If you're reading this blog, you're a fan of TV, and as a fan you'll be sure to enjoy the second season of PBS' "Pioneers of Television" (UNC-TV, 8 tonight) a four-part series airing Tuesdays that starts with a look at classic science fiction.

Kelsey Grammer narrates the series, and the sci-fi episode is delightful. It gives a history of the top storytellers of the genre: Gene Roddenberry, Irwin Allen and Rod Serling, who created "Star Trek," "Lost in Space," and "The Twilight Zone" respectively. While Serling and Roddenberry wanted to tell stories with meaning, Allen was all about action.

Seems the early days of television are not much different than nowadays; "Lost in Space" for instance, was forced to get campy, the show reveals, when the super-campy "Batman" became a hit.

George Takei, known for playing USS Enterprise helmsman Hikaru Sulu on the original "Star Trek" television and movie series, will be the focus of a new satellite radio documentary program.

In "George Takei's America: A Howard 100 News Documentary," Takei  recounts his family's compelling history, retracing with reporter Steve Langford the exact steps he and his family took in Los Angeles in the spring of 1942 when they were rounded up by American soldiers and ordered at gunpoint into Japanese internment camps.

Takei was 5 years old at the time. His family spent four years in those prison camps.

A reader sent me an e-mail message about word usage in caption that appeared on the
Sports pages recently. You can see the photo below.

Candice Bergen, Gene Roddenberry, and The Smothers Brothers are among those to be inducted into the TV Hall of Fame in January.

Bergen is best known for her role on the sitcom "Murphy Brown," which ran for ten years on CBS. Bergen won a record five Emmys for her portrayal of recovering alcoholic TV news reporter Murphy Brown. The show made headlines in 1992 when Vice President Dan Quayle criticized the fictional character for having a baby out of wedlock. Bergen most recently played starred on "Boston Legal" as law partner Shirley Schmidt.

Roddenberry, who passed away in 1991, created "Star Trek" in 1964. The show didn't air until 1966, and only ran for three seasons on NBC, but has had a tremendous impact on popular culture.

Since you're dying to know what a day in the life of UNC Chapel Hill's chancellor is, I give you this link to Holden Thorp's blog.

His latest entry is a day-in-the-life featuring very brief conversations with his kids, a glimpse at what a busy university adminstrator has for lunch - nuts and a banana - and, after work, a movie with the family.

Sounds like Thorp and his son, John, are quite the Trekkies.

So, what is the correct way to pronounce "Cannes"?

Well, in the latest edition of the Condition, I talk with a critic who lets me know straight-up. He's Matt Prigge, a friend to the blog, who shares film-reviewing duties with previous Condition guest Sean Burns over at the Philadelphia Weekly. We also go back-and-forth about the number-one movie this past weekend.

We learned a lot from each other during this podcast. I learn the correct way to say "Cannes," while Prigge finds out that thing he has is called a microblog. It's a shared experience, folks! You can also download it here.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, and the actress who voiced the computer on the USS Starship Enterprise, has died.

The Los Angeles Times has a very nice obituary. And check out this tribute from Entertainment Weekly.

Majel Roddenberry also played Nurse Christine Chapel in the series. She also appeared in episodes of "I Love Lucy" and "The Untouchables."

She passed away at her home in Bel Air on Thursday after a battle with leukemia.