Last Night's Doctor Who -PLEASE HELP!!

Stupid DVR set-top was unable to record last night's Doctor Who Season Finale (no clue why but according to my recording log it tried five times and the channel wouldn't let it record it for some reason) - so as a result I missed it. I know, of all the one's to miss...

Anyhow...can anyone out there help me access last night's episode or see it? [ETA: People did, thanks!] BBC America isn't re-airing it at all - apparently.

Would greatly appreciate it.

If not - can someone please tell me what happened? As luck would have it - it was the only episode of a tv series I really wanted to see this week.

[ETA: The universe clearly didn't want me to watch Doctor Who today - when I tried to download it from a link, it wouldn't let me, and when I purchased it from Amazon and tried to download - my server crashed entirely, no access to the net. Ended up calling first Apple - who directed me to Earthlink - who directed me to Time Warner. Time Warner fixed it and said if it happens again call Apple because it was your router which crashed. But hey, screw the universe, I finally got to see it. Very twisty.]

(no subject)

Well, I finally was able to access and see the season finale of Doctor Who S6 otherwise entitled The Wedding of River Song. But I almost killed my internet access attempting it. Not sure why the universe was attempting to stop my viewing of this episode, seemed rather innocuous to me. And a tad bit anti-climatic, but they always do appear that way - when you have to go through a lot of effort to see them. Same deal with Phantom of the Opera - I swear I would have appreciated it more if I didn't have to work so hard to see it. May post a review of Doctor Who at a later point. Need time to digest it first. Also been spending too much time today as it is wrangling my computer. I won, but it was an epic battle.

There's not that many good genre series airing this season, is there? Apparently they've reached their saturation point. While the cop procedurals...appear to not have one in sight. Very odd. You'd think people would get bored of the serial killer/murder of the week? But no. The highest rated season premiers appear to be Unforgettable, Person of Interest, NCIS (both versions), CSI, Castle, Hawaii 5-0, Blue Bloods, and Pam Am. Everything else was a sitcom, a news show, football, or a reality tv show. If you like cult television at all - you are a bit regulated to either cable, the low-rated shows no one mentions on the networks, or the CW. Depressing, isn't it?

Hung out with a friend last night - saw the flick Contagion by Steven Soderburg. It's okay. Nothing to jump up and down over. Although there is a rather funny line by Doctor Sussman (Elliot Gould) to annoying/whiny/opportunistic blogger (Jude Law - who by the way has pimples, quite visible when his face is the size of a wall):

"Blogging is just graffiti with punctuation marks. "

We roared with laughter. This thing did have a lot of really good one-liners. The main theme of the movie was how disinformation causes chaos. The villain if there was one - is the blogger played by Jude Law. Being uninformed or misinformed by unreliable internet sources and careless can kill you.

Friend's response was basically the same as mine - this would have worked much better as a mini-series on tv. We both wanted more. The movie format was too abbreviated for the story to be told in a satisfying manner. That's been my problem with a lot of movies lately...they are almost too short. Neither of us found it the least bit scary, in fact we both burst out laughing when the woman next to us started coughing. Possibly because we both know far too much about the subject - being junkies of this particular trope. (We've read Andromeda Strain, watched it, read Hot Zone, and I also read Virus hunters and just about every book, movie or tv series that pops up on the topic. Plus discussed at length with medical professionals. I find the process of hunting down a virus, figuring out how it was caused, how it was transmitted, and how to stop it rather fascinating. ) Overall, we liked it. And it was free - my friend had free passes, so we didn't have to pay. Spent the money on sushi, saki, magritias, and other munchies at various places instead.

We also discussed Game of Thrones and The GRR Martin Series - I told my friend that the tv series was actually pretty good. But she's decided to read the books instead. A friend of hers, a guy, said something that I found decidedly odd about the series, although it has been mentioned before, elsewhere. He stated that GRR Martin clearly either did not like women very much or had problems with women, because his women characters are horrible and shallow, with no depth. I thought, huh? Was more puzzled and bewildered by the comment than anything else. I just finished reading chapters in Brienne, Sansa, Yasha, and Cersie's points of view. But..He's read all the books apparently and is not a feminist, fairly conservative in his tastes, but like's female characters. Which doesn't tell me all that much. Just seemed an odd statement. Granted some could be better developed, but that's true with some of the male characters too. I don't know, I don't think Martin's female characters are as well drawn as Whedon's, Tolkien's (better than Tolkien's - Tolkien barely has any), and anyone else out there. What do you think?

Admittedly there are a few writers out there that I wonder about in that regard - Ryan Murphy, I keep wondering if he has some unresolved female issues. But I wouldn't say it about Martin. Martin seems pretty normal, as far as I can tell. Granted I've only read three of the books and am a quarter of the way through the fourth, but still.

New Fall TV Show Roundup - British Reboots & What I'm Watching...

[Having issues with my DVR, had to reboot the thing much like I had to reboot my router - screw Time Warner, this was a cable issue not a computer or router issue. But at least it worked. So can't complain.

As an aside? Can someone please create a 24 hour football channel or set aside one channel - that is available to people with or without cable, so that I don't have to worry about missing The Good Wife? The Football Game ran late again, which means I had to manipulate the DVR and watch it live, staying up later than I wished. Seriously, I preferred it when the Good Wife was airing at 10pm on Tuesdays. This switch in scheduling is annoying me. ]

Reboots from British Shows. This never gets old, apparently.

This seasons Reboots:
1. *Free Agents? It was a "recent" British Sitcom - same name, same characters, literally. In fact, Anthony Stewart Head is playing the same role. You can catch the BBC version on Sat on BBC America after Bedlam next weekend. Oh? And the British version is supposed to be funnier and more realistic. (No surprise there). The Brit version stars the guy who plays the writer in Episodes (which is somewhat ironic.)

2. *Prime Suspect is the other reboot - although quite different from the Mirren version and about ten years after that version.

Past reboots:
1. I just found out on Saturday that Leverage is apparently an obvious rip-off of the British television series Hustle. It's the one with Robert Vaughn from Man from Uncle. (apparently the other star from Man From Uncle is on NCIS - my parents new favorite tv show, along with my Aunts. There's something NCIS that appeals to people over the age of 55. Not sure what it is? Maybe the lack of any other shows that have people above the age of 40 in critical roles? Hey that might be why people love the procedurals. Totally understand that.)

Others include: Being Human, The Office ,Skins and Coupling

Seriously, they can't come up with a new idea? I think the US would attempt to do a version of Doctor Who if they could figure out the audience for it and how to do it. Or, maybe they are just afraid no one would watch a US version? Doctor Who unlike the other programs mentioned is a bit too well known. Be like the UK doing their own version of Star Trek.

Of the new series I've seen? The only ones that I plan on sticking with are:

1. Revenge - it's sort of like Leverage, except it has a definite arc, is a serial, and is a lot better written. (How is it like Leverage? Basically, a character cons people who did horrible things to her in the past, and still doing nasty things, and ruins them through the con. These people are ostentatiously wealthy. And she's gotten out of prison. What's unique about it - is that it shows the downside of seeking Revenge, more character than plot driven, and has a central female lead as opposed to a male lead. Also a rich back story.) Main drawback? The teen love triangle from soap cliche hell. The teens are annoying and need to be dropped, pronto.

2. Ringer - admittedly clunky, but improving - watching it feels a bit like watching the little engine that could or rooting for an underdog (there's a decidedly buffy-like feel to the whole enterprise). Genre-wise? It's female noir. It's also quite funny in places. Unlike Revenge, it doesn't really take itself that seriously. There's a tongue-in-cheek feel to it that I can't quite put my finger on. A self-deprecating wit. So it's fun to watch and to critique.

3. Subrogatory - I feel like this is my tale, albeit very different, in that I have two parents and moved from suburbs to city. But I strongly identify with the heroine's struggle with suburbia and her coping mechanisms are quite similar to my own (ie. hiding and snarky wit).

4. Terra Nova - am intrigued by but on the fence. Also, shallow, I know, but I like Jason O'Mara. Also love the fact that O'Mara's wife and children are ethnically Indian. (from "India") They even wear some of the attire. But it is clunky writing wise. Also not pulling in the numbers it needs to survive. This show costs over 20 million per episode.

5. Secret Circle - intrigued, but the teen angst admittedly gets on my nerves. But - I find the backstory about the parents intriguing. What did they do? Why did they do it? And What exactly were the consequences? Also who are the elders?
And what have the kids stepped into? Will it happen again? The series is supposed to delve into the consequences of black magic. So I'm waiting for that to take off a bit more. The first two episodes were stronger than the third. But it is building.
Also Vamp Diaries started out bad, and suddenly got really good. So...I'm hanging in there to see where it goes. Plus I like Gale Harrold who plays Adam Harrington and the gal who plays Cassie.

That's about it. Will try a few more episodes of Prime Suspect - but, I'm burnt out on cop shows. It really has to be different for me to stick with it. I watched too many of them once upon a time. Way too many. Over-dosed on them. Also read too many. So we'll see.

I'm waiting for Grim, Once Upon a Time, and American Horror Story to air. Unlike everyone else - the only one of those three that really interests me is Once Upon a Time - we have Robert Carlye (the guy from the Full Monty and Star Gate Universe) playing Rumplestilskin. And it's about fairy tale characters that get stuck in the real world and don't know who they are and don't believe fairy tales exist. Snow White? She becomes a nun in a convent. The Evil Queen? The town Mayor who adopts Snow's grandson. Snow's daughter? A bounty hunter. And the story flips back and forth between the two worlds. Also this is Jane Espenson's new gig, along with some of the Lost writers - so an interesting mix of talent. Plus it looks like it is going for comedy and fun, over gore and violence and pain and misanthropy. I don't know about you? But I need a little light-hearted campy fantasy in my life. Probably get canceled after two episodes, although on ABC so you never know.
American Horror Story - great cast, but the creators - I am not so sure about. I may be wrong, but I think Ryan Murphy has serious issues with women and women's bodies. I've picked up on a definite pattern in his stories regarding this - first Nip/Tuck then Glee. Murphy is a writer that beginning to think I may want to avoid in the future. But I'm admittedly curious - so will check it out. It's airing Wed, opposite Revenge on F/X.