I know you’re angry, but please don’t shoot the messenger. Or, in this case… the messenger’s messenger, I suppose. Plenty of other people are posting this story, go shoot one of them! Anyway. From the BBC:
David Tennant is to stand down as Doctor Who, after becoming one of the most popular Time Lords in the history of the BBC science fiction show.
Tennant stepped into the Tardis in 2005, and will leave the role after four special episodes are broadcast next year.
“When Doctor Who returns in 2010 it won’t be with me,” he said.
Sorry kids, but we all knew this was going to happen eventually. When William Hartnell became too elderly to continue the role back in the 60s and the concept of regeneration was conceived to explain the transition to Patrick Troughton, I’m sure everyone knew that subsequent actors would all become targets of a “death pool” of sorts. That’s the nature of the beast. Personally, I had Tennant pegged for at least one more year as The Doctor. Oh well.
I’ll miss him. He’s definitely somewhere in my top five of the ten actors who have (officially) played the role over the years… probably somewhere between Tom Baker and Sylvester McCoy. I wonder where the next guy will place? Whenever this happens, the first thing people usually talk after the “who’s next?” speculation is whether or not the newcomer will be able to follow in the wake of their immediate predecessor.
Memo to Auntie Beeb: if you’re going to tap Patrick Stewart for his long-rumoured guest appearance, do it now, as his recent theatrical work alongside Tennant should translate to instant chemistry.
Hey, do you hear that sound? Birds are singing, harps are playing… if you listen very closely you can just make out the laughter of small children. Oh, what wonderful thing has happened which can turn a dreary gray October day into such a bright, joyous affair?
Glenn’s TV show will be moving to Fox News Channel, beginning early next year. In the mean time, Glenn’s show on CNN Headline News has come to an end.
You really can hear the birds! That’s one of CNN’s most obnoxious pundits down, resigned to the squalor which is Fox Noise, where moronic loudmouth bigots like him fit in best. This means that Canadian viewers such as myself no longer have to grimace at the split-second sight of his goofy mug during channel-flips past CNN Headline Newz. If only Lou Dobbs and Nancy Grace would join him.
What was your favourite Glenn Beck moment? Perhaps the time he suggested that all Guantanamo Bay prisoners should be shot rather than brought to trial? How about his barely-contained racism during an interview with muslim Congressman Keith Ellison? Or his oh-so-insightful theory that all ugly women are “probably progressives”?
Whenever I’m watching TV with people bright or generous enough to allow me full control over the remote, I make a point of muting commercials. Some merely tell me that it’s a strange habit to have and leave it at that, while others moan rather incessantly about the possibility of missing a split second of dialogue after the break. What can I say? I lost my patience for the perpetual bombardment of advertising long ago.
Of course, that doesn’t keep the networks from testing out their new tricks, oh no. As if the giant post-commerical letterboxing wasn’t enough to keep pissing me off despite my steely grasp over the audio, now we’re seeing cable channels like TBS getting creative with their attempts to ensure that I can’t go one full act without being pitched to.
Thankfully I only ever pass through TBS during random flipping. Still, I feel bad for the twelve people who still watch Family Guy reruns.
Prosecutors on Monday fired a broadside against 2×2 television, accusing the cartoon network of promoting extremism with an episode of the iconoclastic U.S. cartoon “South Park” and violating children’s rights by airing shows such as “The Simpsons” and “The Family Guy.”
The City Prosecutors Office said in a statement that a commission of experts had determined that the South Park episode “Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics” was extremist in nature because it promotes “hatred between religions.”
I’m not going to dive into the usual debates over censorship or cultural misconceptions because I’m pretty sure that everyone and their dog has beaten me to it by now. Of course, anyone with some insight on such things should feel free to raise these points in the comments if you want.
Now, what really weirds me out about this story? The timing. This particular episode of South Park aired way back in 1999. Furthermore, it has been syndicated a thousand times on a thousand different networks worldwide in that time and is available in multiple video formats to boot. You’re only taking issue with this now? One possible explanation in the article - somebody out there wants that station’s frequency - suddenly doesn’t seem too far-fetched.
Reader homework: turn this into a Yakov Smirnoff joke. I’m drawing a blank.
When Fox brought us the first episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles back in January, it’s a fair bet that none of us expected the freshman series to last more than a few episodes. “It’s Fox, the grim reaper! Scourge of sci-fi/fantasy television!” exclaimed some familiar voices. “They’ve even got River from Firefly! It’s doomed!”
To be honest, it still might be. Anyone reading this from the perspective of a genre fan won’t need to be reminded that Fox hasn’t allowed a fledgling science fiction series to prosper since David Duchovny was still a fresh face. With that in mind, let’s just enjoy this little deviation while we can and try not to knock on wood too much.
Following a redone opening and recap sequence (I still get a huge kick out of “come with me if you want to live!” as delivered by Summer Glau), “Samson and Delilah” picks up right where the first season finale left off: with fire, and lots of it. Hit the break for my full review, but beware that past this point there be dragons. Spoiler dragons. [Read more]
