Look at the television screen for one full week. Compared to last week was it
1. better
2. worse
3. much the same
Answer: Much the same
I continue my resistance to The Biggest Loser and do not feel like there is anything missing from my life.
Sunday: Let Freedom Sing: How Music Inspired the Civil Rights Movement ABC2
I was excited to see this was being repeated because I missed it the first time whenever that was. Unfortunately for me, I had a big headache, took two panadol just before it started and managed to miss most of it. Fortunately for me, by some miracle of forethought I had decided to record it. So I actually watched it last night when there was NO MORE TORCHWOOD and therefore Friday night was pretty slim pickings. Anyhoo, long story short, if there’s a music documentary to be had I’ll give it a go, and this was an interesting one. I had goosebumps by the time they got to 1968 and the deaths of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. And Pete Seeger seems like a beautiful, wise and humble elder statesman of the folk, protest music scene. An interview with Bob Dylan would have been nice but we know that’s unlikely. Watch Scorcese’s No Direction Home if you want to see the man speak about himself. I highly recommend that too. Most interesting was that it took the history right up to the present day (well almost present day) with some thoughtful commentary from Chuck D. I have new respect for the man.
Then in some channel flipping I found I was missing Bones with guest appearance by Mr Stephen Fry. I have inadvertently developed an attraction to Bones despite earlier misgivings, but frequently forget when it’s on.
Monday: The Big Bang Theory
You either love this show (me) or you hate it (some other people). The Jinxster and I had a retrospective mini marathon on Thursday evening complete with Thai Takeaway eaten in the lounge (almost like they do in the show). We are Fans. That is all. (Bazinga is implied….HAHAHAHA)
Tuesday: Big Love
Oh dear, in the space of one episode Ana became a wife and then asked for a divorce. And Bill’s shady business dealings continue to cause problems for him. Leetle bit too much melodrama this week, but fas-ki-nating nonetheless.
Wednesday: Spicks and Specks
I gave it another go, after my Spicks and Specks reservations from last week’s return. The reservations remain. They are starting to stuff around too much inbetween games and questions. There’s no time for that in a half hour show peoples. Please don’t make me leave you the way I had to leave Good News Week. Make it sharp, snappy, and about the music questions. Please!!!
Thursday: The Seven Ages of Rock
Well it presented itself as the Age of American Indie Rock but really the whole thing was about Kurt Cobain. Kurt, Kurt and more Kurt. It was like there was no independent music before or after Kurt in America. Many would beg to differ I imagine. Don’t get me wrong. I bought Nevermind and the other album when they came out, but this was just too skewed for my liking. For instance, surely if Nirvana acknowledged they were actually following the path tread by the Pixies there should have been more Pixies? Just a thought.
Friday: I came home from work and watched The Gourmet Farmer that had been recorded the evening before. Sadly I fell asleep for an hour on the lounge, but through the magic of digital recording I was able to watch the last fifteen minutes later in the evening. I cannot believe I spent Two Whole Weeks on holiday in Cygnet and was not aware of the Gourmet Farmer’s existence. Apparently according to our friends down there, he just lives not far from them. Perhaps that could have been mentioned last November? Oh well, another trip to Tasmania must be planned.
Saturday: I ate lunch while watching Breaking Bad. Walt has finally revealed his cancer to the family. And Jesse tried to reconcile with his parents. As you might imagine neither scenario went particularly well. Still, there was less blood and guts than previous episodes which was a pleasant surprise while I ate my mushrooms on toast.
18 Comments »
Don’t feel too bad, I live here and I didn’t know The Gourmet Farmer was here!!! I am all in the past: lots of Burn Notice. I saw S&S and I agree, Waaaay too much in joking around that I am not interested in.
I will be having a BBT-athon soon as I bought MrsDrWho seasons 1&2 for Christmas!!! Yay for me!!!
On The Tribal Moind he is talking about AITOOWGTs (which stands for “Am I The Only One Who Gets This?”)I think I may find a lot of use for this acronym!!!!
That is a good acronym indeed. I think I could use it daily!
I never tried Burn Notice. I know others like it.
But as a facebook friend kindly noted, I am yet to watch Twin Peaks so I am WAY in the past.
I haven’t ever watched Twin Peaks either. I have gaps in my TV watching that coincide with where I was living. Not all stations reached everywhere on our tiny but hilly island. So if you lived in one area, no Star Trek. Or Dallas. Or Twin Peaks. That’s weird too!!
Growing up here in Bundaberg means gaps as well because until I was about 16 we only had Two Channels…the ABC and SEQ (which was really Channel 7 but would sometimes show other programs)…so no Dallas for me or Star Trek either.
It was also exciting to go to Brisbane and watch TV at my grandparents’ place as they had 4 channels.
I don’t feel I missed much by not watching Dallas. But Twin Peaks! I–and my entire group of friends–were seriously obsessed with that. It was basically all we talked about at school the day after it aired.
(Plus, it meant I slept with a nightlight on for, ooh, about five years afterwards. Damn show.)
I’m very partial to Burn Notice, though horribly behind now. It’s light and fun and charming.
Plus, did you ever read any of the Lovejoy books, Wendy? Or watch the TV series, with the fabulous Ian McShane? The fun in those books was when Lovejoy explained the little tricks to faking antiques (and then selling them as real antiques).
Burn Notice is similar–the storylines are fun enough, but what’s really fun is learning how to build counter-surveillance equipment with stuff you bought at Radio Shack, or how to escape from a house that’s surrounded by the Russian Mafia.
I anticipate that this will come in handy in my future life as a glam girl spy.
Hmmm…Burn Notice sounds like extremely valuable viewing. I may have to seek that out. Is it a modern day MacGyver?
I don’t think I’ve read any Lovejoy books or saw the TV series. They do sound like my kind of thing though. Was it similar to Minder?
I realise I have a huge gap in my TV knowledge due to missing Twin Peaks. I am quite a scaredy cat though but perhaps now I am older I could watch it without nightmares. At the time I was more of a Northern Exposure girl. But as my fb friend kindly pointed out to me it is possible to like more than one show. 😉
I’ve never watched MacGyver, but (based on my Pierre Bayardian knowledge that awareness of a text’s position in the cultural library is all that is necessary to comment on it) I think the key difference would be plausibility in context.
MacGyver could do anything with, basically, a rubber band and packet of toothpicks, yes?
Michael in Burn Notice isn’t like that. He’s a highly trained government operative–a spy–who has been “burned” (or, basically, blacklisted). This is all first-episode stuff, no spoilers.
So what he does is plausible within that context–it makes sense that he or his ex-IRA ex-girlfriend would know how to cook homemade C4. It’s not something that would occur to a sessional academic living in Brisbane, though, so it’s all fun.
(Nick also tells me that, from what he’s read, it’s based on a real guy, who is a consulting producer on the show. More plausibility.)
And, yes, Lovejoy is similar to Minder. I’d recommend the TV show over the books, because in the books he has a tendency to deal with lippy women by smacking them around. It’s all quite casually done and distressing. There’s no trace of that in the TV show, where he’s a much gentler kind of loveable rogue.
Plus, Ian McShane! Al Swearengen! If he can make Al Swearengen sympathetic, he can make any character sympathetic.
Lovejoy the TV show sounds a bit of alright. I must keep my eye out for repeats or cheap dvds I guess.
My knowledge of Macgyver is the same of yours but I was raised on a diet of implausible action series – The A Team, Knight Rider and its many imitators (StreetHawk, Airwolf, Magnum PI) so I feel like I have watched it a lot even though I haven’t.
Would you say Burn Notice has the same connection to reality then as Bones does to Kathy Reichs? If so I can probably manage that. I’m looking for more fun television at the moment. There’s not enough of it about.
No, I’d say it’s more connected to reality than that. Nick tells me to say that “the tradecraft is apparently significantly more real.”
Bones and what they do in Bones is magic, not science–like in latter CSI.
Burn Notice is grounded in reality–albeit a reality that requires you to have a bit of additional knowledge.
Bones is all “Let me enhance this photograph of a parking tag taken through the windshield of a car by an extremely low-resolution security camera from 500 metres away, and we’ll see it perfectly clearly.”
Burn Notice is more “If you’re trapped in a house, try kicking out the part of the wall by a wall-mounted air conditioner, because the structure will have been weakened there by the installation.”
That’s what I mean by plausibility.
But for all that, it’s light. There’s little to distress you. If you see Russian mobsters in Burn Notice, you know no one’s getting a drill to the kneecaps. And it’s funny. And charming.
Plus, it has Bruce Campbell.
Aha…I see…and thank you Nick!
Funny, charming, Bruce Campbell, no drills to the kneecaps…all sounds good to me.
I always thought it was just me with my severely inadequate knowledge of all things scientific that didn’t understand Bones. But now that I know it’s magical I can watch it and feel less inadequate. 🙂
Oh, Bones is totally magical–at least with the gadgetry and (I suspect but can’t be sure) with the instantaneous testing. Like the DNA testing in CSI, where it never, ever takes 6-8 weeks and there’s never a queue of previous samples.
The forensic anthropology might be accurate in Bones but nothing else is.
If you want something else light and fun (in addition to Burn Notice, which you might have noticed I’m recommending quite heavily), try Psych, with Dule Hill (from West Wing) and some other guy whose name I’ve forgotten, but who looks a lot like Zach Braff.
It’s police procedural, but insane–the protagonist pretends to be a psychic to help the police with their investigations (and to meet girls). Very light, very funny, and with the added bonus of Corbin Bernson.
Or Pushing Daisies, which defies description (well, the description is “piemaker brings people back from the dead, briefly”) but is utterly delightful and so, so beautiful.
I’ve meaning to get to Pushing Daisies for ages but haven’t made it yet. A goal is just what I need.
I loved Dule Hill in the West Wing so that sounds good too. Corbin Bernson is back on TV. Pretends to by psychic? Is it a spoof of Medium? If so, sounds good and why not?! 🙂
Not a spoof of anything, as far as I know. He pretends to be psychic so as to not be arrested for knowing too much about crimes. Very charming and offbeat.
Sounds good.
Although I would like to see a spoof of Medium as well.
McGyver is still fabulous. Loved every moent of it though now it looks dated. I went to school in Book Week as McGyver (I was a teacher!!) Psych is excellent too.It is kind of Monk meets The Mentalist. Burn Notice has that wonderful laconic voice over that I love too. I do feel Michael really does give handy hints if I ever need to make a bug or tail a car. Bruce Campbell is always great and so is Gabrielle Anwar who was just in Press Gang- we’re up to season 4, the last, now. I agree, all the CSIs and Boneses etc are very ‘magical’.
Lovejoy- happy memories. What about Hazell?? With Nicholas Ball???
Hazell?? I don’t know that one either.
Sigh….so much TV so little time.
Gabrielle Anwar is great, and I have much residual love for her from her stint as Sam, bitchy head of Graphics in later Press Gang, but I do wish she would (firstly ) put on some weight (just a little), and (secondly) stop mucking around with her lips.
Otherwise, I think she’s divine.
But, 2paw, did you mean you’re up to season 4 of Press Gang at last? Because, if not, you know there’s a fifth season?
I love it when I find anyone from Press Gang in a program!