October 3 -- Tuesday
The premiere of Dark Angel back to back with the first presidential debates. What Fox lacks in citizenship they make up for in marketing savvy. What do you want to bet that Dark Angel out-Nielsens Bush and Gore, both of whom have proved about as trustworthy as Ed McMahon telling you that you've won a million dollars. My recommendation: tape Dark Angel and watch the debates live. Then get out there and vote. The whole point of living in a republic is that either one of the two clowns running for president is better than a Caligula, and that's who the Romans got when their republic fell apart.

Or you could always just watch Buffy and Angel.

Fox is billing Dark Angel as "James Cameron's Dark Angel", which it is only in the sense that Animaniacs is "Steven Spielberg's Animaniacs". But Dark Angel has gotten some good buzz. One point in its favor: the head writer Charles Eglee wrote for Murder One, which was good up through the Christmas show. Then the network destroyed it by trying to please a mass audience. I'll tell you what I thought of Dark Angel in 15.

October 4 -- Wednesday
The Star Trek: Voyager season premiere, opposite the season premiere of The West Wing. Those independent networks really know how to schedule their shows. My recommendation: watch The West Wing and tape Voyager.

Voyager begins its final season with the second part of a two-part story about a Borg dream realm "Unimatrix Zero", written by Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky from a story by Michael Sussman. At the end of the previous season, Janeway, Tuvok, and Tores had all been turned into Borg. My vote is that they should stay that way.

Oct 11 -- Wednesday
Star Trek: Voyager, "Imperfection" written by Robert J. Doherty and Carleton Eastlake from a story by Andre Bormanis.

Oct 18 -- Wednesday
Star Trek: Voyager, "Drive" by Michael Taylor

Oct 25 (date unconfirmed) -- Wednesday
Star Trek: Voyager, "Critical Care" written by James Kahn from a story by Kenneth Billar and Robert J. Doherty.

Robert J. Doherty is writing a lot of Voyagers this season.

October 29 -- Sunday
The X-Files, a rerun of "Requiem" (****) by Chris Carter, the seventh season finale. For maximum enjoyment, it is best to watch it before someone tells you what happens.

Also, sometime in October, are four episodes of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda. If you're curious you should, as they say, check your local listings. I'm very skeptical, since the Gene Roddenberry credit is even more bogus than the James Cameron credit -- Cameron is at least still alive. The only discernable Roddenberry connection is the name of the hero, Dylan Hunt, which was the name of the hero in Roddenberry's Planet Earth. Planet Earth never made it as a series, but the pilot and a few episodes were shown as tv movies. At least two videos were released, with John Saxon as Dylan Hunt: Planet Earth (***) and Strange New World (**), both now out of print, and at least two additional episodes were aired.

No new X-Files until November and the Lone Gunmen series has been put on hold until something gets cancelled. Fox also has a series based on the comic book The Tick waiting in the wings.