We’ve just finished binge-watching Battlestar Galactic (the new, Syfy version) and something stood out that I must have noticed before, even though I don’t recall it. I know its not just me, because my wife remarked on it too.

The crew of Galactica sure did drink a lot. Sure, some of them were flawed characters with a lot of emotional baggage, like Adama, the Tighs and Starbuck, but the amount of alcohol consumed by this crew was downright extraordinary. Every time you look at them they were getting shitfaced, and I mean WASTED, not just knocking down a few between watches. These guys eclipsed my best drinking years, put me to shame. Nothing in my Navy days, or my college time, or even my dissolute year working overseas for the Colonial Service came even close to these lushes.

Have American attitudes to alcohol changed so much that behavior deemed normal when this series was broadcast now comes across as over the top, perhaps even a wee bit excessive? Or is it perhaps this series’ Canadian roots? Maybe our friends in the Great White North imbibe a bit more than our oh-so-health-conscious new-found teetotal culture here in the lower 48. Long, dark, cold winters, eh? I am aware that drinking has become culturally less acceptable here in the US, just like smoking. I noted the characters also smoke more than what is now noticeable in contemporary TV. Even Dr Cottle chain-smokes! This is to be expected, the anti-smoking campaign has been quite successful. But the drinking…well, it was shocking. Not only did these folks spend their every off-duty moment with a glass in their hand and a bottle nearby (or a flask tucked in their tunic), but they spent an inordinate amount of time ass-dragging drunk.

Anybody else pick up on this?