T.V. this week...

I only half-watched Law and Order: Criminal Intent on Sunday. Not a huge boxing fan, so the story didn't interest me. Oh, well. The Logan episodes are usually not as good as the Goren episodes, anyway!

I am officially old.

I remember this stuff. "In the News"- a news brief for kids that aired on CBS on Saturday mornings in the 70s and early 80s. That theme still gives me the creeps!


About Jimmy Carter(1977):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zav4f8MgHHk&feature=related

About Hiroshima(1985- 40th anniversary of the bombing):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESCRnPurevQ&feature=related

More kid stuff- my favorite show in 1979-1980: 3-2-1 Contact!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmQWtGn889E&feature=related

Hey You Guys! The Electric Company- the opening I remember (from 1977):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFYMijdQ_sA&feature=related

Wow!

I mentioned the HBO movie Countdown to Looking Glass in this post on my movie blog last year:
http://kiramovies.blogspot.com/2007/10/nuke-your-neighbor-wwiii-film-sampler.html

I complained that it wasn't available on DVD, because I wanted to see it again. Fortunately for me, a kind soul has posted it at Google Video!

Since it was a made for cable movie, I thought my discussion belonged here instead of the other blog.

As I watch it again, I realize that it actually scared me more than The Day After did (but not as much as Threads). Part of it was the fact that the film's scenarios were very realistic, both then and likely now. I was only about 12 when it first aired on HBO, but I watched the news and had a pretty good idea about what was going on in the world.

The fake newscasts were realistic. The use of a ticking clock over title cards saying "Day One", "Day Two", etc., was a nice touch. And the final scene of the Emergency Broadcast System/Emergency Action Notification activation is chilling.

Doctor Who: The Stolen Earth

Boy, I'm glad I didn't miss this one. Since this was part one of the season finale (part two, Journey's End, airs next week), I won't go into a lot of detail. But wow! That was cool. Earth and many other planets are stolen- ripped from their orbits and taken away. It's the Daleks again- and their Master, Davros, is determined to wipe out everything. And The Doctor can't help them- until his former Companions find him. And Rose Tyler returns from her parallel Earth!

Nice little bits of Torchwood- Gwen is shown talking to Rhys on the phone, there's a subtle hint of Jack and Ianto's relationship (Ianto is jealous of someone Jack mentions having flirted with- "Strictly professional".), and Tosh and Owen's heroics of Exit Wounds are briefly mentioned. *is sad again!* And Martha Jones got a promotion, and was working in New York!

Well, color me relieved!

Torchwood next season has been picked up by BBC America.

http://www.buddytv.com/articles/torchwood/torchwood-season-3-coming-to-b-21494.aspx

There was concern that it might not be because of the five long episode format, but they would be stupid to not carry it.

Meanwhile, season two will be available in the U.S. on September 16!



Hooray for Torchy-Wood!

Law and Order: CI

"Vanishing Act". Not the greatest episode, but it was entertaining. Creepy start with magician who had been buried alive for a stunt ending up dead in another magician's act. Some neat twists, such as the tunnel/safe room. Guest star Christopher Lloyd was a bit wasted. His character was simply a red herring (planned by the real killer), and he disappeared from the episode. That was a real vanishing act! :p

The night before, I caught a CI I'd only seen the ending of- "Please Note We are No Longer Accepting Letters of Recommendation from Henry Kissinger." Great title! Good story, too. I never knew that people would literally kill to get their kids into an exclusive pre-school...Even if I hadn't seen the end before, I would have figured out the killer. But that's all right. It was still fun to watch.

I also watched some older episodes of both CI and SVU yesterday- USA network had a marathon. Ah, the good old days of SVU. No multiple stories going off in ridiculous directions. No character assassinations, and Munch was more like he was on Homicide. Sigh.

Doctor Who: Turn Left

What would have happened if Donna Noble had never met The Doctor? This excellent episode is all about that- she visits a fortune teller and in the process changes her past (turns right instead of left). Everything changes- the Doctor is dead, London is destroyed (by the spaceship Titanic), the Adipose reduce fifth of the U.S. population to blobs of fat, and so on. Rose Tyler appears from her parallel world to help set things right- sending Donna back to the right time so she would make the left turn. The alternate Donna dies, but Rose sends the Doctor a message though her. Bad Wolf. The Doctor realizes that the universe is in trouble...

I loved this episode! It shows how important Donna is in this universe, despite her doubts about herself. The Doctor-less future was frightening- especially with the mushroom cloud over London. Nice to see Rose back for a bit (which explains her appearance in Partners in Crime). Next week- The Doctor calls back his former companions, including Sarah Jane Smith, Martha Jones, and Captain Jack Harkness to help save the universe. Ianto and Gwen will also be there! Can't wait.

Emmy nominations!

The 2008 Prime Time Emmy nominations are out.

http://www.imdb.com/features/emmys/2008/emmys

The awesome: Lost and House both nominated for Best Drama Series! Hugh Laurie nominated for Best Actor in a Drama! Michael Emerson (Ben Linus) nominated for Supporting Actor for Lost!

The Bad- a serious lack of sci-fi. Lost doesn't really count. And the rest of the House cast was ignored as usual.

The WTF? The Andromeda Strain nominated for Best Miniseries? You have to be kidding me...but at least it will be trounced by John Adams.

And a surprise- despite the mediocre season of Law and Order: Special Vicitims Unit, Mariska Hargitay was nominated for Best Actress. I love her to death, but this year there wasn't anything special about her performances. She's already won once! And if they're going to nominate her, Chris Meloni deserves a Best Actor nod, too.

I'd love to see House win, but it won't. Mad Men already won the Golden Globe, and that's usually a good indication of who will win the Emmy.

Summer television, continued...

Doctor Who isn't the only show I keep missing. For some reason, I keep forgetting to watch Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Those are the only two shows I watch that have new episodes in the summer!

I did remember to watch Criminal Intent last night, though. "Reunion" was pretty good, though I could see the ending coming. Pretty cool to see Joan Jett on T.V., even if she did get killed off in the teaser!

I guess I'm still trying to blot out last season- I couldn't stand Alicia Witt, so I avoided all of the Logan episodes. Now that Julianne Nicholson is back as Wheeler, I can watch again.

Still watching T.V.!

Mostly on DVD now, though. I'm re-watching the BBC Scotland series Hamish Macbeth (based on the M.C. Beaton mystery novels) right now. I'm almost finished. I wish there had been more than three seasons and twenty episodes!

I keep missing Doctor Who. Stupid me. I'd better not miss the rest of the season- because the last episode has stuff that will be important for Torchwood later.

Speaking of Torchwood, the next season is only going to be five episodes long. Five. Episodes. Granted, they'll be longer than the normal episode, but five is all we get? It wasn't bad enough that they killed Tosh and Owen, they have to cut our episodes, too? *cries* And the short season length means that BBC America is less likely to air them. Damn it.