January 25, 2008
Noteworthy Television This Weekend: British Sci-Fi Double Feature
If you are looking for some good television (you know, the kind with actual scripts), BBC America delivers a one-two punch on Saturday night with the season debuts of two British sci-fi shows – Doctor Who (8:00 p.m.) and its spin-off Torchwood (9:00 p.m.). The episodes of Torchwood are a bit fresher, airing a few weeks ago in the UK, while the Doctor Who episodes aired last spring over the pond.
Now, if your only exposure to Doctor Who is the campy 1960s through 1980s version, you’ll find some basic similarities. The Tardis is still the same on the outside and the mix of sci-fi and humor is still there, but you’ll also find that along with the special effects, the writing has improved remarkably over the show’s evolution.
Torchwood was spun-off from Doctor Who and deals with the Cardiff branch of a secret British sort-of- über-governmental agency that deals with things supernatural and extraterrestrial. It's more targeted at the adult audience, with language (a lot of it edited out for airing on the prudish side of the pond) and some sexual themes.
Both are brilliant shows and compared to the strike-filler programs put out by the networks, they look like Shakespeare. And these shows are worth sampling for people who don't think they are sci-fi fans - they are light years from Star Trek.
Also of note this weekend:
The New York Times Arts & Leisure Week (Saturday, 7:00 p.m., WCBS 2) Dana Tyler hosts this special looking at this years The New York Times Arts & Leisure Week which featured conversations from Edward Albee to Mel Brooks to Wynton Marsalis.
Operation 7 Save A Life (Saturday, 7:30 p.m., WABC 7) Bill Ritter hosts channel 7’s annual fire safety special.
14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., TNT, TBS) This awards show actually has been written by WGA writers (thanks to a bit of union solidarity) and may be the only full on awards show to air this season.
Images of the cast of Doctor Who and Torchwood via the BBC.
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I HATE CABLEVISION. NO BBC AMERICA. :(
I guess that's what I get for living in the Bronx.
Is BBC America available on TW? I'd like to see more of that caramel number over there...
BBC America is available on Time Warner. According to their website, is channel 106 on all their NYC systems.
Brilliant? Uh, no. The new Doctor Who is intermittantly brilliant at best, primarily in the (sadly rare) episodes written by Stephen Moffat of "Coupling" (the original, good, British version) fame. Other episodes are every bit as bad as the crappiest parts of the "original" show in the 60s through the 80s.
Torchwood is not only not brilliant, it's simply awful: badly written, terribly acted, cheaply staged. Unless the idea of a sub-par X-Files ripoff with more sex thrills you, avoid it like the plague.
I've already seen that season of Dr Who, but bring on the Torchwood! I mean, c'mon- James Marsters guesting in the season premiere? Sounds good to me.
The season of Doctor Who that begins airing this weekend on BBC America has already aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, and is already available on DVD in the US.
Why BBCA is perpetually a season behind on Doctor Who is anyone's guess.
Whew, Dan, thanks. I have already seen that season on Sci-Fi then. I thought this was the newest British season. I'm relieved.
Why BBCA is perpetually a season behind on Doctor Who is anyone's guess.
They can't air what doesn't exist. Season 4 (or series 4, as they like to say over there) won't start for another couple of months on BBC.
Also, I think BBC has contractual obligations with the SciFi Chanel.
Can't wait for the new Torchwood episodes!
The Doctor and Torchwood are both great, but basically, anything with a British accent sounds like Shakespeare to us.
I'm with Doctor Memory on this one. That said, if I got BBC America, I'd still watch Torchwood, just because I understand James Marsters makes out with John Barrowman at one point. And that's always worth watching, even if the show it's packaged in really sucks.
I have Charter in Connecticut and don't have BBC America! What's the deal man? We need diversity.