Well, April showers have given over to May flowers. The sun is shining all shinily, the birds are nesting noisily, and the cats are trolling hungrily -- what better to do with your time than read your computer about the television I am watching?
We are now in the lacuna between the Writer's Guild Strike and the Actor's Guild Strike. Woe to the writing actors, such as Ben Browder or Tina Fey, who may get a double whammy in one seven-month period. Several of the shows that I was recommending last fall and winter are back on the air, and several have been pushed until next fall. Some I've given up on, some I've started watching for the first time. Some I have watched throughout, but never mentioned.
Doctor Who. I'm actually writing this entry because of Doctor Who. We watched this week's episode last night, and I always continue in a little hum of pleasure for a day or two following.
I don't recommend Doctor Who to anyone who hasn't seen it before -- I think it's rather an acquired taste. However, for those of you who watched and enjoyed the Tom Baker Doctor in the mid-70's but haven't tried the latest incarnation (you know who you are), I want to encourage you to check out the new show. The creator, Russell T. Davies, is drawing from lessons learned from Buffy -- e.g., It's All About the Pain, Character is Paramount But Story is More So, using season-long arcs, and not least, using comedy to counterpoint the horror. That said, it's not as tightly woven as Buffy, but it's a good thing -- I am growing almost as fond of the marvelous inconsistencies and off the wall hops and skips of Doctor Who as I ever was of BtVS.
We watch them with Boy-Child, who then has nightmares all night afterwards, and gleefully looks forward to the next episode. Which is to say, the show still manages to be aimed for children, while having a broader appeal (it doesn't talk down at all). There is a new spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures, which is aimed at younger children yet -- we have TiVo'd this, but haven't watched any episodes yet.
It airs Friday nights on SciFi Channel (in the USA). I would recommend starting with the DVDs of the preceding three seasons (they're on Netflix) -- the first with the incomparable Christopher Eccleston, and the other two with the irrepressible David Tennant. Each season is arguably better than the last (although some fans still prefer the Eccleston doctor to Tennant). Last season had a couple of episodes that were little gems of science fiction short stories, as good as anything I've ever seen on television, almost completely devoid of the Doctor Who mythology.
For other current fans, what do you think of the new companion, Donna Noble? I like that I don't like her, IYKWIM, and it seems obvious that they are playing with that tension between the Doctor and her. She reminds me of Tegan, one of the 80's companions.
Battlestar Galactica. Okay, another reinvented show from the time of my youth. BSG, as it's known, is in its fourth and last season -- remarkably, the creators are doing the right thing and bringing a show to a natural end before it peters out into repetition and boredom.
I have been a fickle fan of BSG -- avidly watched the mini-series that started it off and most of the first season, until I got worn down by the relentless negativity and doom of the show. (I mean - the Big Bad are superhuman robots, looking like humans, smarter and stronger than humans, who are cloned by the thousands at need! It's a Big Bad with no vulnerabilities, and virtually no hope that our human heroes will win.) I saw none of the second season, but coincidentally happened across two of the three pivotal shows of the third season, and now I'm back in the fold watching diligently to the end.
To counter the gloom and doom of the show is intriguing commentary on current politics and military practices, good production values, acting and writing, and the feeling that the story is actually going somewhere new for SciFi on television. It just might be possible that there can be a happy ending -- can they pull things around so that we want the robots to win? Or that there is a future where the robots and the humans can coexist in harmony?
30 Rock. I only started watching this because TiVo recorded it for me as a suggestion. Now I am a faithful fan. I can't say much different from the critical acclaim-- Alec Baldwin is hysterical as the Vice President of Programming and Microwave Ovens; Tina Fey expertly updates the Mary Tyler Moore stereotype of "single working woman" to the new century. I love the supporting cast, although I don't know any of the actor's names.
Guilty Pleasures
I don't want to talk about these shows, except to say that somehow my TiVo is recording them and so, well, I guess I need to watch them. Yes, that's it, I need to please the machine.
Moonlight. If I don't start an episode of this vampire romance, I don't miss it, but once I press that Play button, I'm lost for 40 minutes. The writing is so bad! The story is so soap-operaish hokey! But the stars are so sincere! And pretty! Just to update you, Mick the broody vampire has found a way to be "temporarily" human (I don't know how long it lasts). So now he can eat real food, and I guess consummate his love with his beloved Beth. Unfortunately the course of true love is always at least 22 episodes long, and she's in a bad state right now, grieving for the boyfriend she had been thinking of leaving for Mick -- who was murdered (the boyfriend, not the vampire). It turns out, awwww! he was about to ask her to marry him, so his memory is haunting her (not literally, at least, not yet so far as I know) and that puts a damper on her responsiveness during Mick's temporary humanity.
Bones. I've only actually seen two episodes of Bones -- the premiere, three seasons ago, and last week's episode. I don't like the woman ("Bones") particularly, but she and Boreanaz have a really nice chemistry. And it's a surprising pleasure to watch Boreanaz act. I mean, he was always improving throughout Buffy and Angel, but that boy has developed some chops.
Gossip Girl. This is another show I've watched a couple of episodes due to Buffy alums. Michelle Trachtenburg, who played Buffy's sister Dawn, has just joined this "Sex in the City meets Dawson's Creek" show as a Big Bad. The show won't hold my interest for long -- it's about very very rich teenagers at a private school in New York, and therefore has nothing of interest to capture my attention (it's humbling when you realize you're so old the fathers of the gorgeous hunks are more attractive to you than the protagonists). But I've been surprised at how much I've enjoyed the two episodes I've seen.
Lost. I'm not such a fan that I worry about the mythology of the show. I'm just enjoying the ride, not thinking about it much when I'm not watching. For that matter, I don't think I've seen last week's episode yet.
Gray's Anatomy. The Writer's Strike was good for GA -- they've got their groove back. I kinda wish they would do a Battlestar Galactica and close out the story -- maybe not this season, but next or the year following. Some of the stories they've told have arced nicely, and it would be good to see them brought to a pleasant close, not dragged out for as long as the advertisers will pay for it.
Off the air at present
These favorites are all on hiatus right now, but they have all been renewed, but won't show for some time. Pushing Daisies, starring the ever-more present Lee Pace (he's in about three movies this spring, all performances well-received). Life, which is the show I most miss (aside from Doctor Who between seasons). It has not shown in any reruns, but it will return in the fall, I hope as strong as ever. Chuck. What can I say, but "Chuck."
And you have entirely missed out on....
New Amsterdam. If this gets renewed (seven episodes aired this spring) I'll write about it next fall.
2 comments:
One show that I watched before the strike, that I am recomending to everyone, and that has just come back on (tonight) is Women's Murder Club. Since it has just come back, I cannot say if there are any changes (beyond those published) as a result of the strike, but who knows. What little I have seen shows that there have been some changes, and so we'll see.
Another show that I am also recommending, if you can get it, is Torchwood over on BBC America. Unlike American shows, Torchwood was not stalled by the writers strike, and so it has just ended its season. It's both a spin-off of Doctor Who, and in it's way a more modern version of Doctor Who. Doctor Who was initially created back in the 1960's, and so even the modern version with David Tennant carries along some baggage from back then, especially the Daleks and Cybermen and their pre-Star Wars phoniness.
As far as Donna Noble, the character, is concerned, she seems to be to "pushy" for my tastes. Both Rose and Martha (among the modern companions) were more equals, whereas Donna tries to dominate the Doctor. No I do not like her, and maybe that is the idea.
Finally, what in heck does IYKWIM mean?
Mister Invisible
IYKWIM: If You Know What I Mean.
I don't get BBC America, so I have only seen a few Torchwood episodes on DVD through Netflix (first season only). I have friends who love it. I'm not bowled over by what I've seen.
That said, from what I've heard about the content and quality of the second season of Torchwood, I am looking forward to that coming out on DVD, and I intend to watch that season more thoroughly.
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