Consider: A woman inherited psychic abilities from her mother, including the ability to speak to the dead, and after initially looking on this as a curse, she’s come to accept it as a gift that gives her life purpose. She’s happily married to a man who didn’t know about her abilities when they met, but who has grudgingly come to accept them as real, despite his own rationalist views. She uses her psychic powers to solve mysteries, trying to put things right for the spirits she communicates with. What TV show does this describe?

There are, of course, two correct answers: Medium and Ghost Whisperer.

It used to be that Medium was on NBC on Mondays, and Ghost Whisperer was on CBS on Fridays, and it looked…

There’s been some talk in the last week (and as early as June) about Hulu probably, sometime, starting to charge, for something. Working out my feelings, as an occasional Hulu user, about this turn of events has been tricky. But it also brought something to my attention that I hadn’t quite realized: Hulu is owned by the same people who own NBC, FOX, and ABC.

Which, for me at least, alters the whole whether-or-not-Hulu-should-charge conversation.

Now, I’m not going to pretend to know a whole lot about business models. But I do watch a lot of tv, and I know what’s liable to drive me away from watching tv online: having to pay for the privilege.

Which is really kind of horrible of me. With…

At various points from now until February 1, I’ll be posting tips for those of you thinking of entering our essay contest. Following any or all of these tips doesn’t guarantee anything, of course—but it can’t hurt!

When you’re dealing with any show or book or film, there are some ideas that are kind of obvious: the X-Men uses metaphor to explore real-world prejudices; Buffy was about female empowerment; Dollhouse asks questions about the nature of the self.

This doesn’t mean these topics make for bad essays; great writing or novel insights can make ideas that would otherwise feel like old news seem new again. But it does mean that it’ll be harder for your essay to distinguish itself, since you probably won’t be the only…

You may have noticed: there’s a lot of television on Thursday nights.  My DVR tapes while I watch, and I still have to visit Hulu if I want to be caught up.

That, I suspect, is why no one’s yet realized: Fringe and Supernatural? Secretly the same show!

Consider the evidence:

Each show has an almost preternaturally earnest main character (Olivia and Sam).

Each show co-stars a Dawson’s Creek alum whose first name begins with the letter J (Joshua Jackson and Jensen Ackles).

And the kicker? William Bell is clearly science fiction’s answer to Supernatural’s Yellow-Eyed Demon.

Both prepared children for a war. Both seem to feel a vaguely creepy attachment for their biggest success. And as it turns out, conducting drug trials on young…

. . . or get entered to win one, anyway.

You may have noticed the big “BETA” stamped on the right side of our header . . . or a glitch or two around the site. Have you found a typo in an essay, or a bad link, or something else that looks like it’s gone awry? We want to know about it!

Email me at leahATbenbellabooksDOTcom with anything you find . . . and for every honest to goodness error, I’ll put a metaphorical slip of paper with your name on it into the (equally metaphorical) hat. After midnight on Friday, I’ll randomly select 10 names and send those people a Smart Pop book of their choice.

There are two ways, theoretically, to start a blog (or Twitter account, or heck, real-life chat): in medias res, or with an introduction. Most people choose the latter. (It’s why we usually start conversations with the word “Hi.”) Who are we to buck the trend?

I’m your de facto host, Leah, Smart Pop series editor—and this is the new Smart Pop Books.

I wanted to use this inaugural entry to give you a feel for the site: what we’re aiming to be, and what kind of content we’re trying to provide.

Overview

First and foremost, you’ll find essays we’ve published in our Smart Pop series—a new free essay every day.

Over the past six years we’ve put out nearly 50 anthologies, each with an average…