Sunday, June 29, 2008

Weekend Rant - Just one of those Best Weeks Ever

This week turned into one of the best ever on the tube. Not only was there brilliant and funny all week long, but playing catch up this weekend I saw some pretty fun stuff, the first being the final and deciding episode of Farmer wants a wife, and Matt decided to take Brooke to be his girl. After seeing his house more closely (and that weird hallway of dead deer looking at you) I changed my mind and although I was originally hoping for Christa, I thought Brooke was a better match. Matt sure made it seem like he as more interested in Christa, but I think he wants more of a puppy dog to follow him around so he made a good choice (and I think Krista dodged one here). If they do another round I could be sucked in to watch if the Farmer is really hot.

Celebrity Circus is a demanding as ever, and I am really impressed by the difficulty of the various routines the celebrities are performing. I was almost surprised that Wee Man was still around this week after his challenges last week but not that surprised that our Olympic athlete Janet got the boot.Yes she is physically capable but is not graceful enough. I did think it was a little ridiculous to have the elimination between her and Antonio Sabato Jr ( seriously, the guy is the hottest thing on the show and always gets high scores) and to keep it hanging until the end. It's a weird formula and this show has a strange pace sometimes. Stacey Dash won some respect and applause from me this week once I realized that the woman is over 40 (I honestly thought she was much younger) but it's pretty much a no-brainer that it will go down to her and Antonio for the win. Rachel did a good job on the tightrope (and kudos to the guys that carried her in that dangerous pyramid stunt), Christopher Knight was okay with his challenge but Wee Man just pointed out to me that penguins are not meant to fly with his routine and he must be the next to go... sorry Wee Man.

Flipping Out is as manic as ever -- and I am in awe of Jeff. This man is the poster child of OCD
and I can not get over his ability to centre his existence on one detail. The sandwich dilemma was funny enough (meatball or pepperoni?) but I hit the roof with the whole drapes drama. When Jeff started obsessing about " The drapes ... The drapes ... The drapes" I almost completely lost it. You better start treating Zola better though man because she deserves it and the whole portrait thing was just poor taste. Give the woman a break -- she has to deal with you Jeff and I can not imagine that she is getting adequately compensated for that. At least Jeff has gotten a taste of his own medicine with his psycho client and might learn the error of his ways eventually.

Doctor Who- The Stolen Earth is way up there on the list of Best Episodes EVER. Not only did we get the appearance of all of the more recent companions but it's a fantastically great story that ties together all of the clues that they have been leaving all season (and probably from earlier as well). I just love the way all of the spin off shows and their characters were tied in to this storyline so seamlessly, and better yet, managed to keep the same continuity that is/was happening in those shows. Torchwood is only the 3 remaining characters (Jack,Gwen and Ianto) who were there at the end of the season. Martha is still with the Unit as we last saw her, as Sarah Jane is doing her thing. The interaction between Jack and Sarah Jane is interesting and I am hoping to see more crossover stuff between the series, even though they are intended for different audiences. I am really loving Catherine Tate as Donna and she makes a great companion to the Doctor and complements well the others while being new and different.

The episode was so jam packed full of fun stuff that I'll list a few of my faves:
- alien bees -- I just knew it....
- Exterminate! (love those Daleks)
- The Shadow Proclamation
- Harriet Jones: Former Prime Minister and the subwave network
- the whole conference call thing with the gang calling the Doctor
- Paintball guns
- Project Indigo
- Rose and her big ass gun
- Captain Jack (and I love how Ianto gets jealous and how everyone finds Jack hot)

I was feeling so sorry for Rose being left out of the call to the Doctor (she was only an observer) but you could feel her heart calling out to him, the level of emoting in this series is astounding. You could feel the terror from the characters dealing with the Daleks, it was all very palpable.
I am still completely freaked out by the ending of the episode and all the cliffhangers .... you knew that it was too good to be true to see Rose and the Doctor reunite, and it was very bittersweet with the Doctor getting zapped by a Dalek and in a sense, dying in her arms.
Is the Doctor really regenerating in to another version? Will there be a faithful companion that will make the ultimate sacrifice (my money is on Rose for that one) ... I am seeing a possible exit and I think it may have to do with Donna and that weird Time Beetle thing from the previous episode Left Turn. When they were at the Shadow Proclamation, one of the attendants commented to Donna about something being on her back, and I wonder if Time Beetles have anything to do with Time Lords or the fact that the Earth is out of synch in the Medusa Cascade. I can hardly wait until next Saturday... like I said, BEST EPISODE EVER.

And on a final note, I checked out the GLAAD Media Awards on Bravo and was impressed with the entire presentation. Great work, and it's nice to see people like Kathy Griffin, Janet Jackson and Herb Ritts celebrated for their positive work with the gay community. I was in awe of some of the celebrities that participated and the subject matter was very serious for the televised portion. We go to see some of the other events as there were awards in several cities. I do have to say that Barbara Walters was humble and articulate in her acceptance of her award, and it was even more humbling to see Judy Shepard accept the Excellence in Media Award. She made it very clear that she was not celebrating her award and would trade it in a second to have her son back. We have made some steps but there is still a long way to go for equality and general acceptance in society, and as long as there is hatred, intolerance and violence towards the LGBT community there is still work to be done.