T is for Television

First, Stephen Hawking's guest appearance on my all time favourite show:

Back in the days of TNG, I used to wait all week, set my watch alarm to five minutes to eight, and rush down to watch commercials and all.  If the studios decided to air a re-run, I was at their mercy. The way I watch television now is quite different. I have no idea what day and time my favourite shows are on.  In fact, I don't really have favourite shows, as much as I have shows I occasionally watch.  I catch these online a few days after they air. There are two shows I watch this way.

the Big Bang Theory.  This is one of those rare sitcoms that is actually funny.  For those of you who haven't seen it, the situation for this comedy is a couple nerdy physicists living across the hall from a pretty blond actress (and hilarity ensues). So much of nerd culture is poked fun of and made homage to in this show and, as a card carrying nerd, I must watch and enjoy.

Once Upon a Time.  The premise of this show is that Snow White's wicked queen has put a curse on the entire fairy tale world and all the characters have forgotten who they really are and are living dreary lives in the real world small town of Storybrooke (get it?).  I really don't know why I watch this.  It's more than a little ridiculous and the acting leaves much to be desired.  I guess I'm a sucker for fairy tales.  I enjoy seeing my favourite tales expanded on. I like that they made Snow White a strong character, that they made Red Ridinghood a werewolf.  The wicked queen seem less wicked and more lukewarm.

Since subscribing to Netflix, I've taken to picking a random old show that I've never seen and watching it from beginning to end. I like doing it this way because I get to experience the entire series as a cohesive story, and watch at my own pace. It's a lot more like reading a book in that way.  Here's are a few goodies:

Dollhouse. This show centres around an expensive and high-tech brothel (the Dollhouse), in which sexy women and men (dolls) have their personalities wiped and implanted with new personalities tailored to the clients specifications.  The main character is a doll named Echo, who despite having her memories and personality wiped every episode, begins to develop self-awareness.  The first few episodes look like eye-candy for boys, but give it a chance.  This show is good sci fi.

Firefly.  I don't know why I never watched this before.  It's a cult classic and very popular with nerds like me.  The show centres on the crew of the Serenity, a firefly class vessel.  They go from planet stealing stuff, and getting into gunfights.  It's a western, with space ships. Also, like Star Trek, the show is character-driven.

Life on Mars. My husband and I are currently watching this.  We're watching the British version, though we caught the first episode of the American version just to see what it was like. Identical, as far as I can tell, except with more guns.  The main character is a cop who gets hit by a car and wakes up in the 1970s. He doesn't know if he's in a coma or really back in time, but he keeps working cases.  Apparently, in the 1970s, police didn't bother looking for evidence of any kind. They just followed their gut.