An N.C. State professor wonders whether people will get angry when they see the TV version of his science fiction short story.

John Kessel's 1984 tale "A Clean Escape" has been adapted for the first episode of the ABC series "Masters of Science Fiction," which airs at 10 p.m. Saturday. The episode was shot in Vancouver last year with Judy Davis playing a therapist treating an amnesiac (Sam Waterston, "Law & Order"), who may be a former president responsible for starting a nuclear war.

Kessel says he's interested to see whether some people are offended by the political overtones.

"The way it came out, it's kind of a veiled allegorical hit at George Bush, basically," he says with a laugh. "Even though I wrote the story in 1984, it adapts very much to the times, and the fact that we're involved in an ill-considered war that we can't seem to get out of."

Having seen the script beforehand, as well as a couple of days of shooting, Kessel says he was confident that the first episode of the new science fiction series would turn out well. After viewing a screener copy, he thinks it did.

"I liked it a lot," he says. "I was really quite pleased about how faithful they were to the story."

Seeing the project make it all the way through is gratifying for Kessel, who tried his own hand at screenwriting five years ago when another of his stories was considered for a Hollywood film.

"As far as they're concerned, the writer is sort of like a renewable resource," he says. "It's not like they're trying to string you along. But basically, they'll keep you rewriting and rewriting without ever making a commitment -- for no money."

These days, he prefers to stick with writing stories and letting Hollywood come to him, if the interest is there.

His new plan may work out. Since "A Clean Escape" was shot, Kessel says he has been talking to "a major screenwriter" interested in adapting another of his stories.

Not the list to make

As if Cary Public Works head Mike Bajorek wasn't already having a bad week, along comes MSNBC's Keith Olbermann naming Bajorek the second runner-up for Thursday's "Worst Person in the World."

Three "nominees" are ridiculed every weeknight on the 8 p.m. news analysis show "Countdown With Keith Olbermann," in ascending order of bronze (worse), silver (worser -- yes, the show uses "worser") and gold (worst) for stupid statements or deeds.

The nominees are often right-wing pundits such as Ann Coulter and Olbermann's hated rival Bill O'Reilly of Fox News (gold and silver, respectively, this past Thursday).

Stupid criminals, everyday idiots and blundering public officials get theirs too.

Thursday, Bajorek won the bronze for being the man to blame when a Cary family's drinking water taps were found to be hooked up to treated wastewater. MSNBC media relations director Leslie Schwartz says the show picked up the story from an Associated Press story using information from The News & Observer.

Olbermann explained to his audience that Cary's Vinay Jain had been complaining for a long time that his family's drinking water tasted funny.

"He'd been drinking treated wastewater only intended for sprinkling the lawn," Olbermann said with mock-dramatic, rising delivery. After the punch line, he coughed a few times. Bajorek's picture was on screen throughout the brief segment.

Bajorek says he hasn't seen the show; he wasn't even aware of the existence of "Countdown."

"I guess because I've been focused on trying to help these people get their lives together -- get back in the house -- I haven't had a whole lot of time to be watching TV, or really hearing about something like this," he says.

As for the Jains, Bajorek reports they are back in their house, and the water situation has been corrected. The mix-up apparently occurred when someone switched the boxes for treated wastewater and drinking water. Then a plumber came along and hooked them up according to where he was told the boxes would be.

As for being made fun of on a nationally televised program, Bajorek says he's not letting it bother him.

"You know, if this guy [Olbermann] thinks this was a funny story, I guess that's his opinion," he says.

Not everyone working for the Town of Cary shrugged it off, however. Deputy Public Information Officer April Little fired off an e-mail message to MSNBC, disputing details of Olbermann's segment.

"The Town of Cary actually discovered the mix-up between the reclaimed and potable water boxes for two residences being serviced with reclaimed water," the e-mail reads. "If anything, Mike Bajorek and the rest of the Public Works and Utilities Department should be on a 'hero list' for quickly responding to the problem and taking appropriate measures to ensure that other citizens weren't affected by a similar mix-up and that the affected families could once again receive access to the quality potable water that our Town provides."

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