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Dave's wondering if the television networks, who are making a killing on downloadable episodes on iTunes, will start making programming for the internet.

Anybody who loves a show that gets cancelled hopes there's some chance it will come back. I've thought about this, and I believe that really hardcore fans will accept a different or scaled-back form of the show or book or movie they can't get enough of.

Think about Star Wars novels. Almost-serious readers will devour them, when they wouldn't be caught dead in the checkout line with a novelization. There's something like the same phenomenon in fanfic. It's fanatics wanting more of the world they love.

The trouble is, it's not in the interest of the broadast networks to make something for the obsessed enthusiast; the audience is too narrow.

I've had a couple of ideas along these lines. One is citizen's performance and the other is big business.

The citizen idea: make podcasts of fanfic. Just adapt the better stories as audio plays.

The entertainment biz idea: carry on a series in animation. It used to be expensive to paint every frame, putting the cost up around live action, but not so anymore. Actors would be more likely to sign on for a sound recording session scheduled at their convenience -- lots of them do it for games (hey, maybe the game makers could get into producing these). It wouldn't matter if the sets had been struck. (I remember hearing that the dismantling of Rosalyn was the main reason Northern Exposure could never be revived without a lot of expense.)

I'd watch an animated Northern Exposure or West Wing or ThirtySomething or L.A. Law. Would you? Not necessarily, but you might love to see your own faves revived. Americans are getting more with animation in the last 15 years or so. It's definitely not just for kids anymore, though I don't think we're anywhere near as accepting of it as legit art as the Japanese.