Yesterday, I happened to run across Sliders on USA, which they apparently were running as a cross-promotion with Sci-Fi Channel, and was reminded why I stopped watching that show.

They slid..slidden..uh..were on another Earth in which people in a certain age group were drafted into an organ transplant program. If an organ was needed, they could be harvested. Now, here’s a really interesting idea, I thought.

But they wimped out and told a monster story, in fact, they ripped off Species. I was much more interested in learning how this culture came about, how this society worked (in one interesting touch of this culture, the harvestees were abducted in a manner ripped off from Logan’s Run). What are the advantages of a mandatory organ program? What are the disadvantages?

I realize that the sliders can’t be agents of change, but this is bogus and cheats the viewer. Here was a great opportunity to make a powerful social commentary. “Gee, mandatory organ donations are icky.” That’s not commentary, that’s bumper sticker jingoism at its very worst.

The problem is that this not an isolated episode. Nearly everytime I watch Sliders there’s the same kind of wishy-washy thinking going on, going all the way back to the pilot. It’s like there’s some kind of rule – don’t have a viewpoint. Well, I want some sort of viewpoint. Even if I disagree with it, at least it would give me chance to think about. Sliders could, and should, be a dangerous show. But instead it’s just more pablum to fill spaces between pimple cream commercials.