Not at all. I've done it myself (see below). :)

:The actors are certainly giving a top performance, the effects are improving, and the camera and sound is certainly quality work, but the writers should be taken out back and shot.

Well, I wouldn't actually resort to shooting them. :) However, I agree with you that the weak point of the show (sometimes) is the writing. I don't think it's quite as bad as you seem to think, but the scripts often lack originality. Since I'm too lazy to repeat my earlier criticism, I simply refer you to my posting of January 2nd ("And another spoiler...") and, more to the point, my posting of January 4th in the same thread.

: I missed "Tribute" and I think "Absolute Power" will be coming up soon if my local broadcaster stops pre-empting the time slot with basketball games. Here in the US, we have local "air" tv stations which are restricted by the range of their broadcast antennaes, and dedicated "cable" stations that cable tv providers carry as part of their offering package. Cable tv providers also carry the local "air" stations so people can get the local news reports and network programs. So, TLW is carried by my local "air" station except when preempted by a local basketball game. WGN is a "cable" station, so hopefully I can find TLW on their schedule. The last episode I saw was "Cave of Fear" with the boy prophet and his people living in a cave by a volcano. A good plot idea hampered by poor dialogue. Acting was good, even by the guest stars, and the effects were nice. But the writing was terrible.

I hope you don't mind my correcting you, but the episode was called "Creatures of the Dark". Which, by the way, was also the episode that we over here got to see yesterday. I actually liked the episode for the reasons you gave. I especially liked the scene near the end when the frightened "oracle" and his followers, realizing that the volcano would not destroy them after all, immediately fell back into their mind-numbing, self-hypnotizing chant. Veronica doing her "catch-me-if-you-can-jungle-routine" wasn't all that bad either. :)The writing was certainly not overly exciting, but I wouldn't call it terrible. However, we had the "divided cast syndrome" again, which was already discussed a few times on this board. Though this time the two plotlines (mountain/rescue party) hung closer together than usual.
As for TV in Germany, the market is totally dominated by cable and (to a much lesser extent) satellite transmission. There are only insignificant differences between the different federal states as far as availability of stations via cable is concerned. That means the "important" stations are available throughout the country with the programme schedule being exactly the same wherever you live.

: (Jennifer O'Dell) has done a pretty good job acting - though I've caught a couple of weak scenes where she's been over-dramatic. One of the worst instances was the episode where "Nikko" comes to claim her as his bride but Ned opposes it (I can't recall the title of the episode). The climax, where she threatens to kill herself, was not very well done. A more believable scene would have been for her to just simply beat the snot out of Nikko.

I still firmly believe that the writer who came up with the idea of Veronica commiting suicide to stop the fight must have been in an advanced state of delirium at that time. That scene was not so much Jennifer O'Dell's fault, it was simply out of line with Veronica's character.

: Which is why I think the show would've died without "Veronica". The character brings a lot of promise to the series. Cheesecake will draw an audience, camp will entertain an audience for a short time, but a good plotline will keep that audience. Veronica in a skimpy jungle costume fighting crocodiles and marauding tribal warriors is one of the better reasons to watch the show week after week, (hey, it worked for all of those "Tarzan" movies) but eventually John Landis will have to quit raiding the Sci Fi section of his local video store for plot ideas.

I don't know if the show would've died without her, but it certainly would've had a much harder time. You're absolutely rigtht, in the end it takes a good plotline to be successful in the long run. Turning the show into "Veronica - Jungle Princess" will probably not do the trick, although I certainly would watch. :) However, I'm strongly in favor of having more stories centered around her, but one has to keep an eye on not disrupting the balance of the cast too much.

: If I were a writer for this show, I'd take it in a different direction. Instead of having some new bizarre civilization as a plot point each week, I'd focus more on the action and exploration aspect.

Somewhat mirrors my suggestion of a more coherent plot development in my January 4th posting, already mentioned above.

: The jungle can be a dangerous place. Why not take advantage of it? And the natural character to take the lead role would be Veronica.

See my comment above about giving her more screen time. However, lead role might be a bit far reaching.

: A strong female lead is a very rare thing in action-oriented television these days (except for "Xena") so I hope the show can draw a larger following so as to present a positive role model for girls.

I do have difficulties with the whole role model idea. Maybe I just don't care enough. The Veronica-character definitely has an exploitative side to it and, forget political correctness for 45 minutes, so what?

: I'd also have Marguerite's character begin to grow a bit more. We've seen her impression of her upbringing (in the episode where a fungus makes her hallucinate about her mother) and in the pilot movie she flirts with Roxton in her own confused way. I think the logical progression of her character would be for her to behave more like a female version of Roxton - stronger presence, more knowledgable of outdoors living, more physical. It makes sense to me that she'd become attached to Roxton, certainly more logical than a romance between Ned and Veronica. I think a romatic tie between Veronica and Ned wouldn't play as well - I see Veronica as a free spirit at this point.

The Veronica/Ned relationship seems a bit artificial. I still regret that they changed actors between the pilot and the regular series for the character of Ned Malone. You're right, a romance might not be such a good idea at this point. I'd like to see the Summerlee/Veronica relationship explored a bit more. He seems to take on the role of surrogate father at times and Summerlee is a well played character that deserve's a little more attention.

As for Marguerite, the writer's have laid the groundwork for the development of her character with a number of hints and interesting twists of character (see my "Tribute-Spoiler" of December 19th.) So, credit where credit is due, after all the hammering the writers have received. :)

Best,
Jan