Ah, sweet redemption. Nestled in a technology park minutes outside of Minneapolis, television's most brilliant "screen saver" awaits. Mystery Science Theater 3000 aired Saturday nights on the Sci-Fi channel, and it was Minnesota's saving grace.

After news of my Duluth exile took hold, I moved swiftly through Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's "five stages of grief." Shock. Denial. Mourning. Reserving a U-Haul. But true acceptance came when I realized that the MST3K Info Club, which I'd recently joined, had a Minnesota address! My friend Dan, who had mercilessly trounced Minnesota as a state of ill repute, suddenly turned an unbecoming avocado hue. It was the color of sheer envy--for I had an appointment for a studio tour. And he, stuck in Michigan, did not.

My exile was all made worthwhile when I later interviewed Mary Jo Pehl, who played MST3K's "head villainess in charge," Mrs. Pearl Forrester. (She's a fabulous and funny sister, who's rather insightful, too!) My Minnesota experience ended with a second studio tour. This time I was accompanied by a humbled Dan, whose complexion finally restored its original tea-rose blush. We posed for Polaroids with puppet castmembers Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot. We climbed aboard the "Satellite of Love" (the show's official spacecraft). And Mary Jo Pehl herself kindly served me a wine glass brimming with the studio's finest tap water, soothing my ill-timed coughing fit. Sigh.