I Ain't Bothered

This Catherine Tate sketch is hilarious...(at least I think it is)

Blink

This series' (season's) Doctor-lite episode of Doctor Who turned out to be great. Not only was it better than Love and Monsters (the Doctor-lite episode from series 2), but it was a good episode in its own right. The actors and the story carried the episode well. There was enough of the Doctor that you did not miss him too much and still knew you were watching Doctor Who. Here is a clip for those of you with no BBC1 access:



In case you did not see Love and Monsters, here is the trailer so you can get a feel for it:

Doctor Who?

Caution: This entry might be a smidge on the geeky side. If you would like to maintain the super cool image that you have of me, do not continue reading. On the other hand, geek is in this year, so read on :).

So, I am really enjoying the new Doctor Who series. Until recently, I did not watch because I thought the remake could not be as good as the original. I was so wrong!! I saw one episode on my way to the UK in April and I have been hooked ever since. I have watched all of the third series so far and have also watched the first and second this past week.


The most recent two episodes were among the best. Very dramatic and well done! I recommend to everyone. If you don't currently have access, it should be on SciFi later this year.

Anyway, if you have seen it...or even if not...let's have a fun poll to get some participation going! I will add my thoughts after others have contributed. Or just later this week if no one joins in :).

1. The Ninth Doctor or the Tenth?

2. Rose or Martha?

3. The best episode?

Let me know what you think!!!

Special Bonus: Great Doctor Who Quotes

'He’s like fire and ice and rage... He’s like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun… He’s ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe... and... he’s wonderful.' - Family of Blood

"I'm The Doctor. And if you don't like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority: there isn't one. It stops with me." - New Earth

"The Doctor: (offering Rose to travel with him in the TARDIS) You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep or you could go… anywhere.

Rose: Is it always this dangerous?

The Doctor: Yep." - Rose

"The Doctor: (as he and Rose are trapped by The Gelth) I saw the fall of Troy. World War Five. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I’m going to die in a dungeon. In Cardiff! " - The Unquiet Dead [Side Note: I really enjoyed Cardiff. It is a fun town. See photos here.]

"Rose: Oh my God they're rats, dozens of rats, vacuum packed rats.
The Doctor: And you decided to scream.
Mickey: It took me by surprise.
The Doctor: Like a little girl.
Mickey: It was dark, I was covered in rats.
The Doctor: Nine, maybe ten years old, I'm seeing pigtails, frilly skirt... " - School Reunion

"The Doctor: (to a Clockwork droid) Ohhoho, brilliant! It's you! You're my favourite, you are, you're the best! You know why? 'Cause you're so thick! You're Mr Thick Thick Thickity Thick Face from Thicktown, Thickania. And so's your dad." - The Girl in the Fireplace

"The Doctor: If I kill you, I kill her. (The Beast laughs) Except that implies, in this big grand scheme of gods and devils, that she’s just a victim. But I’ve seen a lot of this universe. I’ve seen fake gods and bad gods and demigods and would-be gods. And out of all that, out of that whole pantheon, if I believe in one thing, just one thing… I believe in her." - The Satan Pit

"Elton: So, there you go. Turns out I’ve had the most terrible things happen. And the most brilliant things. And sometimes… well, I can’t tell the difference. They’re all the same thing. They’re… just me. You know, Stephen King said once, he said ‘salvation and damnation are the same thing’. And I never knew what he meant. But I do now. Cos the Doctor might be wonderful but… thinking back, I was having such a special time. Just for a bit. I had this nice little gang (brief clip of ‘musical L.I.N.D.A.’) and they were destroyed. It’s not his fault. Maybe that’s what happens when you touch the Doctor. Even for a second. I keep thinking about Rose and Jackie, and how much longer before they pay the price." - Love and Monsters

Heroes

It has been a while since I reminded everyone of my mild television obsession, but this is special occasion. On Monday, the Heroes hiatus will be over and we will get to enjoy that last episodes of the season uninterrupted. This has been a great new show that I have quite enjoyed. Of course, judging by the huge ratings I am not alone on this band wagon. If you have missed it, I hear that all of the episodes are available to watch for free on NBC.com until the next episode airs. Better hurry! [Don't bother if you are outside of the US, though - it is blocked.]

If you get really into it, NBC also has graphic novels and an interactive feature that only works while the show is on the air. Of course, being in Hong Kong, I can't actually take advantage of this but it looks like it could be fun. Anything to try to beat the TiVo.

If you get even more into it, there are a wide variety of fan sites, including Heroes Wiki which I hear is good and a podcast from the Tenth Wonder.

American Idol Fun

I don't watch America Idol, but I know that evidently many people do (by "evidently many" I mean about 10% of the population). I even read that Condy loves her some Idol. Although I don't watch it, I do appreciate the humor of this article: American Idol - Vote for the Worst - TV - New York Times. If you do watch, you can check out the website and decide if you want to vote for the worst.

Television, TV, the "Tube"...

So many things have been said about television since it entered popular culture 50 or 60 odd years ago. Here are a few of my favorites:

I wish there were a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There's a knob called "brightness," but that doesn't work. ~Author Unknown

Television: A medium - so called because it is neither rare nor well done. ~Ernie Kovacs

The publishers and others should quit worrying about losing customers to TV. The guy who can sit through a trio of deodorant commercials to look at Flashgun Casey or swallow a flock of beer and loan-shark spiels in order to watch a couple of fourth-rate club fighters rub noses on the ropes is not losing any time from book reading. ~Raymond Chandler, 1946

The television, that insidious beast, that Medusa which freezes a billion people to stone every night, staring fixedly, that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little. ~Ray Bradbury, The Golden Apples of the Sun

Television was not intended to make human beings vacuous, but it is an emanation of their vacuity. ~Malcolm Muggeridge

Your cable television is experiencing difficulties. Please do not panic. Resist the temptation to read or talk to loved ones. Do not attempt sexual relations, as years of TV radiation have left your genitals withered and useless. ~Matt Groening, The Simpsons

The smallest bookstore still contains more ideas of worth than have been presented in the entire history of television. ~Andrew Ross

Art is moral passion married to entertainment. Moral passion without entertainment is propaganda, and entertainment without moral passion is television. ~Rita Mae Brown

Television: chewing gum for the eyes. ~Frank Lloyd Wright

Clearly, all of these learned intellectuals (exclude the Simpsons quote for purposes of this discussion) have realized that they are too smart and too good to truly enjoy television. They see it as a meaningless opiate of the masses. In their eyes, everyone who watches and enjoys TV is somehow mentally impaired, not capable of higher order thought - and the situation is only made worse by the hours of shows they are absorbing. I cannot say that I completely disagree with this sentiment. Those who spend their life in front of Jerry Springer reruns might not be the sharpest knives in the drawer, so to speak, but that does not make TV all bad. TV is great for relaxing and for having some exposure to what the masses seem to find entertaining. You can't be a snobby intellectual 24/7 - it makes you boring and painful to those around you. Everyone needs an escape from the ivory tower. To take a break from some of the (hopefully) more thoughtful material that I may blog about, I present:

TV Shows I Watch/Like and Why (in no particular order)

• Heroes - How do you not love a comic book put up on the small screen? I am hoping that the wide variety of characters will keep it interesting for many seasons to come. It is great so far! They have saved the cheerleader, but have they saved the world? I am waiting for the new episode to I do not know yet.


• Gilmore Girls - Alas, we are in the last season of Gilmore Girls. It is no longer at its peak, but I will keep watching to see how it all turns out.
  

• Medium - While I find it questionable that the main dead-person-seeing character is in fact based on a real dead-person-seeing person (as I believe is the premise of the show), I am still entertained by Allison's reactions to the dead and the many ways that they communicate with her. Conveniently, she can use her skills to solve a wide variety of cases for the district attorneys office.
  
• Ghost Whisperer - It is kind of like Party of Five meets the Sixth Sense. You may think this show too much like Medium (dead-person-seeing main characters being a significant similarity), but they have a totally different vibe. Also, people do not generally get arrested in GW. Instead, the families/friends of the dearly departed deal amazingly well with the crazy lady telling them that she is talking to dead people. As I recall, only a very small proportion actually think she is crazy and cannot be won over in the end. I am not sure about the additions of Jay Mohr and Camryn Manheim to the cast this season, but I will hold out to see how it goes.
  
  
  
  

  

• Supernatural - Ah, the WB (now the CW)...it may not be the highest quality TV around, but it certainly is entertaining. Supernatural pulls our every standard urban legend they can think of and is just fun to watch. On this one, I even listen to the podcast recap sometimes. I cannot say that I recommend it, but it is definitely an interesting insight into how some people choose to spend their time.

• Law & Order (all of them) - The original, CI, SVU - they are all good in different ways. Of the three, I would rank the original in third place so far this season. They have had a good run, but they need to spice it up a bit. But still, the L&O franchise is strong. I like to watch the new episodes and I like the reruns. Before you judge me, read this article about power women watching L&O reruns. Need I say more?
  

• CSI (all of them) - In this case, we have Las Vegas, New York, and Miami. I would rank them in that order. At first, I could not bear to watch Miami, but it is growing on me. At this point, I am just stuck waiting for Horatio (David Caruso) to actually face someone straight on. It is both unnerving and unnatural to watch him going episode after episode addressing people with his shoulder pointed at them rather than facing them.
  

• Cold Case - I don't actually know why I watch this show. It is formulaic and I am pretty sure the target market is senior citizens. The episodes have great soundtracks, but that does not really explain it. I guess it is because you get a glimpse of the dead person at the end and the detective almost looks like she sees them - reminiscent of Medium and GW just enough to be interesting?


• Without a Trace - Another one that I cannot quite explain. It is not great, but I enjoy it and in the end that is all that matters.


• The Amazing Race - People yelling at each other and travel - a winning combination.
  
• The Office - This show is hilarious (at least most of the time). That is all there is to it.
  
• Scrubs - Just a funny show that does not take itself too seriously.
  
  Dexter - If you have not seen this bizarre show on Showtime, you should try to catch some reruns. In a nutshell, it is about a serial killer who might not really be such a bad guy after all.
  








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• Monk - I like it. It makes me laugh. It is like a kinder, gentler Law & Order.
  




• Psych - I laugh every time I watch this show. The idea of a fake psychic cracks me up, particularly because I am also entertained by the "real" psychic shows (see above re: Medium and Ghost Whisperer).



• House - This show is consistently entertaining, although I have found that House has been a bit of a jerk this season. A little to much drama for my taste - they can save all that and just get back to the show, in my opinion.
  
• Survivor - Wes makes me watch it.
  
• Numb3rs - They can make anything about math. I love it...and so educational.

To sum up, I like some funny shows, a very limited number of reality shows (you can keep American Idol and Dancing with the Stars), lots of dramas about dead people or missing people, and a small sampling of the CW offerings. Also, in putting it in writing I realize that I watch quite a few hours of TV a week. In the future, I will have to summarize some books I have read lately or other non-TV-watching activities just to prove that my brain is in fact not on its way to turning to mush. [And I also watch Family Guy, the Simpsons and Bones but the list was just getting so long that it was starting to be embarrassing. I can quit anytime.]

For completeness, I also offer for your consideration Shows I Used to Watch (but am now over)

• The Apprentice
• Smallville
• One Tree Hill
• Lost (mostly over this - I might watch some of the new season just to make sure)
• Las Vegas
• ER (although I hear the new season is good)
  

And finally....Shows I Miss

• Angel
• Charmed
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Arrested Development
• Futurama
• The X-Files