Thursday, August 13, 2009

Mandatory Viewing, or The Only Things on BBC America

No promises that I'm going to update every day, or even in any promised order. I want to beef up the blog for now, so in the future my posts might come a little more sporadic.

First of all, you must see Doctor Who. The show is about a Time Lord who travels through time and space and across the universe to save people/the universe/say witty things. When I say "Doctor Who," I'm referring to the new series that was restarted in 2005. Christopher Eccleston started as the 9th Doctor in 2005, but only stayed on for 13 episodes. He was succeeded by David Tennant, the 10th Doctor, who just recently stepped down. Some of my favorite episodes includes a generation of people trapped in a futuristic enclosed highway (for flying cars, of course); statues with malicious intent; ANY Christmas episode; World War I zombies; when they meet Madame d'Pompadour; and when they meet William Shakespeare. It's not all fun and games though. Early on the series explores the ramifications of changing the past. The writers pay attention to the space/time continuum "rules," but they keep them loose enough so it doesn't ruin the fun.

Next up, Top Gear is the funniest show about cars. At first I only watched it because my husband wanted to, but the more I watched the funnier it was. I have no idea how James May, Richard Hammond, and Jeremy Clarkson convinces the BBC to give them money. At times it seems like they do nothing but bicker with each other and argue with anyone that doesn't agree, but if you look closely, you'll see that...uh....a lifelong friendship....on screen magic....okay, all they do is bicker and argue. But it's hilarious. The show never ceases to pull amazing races and stunts. In one of the latest episodes they raced the fastest recorded car in the world against a super-special fighter jet (I forget the details, just read: awesome). The car had to race ONE mile, turn around, and then race back to the start/finish, while the fighter jet had to go one mile UP, in the air, and then come back down and cross the start/finish. Another season Clarkson raced across Japan, trying to beat May and Hammond on the Japanese Bullet Train. This is not your average train. It's pretty much the same formula over and over. One of the hosts races against crazy triple black diamond skiers/Olympic Luge team/another absolutely ridiculous thing. They also have guests on the show, called the Star in a Reasonable Priced Car, so expect to see the only other 10 people in Britain on the show.

Finally, for comedy, check out Little Britain. It's a sketch comedy show that features Matt Lucas and David Williams dressing up, acting silly, and generally making a mockery of everyone and everything. You can feel the Monty Python influence, but the sketches and characters are original. However, we watched this on DVD, and noticed that watching episodes back to back saps it of some of its humor. Try spacing it out if you haven't caught this show yet.

One more thing. Dear BBC America, please broadcast in HD, plzkthxbai.


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