Saturday, May 30, 2009

We are coming.



I confess, I love this show. No, it has nothing to do with politics, or at least very little. But for the pure entertainment value of it, I love it. I got hooked on Torchwood in the UK. I was on an extended visit with CL reader and political trouble-maker, Rebecca. She hs a serious scifi addiction. Well, it's her TV and she turned on Torchwood. Within the first two minutes I was on my laptop looking up information regarding the series and the stars (I'm compulsive that way, anything that strikes my interest always requires further research).

I was so hooked on the show we arranged to hook Rebecca's cable to the internet so that I could access when on in Europe (that is non-English Europe). I was back for another long visit about half a year later and bought all the first season on DVD, even at the rob-them-blind prices that the BBC charges in the UK for their material, which is quite unfair since the poor Brits have to fund the outfit with taxes to begin with. I watched Season Two on BBC America on cable and then bought it on DVD. And I've been anxiously waiting for Season Three, even if the ending of Season Two pissed me off due to plot development.

They have done some absolutely chilling material and some amazingly moving scenes as well. And there is some rather witty humor involved as well. The drama is good, the acting superb and the casting is perfect. They really go all out for this series. It is far better than Dr. Who, from which this is basically a spin-off. Since I'm on the topic of television I'll list a few shows that I will watch and do enjoy. I don't watch that many and even some of these I'll watch if its one otherwise I can go without.

1. Torchwood, described above.

2. Desperate Housewives. I love the humor in this show and enjoy the plots. It was so roundly condemned by fundamentalists that I assumed it had to be worth watching. I enjoy it.

3. Ugly Betty. When Rebecca and I had our Junk Food Fridays we would sit in front of the TV and indulge in Ugly Betty. It's fun. It's not serious drama, it doesn't have compelling story lines but it's fun and fun is good.

4. The United States of Tara. Toni Collette is brillant playing the multiple personalities of the main character: Tara. I first saw Collette in the 1994 Australian film, Muriel's Wedding. Two years later she was in the wonderful film Cosi. Both of these films are in my collection of videos. I next saw her in About a Boy, which is fine, but not spectacular, in my view. And then she played the mother in The Night Listener. I have the film, mainly because Terry Anderson, who wrote the screenplay was someone I knew. He and Armistead Maupin, who lived around the corner from me, worked on it together. But it was really this television series that showed me how good an actress she is. I enjoy this story on several levels but in the end it all rests on Collette's ability to act in five different roles.

5. Big Love. I confess I've only seen series three but I was impressed. First, the story is far more faithful to truth than most people realize. It basically depicts the polygamous break-away branch of Mormons known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. What impressed me was that the writers really did their homework. One of the main writers is Dustin Black, who was himself raised a Mormon but has since been cured. Black also wrote the screenplay for the excellent film Milk.

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