I have a confession to make: I'm a scifi fan. I have my favorite authors and favorite movies and favorite tv shows. And I feel almost spoiled by the fare on SciFi Channel on Friday nights. Stargate SG-1 has been fun, if silly. Stargate Atlantis is limping, but still shows promise.

And then there's Battlestar Galactica: the best show on television. (Not that I'm an expert -- I can't stand watching most of it, so I don't rightly know all that's out there.) The directing is excellent. Sets and effects are solid, without that usual cheesy look you see in tv scifi. The writing is good, but I really watch it for the actors, and the fact that the most interesting characters are women.

(First season spoilers, maybe.)

• President Laura Roslin -- In the pilot miniseries, we first meet her when she finds out she has terminal cancer. I can still remember that scene. The doctor starts talking, and she looks out the window, not hearing. We're with her then. After the holocaust, she finds herself to be the highest ranking government official and assumes the presidency. How she does it, and how she rules, are full of subtlety, yet strength. Now she's seeing visions -- maybe from her cancer drugs, maybe religious visions. She prefers to believe the latter, and the ancient scriptures seem to her to point her into making fateful decisions that defy reason. I think the way Mary McDonnell has played her is wonderful. This is possibly the best role she's had. In the "behind the scenes" promo SciFi has been playing all week, she relished playing a woman in power dealing with such personal challenges. She points out that female actresses never get roles like this. I agree. (Sidenote: I just discovered a bunch of behind-the-scenes features that cover, among other things, changing the genders of major characters during development. Might be worth watching some of these.)