Happy Doctor Who Day

Apparently today is Doctor Who Day - a celebration of the day Doctor Who first graced our television sets.

And who am I to turn down any chance to show a bit of love for my dearly loved Doctor and the absolutely most amazing TV show I've ever seen!?

So Happy Doctor Who Day!

Friday Night Lights Wins

I know it's a bit overdue, but I just have to share my excitement over Kyle Chandler winning the 2011 Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama series. When I saw this in my news feed a few days ago, yes, I probably did give an embarrasing little fist pump.

But so well deserved - Chandler and Connie Britton as  his wife Tami were just so wonderful - they are my favourite husband and wife team on television and their relationship was portrayed beautifully. I love how Coach Taylor could be so stubborn but cared so much about his family and the team and the individuals that made it up. I love that he could be so inspiring and so moving, and I love all his little funny moments - when he snuck in a few snarky words or a look it was gold. I love Friday Night Lights and I love Coach Taylor and this win was just the perfect way to end the series.

Friday Night Lights writer Jason Katims also won for best writing.  

For all those who have not yet jumped on the Friday Night Lights hype, it will be well worth your time and emotions. It is like if you had the best, most awesome, most hilarious, most inspiring, most touching YA series that you just couldn't put down - I think I seriously watched a whole season in about two days once.

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!

Friday Night Lights

Well my favourite news of the day: Friday Night Lights, one of my absolute favourite television shows (after, of course, the delicious Doctor Who), has been nominated for four Emmys this year. Best Drama, Best Writing for a Drama and Best Lead Actor and Actress in a Drama for Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton.

Oh my goodness, this show totally took over my heart when I first started watching it. My first reaction to it was probably similar to a lot of peeople: Yuck, I don’t want to watch a show about American football. And there is a lot of football in it, but it really only serves as a background to all the wonderful characters and drama and stuff that this show presents in such an honest, intimate, brilliant way. And I found I got so invested in what was going on that the ‘football bits’ were equally as exciting and engaging as the rest of the show. The small town of Dillon, Texas, has a near religious devotion to football but what this show does so well is have all the glory and excitement of the game collide with reality and the realisation that off the field, the glory doesn’t last. Away from the lights and the cheers and the adrenalin, life is just that little bit harder.

I find it hard not to adore every single character, flaws and all. After just a few episodes these characters, brought to life so authentically by the actors, will just worm their way into your heart: they are so warm and real. Aw, just so much love for them and this show.

Friday Night Lights is in its last season, so the Emmy nominations are a nice send off I think. I am thinking it is unlikely they will win in any of the categories, especially up against all these shows that are so popular and commerically driven (Friday Night Lights has had numerous battles just to stay on screen over the past five years). But there is also the news that after its final season has been broadcast it will live on in ESPN Classics – I’m not familiar with this channel (being from Australia) but if this means Friday Night Lights might reach a new audience, I am all for it.

Doctor Who and Dalek I Loved You

Recently I just finished reading Dalek I Loved You, a kind of memoir/ode to Doctor Who by British TV journalist/reviewer Nick Griffiths, published in 2007. This book divided me. I absolutely loved the parts about Doctor Who: his anecdotes, his rememberances of the show, his lists of favourite episodes. It was really quite touching to read how, through his work with the Daily Mail, Griffiths got to meet many of his heroes from the show. He tells of it in quite an understated way, but we cannot miss how much it means to him, we cannot miss that beautiful sense of childlike awe at getting to meet the characters who so populated his imagination.

Therefore, I think if he left it at just that - revolving around Doctor Who - then Dalek I Loved You would have been a better read. As it is Griffiths drops in memories of his experiences at boarding school and his loves and the path he took to getting a job and pretty much anything he really wants. Which is fine I guess, if I knew who he was. But I don't, and so I was left wondering exactly why I should care, what warranted me reading his memoirs. Perhaps he is a well-known personality in Britain, and if so, then that's fine. But to me it just felt a little bit self-indulgent, like using Doctor Who as a guise to get his story out there. To his credit he is quite an engaging storyteller, and I was quickly turning pages. The only thing that really bugged me is that he kept playing down his Doctor Who geekiness and so it felt like he felt like he had to justify his love for the show, to which I say....

JUST LOVE IT, MAN. Because this is a show that must be loved whole-heartedly. I do. I love it with every inch of my heart and soul and brain - for me, it is right up there with mermaids and peanut butter on toast. I don't think it is geeky or embarrasing to love The Doctor anymore, such is the surge of popularity it has received since bursting back to our screens in 2005. I absolutely just adore this show: the idea, the action, the imagination, the adventure, the characters, the intelligence, the humour, the stories - but really, what totally won me over is that it has such a big heart. Everything is underscored by such a perfect understanding of emotion, and paring everything down to the humane experience. And although there have been some dud episodes, this understanding of humanity is rarely off mark.

I absolutely love the Doctor with all his eccentricities and loneliness and pure brilliance - whether he be portrayed by a Tom Baker or a David Tennant or a Matt Smith, the acting is a joy to watch. I just want to give this show a great big hug - it really is television at its best.

And lastly, while we're on topic (sort of) - a couple of good movies I've recently seen. The Last Station, with Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer and James McAvoy. Brilliant acting from these three and an engaging look at the latter life of writer Tolstoy. And a decent YA-ish movie - Remember Me, with Rob Pattinson and .... well, I guess anyone else doesn't really matter after him ;). Yes, he has his sexy turned up pretty high here but also busts some pretty swish acting chops and there's some nice stuff about family relationships/dysfunction. Worth a look.