The West Wing
As we were with 24, so we are now with The West Wing. We bought the first half of the first season for David for his birthday; we watched all 11 episodes in less than 24 hours (they are only 40 minutes each) and had to go and buy the full thing. Then J got the second and third seasons for his birthday. On Wednesday night, we reached the end of the third season. So yesterday, J bought series four and five. Hoorah! It’s such a great show – I had often thought it would be good to get into, but it was generally on so late at night here that I couldn’t be bothered. It’s got such clever characterisation, and the story lines are fantastic – it does make me even more worried that real life might actually be like that.
Anyway, we are now Bartlett for President people. And I see no problem in that.
Play School
I cannot believe all the stuff going on about Play School and the lesbian parent-thing at the moment. How amazing to think that both Johnnies must watch it, and feel the need to comment! Personally I think it reprehensible that they would try to quash what appears to be a genuine attempt to portray Aus diversity. If they had gone Through the Window to see … say… ostrich farmers, or Kalahari bushmen who had migrated, would there be furore? I don’t think so, sunshine. They’re running an anti-gay stance because they think that’s what will get them re-elected (hmmm, am I too young to be this cynical?). And possibly because they’re ignorant, too.
No Doctor Who
I’m a bit sad… I had been sad at the thought of missing him last night while flying home, but it turns out that was unnecessary, so now I’m jut sad that he’s not on the next two weeks, while Aunty has highlights of the French Open instead.
pft.
I can’t believe Agassi is out! Inconceivable. And the Poo, too… although that one isn’t so hard to believe.
I Love Auntie
The ABC, that is; not that I don’t love my aunts, of course. The main reason I started bugging J to get a TV (which took all of 10 seconds or so) was when I saw they were having Doctor Who on: the entirety of 40 years’ worth of excellent scifi TV on the ABC, four nights a week. Yippee! I watched the first number of episodes… after a little while, though, I stopped being conscientious (??) about it because they were just a bit too painful. However, I recently started watching again, because it is John Pertwee! Yeh! What a star. One of the few actors who could get away with wearing a full black-tie suit with cloak around a laboratory and while catching villains, and look incredibly dignified. Of course I remember him as Wurzel Gummage, which terrified me as a kid, but still… what a man. And Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart… what a shame he was in his prime in black and white TV.
As well as the good Doctor, of course, the ABC has a pretty good kids’ line up in general; that’s what I’ve mostly been watching. It all started with Astro Boy… except I am a little disappointed with it, because they’re new, not old, and I think they are much tackier than they were originally. At least I hope so.
Um… Big Brother?
Not sure that letting James have access to my blog was a good idea.
Anyway: my gosh, I can’t believe I watched Big Brother tonight (I blame James – truly) and I can’t believe that it was so bad. Fascinating as the idea of reality TV is, urgh. It was the first nominations night (so?!), and there were these people both nominating people to leave da House and trying to justify that they don’t dislike the person, it’s just that… blah blah. What a joke.
While on Channel 7, watching Las Vegas, we had to desperately avoid the ads for the third season of 24. Must not watch. Although we have already seen the face of Nina, we expected this anyway. And I just had to change the channel very quickly because it was about to start. However, that’s ok, because it’s now Enough Rope time; I like Denton, and tonight he is interviewing Hugh Jackman. =]
24
We borrowed the DVDs of the first series of 24 from a friend… We saw the ads for it, when the series first started here, and thought it looked like a great series. Not having a TV, though, we decided to try and ignore it so that we wouldn’t feel too left out. We mostly succeeded, although occasionally seeing ads would spark the typical “we really need a TV” comment from one or both of us. When we saw them on DVD, we agreed that sometime we should borrow them out… And then this friend came through, totally out of the blue! Terribly convenient, really.
Anyway, we’re both tired at the moment because the show is totally addictive. I’m glad that episodes aren’t actually 60 min long (also glad that I don’t live in the US, since their ad breaks are clearly much longer than ours), since that would mean staying up an extra 15-20 min per episode. We started on Sunday night and, this being Wednesday, we’re up to 11am. We don’t actually have anything planned tonight (the other three nights we’ve watched after having someone over for dinner, or after church), so we hope to watch quite a few episodes. I’m very glad that James is just as enthralled as me, else there could be issues…
It really is very well done. Visually, the split-screen effect is highly effective, and drives home the point that it’s all happening at the same time. The plot is pretty standard – it’s the sort of novel I’d read or movie/TV show I’d watch – but setting it all in one day really adds an element of panic, frenetic activity, and stress over a dead-line. So much has to happen in each episode that it would be easy to make it over-complicated, but it doesn’t seem to have done that so far. We were wondering how they’d sustain the plot over 24 episodes since they do have to keep the pace at break-neck speed, but they do it well – switching between situations, implicating one person then clearing them, and just now they’re starting to bring in new villains, and phase out the earlier ones, which will allow for the pace to be sustained: it also doesn’t allow the audience to get bored with a baddie, or predict their movements too easily.
I’m totally hooked, and I hope someone I know buys the second series on DVD…
Randomly Yours, Alex 