I think it’s a stage actor thing. She over-emotes for the benefit of the back galleries and sometimes it’s just too much. Conversely, I find Andreas Katsulas’s technique mesmerising - he’s covered in vast amounts of makeup and latex and still puts out an emotionally charged performance.
Oh - forgot to mention. The doctor lady in Crusade? Plank city.
It’s fun to compare his role on B5 to his role on Star Trek, as the recurring villain Commander Tomalak. Both started off as scheming patriots/villains, but G’Kar got quite a bit of character development. Either way, it’s fun to watch either one serve a large serving of ham in a monologue. 
JMS commented that when he wrote the scene with G’Kar and Londo stuck in the elevator, it didn’t include G’Kar giggling throughout - that was all Katsulas, who thought a warrior like G’Kar would have found the situation hilarious. And it works, turning a potentially hackneyed scene into a brilliant one.
“I HATE MY LIFE!”
“I hate your life too!”
Absolutely I will try it. It suffers from the same problem as most American serials - too many episodes, so they have to fill it with boring stupid episodes, even when exciting things are happening in the background. And things move so slow, it’s like a soap opera! It’s why I like British telly better; 13 or 14 episodes makes for a much tighter season.
This may be true for Season 1 and a portion of Season 2. But Seasons 3 and 4 are tight seasons and don’t have much (if any) filler. You can tell just by checking the writing credits. JMS wrote most of Seasons 1 and 2. But he wrote every episode of Seasons 3 and 4. He wrote the series with British serials in mind, to be honest.
He also began the series with the plan to end it in Season 5. Season 1 had to contain some filler, if only to fill out the viewer’s understanding of the universe, the politics, the characters, and the different races.
Part of it was due to the ever present threat of cancellation. It’s actually surprising the show lasted the entire 5 year run. A good portion of what would have been Season 5 got compressed into Season 4, since it was possible Season 5 wouldn’t happen. So, there ended up being tons of action in Season 4, and it might have actually been helped by a few more episodes.
So, where are people at in their first view of it? And do they like it or did they give up on it?
Just curious.
Londo: “Can anyone hear us”
G’Kar: “I hear you!”
Agreed. And G’kar’s similar scene, in which he confronts Vir, is just chilling. Not just for the tightly controlled rage and grief on display, but for the intensity of his desire to make Vir understand. “Dead …dead … dead … dead …”
Season 3, episode 8. I haven’t watched an episode in a while though because I got distracted by other things. I’ll start up again soon.
‘dreamers, shapers, singers, makers…’
‘i work for londo molari. after a while, nothing scares you.’
‘green!’ ‘purple!’ 
** - the geometry of shadows**
excellent episode and one of the best of season 2 *and *one of my favorites.
this is a great site for reading up on the eps you don’t necessarily want or need to watch:
BUMP. Just curious as to how thing went with your viewing, OpalCat and Anaamika. Especially you, Opal, since if you’re up to Season 3 Episode 8 you are at the exact point where some serious shit is about to hit the biggest honking fan you ever saw.
Well, I’m back. I’m not certain what possessed me to try watching it again, but suddenly everything’s changed and it’s vastly more entertaining. I’m on episode 41…netflix numbers them differently, so let me check…
Season 2, Episode 14, “There All the Honor Lies”.
The acting is still pretty terrible, especially with the guest actors. The previous episode, “Hunter, Prey,” had this Angry Black Man character, an investigator from Earth, who tries so hard to fit the role but only made me giggle.
But the core cast is interesting and suddenly the show is much better. It started on “The Long Dark” wherein two bodies showed up and there was a mystery.
Londo and G-Kar are by far the two most interesting characters on the show. I am getting mighty sick of Dr. Franklin’s one-dimensional character; he’s all “HELP PEOPLE HELP PEOPLE HELP PEOPLE” and rarely sees nuances to what he is doing. Sheridan grows more interesting and charismatic, and yes, Garibaldi is my absolute favorite. He was pretty badass in Hunter, Prey:
“I’m about to get surly, and you don’t want to see me surly.”
So yes, I am pretty into it now.
Dr. Franklin gets some character development in season 3, but until then I think his job is mostly to look smug and fix people.
And what a good job of it he does!
Two more episodes, Anaamika. Then you’ll understand.
Another general comment, having been catching various episodes on FX the last while. It suffers from that thing that pretty much every sci-fi show up to maybe BSG 2.0 does. It’s primarily aimed at kids, or at least seems to be. I absolutely loved it as a kid, went to conventions etc. but it just doesn’t hold up to these adult eyes nearly as much. Even the episodes I recalled were good or great don’t hold up nearly as well as I felt they should.
I don’t think anyone would disagree with that. Even separately, they’re great, but the way they play off each other is a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
One of the most pleasant surprises for me in watching B5 was in finding out how much character depth Londo really had. He seemed so cartoonish in the beginning, but did not end up that way at all.