Doctor Who. - The Woman Who Fell to Earth

[I have no idea what season this is? 13th?]

Just finished watching the New Doctor Who, starring Jodi Whittaker as the first female doctor, and with new show-runner, Michael Chinbale. (Sorry for misspellings, Who fans and internet spell checkers.)

And...

It was good. I was pleasantly surprised. I love Jodi's take on the Doctor, and love the team companion approach. Much prefer three companions to one. It gets rid of the romantic shipping with the Doctor, which frankly never quite worked for me. The only characters that made sense as romantic love interests for the Doctor were Doctor River Song and Missy/Master. Everyone else seemed a bit ludicrous and my suspension of disbelief hopped out the window. Rose Tyler? Seriously? Why would a 1000 year old alien, who is brilliant, immortal, and can travel back and forth through time and space in the blink of an eye... fall in love with someone who is the equivalent of a little kid, with zero knowledge of the universe, history, or anything else? They've zip in common. I can see him/her mentoring her or even becoming friends, but falling in love in a romantic way? No. Also, not helped by the fact that all the companions did increasingly dumb things. Platonic relationships work a lot better in these types of series.

Anywho...finally, we have a female doctor, and the story not mention the Whoverse just got a bit more interesting. I felt like they were repeating themselves for a while there. With the exception of the River Song arc, and Nine, the series felt very boilerplate. Now, it's a bit shaken. Less predictable. I like that. You need to shake up things a bit. It also got a less sexist. I'm sorry but the previous incarnations had a sexist undertone that irritated me. Even the Doctor River Song arc. This feels a wee bit less sexist.

I have to admit I leaped out of the Capadali/Clara arc due to boredom, also the fact that the actress playing Clara does little for me. And left for a bit during Tennent/Rose arc also do to boredom (and I'm rather apathetic about Billie Piper). I didn't like either pairing. Nine -- I found interesting, because the Doctor was played very dark and angsty by Christopher Eccleston. And Alex Kingston's take on Dr. River Song fascinated me, along with Rory/Amy and Matt Smith's Doctor. I did like Bill/Capadali, that pairing worked for me. This one, with Whittaker/et al appears to be working as well. I liked and cared about all the characters.

The story? It worked for the most part.

( eh spoilers )

I'm sticking with this new Doctor, it was enjoyable, inspiring, comforting, and held my interest. Which is basically my criteria for most things nowadays.

Also, need icons.

Dancing with the Stars..and other television stuff

1. First, I attempted to watch "Dancing with the Stars Juniors" and got offended. The dancing has always been rather "sexy" with an emphasis on sexy moves, and scanty costumes for many of the contestants, which in the adult version is equal opportunity. But in the kid version? We have scantily clad girls and little boys. They have the girls with short skirts and short tops, showing off plenty skin and they are emphasizing the sex appeal.

You can do dancing without doing that. It is possible. This feels exploitative and made me squirm.
Not helped by the fact that Sara Palin's grandson is one of the featured dancers.

So deleted that right off the bat. No. You can watch it. But I have standards.

Dancing with the Stars - Adult Version

( spoilers )

2. Remember how I posted about the argument I had with former roommate about books being better than television on FB? And she along with my mother made me see the error of my ways? Well, I ended up finding myself on the opposite side of that conversation with another social media friend on FB, where they said books were better than television.

Proof that sooner or later you will find yourself on the opposite side of every argument you ever have. Although usually there's a few years between conversations not two months.

I found it amusing. I think I already post the conversations. Can't remember.

Anyhow...if you think there's nothing good on television? You aren't looking. Which is okay, there's so much cultural stuff out there...we all get burned out on it and have to take a breather.

I admit, I'm a culture junkie. And I love television.

3. Watching PBS Great Performances - the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards honoring people like Neil Diamond, Emmylou Harris, Tina Turner, some drummer for the Beach Boys and various bands, Queen, John Williams, among others.

Emmylou did a shout out to PBS stating she hoped they didn't go anywhere. We need them in these chaotic times. They are a breath of fresh air. Too true.

The for-profit news channels can be rather toxic.

They've already done a couple of my fav's:

* Sweet Caroline and I'm a Believer (with Mickey Dolenz who made it a hit)
* Proud Mary and What's Love Got to do with It. (I love Tina and I love a couple of the belters, not all of them. Can't stand Celine Dion and Michael Bolton, both cause nausea, but I adore Whitney Houston and Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin. I like the ones who can go deep down and high.)

The tribute to John Williams is truly beautiful. Violinist and harpist playing one of his compositions. I think from Schindler's List.

4. Of the medical melodramas...the only two I'm enjoying are:

9-1-1, which is the most realistic and possible the best written of the fire-fighter/emergency series. It's run by Minear/Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck, starring Angela Bassett and Peter Krause.
(I have a huge woman-crush on Angela Bassett. I love her.)

New Amsterdam, which is the most realistic and best cast of the hospital melodramas. It stars Freema Agyee, the husband from the Black List, among others. It's diverse. It's gritty. And it's kind.
I don't want to throw rocks at the television set during it (looking at you, Resident).

Grey's Anatomy is feeling its age and Station 19 is just not believeable. And I can't watch anything by Dick Wolf. [I know a lot of professional fire fighters due to my work. I'm hiring a firm to design fire alarms and dealing with the fire marshalls and fire engineers for the Railroad. These are big guys. They have to carry 400 pounds. The people on Station 19 cannot carry 400 pounds. On 9-1-1, I believe they can. Also the cops on Station 19 aren't that big or tough. I'm doing a lot hand-waving since it takes place in Seattle not NYC or LA, but still.]

[Note, I get how nurses and doctors can't watch these things. Feel the same way about legal and criminal procedures for the same reasons. If you know too much, it's hard to hand-wave stuff.]

5. The sitcoms I'm sticking with are:

The Good Place

Not as good the premier. (I've seen Adam Scott who plays Trevor somewhere before, and I don't like the actor. I find him annoying. I'm guessing I'm supposed to?) Also a lot of the jokes did not work for me. This show's at its best when it is making fun of metaphysics and philosophy. At it's worst when it makes fun of pop culture or ethics.

That said, Kristen Bell's snarky sense of humor saves it.

( spoilers )

* The Neighborhood -- biggest laughs of the week for the pilot. Let's see if the second episode holds up.

It is sort of a reverse Archie Bunker/The Jeffersons, modernized.

* Murphy Brown

Candice Bergen pretty much sells the show. Her interactions make me laugh. Maybe because the actress much like Kristen Bell shares my sense of humor.