I'm in love with the concept of the show, and the background arc-bits are some of the best stuff Joss has ever done in my opinion. However, in the first three episodes the "of the week plot" has been a complete and unmitigated disaster, making for episodes with flashes of brilliance, but are mostly painful to watch. With the whole American Idol themed episode it feels as if the network is out to deliberately piss off Joss' fans. Thankfully, the fourth episode was finally solid all the way through. The fifth one looks very good, and is done by Tim Minear of Firefly and Wonderfalls. I'll just reiterate the fanboy mantra: wait and watch the sixth episode, that's where the network gets out of the way and we can see if there's more to the show or not.
Just for perspective sake, remember Firefly. Everybody talks about how great Firefly is and such a travesty it was that Fox cancelled it, but also remember that 99% of the Firefly audience saw it on DVD, in proper order, with the amazing pilot first. When on live TV, the show started out with the horrible Train Job episode and all the sci-fi fans wrote it off as the guy who writes that crappy teenage girl vampire show trying and failing to do sci-fi. Rewritten pilot, airing out of order, network interference in episodes, many of the same things are happening again, yet nobody feels like learning from history it would seem.
I am currently a PCV in the IT program in Africa, and let me warn you to be very careful about this option. You are more likely to be shoved into an office environment teaching Windows and MS Office for organizations who simply don't want to pay a local than doing useful IT work. Our mantra is we make our own job, but getting that job you want will involve fighting your way through PC and local beaurocracy and culture with no guarnetee of success. The best thing you can do for yourself is talk to your recruiter about the specific work you want, and be willing to hold out for the right assignment. Also, once you get an offer for a country, try and get ahold of the APCD in that country. Normally PC can not tell you your exact assignment until well into training, however since there are rarely more than 3 IT voulenteers per country, they should be able to give you details with a little pushing. The potential for a great experience is there, but you will need to be prepared to fight for it.
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I'm in love with the concept of the show, and the background arc-bits are some of the best stuff Joss has ever done in my opinion. However, in the first three episodes the "of the week plot" has been a complete and unmitigated disaster, making for episodes with flashes of brilliance, but are mostly painful to watch. With the whole American Idol themed episode it feels as if the network is out to deliberately piss off Joss' fans. Thankfully, the fourth episode was finally solid all the way through. The fifth one looks very good, and is done by Tim Minear of Firefly and Wonderfalls. I'll just reiterate the fanboy mantra: wait and watch the sixth episode, that's where the network gets out of the way and we can see if there's more to the show or not. Just for perspective sake, remember Firefly. Everybody talks about how great Firefly is and such a travesty it was that Fox cancelled it, but also remember that 99% of the Firefly audience saw it on DVD, in proper order, with the amazing pilot first. When on live TV, the show started out with the horrible Train Job episode and all the sci-fi fans wrote it off as the guy who writes that crappy teenage girl vampire show trying and failing to do sci-fi. Rewritten pilot, airing out of order, network interference in episodes, many of the same things are happening again, yet nobody feels like learning from history it would seem.
I am currently a PCV in the IT program in Africa, and let me warn you to be very careful about this option. You are
more likely to be shoved into an office environment teaching Windows and MS Office for organizations who simply
don't want to pay a local than doing useful IT work. Our mantra is we make our own job, but getting that job you want
will involve fighting your way through PC and local beaurocracy and culture with no guarnetee of success. The best
thing you can do for yourself is talk to your recruiter about the specific work you want, and be willing to hold out
for the right assignment. Also, once you get an offer for a country, try and get ahold of the APCD in that country. Normally
PC can not tell you your exact assignment until well into training, however since there are rarely more than 3 IT
voulenteers per country, they should be able to give you details with a little pushing. The potential for a great
experience is there, but you will need to be prepared to fight for it.