Chapter 2: What Can We Do?

SG-1 made it to the briefing room mere seconds after General O'Neill and they noticed right away he was removing his jacket and rolling up his sleeves.

"Jack, you need to calm down before you make yourself sick." Sam pleaded with him but to no avail. 'This is really bad. If this can't be resolved, he could get so sick it could ruin his career.'

"I can't calm down! I'm so upset about this whole thing that I could just puke!" Jack was pacing back and forth again like a caged lion.

Dr. Lam entered the briefing room with her stethoscope and blood pressure cuff and said, "General sir, please sit down so that I can check you over."

She took his pulse and found that it was alarmingly fast. She checked his blood pressure and stopped and thought, 'My goodness, what is going on?' Then she checked it again.

"Sir, your pulse and blood pressure are dangerously high. I think you need to calm down. What happened that got you all riled up?"

"'The Simpson's' got canceled."

"What? That's not possible. It's one of my favorite TV shows!" Dr. Lam sat down fast and Daniel ran over to the coffee cart and got her a glass of water.

"I know. It's mine, too," said Sam. "I admit, it took me a while to get into it. The lead character is such a dunce! But the more I watched, the more I liked it. I actually think he's kinda cute, in a way."

"My fondest memory of the whole thing as that we all got together for 'Team Night,' and had a really good time," Daniel said. 'Now what are we going to do?'

"Indeed," said Teal'c. "It was most enjoyable to gather at O'Neill's house and view each week's new episode. I also enjoy the repeats."

"Reruns," Daniel said as he corrected Teal'c.

Teal'c gave Daniel a nod and smiled.

"Okay, Daniel," Vala said, "What are you talking about?"

"I'll have to show you. How about everyone meet at my place tonight at 7. We can watch the first season together and let Vala in for a real cultural experience."

"I'll bring the beer," Cam offered. "Dr. Lam, you should come along, too. Just in case General O'Neill needs you."

"Meanwhile, General O'Neill needs to come to the infirmary so that I can keep an eye on him. If I see an improvement, I'll release him in time to go to your house, Daniel."

"There's nothing wrong with me. I'm just upset about the show's cancellation," Jack insisted. 'Oh, this just isn't fair.'

"Sir, humor me."

Jack grumbled all the way to the infirmary but he knew that Carolyn only had his best interest in mind.

Just before 7, the whole gang showed up at Daniel's house. He had ordered some pizza and had the table ready with plates, napkins and drinking glasses for the beer. Always the perfect host, he'd placed extra chairs in the living room for his guests so that everyone could have a good view of the TV.

Jack had been released and Carolyn had given him a ride over. Everyone settled in for the first episode, and they all started chatting about how different the first episode looked from the later ones.

"So," Vala said, "This is what's gotten you so upset? The cancellation of this particular program? While I can see that some of the subject matter is humorous, I just don't get it."

"Vala, you have to take the whole thing in context. The real fans of this show have been watching it from the beginning. One of the co-stars loses his wife in a later episode and it really upset him when she died. He was never the same," Sam said.

"We've all grown quite fond of the whole batch of characters," Daniel said. "It's been a really fun, watching them go from one adventure to the next."

"I thought it was especially appealing when the infant finally spoke her first word," Teal'c said.

"It's about family," O'Neill said. "True, a dysfunctional one, but show me one that's not?"

"Okay, so what can we do to stop the people in charge from canceling?"

"That's why we're here. We have to come up with a plan."

"A letter writing campaign might help," Cam said. It worked on one of the other shows I watch when a lead character died. Eventually, he came back."

"How is that possible," Vala asked. "If he died, how could that happen?"

"Nobody really dies on TV," Daniel said. "They can always find ways to bring a character back, if they really want to."

"Okay, so we write letters and see if others at the SGC can do that, too. What else?" Jack looked around the group for more help.

"We could start a petition online," Sam said. "I bet we'll get thousands of signatures in just a few hours."

"Okay, anything else?" The each seemed to stop and think. "Come on! There has to be something else."

"I've got it!" Cam said. "We can all mail empty cans of beer to the main office of the executives who made this decision. Can you imagine what would happen when they had thousands of stinky beer cans showing up in their offices?"

"Wait, why would that work?" Vala was really confused now.

"It's what the lead character likes to drink. If we sent empty cans, they would get the idea and they'd have to do something!"

"I'll call my brother, Mark, in San Diego and see if he'll get his friends to help." Sam seemed really enthused about their plans.

"I know some people at the University here in town that can get the college students started," Daniel said enthusiastically.

"I'll get everyone here on the base to join in," Said Cam.

"And I can get all the hospitals in the area to join up," Dr. Lam offered.

"Okay, I think we have a plan that we can work with," Jack said. "I have to fly back to D. C. in the morning and I'll get my friends there to help, too."

With that, everyone said good night and left Daniel's house. It looked like they finally had a way to cope with their problem.