I have to admit, I've probably made a rod for my own back in starting this blog. But then the whole idea was to force myself into writing regularly, or at least more regularly than I have been in far too many years. The difficulty, so far, has been in finding things I want to write about. Not so bad when I've got a fresh delivery of things to review and be excited about, but when I'm in a lax period...
That said, I shouldn't find it hard to find something to write about. I still read alot. I still watch a fair amount of TV. Unfortunately, alot of the TV that's inflicted on me isn't exactly by choice. Take an avergae saturday night, for example. Being a family man I have the choice of either going to a different part of the house or living through the excruciating torture of "Strictly Come Dancing" and "The X-Factor" (Oh and don't get me started on the forthcoming return of "I'm a Celebrity, starve me to death in the Australian outback!!!!").
Yup, there's a great deal of crap that gets watched on my telly by my wife and daughter. "Gossip Girl", "Grey's Anatomy", "Glee", etc, etc. Some of it is even genre crap that, on the face of it, you'd think I'd be more receptive to (Hello "The Vampire Diaries", I'll be covering you and your twinkly "Twilight" brethren and actual decent blood-shirtsty vampires in a forthcoming blog!), but generally if it's crap, I'll call it that.
However, just occasionally my missus strikes upon a little nugget of gold. In amongst all that chick drama comes a little programme that could. Something hidden away (more than likely on SkyLiving) that we blokes will more often than not ignore, but is actually worthy of our attention.
"Drop Dead Diva" presents the life, or more precisely afterlife, of vapid blonde model Deb who dies in a car accident and at the gates of St. Peter is judged 'shallow' and manages to get herself sent back to earth in the body of Jane, a recently deceased, brilliant, plus-size lawyer. With the assistance of her very-own guardian angel, Fred, and Deb's friend Stacy, who are the only people who know her true identity, Deb integrates herself into Jane's life and along the way learns lessons about life, love, identity and the old maxim about beauty only being skin deep.
"Drop Dead Diva" isn't a show that revels in it's genreness (Is that even a word?), nor does it dwell on it. The genre aspects are a tool to tell its stories and explore its themes rather than the raison detre of the show. In many respects it comes across as a modern chick-lit era take on Quantum Leap crossed with Ally McBeal, without a dancing baby or cigar-smoking hologram, but more than making up for it with its own brand of oddness. Indeed, stretching the Ally McBeal comparison further it's refereshing to see an attractive curvy leading lady in the guise of Brooke Elliott as opposed bag of bones Calista Flockhart. (Harrison Ford may go for that, but I sure don't!)
Elliott is surrounded by a strong supporting cast of generally unknown or half-know actors who, in the best traditions of these ensemble shows, have their moments to shine and often do without distracting the audience from Deb (as Jane's) journey. This isn't to dismiss them. The ongoing B-plots and relationships (Fred the Angel loves Stacy and Stacy ends up cheating on him, Deb as Jane works with her former fiancee, Grayson, who she holds a torch for, the boss and the other hot-shot female lawyer seem to have an on-and-off thing, etc etc...) are just as well-drawn and important as the primary plots.
Given that the vast majority of the shows that my beloved other half watches have me silently yearning for an asteroid to put me out my misery Drop Dead Diva makes a pleasant change. A relaxed and funny show that I can, secretly, enjoy with the wife as a guilty pleasure.
The Date: November 2nd, 1981.
The Place: BBC 2
In preparation for the then forthcoming new season of Doctor Who with its new Doctor, Peter Davison, BBC 2 ran a season of repeats stripped four afternoons a week under the title "The Five faces of Doctor Who." Producer John Nathan-Turner chose five stories to represent the many faces of the Doctor.
I can remember some of that season quite vividly. It would have been the first time I can remember watching Doctor's other than Tom Baker on TV. I'm pretty sure I caught the repeat of "An Unearthly Child" as I have a memory of sixties London swooping away from us on the TARDIS viewscreen, but I don't recall seeing the rest of that weeks story. I definitely saw all of "The Krotons." The eponymous aliens with their weird crystalline design and odd voices stuck with me as well as any Dalek or Cyberman. "Carnival of Monsters" I think appealed to me because of the timey-wimey weirdness of being stuck in a loop rather than the monsters or the rather pants aliens and their attempted political chicanery. As for "The Three Doctors", how could anyone not be drawn to more than one Doctor in an adventure! All that said, I have absolutely no memory of "Logopolis" from the repeat or the original transmission, so I think I can safely say I never saw that one.
I wasn't a fan back then, but I was the typical target demographic for Doctor Who. Seven years old and loving adventure stories, especially space ones, so amongst the myriad Enid Blyton's I was reading by that point there was the odd Tom Swift or W.E. Johns and the many, many Target novels that I borrowed from the local library. An almost unprecedented opportunity to watch old Doctor Who stories in a world barely coming into the home video revolution and unable to imagine DVDs, Blu Rays, Internet Streaming or iPads. It was thrilling without, at the time, entirely understanding why.
Over the years I think we (as opposed to the Not-We) have all played the game of "The X Faces of Doctor Who" season. What would we air if we were choosing a story to represent every incarnation of the Doctor? (Indeed, what would Steven Moffat do? Hmm... That sounds like a T-Shirt slogan.) How do you pick just one story? What criteria do you use. Popularity? Perceived quality? The monsters? My personal choices are as follows and fit, generally, to the rule that we have to fit the season into a fifty minute slot. So classic episodes are aired two at a time (therefore four episode stories rather than five or three). Admittedly Paul McGann would have to have a special dispensation, but otherwise the rules should stand. I've chosen to avoid characters or aliens reappearing and also chosen to go with a completely different companion each time as well.
1. An Unearthly Child
In the beginning, there was the word... and the word was... Foggy. The only hold over from the original five faces season. How it all began as a 'mild curiosity in a junkyard' becoming a 'great spirit of adventure.'
2. The Tomb of the Cybermen
Thought lost forever by 1981, returned to the archives in the nineties, this is a great representation of the Monster years and is chosen as my appearance of the Doctor's second-best enemies.
3. Day of the Daleks
Daleks plus Timey-Wimey. How can it not be popular?
4. City of Death
Tom Baker at his most-bonkers. Douglas Adams at his wittiest. Doctor Who abroad. Ticks many, many boxes for me.
5. The Visitation
The Davison era is a tough one to pick from as it was 'my era', the one I grew up on. Earthshock would be the obvious choice, but as the Cybermen have already appeared I went for another of my strongest recollections. Not so much a 'celebrity-historical' as one of those 'How the Doctor caused history to happen' stories. I always love the final shot of flames licking round the road sign of Pudding Lane.
6. Vengeance on Varos
Colin Baker's era, being rather short, leads to one or two tough decisions. Daleks and Cybermen are already out. The Trial of a Timelord is far too long. Timelash and The Twin Dilemma aren't great stories, so we're left at a toss up with which I came down on the side of Eric Saward's parody of reality television.
7. The Curse of Fenric
Just to show that Doctor Who was getting really, really good again when they cancelled it.
8. The Movie
D'uh. No brainer.
9. Rose
To my mind, the modern Who reintroduction of the series couldn't have been done better (Regardless of what Russell T. Davies has subsequently said on rewatching) and deserves it's place here.
10. Smith and Jones
While there are potentially better episodes to choose, the ones I'd most likely go for are the 'Doctor-Lite' episodes like "Blink", so here's my pick.
11. Vincent and the Doctor
And finally, bang up to date with the new Doctor. Alright he's not that new anymore, but still. Vincent and the Doctor is one of the finest of the 'celebrity-historicals' and plucks all the right emotional chords to have you sobbing along at the end.
And there you have it. 11 stories. 11 Doctors. One big celebration which we'll never actually see on telly because, lets face it, with todays umpteen repeats on BBC3 or Watch or on DVD/Bluray there's no point for the primary channels (BBC's One or Two) to do this kind of repeat season. But it's still fun to dream...
