Who Is Number One?

Still NaNoWriMoing, and it's actually going very, very well-better than it ever has.

I will be taking a break from 8-9 tonight, because the new Prisoner begins tonight. I'm not a big TV guy, but I have become hooked on ABC's FlashForward, and I think this one may be a second addiction.

The original Prisoner was a psychedelic romp, set in a private mini-city known as The Village. It's one of those shows that makes you do the work-you don't know what anything means at first, and you have to figure it out as you go. (My best friend Shawn actually traveled to Portmeirion in Wales where the original series was shot.) Patrick McGoohan (who I believe I read somewhere turned down the role of James Bond at one point) is Number 6, imprisoned in The Village. The masters will not let him escape until he reveals why he resigned as a secret agent, and he tries various plans and subterfuges to get away. But they never work, and at the end of every episode, he is back in the Village again. (He escapes in the last one, but some fans argue it's an illusion, and he never really gets away.)

The series used to be on PBS a lot, and Shawn got me hooked on it in high school. He taped them all, and we avidly watched them. He even went so far as to subscribe to a fan newsletter and join a fan club. (Needless to say, neither of us were dating a whole lot at the time.) (Or at any time, come to think of it.)

In a phrase that may become familiar to you if you tune in, Be Seeing You.