Friday, August 29, 2008

Wendy's Week of TV Part 7

Sunday: Doctor Who

This was a genuinely creepy and tense episode - and frustratingly another of the "to be continueds". A little resonant of Alien with the deserted planet with an unseen monster popping off the cast one at a time. And what about poor Donna?? And I'm so intrigued by the whole Doctor not knowing of his future meeting with the professor and her sonic screwdriver. Bring on next Sunday!

Monday:Top Gear

Apart from the fact that SBS is showing repeats (this one from 2003!) I thoroughly enjoyed my night off from choir and an evening with Top Gear. The other week at a social gathering I mentioned Top Gear and all the women at the table immediately began competing with each other as to how much they loved this show. I did say at the time, that while I also liked it, I found it slightly worrying that I was a Top Gear fan. What is the actual source of attraction to a show about European cars (of which I have no knowledge, and will most likely never own)? The suggestion came back, sensibly I believe, that it was because the hosts actually say what they think and aren't afraid to give a negative opinion. Pretty basic I guess - but I think there might be something in this.


Wednesday: The Cook and the Chef

Are there any foods that Maggie is not totally in love with? Does anyone really want to eat avocado ice cream? In Year 8 Home Economics we were instilled with the value of aprons, washing our hands and not sticking fingers in the food during the cooking process. Maggie, I fear, would have failed. And just once on these cooking shows I want the cooks to do the final taste test and spit it on the floor in disgust. Raptures, raptures always raptures.


The Hairy Bikers Cook Book

They're hairy and they're bikers travelling through Namibia in search of authentic African cuisine. The main question here was - what size entourage is required to carry all the gear and cooking utensils and ingredients so they can prepare food in the most unlikely of places - i.e. the middle of a sand dune? The follow up question was why?


Spicks and Specks: YAY...Ross Noble


The Hollowmen: Yes I agree, Kirribilli House is a waste of money. But perhaps not in comparison to the Big Brother House.


Thursday: Buildings that Shaped Britain

Again a fascinating episode of this documentary series. This time Simon and co looked at the buildings that sprang up from the industrial revolution, from huge mills in Britain's industrial north, to the emergence of terrace housing as a way of combatting slums.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooh, I love Ross Noble, as well. I could listen to that accent--which my Mam once had, but lost long ago--for hours. Plus, Little Nell, who just rocks.

I was pleased about the Doctor Who cliffhanger: the only thing I like more than a Doctor Who episode by Steven Moffat is two Doctor Who episodes by Steven Moffat. (An old joke, but true.)

Moffat's brilliant at the scary stuff: the creepy kid with the gas mask? And the stone angels? Even "The Girl in the Fireplace," which was my least favourite of his, was creepy: a clockwork robot in eighteenth-century clothing hiding under the bed? Ack!

Wendy said...

the gas mask episode was a great one! and "the girl in the fireplace"...that was a freaky one as well...looking forward to sunday now...i think i definitely prefer these kind of episodes to the full on alien battles...although they definitely have their charms

Anonymous said...

I admit that I like the alien-world stories: I have a soft spot for the back-in-time stories (especially "The Unquiet Dead," with Charles Dickens) but I worry that the programme is getting too earthbound, and was hoping that would disappear when Rose left. At least Jon Pertwee had a reason for spending all that time on earth.

Wendy said...

although i quite like the idea of the "alien working among us"

jon pertwee...that was where the doctor had a niece? (displaying my ignorance!)