Posts Tagged tv
He’s odd but I like him, or, sleep-deprived again
Andrew Rilstone offers some commentary on Nu Who by way of Buffy.
*GLEE*
All five seasons of Remington Steele are on Netflix. {adds, adds, adds…}
Remington Steele: dresses like a model, runs like a girl, knows his so-called employee Laura has both the brains and the muscle… and likes it that way. Pierce Brosnan, I liked you better when you were skinny, pale, and unathletic.
Why I hate John Nathan-Turner
upasaka and I watched “The Leisure Hive” over the past two nights. We were looking forward to catching a Fourth Doctor/Romana II episode we hadn’t yet seen, and I can’t say I was unhappy with the ep itself. Tom Baker in red, Lalla Ward provoking pervy schoolgirl fantasies, a strong female guest character, and that hilarious opening shot of the little striped tents and chairs on Brighton Beach, panning around slowly to the TARDIS. Just hearing the l-word in the title pronounced “lehzher” instead of “leezher” gives me a cheap Anglophilic thrill.
But I made the mistake of watching the first of the special features, about John Nathan-Turner’s taking over as producer and the changes he wanted to make. And, frankly, I don’t like those changes. I hate, hate, hate the “updated”, disco-beat, twinkly-stars opening title sequence. I like K9, goofy as he is (although I understand the objections to him as a finicky, difficult prop to work with). And I like Tom Baker. It becomes more and more obvious, as I watch the eps and the special features and hear reminiscences from Baker and other people, that Baker was and is a very genial, even jovial alpha male, the sort who is a benevolent despot and, indeed, a perfect sweetheart as long as he gets his own way. He’d made himself and his own quirks very much the pivot of the show, and John Nathan-Turner wanted to change that. Eventually, Baker bowed out and Davison came in.
The thing is, I love Baker as the Doctor beyond all reason, and I really resented the attitude that Nathan-Turner displayed, in a 1994 interview, of “I know what’s wrong with this show, and now I’m going to fix it!” Of course the Doctor is a role that was created to be passed on from actor to actor; of course Baker would have left the show eventually no matter what. But Nathan-Turner comes across as a smug bastard in that interview, and Baker, still alive and kicking, comes across as a nice old fellow who doesn’t want to speak ill of the dead, no matter what their relations were in life.
I also observe from Nathan-Turner’s IMDb entry that he was gay. Baker is one of the most heterosexual men still alive today; that much straight alpha male may have been hard to deal with.
In any case, I rather liked the episode, more than upasaka did. I think I’m in the mood for more First Doctor now.
Protected: From the Department of Sloth and Lethargy
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A tropical heat wave…
My brain is addled from the heat, but the scale showed a loss of ten pounds this morning, after a week without major carbs. If it weren’t for the sickening heat, I would probably feel great. I really don’t find myself missing grains; I get hungry a lot, but meats, fruit, veggies, good yogurt or cheese do the trick. Over the weekend I ate frequently but in small amounts and drank a lot of water. I even ate a Reese’s Cup yesterday without any apparent effect; it wasn’t horrible, it wasn’t ecstatically wonderful, it staved off the vague nausea I was feeling, and it left me without any particular desire for more of the same.
The heat wave has basically confined us to the bedroom in the evenings, as that’s where the air conditioning is, and somehow, we have misplaced the remotes for both the tv and the DVD player. We can operate the DVD player manually, but the only way to switch the tv to the right band for DVD viewing is through its remote. So instead of watching our Netflix, we wound up with Bones and House last night.
Bones is not a bad show, if you don’t mind seeing fake dead bodies a lot. The title character is the Uber-Scully, so rational and so clueless about pop culture and social interactions that I wondered if she’s supposed to be on the autism spectrum somewhere. I mean, she’s never heard of Mr. Ed the talking horse? This episode revolved around murder at a pony play camp. (For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, well, some folks get a sexual kick out of pretending to be horses. With lots of fancy accessories….) They played this display of sexual fetishism about as straight as one could on tv; Bones the forensic analyst is totally rational and chacun au son goust about the whole thing, and Booth the FBI agent is frank about his “That’s just wrong!” reactions. I find David Boreanaz much more likable as Booth than I ever found him compelling as Angel. I’ve seen a lot of Buffy and a little Angel: The Series, and I am pretty well convinced that Boreanaz is a competent actor who can play comedy pretty well, but he just can’t do Brooding Angst. He’ll never convince me as a tragic romantic hero, but I could like him a lot as Agent Booth (the Anti-Mulder, hee).
This was the first time I got through an episode of House. I know that many people I respect love and adore that show, but I have some very strong medical squicks, and every time I’ve tried to watch House, it hasn’t just ticked my squicks, it’s put a rose in its teeth and flamenco-danced over them. This episode managed not to do so, and so I actually watched the whole thing. Yes, likable cuddly Hugh Laurie is strangely compelling as the misanthropic but brilliant House, limping, unshaven, staring about with uncompromising bloodshot eyes, and dry-swallowing pills by the handful. The minor characters hooked my interest–potential new hires competing for a handful of positions studying and working with House. But I’m not sure I’ll go out of my way to watch it again. I may need some Jeeves & Wooster to cleanse my palate.
I’m slowly reading my way through One Taste: The Journals of Ken Wilber with the happy certainty that I want to buy my own copy and read it again and again. It’s not hugely personal stuff, but the guy did write a book with his wife about her slow decline and death from cancer; he’s kind of covered the personal revelation stuff permanently, as far as I’m concerned. His ideas are exciting me, confirming how I think about some things, challenging me to look more closely at other things I tend to ignore. I will have more to say as I read more of his work.
The abundant rain we got in May has caused a lot of flowers to bloom earlier than usual. The day lilies are coming out, and there are some really splendid hollyhocks around the neighborhood, including one stand that’s a dark purple, almost black. When payday comes on Friday, I’m going to buy a disposable camera and get some pictures to share.
Lunch today consists of pepperoni, raw baby carrots, sliced American cheese, and some fresh pineapple left over from yesterday. I wonder how long I can hold out before eating it. Well, I did get to work early….
