Anna Marie Martin

My husband, Chris, and I decided to have a “real” Christmas tree this year. By “real,” I mean, “fake,” but also I mean, “more real than the three-foot, self-lit, $10 one Chris bought years ago, before we met.” A “nicer fake” tree, if you will.

Chris started the decorating — stringing up LED lights all over the inside of the house. I pulled out the Christmas tree from the garage.

With any TV program, the Pilot episode is the most complicated:  it has to introduce the characters, the world, the plot and conflict lines, and “hook” the viewer into being interested before the first commercial break. Usually, pilots are only aired for the producers, to see if they want to fund the show.  So, often, when the show gets to regular TV, viewers see the second intended episode first, rather than the first, which they don’t see at all.