Like commercial broadcast television, cable channels can appear to be a vast wasteland. How many total hours have you spent numbly surfing through channel after channel hoping that something worth watching will be on. It seems that for every channel that has something worth watching, there are five that are completely useless -- fifteen if you have digital cable.

Luckily, the powers that be in New York City mandated that cable companies set aside space for local cable access and pay for networks that would be free and open to the public. From this government mandate, Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) was born. Manhattan Neighborhood Network allows any Manhattan resident who wants to produce their own television program. The other boroughs of the city have their own networks as well.

The shows on local cable access run the gamut. There are a multitude of religious shows that feature the Sunday services of wildly gesticulating preachers. There are cultural programs in every language and news from all corners of the globe. Reggae concerts, protest marches, gay and lesbian talk shows, hippie environmentalists, salsa music, you name it -- they all have a home on MNN, with the big cable companies footing the bill.

One thing that separates New York's cable access shows from most communities around the country is the pornography. Although full penetration is illegal to show on television, there's plenty of pornography -- including graphic hardcore porn that makes it on the air. Robin Byrd's show is perhaps the most well-known cable access pornography, but there are plenty of people who send in their own tapes of them and their girlfriends having sex.

It's fantastic that the cable companies that charge us exorbitant amounts of money to bring us reruns of '7th Heaven' have to shell out to bring us drag queens, radical political fanatics, and unadulterated pornography.

And there's plenty of garbage on MNN also. There are numerous shows that consist only of black men walking around with video cameras filming women's asses. Now I like women's asses as much as the next guy, but the wannabe thugs who produce these shows have no class and these shows are uninspiring. People will also try to sneak commercials for their businesses or services into programs. Some have even used their show as a way to scam aspiring musicians and performers through dummy talent agencies etc.

With such abuses, local cable access TV is in danger of becoming part of the vast wasteland it was invented to counter. Enter the Superblock.

Take 12 of the weirdest and most diverse TV shows and put them together on one night and you'll have the Superblock. Running from 11:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday nights, the Superblock is trying to get viewers interested and involved in ways they haven't before. In fact, the theme of community involvement is the central thread that holds this motley bunch of shows together.

The Superblock is the brainchild of Jay Dedman and Chuck Stern, two MNN employees who are trying to revolutionize cable access television. The Superblock is the first shot fired in the war against the increasingly mundane passivity of television and a call to arms for people who want to get involved in cable access TV.

Texas native Jay Dedman began working his way up among local television stations after graduating from Texas A&M several years ago. He climbed the ladder until landing a job as a producer for CNN. "I ended up hating it," says Jay, who bought a plane ticket and set out for the Congo to make it as a TV freelancer but did not find much success. He came to New York and went to the cable access station to get his own show, but they were hiring that day. "It was fate," says Jay. "I always wanted to work in television and I knew it had to be here."

Last year he helped recruit Chuck Stern, already known at MNN as one of the creators and stars of Roboshithead. Stern, a recent NYU graduate, had wanted to work at the network for a while. His hiring started the effort to create the Superblock. "We fought really hard for it," says Chuck.

Not too many television producers even bother communicating farther than their corporate sponsors. Then again, not too many television personalities are willing to have lunch with their stalkers.

Starting two years ago, Chuck and his co-host Ian at Roboshithead began getting increasingly strange yet very well written emails from a male admirer. He began sending photos of men who resembled them that appeared downloaded from gay pornographic web sites.

"He was trying to out-weird Chuck," says Jay.

The man began contacting Jay also after seeing him on some MNN programs. Jay was quick to be more confrontational with the man, who just as quickly toned down his suggestive emails. Jay even had lunch with the man recently. "He is a watcher that understands what we are trying to do," says Jay. "That's why I liked meeting him."

When Jay and Chuck put together the Superblock, they looked for shows that have been on for two years or more and consistently sought involvement from the viewers.

Shows that the Superblock features include:

Team Spider Television: Punk rock band Team Spider mix punk rock music, politics, poetry, and other New York treats, such as the band's ability to sneak into concerts with their video camera. Team Spider also features Zak, a 75-year-old writer and lyrical madman who performs with the band and hosts the show.

Wild Record Collection: A dancing stuffed bear hosts this music show and provides interesting information and variety for all the music listened to. You will see Snuffles, the adorable stuffed bear and his other animal friends dance to a wide variety of music, ranging from Alice Cooper to Frank Sinatra.

Concrete TV: A well-known public access show that has won commendations from Rolling Stone magazine and seen its format copied repeated, Concrete TV splices sounds and images from all kinds of media. Don't think a sound bite from an old Ronald Reagan film would sound good dubbed over a clip from a gay porno movie? Think again.

The Church of Shooting Yourself: Rik Little has walked the city shooting himself and delivering soulful insights into the problems of life in the city. He's traveled lots of places and has been doing this show for over 10 years. "He's the most famous one among us," says Jay. "He's a man with a vision." Little has won awards and garnered a cult following. Some web sites sell collections of his shows. One of my favorite shows was when he walked about the court buildings of lower Manhattan and joined in the scrum of reporters and camera crews that surrounded Mafia attorney Bruce Cutler. That same show ended with Little lamenting the small stature of the individual when compared with the enormity of the world around and the doomed nature of civilizations -- that makes this part so compelling is that he filmed himself saying this in the plaza of the World Trade Center. If you nave never seen The Church of Shooting Yourself, get your hands on a copy -- it's inspired people to pick up video cameras and document the city around them.

You: Jay co-hosts this call-in show that gets phone calls about any topic imaginable. Within the span of a few minutes, the two field calls from insipid George W. Bush supporters, egg cream enthusiasts, and other random cranks and oddballs. Jay even dated a viewer who arranged for them to have their first (blind) date live on 'You'. The relationship lasted for three months. "That's what I love about television," says Jay. "You can make those connections."

Roboshithead: Roboshithead's most recent film premier was the heavily anticipated 'Cactus Magnet Vomit Dad', which was shot in the Arizona desert. Roboshithead films are a must-see and show that avant-garde humor can find a home on cable access.

Outside my Window: This is an urban nature show that literally is a bird feeder outside someone's window. Be prepared to sit through a half hour of birds eating bird seed, and usually the same kind of birds over and over again. The soundtrack is folk music.

The Goomi Express: A variety show that features a different band each week. The show features live performances and interviews with the bands.

Knit Bootie: A slower-paced version of Concrete TV it seems, but more creepy than captivating. Concrete TV has fast action-packed clips to rock music. Knit Bootie has slower mood music and less conventional film clips. The end of the program that I watched featured a long segment of women being videotaped without their knowledge from above, from either a fire escape or a window.

Chuck and Jay's goal is for the Superblock to spark a more widespread movement of people getting involved in community television. "Television is still virgin territory for new voices and for being able to show your spirit," says Jay. "We want to create a community on television.

On the agenda is to try and get more women involved in producing TV shows for MNN. They are also promoting the Superblock and trying to get more people hooked in to the strange community of shows they've developed.

"We would like other people to gang up and create their own blocks," says Jay. "It will be a failure if it doesn't spark something else."