in love with Spike, Giles blind, and Xander attracting demons like George Bush attracts corporate contributors (okay, it's a stretch). (Repeat)
Juse 27: In "Wild at Heart," Willow must compete for Oz's love against a singer. But Oz has a special link to the singer that may signal the end of his Willow-dom. (Repeat)

Cleopatra 2525
Syndicated; Gina Torres, Victoria Pratt, Jennifer Sky, Patrick Kake, Danielle Cormack, Joel Tobeck
Week of June 20: TBA

Earth: Final Conflict
Syndicated, Lisa Howard, Leni Parker, Von Flores, David Hemblen, Robert Leeshock, Richard Chevolleau, Anita LaSelva, Jayne Heitmeyer, Peter Krantz, Barna Moricz, Lindy Booth, Sten Eirik; official site
Week of June 20: "The Vanished" (Repeat)

Farscape
Sci-Fi, 9 p.m. Fridays; Ben Browder, Lani John Tupu, and Virginia Hey; official site
June 23: "Dream a Little Dream"
June 30: Preempted

First Wave
Sci-Fi, 7 p.m. Sundays; Sebastian Spence and Roger Cross; official site
June 25: "Ohio Players"

Futurama
Fox, 7:00 p.m. Sundays; Billy West, Lauren Tom, John Di Maggio, and Katey Sagal; official site
June 25" In "Raging Bender," Bender gets involved in Ultimate Robot Fighting. (Repeat)

Lexx
Sci-Fi, 10 p.m.; Xenia Seeberg.
June 23: "Norb"
June 30: Preempted

Outer Limits
Showtime, 11:30 p.m. Fridays
June 23: "Down to Earth" (Repeat)

Roswell
WB, 9:00 p.m. Mondays; Jason Behr, Shiri Appleby, Brendan Fehr, and Katherine Heigl
June 26: In "Blood Brother," Max — which also happens to be the name of a big gray cat I know and love — is in an automobile accident, which means the hospital might find out about his special powers. Max the cat, on the other hand, only has the not-so-special power of occasionally wetting the bed. And the couch. (Repeat)

Seven Days
UPN, 8 p.m. Wednesdays; Jonathan LaPaglia, Don Franklin; official site
June 21: In "Love and Other Disasters," Parker tries to stop a terrorist attack on a royal wedding. (Repeat)

Stargate SG-1
Showtime, 10 p.m. Fridays; official site
June 23: "Nemesis" (Repeat)

Star Trek: Voyager
UPN, 9 p.m. Wednesdays; Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Jeri Ryan, and Garrett Wang. official site
June 21: The Voyager crew finds quaintness and quaint problems when they create a holosuite of an idyllic Irish town known as "Fair Haven." (Repeat)

Xena: Warrior Princess
Syndicated, Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor, Bruce Campbell, official site
Week of June 20: "Eternal Bonds" (Repeat)

The X-Files
Fox, 9 p.m. Sundays; David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi; official site
June 25: Look, "X-Cops" is funny. It's a parody, both of Fox's insipid reality TV programs and of "The X-Files" itself. Watch this episode and laugh as Mulder and Scully track a monster in LA. (Repeat)

The final words...

"I know there was a cheesy Chevy Chase movie ["Memoirs of an Invisible Man"]. I heard that people who rented it turned off after 10 minutes. My fear is that people are going to lump us in with that, and they shouldn't."
—Vincent Ventresca, star of Sci-Fi's "Invisible Man," quoted in Starlog