PBS as a whole has a great Best of Briton segment going this summer, first to cover the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and then expanding to all things entertaining from the empire. Brand new this week however is WETA-UK, a round the clock celebration of the best of British TV. And because it is just starting, you can catch the first episode of a lot of series right now. Episode 1 of Fawlty Towers takes place at 12:30PM EST tomorrow, Sunday June 10th, for example (if you are outside of the Maryland/DC/Virginia area, check your local cable lineups for exact times; if your service does not carry it, ask for it). An hour later will be the first episode of My Hero, a comedy about an Alien adapting to life on Earth while chasing the human woman of his dreams. Immediately following that is episode one of season 1 of the new Doctor Who series, where Rose Tyler gets told by The Doctor Run For Your Life. When that one ends, we get two episodes back to back of Red Dwarf, episodes 1 and 2 from season 1. I know where my TV is going to be set on Sunday afternoons from now on! Then at 8:30PM EST tomorrow, later the same day, we get the next Fawlty Towers episode, followed by Primeval season 1 episode 2, the next Doctor Who episode, and then 4 episodes of Red Dwarf including episodes 3 and 4 from season 1. I somehow missed seeing when episode 1 of Primeval was, but I suspect they may have a glitch or two in their electronic program guide. Guess I will just set my TV on the channel in the morning and let it ride all day, to make sure I don’t miss anything.
Not one, but two programs, one on each side of the Atlantic! In the UK, at the beginning of the year Blue Peter went looking for script ideas for a new Doctor Who episode, and it got them. So they made the mini episode based on a story put together by grade school children, and The Doctor, Amy, and Rory will be doing it for us this Thursday the 24th as part of the next Blue Peter program. On the US side, BBC America is running the Matt Smith Top Gear episode this Monday evening, as the Doctor drives a Reasonably Priced Car.
According to the official Doctor Who Experience web site, Matt Smith proposed to his girlfriend in front of the Tardis, and she accepted. Of course, it was a totally different Matt Smith, not the actor playing the Doctor at all. But how many folks would have read the whole article if I said that bit in the headline? *grinz*
This is a real contestant entered into the Britain’s Got Talent competition with his opening salvo song, which he hopes is going to propel him into the contest. Whether he got in or not, I absolutely love the concept, and I will be practicing my Dalek voice so I can sing this at parties. In fact, I loved it twice as much when Simon hit the FAIL buzzer and the audience BOOed Simon, not the singer! You are going to have to watch the video to see how it all worked out.
The short list for this year’s 2012 Hugo Awards was posted online this weekend, and includes a ton of great authors and programs. But I have to say, as much as I am excited about books from my favorite authors, it is the authors I don’t know about who made the list that excites me more. There are really good stories out there that I have never read, and most of those authors will have still more stories I might enjoy that I never would have known were there if not for these awards. And, of course, it is not just the written word that is being celebrated here. The category Best Graphic Story brings images to add a dimension to the storytelling, but I am so long out of touch with that field that I don’t recognize a single title or artist. Again, something new and interesting to explore. But then I hit Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, and I have seen every one of them, and would be really hard pressed to choose a single one as best; although I suspect I would lean to either Hugo or Captain America. And on Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, three of the five are from last year’s Doctor Who season. The awards will be handed out at Worldcon as always, which this year is the ChiCon, AKA Chicago 7, the 70th Worldcon convention.
UPDATE: If you want to read the novels online, all have now been released to the public, and Worlds Without End has the links. And congrats on their two nominations to the great team at SF-Signal, who will probably have links to all the nominees that can be read online in any category fairly soon now.
Yes, the new season looks good already, and still has a touch of Amy and the US in it…