A Friday by any other name would be just as sweet

I was on a tear last night. I think I watched 5 episodes of Friday Night Lights in a row. If you know me and what my attention is like, that’s really saying something. I suppose I hadn’t watched any FNL since around Spring 2009. Season 1 will probably forever be the all-time best year of the show, but I had forgotten how good Season 3 was too. To but it bluntly, FNL moves me like very few dramas ever have or do. I’ve been mentally keeping track and I think on average I get the urge to [almost] tear up 1 to 3 times per episode. Not just out of fear or regret for certain characters’ seemingly dire situational arcs, but also for certain glimmers of hope & internal exaltation.

And on a lighter note: In It Ain’t Easy Being J.D. McCoy (s3e6) When Lyla Garrity is watting for Riggins after practice in cowboy boots and that green number… <ded>

Garrity & Rig

The Godfather

Dear Smallville s3 finale montage ending: You’re so silly.

Moe Greene

Friday Night Fever

I think I’m adding another old friend to my current line-up of old shows viewing. Friday Night Lights has been a marvel of a program since I first caught season 1 a few years ago. PLEASE do yourself a favor and seek this oft ignored show out. It is some serious quality drama with a little Texas-sized flavor added in. Season 4 very recently aired and came out on DVD and I think it’s time for me to get the old pads back on. I’m going to look into acquiring s3 & 4 on DVD and refresh my memory a bit. It feels like forever since I last watched s3.

All roads lead to Rome

2 decades later mine again

Ahh Doctor Who…

The show that never grows old for me. Yesterday I just got 1 of my all time favorite classic DW stories from childhood on DVD, . It was a long time coming.  I was so anxious about this particular title being released for the very first time (post-VHS) that I had to forgo my usual practice of ordering most everything via Amazon. I’ve only had a chance to sample a bit of this new disc, but from what I’ve seen it’s fabulous. So much love & respect for a story that doesn’t often come to minds of Whovians as 1 of the more memorable adventures in WHO canon.

Just so you know, I previously started my Doctor Who marathon back in February of this year with the 3rd Doctor’s season 10. I then jumped to season 16 The Key to Time. I watched every currently available DVD from that point all the way thru the end of the 7th Doctor’s s26 and went back to the shows very beginning in 1963. I’m currently in season 2. Within this week I’ve seen:

The Dalek Invasion of Earth (s2e4-9) – This 1 took me a little longer than usual to get through because I had been going through a small Doctor Who burnout phase. But I finished the 6 parter and you know what? That wasn’t half bad. I thought it probably the most ambitious story in DW history up to this point in the program’s history.

The Stones of Blood (s16e9-12) – If you didn’t know, I happen to do a Doctor Who podcast with my co-host Josh Z. Every week or 2 during the DW off-season we record Doctor Who commentaries together. It was my decision from the beginning to do our commentaries in chunks of seasons. We just watched and recorded our TSoB commentary last Monday. It was not fun… Well it was fun’ish to record, but it certainly felt like 1 of our lesser efforts. Actually, I felt like it was mostly my fault as it didn’t feel like this episode didn’t have very much to offer me in the way of commenting. Bleh, it’ll show up on our podcast feed perhaps about 2 to 3 weeks from now.

The Rescue (s2e10-11) – Granted, not very original however I still liked this quaint little 2-parter.

The Romans (s2e12-13) – I’m currently halfway through this story. I had previous heard from Steven of Radio Free Skaro fame that this story was a bit of a ‘romp’ in terms of DW’s B&W era. Well you know what? I’m very much enjoying this story thus far as well. Though I’ve skipped missing season 1 stories, Like TDIoE, TR really seems to be showing a new side to this budding children’s show called Doctor Who.

Painting by the numbers

I only have about 2 episodes from Smallville season 3 remaining. I had forgotten so much about this year in the show. Mid-season there was this whole mini-arc featuring Boone (Ian Somerhalder) from LOST and now of Vampire Diaries fame. That was weird. He was next in a what will be Lana’s precession of suitors who seem suitable at first, but eventually turn out to be worse than turds in the end. Oh will she ever learn?

NO.

You can tell the show was trying to expand on it’s by-the-numbers monster-of-the-week style prevalent in seasons 1 & 2. Actually that basic theme is still prevalent here, but they’re trying to stretch their character development outside of Clark and give other characters some sense of their own arcs. Primarily Lex w/his bizarre childhood memories, Pete struggling to find his identity in Clark’s shadow, Chloe and her hollow relationship with her friends, and I could go on with Clark’s parents and Lionel, but I won’t because it’s all very trite now.  Oh lookie, I’m currently watching Talisman (s3e20) as I type this and Scrubs Janitor guy (Neil Flynn) has just shown up as the guest in this episode. <Bonus>

ps Too bad Morgan Edge’s arc fizzled into anticipointment.

The 411

The brand new autumn season of television is approaching and I think I’m in a horrible position to take on new programs. I’m just all over the place right now mostly watching older shows on DVD and the like. Briefly here’s a quick rundown:

Doctor Who:  If you know anything about me, then you know this couldn’t be any more obvious. I have been watching A LOT of classic DW on DVD in 2010. More than I ever have before. I’ll try to keep this brief, but I’ve been a WHO fan, basically my entire (remembered) life. But for most of my life I guess I’d classify myself as more of a casual to moderate fan of the program. I’d always keep up with it and watch it when I could, but if I missed the occasional episode (during the classic era), it was no big deal to me. Let’s just say I’m a super fan now and that’s an entirely different beast. Since Februrary of this year I have been on a quest to purchase and watch every available classic DW DVD to date. I’m nearly have way there now.

That 70s Show:  I’ve always enjoyed this show from the moment I first saw it on the tube. Ever since DVD boxed sets became commonplace, I have a compulsion to save a program I really like for when I’m able to view all the episodes in order and on demand. Because I was always fond of T7S, it actually worked against my wanting to watching live while it was currently airing. I first acquired the s1 box set back around 2003. I gobbled it up and loved it, but never got around to purchasing s2. My fandom of T7S has languished ever since…  Until now that is. I’ve revisited my old s1 boxed set and I’m nearly finished with it now. If I’m lucky I should find the entire series set in my mailbox tomorrow.

Smallville:  In another life I was a HUGE Smallville fan from the moment it debuted on television. I was always in love with Lana aka Kristen Kreuk, and always  moderate fan of Superman in general as well.  I was still keeping up with the show by s5, but once <spoilers> Lana “hooked up” with Lex- Bleh, I couldn’t take it anymore. I was so turned off by that point, that plus all the plot convulsion, that I decided I was done.  FlashForward to 2009-10 and I never thought this show would still be kickin’ around at season 9. There was a mini-resurgence of Smallville chatter on twitter and I decided, what the hell, I’m back. It had been so long since I gave up on the show I decided it wouldn’t be totally fulfilling for me unless I went right back to the beginning.  It’s been a few months now, but I’m nearing the end of season 3 as I type this.

Futurama:  The little show that could… Return to television. I kind of had the same relationship with this show that I did with T7S except that I wasn’t afraid to catch the occasional syndicated rerun. But what do you know, they tend to repeat the same episodes over and over therefore there are A LOT of old Futurama episodes that I have never seen. I did, however watch the Futurama STV movies, especially because some of them were released on Blu-ray. With the brand new episodes premiering recently on Comedy Central and a few tweeps of mine who are big time fans of the show, I decided now was a good a time as ever to watch the entire thing from the beginning and finally right this wrong.

Life on Mars:  And how could I forget this little gem? Reason I haven’t watched this entire show yet? See T7S once again. A very close friend of mind recently finished watching Steven Moffat’s  together, each of us for the first time. That was a good experience so I decided to find something else we both might enjoy again.  Having only seen a few episodes out of sequence back in 2007 I finally had the chance to watch the premiere episode a few days ago.  My goodness it was good. I really, really, REALLY liked it. Especially Annie. I can’t wait to go deeper in this this program.

What am I doing here?

The Idiot's Lantern

There are too many things I spend too much time doing that aren’t very important. To be curt, my priorities are effed out. Aside from from constantly working on my Doctor Who podcast, I am watching a good deal of television & movies. Not that anyone should care, let’s be frank, I’d like to think I’m doing this more for me than I am for you, but this is what I have been watching lately and what I think about it.

Hello world!