Why am I still watching this?

So Doctor Who is really good. Torchwood is not. Mainly what it has going for it is that it's vaguely interesting and it's sexy. Or at least that's what it did have going for it during the first season. These days, however, it has almost nothing going for it. Not really interesting, not very sexy. It's kind of just become stupid. I don't know who's writing these episodes but they don't seem to have any basic grasp of story structure. Or continuity. Or logic. Are these the Doctor Who writers? It seems like, since the shows don't run concurrently, that the same writers could write both shows. But there's no way that's what's happening. There's no way those people can be writing great episodes half the year and this crap the other half. Whatever the problem is, if it doesn't correct in the direction of interesting and sexy in the near future, I'm giving up on this one...regardless of its Doctor Who origin.

And this is disappointing to me because in many ways Torchwood is the Angel to Doctor Who's Buffy. Actually it's that in an astounding number of ways. Except for the discrepancy in quality. Hmm...I feel like I could really elaborate on this Buffy/Doctor Who comparison. Maybe I'll do that later.

Hey Brotha!

I don't have too much to say about tonight's Lost other than that I really, really enjoyed it. It was way more entertaining than last week's "Kate has a kid" episode. It helps that I love Desmond, and time travel, and Scottish accents. Because it was so hopeful in the end, with Desmond talking to Penny, I started to get very concerned that Desmond is the one that's going to die soon. That would be upsetting. But then, this episode didn't seem to have any relation to the weird people that seemed to know about Desmond's future in his flashback and previous time-jumping event. You know, the lady at the jewelry store (Fionnula Flanagan) and the monk who had a picture on his desk of himself and jewelry store lady? Yeah, I feel like those people will at least have to be explained to some degree before Desmond can die. So maybe I don't have to worry. Maybe it'll be someone more pointless, like Claire. Or, hmm, I guess it can't be any of the Oceanic 6. Oh dear, what if it's Sawyer!?

Top 10 Doctor Who T-Shirts

These are the top ten things (that I can think of right now) related to Doctor Who that I'd like to have on a t-shirt:

10. The Angels have the Phone Box
9. Trust me, I'm a Doctor
8. Time Lord science. It's bigger on the inside.
7. Oncoming Storm
6. Bad Wolf Corporation
5. lonely god
4. Blaidd Drwg
3. Raxacoricofallapatorius
2. Dårlig Ulv Stranden
1. 10(nant)

And an afterthought: I like bananas

Locke is the new Ben

This episode had enough Sawyer in it for me to be relatively entertained the whole time. Also, I really like the idea of all of these people living together in that weird little community. I am still totally serious in thinking that they should all just stay there. The part with Kate and Sawyer sitting on the front porch chatting made me wish I was watching something more like a Southern soap opera...not like Dallas, though...more like Desperate Housewives crossed with The Sound and the Fury. Actually, I guess with that whole argument between Kate and Sawyer at the end, that's pretty much exactly what this was. I love it. I wish I knew what the other living situations were like. Are Karl and Alex playing house? Do they live with Rousseau? Do they get together on Tuesday's to play bridge with Rose and Bernard?

Hmmm, so now my only question is how long had they been off the island during this flashforward? Aaron seemed like four or five years old.

Oh, and also, what book did Locke bring Ben? What book was Sawyer reading? When is Locke going to realize he's turned into Ben? And why doesn't Ben say something to the effect of "Hey Locke, you've turned into me. And look what happened to me. Might want to make some different choices there, man."?

I blame a lot on exhaustion...

...but I'm starting to think it might just be stupidity. Over on the EW.com blog PopWatch, they were setting up some categories for a pool for the Oscars. This was one:

4. Who will get the biggest applause during the "In Memoriam" montage?

And then further down in the post, there was this parenthetical:

(yes, number 4 is probably too easy to make for interesting odds)

I read that part, then reread their number 4 then thought to myself "Really? Who are they talking about?" and tried to recall for a minute if someone big and classic like Humphrey Bogart or Katherine Hepburn had died, and couldn't think of anyone, and finally thought "What are they talking about? Who died this ye...oh."

So at this point I'm starting to think it's really extended past me being tired. I am simply dumb.

Return of TV

Now that the strike is over and some of the shows I used to watch will actually be back before next season, I feel like it's time to reevaluate my viewing schedule. Okay, so during the fall I was watching/Tivoing the following shows:

- How I Met Your Mother
- Aliens in America
- Heroes
- Bones
- Reaper
- Pushing Daisies
- Bionic Woman
- Gossip Girl
- 30 Rock
- The Office
- Scrubs
- SNL
- I also kept meaning to watch Chuck

So Bionic Woman is all but canceled, Heroes isn't back until next fall, and I'm definitely dropping Aliens in America and Reaper. But Lost has started again, BSG is back in April and I've added Sarah Connor Chronicles, Doctor Who, and Torchwood. So now my list looks like this:

- How I Met Your Mother
- Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
- Bones
- Pushing Daisies
- Gossip Girl
- 30 Rock
- The Office
- Scrubs
- Lost
- Battlestar Galactica
- Doctor Who
- Torchwood
- SNL
- And I still intend to watch Chuck, eventually

So, that's one more show than the fall. Yeah, this is just not good. I think the remainder of the Gossip Girl and Pushing Daisies will have to sit on the Tivo and wait for the summer. Scrubs might have to go (or also wait for summer) depending on what the Thursday night schedule looks like. I'm going to hope that there will only be a few episodes of overlap between the end of the Torchwood season and the beginning of the BSG and Doctor Who seasons. That might help. And Chuck will have to be a summer project as well.

New New Doctor

Yeah, I don't know why I even questioned whether or not I'd like the Tenth Doctor. He's adorable. I fell in love with him almost instantly. I'm feeling compelled to search for a t-shirt professing my love for him. And for David Tennant. He is a nerd girl's fantasy.

The Economist?

So I thought I was going to like off-the-island Sayid, only because he was a badass, but since it turns out he works for Ben, I'm just not sure. I'm kind of wondering if Sayid's change of position is based on whoever Ben's person on the boat is. Also, Sayid episodes are usually very serious. He's not a very humorous person.

Now we know that 5 of the Oceanic 6 are Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, and dead person. Unless dead person is really someone else, like Ben. Also, the fact that it's the Oceanic 6 means that it's possible that people like Desmond, Juliet, Rousseau, Alex and Karl also leave the island.

Sawyer making the comment about he and Kate staying on the island and playing house got me thinking. With the exception of Sun and Jin, why do any of the others really need to leave the island at this point? Most of them had miserable lives before the crash. The only Other still around is Ben, who they could just kill. And the smoke monster hasn't bothered them in a really long time. And even then, if they live at the Dharma barracks then they have that electric fence to keep the smoke monster away. Why don't they all stay and be the new Others?

Oh yeah, Danny also seemed to determine that the island time runs at a different speed than rest of the world time. But the Cuselof already alluded to that about two years ago. And I guess we found out that Ben used to leave the island pretty regularly with a whole bunch of fake identities.

All in all, it wasn't as good as last week, but it was interesting enough.

Adam

So I liked this whole false memories thing. Better than I've liked a lot some of the previous episodes of the season. It was kind of like Buffy's Tabula Rasa. A little disappointing that they couldn't retain any of the memories though. So it didn't really drive any season plot points forward the way Tabula Rasa did. Except for filling the viewer in on the Grey (Gray?) thing.

Anyway, I liked nerdy Owen and sexy Tosh. Too bad there couldn't be some kind of space/time shift so sexy Tosh can get together with regular Owen and nerdy Owen can get together with regular Tosh. (Wait, don't they live on a rift?)

I was a little disappointed in the idea that Ianto's sense of self pretty much begins and ends with Lisa. I didn't much care for Lisa. In fact, I was quite pleased when the pterodactyl tried to eat her. I think I just want Ianto to be much cooler, suaver, braver, stronger, sexier, in control-ier than he really is. He's just so dependent on Jack. I'm already trying to brace myself for how sad I'll be for him when the whole Jack/Gwen thing finally comes to a boil.

*It's occurred to me a couple days after watching this one that since everyone lost two days worth of memory at the end of the episode, it would have been a good time for some reckless shagging. The writers missed a golden opportunity with that one.

The Doctor's got me

Dammit. That was fast. Doctor Who's sucked me in. I am such a sucker for crappy scifi with brief romantic interludes. Also, Christopher Eccleston is charming. Hope I'll like David Tennant just as much. I'm guessing so. He's got that geeky adorable look that I'm sure I like. Probably not as gleeful as Eccleston, though. I'm really enjoying that about him.

I think I like Jack better with the Doctor and Rose than I do with his Torchwood team. For one thing, he's got much better hair. For another, he's kind of like the hot mechanic. And the fact that he's got sexual tension with both the Doctor and Rose isn't too bad either. (Also, Jack taking orders is really hot.)

I do like it a lot when Mickey and Jackie are involved in the story. I'm guessing they'll be gone when Rose is replaced by Martha, though. Hopefully Martha's got some entertaining friends and family as well.

Yeah, my ability to find new TV to distract me from my work every semester is impressive. How will I find new TV when I'm not in school anymore?

Taller Ghost Walt

So I got distracted and forgot to write about this sooner, but I really enjoyed this episode. It was a return to the wacky, adventurous Lost from Season 1, before the...what do the other bloggers call them...Darlton? Cuselof?...anyway, before their philosophical imperatives started bogging it down.

But really, I should've known it would be good before I even watched it. It was written by Drew Goddard and Brian K. Vaughn! Awesome. And I would have been correct. They produced the brilliance of "Taller, like a giant?" and "Sure, who are we to question taller ghost Walt?", two of Sawyer's greatest lines in a series full of great Sawyer lines. All I've got to say is Sawyer better not die. That by itself will be enough for me to give up on the show.

And also, the cow. For some reason that cow freaked me out and confused me more than anything has since the four toed statue. And I'm pleased that drunken, hippie pilot guy considered the cow to be noteworthy.

And Jack winked at Kate. That was cute.

So, so tired

Okay, I really wanted to tell this story to someone, but it just seems too dumb to tell anyone, so I'm telling it to my future self. By which I mean when I reread this two months from now, I'll remember this and be amused.

So it's 11:30 pm. I was just sitting at the kitchen table, reading an article about the need for educating researchers about the structure and management of archives with respect to...whatever. Yeah, well, my mind started to wander and I considered getting up to put on pajamas. So I thought about the shorts I'd worn to bed last night and where they were. Then I thought about the shirt I'd worn, but then I wondered whether I should just sleep in the shirt I already had on. And then I thought "Wait, what shirt am I wearing right now?" and I realized I had no idea. After 15 seconds I finally had to look down to see what shirt I had on. I hadn't thought the dementia would set in this quickly.