Greetings everyone,
The first QB TVcom blog of 2009!
What to say? Well I've had two interviews in the past week- one for the Tax Office (which I didn't get) and one with a company which is looking for people who can teach English as a foreign language. I have an observation session with them on the 20th. I've also completed my online enrolment for my PhD and have contacted the university to see when I need to go in and sort out the rest of it. I managed to see Mr Burmudzija when he was in Cardiff and showed him a lot of the locations used in Doctor Who and Torchwood. I have to say I'm MAJORLY impressed with the refit they've done to the Doctor Who Exhibition in the Red Dragon centre. Loads and loads of stuff in there now!
Anyway, onto the tellystuff
Demons: Oh dear. My hopes for this show weren't exactly high, judging by the trailer. A good job really. It was all a bit lacklustre. OK, I got a good perv at Christian Cooke without a shirt on (always good) and I liked Zoe Tapper as Mina and even Philip Glenister's American accent didn't suck as badly as I thought it would. But Ruby was just annoying and Mackenzie Crook's mincing camp turn as Thrip was badly judged- and the CGI was appalling. However, this Saturday's episode- with the angel- seems quite intriguing so I'll give it a punt.
Nip/Tuck: Not so much a bang as a whimper for the boys of McNamara/Troy as the second part of Season 5 kicked off with Ronnie Chase. After a brilliant start to the episode- showing exactly how the utterly psychotic Colleen (Sharon Gless) managed to get into the offices and knife Sean a couple of times- it all then gets a bit navel-gazey as Sean deals with the aftermath and Christian finds out he has cancer. However, previews for the rest of the episodes appear much more intriguing- Bradley Cooper, Portia de Rossi and Jennifer Coolidge reprise their roles as Aidan Stone, Olivia Lord and Candy Richards. Katee Sackhoff appears as Dr. Love (but the character has been recast with Rose McGowan for Season 6). Morgan Fairchild is putting in an appearance too. Kimber wants baby Jenna to go under the knife; Aidan tries to tempt Sean back into showbusiness; Liz has a sexuality crisis (one storyline I'm NOT crazy about); Sean and Julia's relationship undergoes another twist; patients include a man who wants a pen!s reduction and the return of Allegra Calderello a.k.a. 'pu$$y lips'. Perhaps the most interesting thing... Eden is back (which surprised me as I thought AnnaLynne McCord was involved in the reboot of 90210). It's going to be nothing less than interesting.
Desperate Housewives: A very strong episode with Home Is The Place. I loved Joanna Cassidy as Alex's mum Melina- her clashes with Marcia Cross were well done. The Susan/Lee clubbing storyline was inconsequential but fun, especially with the 'morning after' and Gabby's evident delight when Bob comes to call. Karen and Roberta's trip to Dr. Heller's was good- Lily Tomlin is excellent. The only part of the episode I wasn't mad about was the Gabby/Carlos strand. Other than that, a cracking episode- especially the bits with Dave and Edie.
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Musical Interlude: Click here to hear a beautiful and rather poignant song by the incomparable Tori Amos. Released in 1992, it's kinda scary to think that the song will be seventeen years old this year. Anyway, here is the touching 'China'. Enjoy.
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Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself...
Well, you'll probably all know this by now anyway but I thought I'd give my two cents on the casting of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor. The first time I saw his name linked to the role of the Doctor was actually Saturday morning (about 12 hours or so before the big announcement) added to the 'runners and riders' list on the BBC website- which, incidentally, wasn't completely rewritten as it still said that Russell Tovey (27) was the youngest candidate in contention. So when, during Doctor Who Confidential, they mentioned going younger than Peter Davison, I immediately thought 'it'll be Matt Smith then'.
Yep, there were a load of the 'Doctor? Who?' puns flying around immediately afterwards as Matt is a relative unknown when it comes to television acting: aside from Party Animals and an appearance in Secret Diary of A Call-Girl, Matt's most high-profile roles are in the Sally Lockhart mysteries (The Ruby In The Smoke; The Shadow Of The North). However, he has a very strong stage pedigree- he's worked with both the Royal Court Theatre in London and the National Theatre, as well as touring the UK in The History Boys. I'm very intrigued by this casting- granted, he is perhaps a little on the young side- but I don't think that the production team would cast him unless they were certain. It's going to be interesting to see how he does, but from the first interview, I quite liked the vibe I was getting from him. There was something Doctor-ish in his manner.
I think the BBC have been quite canny announcing this so early. Knowing the probable reaction from some areas of the fandom, it gives everyone a good eighteen months to get used to the idea before we see him on-screen. And I have to say, I'm less worried about this than I was about the rumour that Lily Allen, Rachel Stevens and Kelly Brook have been linked with the companion role. Personally, I'd like to see Michelle Ryan. Actually, what I would like to see is a return to what happened in the original series and have a male and a female companion.
Time will tell, but they already have a script for Episode 1 and Episode 4.
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I hope y'all have a good weekend!
QB 