Revisiting Old TV Shows

I think we’ll be canceling our DirecTV account very soon. Now that “Downton Abbey” is done, I’m not watching much current TV other than a handful of shows (mostly reality TV like The Amazing Race, Survivor and American Idol). This past week I’ve been watching some older stuff.

CootieGirl and I sat down and watched a couple “Doctor Who” episodes from Season 5 with Matt Smith. Now, I’ve made it no secret that I adore David Tennant, who played the 10th Doctor. When Matt Smith started as the 11th Doctor I was very much inclined NOT to like him, simply because he was not 10.

And so throughout much of Season 5 & 6, I lamented that I didn’t like Matt Smith and that it was really a shame they didn’t get a better actor – although given how awesome David Tennant was, I understood that it would be hard to find anyone nearly as good.

However, while watching the season premiere of Season 5 again, I realized that the new doctor was really quite charming. Too young, but charming nonetheless. And so I put on another episode, the one about Vincent Van Gogh, and again, I really liked Matt Smith’s portrayal. I then put on a third episode, and I’ve now completely turned around on my prior opinion. Matt Smith is outstanding. Is he David Tennant? No, but I’ll always consider Tennant to be “my” doctor – my all-time favorite. But Smith is pretty darn awesome. And I love Rory and Amy as his companions.

In other TV news, another show I’ve been revisiting recently is “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” At one point I considered this my favorite show of all time. It’s still definitely in my Top 10. I so loved this show that I was on a forum dedicated just to “Buffy” and “Angel,” and even went to a couple meet ups (and eventually met my friend Ace). I knew the name of every episode by their initials and could discuss Buffy canon with the best of them. But once the show was canceled, it wasn’t long before it was replaced with other shows, and slowly grew dusty on the shelves of my mind. But I’ve recently dusted them off, and have watched some of my Top 10 episodes.

Let me just say, they are still great. I’m not watching through an uber-fan fog anymore, but just watching for fun. And Joss Whedon and his cadre of writers never failed to make me laugh, wince (they had GREAT bad guys like The Gentlemen in “Hush” (Season 4) who were seriously creepy dudes) and cheer during every single episode. If you haven’t watched the show, even after all these years, I highly recommend them. While some seasons are stronger than others (Season 3 being my favorite), the entire block of seven seasons is just great, great television.

The Oscars are on tonight, and I’m looking forward to watching. I haven’t seen most of the movies nominated, but I have seen a couple that I’m rooting for – “Hugo” and “The Artist.” While I wish that “Hugo” would win more than “Artist,” I won’t be disappointed if “Artist” takes home the bulk of the statues tonight.

And with that I’m signing off so I can put the kids to bed and sit down to watch the show!!