Posthuman Blues

I had access to a TV/VCR tonight, so I finally got to see the Peter Jennings UFO special everyone was fretting about not long ago. I don't want to perpetuate the subject, but I'll quickly go on record agreeing with the majority of ufologically inclined viewers: It sucked. Rather, the second half did; I thought the first half, with its emphasis on the early government decision to discredit the topic at all costs, was well-done (at least for a mainstream television production).

The second half (with its yawn-inducing devotion to SETI's Seth Shostak and embarrassingly simplified rendering of the abduction phenomenon) was almost unwatchably bad. The sole redeeming virtue was the inclusion of physicist Michio Kaku, whose informed commentary underscored Shostak's unrepentant foolishness.