Science fiction stories are often about the future or about new technology that have yet to be invented. “Distant Signals” by Andrew Weiner is about something else entirely. Rather than focusing on the future, Weiner writes about an old television series and its revival. The character Smith arrives from a distant planet and requests for the show Stranger in Town. The theme in this story is the idea of one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Stranger in Town is considered in the story to be a poorly written television series. A description of the series says, “the show won mediocre ratings, and NBC declined to pick up its option for a second season” (Weiner p. 526). It is clear that a show that does not make it past the initial first season
