Direct TV Guide

Finale of Torchwood: Children of Earth

wendywwrites — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:23:49 +0000

The miniseries wrap up of Torchwood: Children of Earth was certainly worth the wait! The four nights prior did a great job of building up suspense and sympathy for the characters. The storylines were shocking at times and the parallels to our own modern day dilemmas could not go unnoticed.

When the aliens were demanding that a tenth of the world’s population of children be surrendered to them, or they would wipe out our entire species, the leaders involved in the negotiations had to make a choice as to how they could select which one tenth of the population would go. Then, they would have to come up with a story line that the public would believe. Supposedly, children would be collected for inoculations, when they would really be collected and handed over to the aliens. The brash eliteness of the situation came to a full head when one of the women in the leadership summit admitted that no one was going to send in the children who one day would become doctors and judges but instead, they needed to send in the kids that were already on the path to prison. She said that placement tests are exactly for that reason, aren’t they? Take the lowest ten percent of the test scores and send them to the aliens. The admission of such elitism was so shocking and yet, so true. And in this case completely excusable because the situation is one of fantasy and science fiction.

The senselessness of having to sacrifice so many lives was beginning to wear on everyone, especially on John Frobrischer, the civil servant who had been working hardest at devising plans, negotiating with the aliens and taking all of the heat on behalf of the Prime Minister. Then, the Prime Minister tells Frobisher he has to go on TV and show his own daughters being turned over for “inoculation,” as it would be good publicity. At first, Frobisher says, “but there is no inoculation…we’re just giving them a fake inoculation, right?” The Prime Minister tells him that, no…Frobisher’s daughters are to get the real inoculation…they’re to be turned over to the aliens. We really hate the Prime Minister, even more than ever.

Captain Jack (John Barrowman) saves the day. He’s finally released from his holding cell from the woman who put him there, Johnson. He figures out how to reverse the alien’s signal by sending it back through the children just as they had been broadcasting through the children. In order to do so, they need one child to be the conductor but that child would “be fried” from all of the current going through him. The only child in the vicinity is Jack’s own grandson, so it’s a case of sacrificing one to save millions. He makes the decision, and they lock his daughter out of the hangar where they are working. They set up the boy to act as the conductor. Sure enough, the plan works and it blows up the alien in the tank and the aliens in the sky disappear. The boy is dead afterward and Jack’s daughter, again wants nothing to do with him.

The end of the show jumps ahead seven months when Gwen and Rhys are driving out to a field in the middle of nowhere and they meet Jack. Gwen had been able to retrieve his arm band transmitter from the hub because it is indestructible. Jack activates a signal and a ship beams him up. He’s gone. He had traveled the world but the planet had suddenly become too small for him. Now, he’s back out in the universe.

I love BBC America. It’s my favorite channel because of shows like Torchwood, Dr. Who, How Clean is Your House? and Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares. Having satellite TV ensures that I always get a clear, HD signal into my home from DIRECTV. Plus, when I can’t be home to watch my favorite shows, I can record them on my DVR and see them at my leisure in their original HD clarity. Their package deals are really affordable, too! Which in this economy, means I get great entertainment for a great bargain.

How Will Torchwood End Tonight?

wendywwrites — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:23:01 +0000

CAREFUL! THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD!

Ok Torchwood fans…did you watch Torchwood: Children of Earth on BBC America last night? They killed Ianto! Now, they’re going to have to kill Gwen, it’s only fair to start off with a completely fresh group in the next season. Since this isn’t really a season and it’s only a mini-series, they’re killing everyone off, I think. Maybe Lois will be a new member of the team, Russell Davies seemed to imply that…and perhaps, they’ll kill Gwen off, too. Even though she is pregnant. See, that would be even more reason for Captain Jack (John Barrowman) to want to wipe these aliens out. He loves Gwen, more than just a friend. And if she were to be killed, it would be the thing that makes him snap right now. He’s just lost Ianto, whom he loved or was at least, very fond of. I don’t know if he really loved Ianto but Jack was very attached to him. I liked Ianto very much, he was always so polished and though his delivery was often dry, it was part of his humor. The dry, droll sort of humor that often took you by surprise. I think Jack is going to have to completely rebuild Torchwood, which will include an all new team starting with Lois. She’s certainly fired after her stunt in the Prime Minister’s cabinet, and she might even get arrested before Jack or Gwen can get there to help her out. I don’t know if they had a plan for her to get any sort of immunity after she made her announcement in front of the leadership conference.

Tonight is the finale and I wonder how in the world they are going to wrap up this entire alien invasion in just one hour? Maybe they aren’t and they’re going to leave us hanging until the next season of Torchwood starts. These aliens want so many children and like Jack said, all of the humans on Earth are going to fight it once they realize what is happening. How will they fight them, though?

They’ve either got an hour to wrap it up tonight, or they’ll be leaving us hanging…we’ll see what happens on BBC America!

Should We Hate Captain Jack on Torchwood?

wendywwrites — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:00:58 +0000

Before I get into last night’s episode of Torchwood: Children of Earth, I thought I would mention what I thought of this past Sunday night’s episode of the HBO series, Hung. It was better this past week. The fact that the house where Ray lost his wallet didn’t belong to Lenore was funny. Plus, she’d maxed out his credit card, not funny…but interesting. It makes her a quite colorful character, one that we can dislike wholeheartedly. Especially after the way she spoke to Tanya at her apartment door when Tanya went to pick up Ray’s wallet. It made Lenore even more dislikable. We are certainly meant to dislike Ray’s neighbor who took pictures of him standing on the dock. The final scene when the neighbor’s wife bit into a cookie with an overly complimentary note inside was funny and it gives way to a potentially good situation from which Ray can generate income. This of course, will be a great payback to the picture taking neighbor husband of hers that we don’t like. So, I suppose I am giving Hung another chance…again.

Now, onto BBC America’s series, Torchwood: Children of Earth. It was really great last night! We are learning so much more about Captain Jack and the life he led before his current group of Torchwood buddies. We’ve learned that he has a daughter and grandson. Then, we learned that he was part of giving the kids to the aliens 38 years ago! The last scene when Gwen asked him why, the way John Barrowman slightly cocked his chin and so matter of factly said, “as a gift.” It was pure brilliance! Obviously, there is going to be much more to it all than just that. He didn’t do it in a way that we are going to hate him. See, when he was on the phone with Frubischer, he’d said, “the fact that they’re back proves they can’t be trusted.” So obviously, the first time around when he gave the aliens the kids, it was meant to be a payoff to keep them away from Earth and to make them go away. That’s why he went to an orphanage to get them. They weren’t someone’s babies, they were children that didn’t have homes or loved ones. I can’t wait for tonight’s episode…I have to DVR it because I’ll be out but as soon as I get back in, I’m watching it!

My DIRECTV HD DVR will record all my favorite shows, like Torchwood, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria and Primeval when I can’t watch them. I use the Scheduler feature all the time, because I’m always forgetting to set the DVR to record new shows or I often hear about a show that I want to record and I can’t get home to program the DVR player. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn that satellite TV service is really not that expensive. Plus, you will many more channels than you can get from your local cable provider.

You Can’t Kill Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood

wendywwrites — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:06:42 +0000

I’m so glad that one of my favorite BBC America shows has come back! Torchwood: Children of Earth has not been disappointing at all! Plus, the great thing about it is that it’s a mini-series that they’re putting on all in a row. I don’t have to wait for an entire week between episodes until I can see what happens next! It’s fantastic for me because I’m often impatient and I’ll jump ahead to the BBC websites and see if the shows have already aired in the UK. Most of the time they have and I end up spoiling the surprise for myself. But I always enjoy watching them anyway. Now, soon, Dr.Who: Planet of the Dead will be starting up and it’s in HD. I also think it might be relatively new, I don’t know for sure. His new sidekick looks like the girl that was in the failed Bionic Woman when they tried to revamp that show. I’m not sure if it’s her and I don’t want to go to the website until the show has actually aired for fear that I’ll spoil the show. It’s my own system of spoiler alert you might say!

Anyway, Torchwood has already started off amazing. An alien life form has contacted Earth through the children and also sent a coded message to Britain and possibly other countries to build a chamber with a special mixture of gasses. They’re completely poisonous to humans and they’re assuming that the aliens are going to land inside the chamber somehow to breath the gas. What they haven’t considered is if the gas is possibly intended for humans. For some reason, Torchwood was placed on a kill list and everyone in the organization was targeted. The assault team from the government shot Jack and while he was unconscious, placed a bomb inside his stomach. When it blew, the entire block was taken out and Torchwood headquarters was demolished. All that was found of Jack was an arm, a few other bits and a piece of a head. Sure enough, he completely regenerated, so they enclosed him in cement. Ianto broke through the wall with a construction crane and carried the block of cement to a cliffside and dropped it. It broke apart and Jack came back to life again. Now, he’s reunited with Ianto and Gwen, whose husband Rhys is along for the ride.

How Does Mary Ann on True Blood Fool Tara?

wendywwrites — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:28:02 +0000

True Blood was really good Sunday night. I am starting to wish the show wasn’t only an hour long. Let’s see, Mary Ann manipulated Tara into staying at Sookie’s by wreaking havoc at the bar for her. She just had everyone go nuts on Tara at the same time, which made Tara feel as though she didn’t have a friend in the world. I thought at first, it was awfully convenient that suddenly Mary Ann didn’t own the house they’d all been in and some guy from Peru appeared out of nowhere to reclaim the property. How was it that when Eggs realized the guy must have returned, he didn’t say, “oh, I better get back there and pack my bags.” I’m starting to think there is much more to him than meets the eye, too. Or maybe there is less of him than meets the eye…what do I mean? Well, maybe he’s really more of something that Mary Ann has created for Tara and not really all that real to begin with. He just happened to be there, able to back up Mary Ann’s tale of a guy from Peru who came back to claim the big house. Mary Ann also coerced Tara into making her stay by dressing like Sookie’s grandmother when Tara came home from work. There she was, sitting in the kitchen, no makeup, hair pulled back and pinned up, just like Gran…she was dressed in some sort of gown that looked like it came from the old woman’s closet and she had an apron on! She tried to feed and comfort Tara just like the one woman who had made her feel safe and loved would have. Very manipulative, I can’t believe Tara didn’t see it. She couldn’t have been that distracted. After all, Tara is a pretty tough cookie. Unless whatever it is that Mary Ann is doing to her is really weakening her. For some reason, Tara is important to Mary Ann and she’s working hard to keep her close. We’ll see what happens next week in Dallas when the Sookie infiltrates the Fellowship of the Sun and what Jason’s role in it all will be.

My DIRECTV HD DVR will record all my favorite shows, like True Blood when I can’t watch them. I use the Scheduler feature all the time, because I’m always forgetting to set the DVR to record new shows or I often hear about a show that I want to record and I can’t get home to program the DVR player. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn that satellite TV service is really not that expensive. Plus, you will many more channels than you can get from your local cable provider.

How Do You Pick a Theater Star?

wendywwrites — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:47:09 +0000

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? on BBC America sent me for a bit of a loop last night. I expected Abi to get blown out of the water but Aeofa? No, she was supposed to be one of the final three! Or so I thought. I really thought that the final three were going to be Connie, Siobhan, and Aeofa with the winner being rather up in the air. But when Helena was not even in a sing off at all, I was happy for her but very surprised. Her performance was very good except for the part when the guy was bringing her back down in his arms, he either kind of squeezed her or her breath was pressed outward. After she sang, John Barrowman told us all that she was working with a near broken rib, which would explain why it might have been painful for the particular move he had to do in order to bring her back down from the air.

I agreed with John Barrowman that Siobhan didn’t push herself all the way with her number, “All That Jazz” and that she could have taken it a step beyond what she did. There was still an element of something too controlled about it and yet, her movements as Andrew Lloyd-Webber mentioned were not as crisp as they could have been. Her singing was still slightly lazy mouthed in the way Zoe demonstrated. So did she really deserve to stay?

Aoefa’s rendition of “Footloose” was really good. It’s not an easy song to do and it was very high energy, which showcased her ability to sing and dance hard. Her acting moment with John was bad though, she should have given in and let him kiss her. That was the point of the whole exercise, breaking boundaries and personal space. I think that might have counted against her in the end, even though she is such a good actress, I believe that was a mistake.

Connie’s performance was first and it was terrific, there’s never been any doubt about that. She acted the song very well and danced with the men in a very convincing way. She had a much better exercise with John than Siobhan did but Helena did really well, too. In the end, these were the last three standing, so we’ll see what happens next week. I figured out this is an old show because Graham said something about Tony Blair being on the chopping block??? However, I refuse to peek ahead and see the outcome! I want to be completely surprised next week when the winner is announced!

My DIRECTV HD DVR will record all my favorite shows, like How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria and Primeval when I can’t watch them. I use the Scheduler feature all the time, because I’m always forgetting to set the DVR to record new shows or I often hear about a show that I want to record and I can’t get home to program the DVR player. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn that satellite TV service is really not that expensive. Plus, you will many more channels than you can get from your local cable provider.

Weekend TV

wendywwrites — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:34:02 +0000

Hung is getting one more shot from me. I watched it last week and if it doesn’t do anything for me this week, I’m hanging it up. I just don’t care about the guy. I don’t care whether or not he gets his wallet back. I didn’t think it was funny that he lost it there at the woman’s house, and I didn’t think it was a tragedy, it wasn’t all that big of a problem. She doesn’t seem like the kind of woman who would go and visit him in his real life, nor does she seem like the kind of woman who would stalk him at the high school. Now, if in this weekend’s episode, something like that does happen, maybe it will be funny. As for the rest of the plot line, the kids…they don’t act like they love him at all, which is understandable, they’re teenagers. But they don’t really even act like they want to be with him all that much, either. It’s relatively obvious they want to get away from their mother, but they are such lumps on logs that it’s hard to tell if they’re supposed to be acting like they’re on lithium or if they’re acting like they’re apathetic to the whole situation. The mother is the most colorful character in the show and it’s because she has the most energy. Everyone else is slow and sluggish. Anyway, it gets one more shot.

True Blood should be good, when Lafayette feeds off Eric, he’s funny and is all energy and vitality. I wonder if Eric will turn him into a vampire. I don’t know if Lafayette wants that but I think it’s a great idea! Lafayette would make a wonderful vampire, he’s funny and he’s got a very selective quality about him. Mary Ann started to reveal her true self a little at the end of the show last week, will she completely turn into the thing that attacked Sookie? Her hands turned into the claws that tore up Sookie’s back, so it seems likely that it was Mary Ann.

I’m looking forward to more answers this Sunday on HBO!

Good Morning America and Me

wendywwrites — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:58:00 +0000

Good Morning America has been my source for morning news since the days of David Hartman and Nancy Dussault. Yes, that’s going back to the very beginning of the show. But ABC has always been “my station” as far as news goes. Peter Jennings was my man and when he passed away, well…let’s just say I’m still not over it. All of the years that Saturday Night Live actor Gilda Radner made fun of Barbara Walters, I laughed at the caricature but remained s fan of Barbara’s nonetheless. Today, I still am. When Joan Lunden replaced Sandy Hill as David Hartman’s co-host, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like her. After all, I had given my loyalty to Sandy…I couldn’t suddenly switch. But I grew to love Joan and became very attached to her calming voice and personable style. She and David had an easy rapport and they were co-hosts of the show for a solid seven years. Then, David retired. We watched him grow older but it seemed to me that he retired too young. This new guy, Charles Gibson came in and took his place and again, it was hard to automatically transfer my loyalties but I did. I loved Charlie as my morning man for many years. Then, another change began to take place. More upsets to the apple cart. Joan was supposed to cut her hours but go primetime…and I’m not sure what happened but a new co-host came in with Charlie (Lisa McRee) and ratings plunged. During these years I was working late nights and I wasn’t up to see the show, so I don’t know what was going on. I do know that when I came back, Charlie was gone altogether, and I didn’t like the show as much. Suddenly, Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer took over the show. Good Morning America become more than morning fluff, Diane gave it more credibility as news woman and Charlie’s return gave the show what it had been missing.

When Peter Jennings died and they put “Charles” Gibson into his spot, I approved. I couldn’t think of anyone else that I would want to see in Peter’s seat. I love that Charlie still calls himself, “Charlie” even though the show is called, The Evening News with Charles Gibson.

Chris Cuomo is our new morning man and he’s had my stamp of approval from day one. I love to turn on the TV and see this Kennedy-esque, well spoken, handsome man with such a great sense of humor. I don’t get to watch the show very often anymore because I’m usually working and I don’t turn the TV on between bed and my home office but when I do, I’m happy to see Robin, Diane, Chris and Sam. I’ve grown up with Good Morning America and eventually, I’ll retire with them, too.

Having satellite TV means I can see whatever style of comedy or drama that I want to see. One of my favorite features that I have with my satellite TV is my DIRECTV HD DVR will record all my favorite shows, like True Blood when I can’t watch them. I use the Scheduler feature all the time, because I’m always forgetting to set the DVR to record new shows or I often hear about a show that I want to record and I can’t get home to program the DVR player. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn that satellite TV service is really not that expensive. Plus, you will many more channels than you can get from your local cable provider

The Liveliest Vampire Award Goes to Jessica!

wendywwrites — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:32:20 +0000

True Blood left me a little uncomfortable the other night when Jason Stackhouse was unpacking in the Reverend’s house and his wife was in her nightie in Jason’s room. It’s so obvious she’s trying to make him notice her but what really had me uncomfortable is how stupid he is. I mean, this guy is just plain d-u-m-b. He should have been putting as much distance between himself and her as he could. Also, a dumb moment for him was when the Reverend was talking about how there’s “a war going on out there…” and Jason turns his head to look out the window…oh good grief! Then of course, just like a child, he later mimics the Reverend’s words in the bunker when the other guys played the vampire trick on him. I thought at first it was a bad dream he was having when he walked in to find all of his bunk mates dead with blood everywhere. I mean, it couldn’t have been a real vampire attack, they wouldn’t waste that much blood. They’d have drained all of those boys dry and made a much bigger mess, so I thought it was a bad dream. Then, of course we learn it was a trick played by his “fren-emy” who is very jealous of him. Talk about someone wishing for a complete case of schadenfreude to occur.

I cracked up at Sookie’s dress when she got off the plane. It was cute and I could actually see wearing it myself…if I were imitating Sandra Dee at an “Under the Sea” party or something. Really, it was a nice outfit but she was so out of character for the way we usually see her that she looked foreign…almost as if they had accidentally spliced some footage of Anna Paquin from some other film or TV show into True Blood for that evening’s episode. Jessica is a crack up. She has not been letting me down at all. When she tried to get out of her travel coffin, and it was bumping around on the ground, her voice inside complaining, about how to get out of the thing…I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. In fact, I think Jessica is turning into one of my favorite characters. She’s so full of life!

My Style of Comedy

wendywwrites — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:24:29 +0000

Last night, I watched the movie, The Bride Wars. It was cute in some places and touching in others. It got me to thinking about real comedy and what’s funny. I don’t know how or why in movies, we’re expected to believe that people could actually get into the back room of a hair salon and swap out hair color to make someone’s hair blue. I know, it’s poetic license and I’m supposed to suspend the reality to go with the comedy. But, it’s not only this movie that’s done this sort of thing. There’s also a scene where one girl goes to the tanning salon and switches out the skin color to make the other girl orange, like an umpaloompa. Sure, it was funny to see but it’s just not realistic enough to imagine that it could happen to you, or that you could pull the prank on someone else. That’s part of what makes comedy; it is laughing at the misery of others, especially at something that you know could very well have happened to you.

When it comes to comedies, I want something believable. I really do. I know that there are crazy things that can happen to people that seem improbable. I’ve had them happen to me. The high heel that gets stuck in a crack in the floor, a jacket that gets caught in a taxi cab door and the driver doesn’t know it for four blocks, putting a sweatshirt on backwards so the hood covers my face, which makes me stumble and fall forward knocking over hot chocolate onto the one sample of a paper a professor entrusted me with. I’ve been that woman who gets out of a car at a curb looking fantastic only to have a car drive by and splash me from behind with a puddle so completely that I looked as if I’d been in a deluge. Then, I’ve been dumb enough to turn around and look at the puddle so that when a second car came along, it splashed me from the front, thus completing the catastrophe. It wasn’t the drivers’ fault, they couldn’t swerve out of their lane into the car in the next lane just to avoid a puddle.

Anyway, that’s just what watching TV last night got me thinking about. Comedy and how we all like our own styles of it. There are so many different types of comedy, which is why so many different types of actors and comedians have regular and steady work.