Sherlock Holmes

Last winter, PBS showed three 90 episodes of the BBC's Sherlock tv show.  It takes Holmes and Watson and puts them in a modern setting, as opposed to the recent movies that kept them in their original time.  I watched two of the three episodes over the past couple of days thanks to DVDs from the library.  I've got to say, they were great.  The actors are fantastic and the stories ring true to traditional Sherlock Holmes mysteries.  The interaction between the two main actors is fantastic, reminding me a bit of Gus and Shawn from Psych, minus the pop culture references.  I highly recommend this if you can find it (it may be on youtube or another website).

My favorite line:  Policewoman (referring to Holmes), "He's a psychopath."
                          Holmes (in response), "That's high-functioning sociopath, please."

Watch Psych!

Psych doesn't start until October this year (bummer), but this commercial puts me in the mood.  Enjoy, and I'll remind everyone when the season premiere gets closer.

Summer TV

It wasn't too long ago that summer meant tv reruns.  As a tv junkie, that was always a bummer.  I would finally have time (no homework, no grading) but I'd seen what I wanted to see.  Then cable channels started showing first-run shows, and I was hooked.  The channel I watch most often during the summer (some of the shows air during the winter months as well) is USA Network.  They have what I've seen called "Blue Sky" shows.  They are suspenseful, fun, and light, great escapism television.  It started with Monk about an OCD detective (sadly, this show has ended).  Now, I regularly watch Burn Notice (an ex-spy helping the less fortunate in Miami - it's the knight-errant theme, like Magnum P.I.), White Collar (a con-man helps the FBI solve white collar crimes - pretty cool ideas), Covert Affairs (young CIA operative, making her way in the business), and my favorite current show, Psych (a fake psychic detective - I can't recommend this one highly enough; the Mentalist is a total rip-off, but Psych has great chemistry between the leads and can be laugh-out-loud funny at times).  Watch it!

TNT has Leverage, which is Ocean's Eleven meets Robin Hood.  The cons and plans are well done, and I never guess right about what's going to happen.

Finally, SyFy has Warehouse 13 (Indiana Jones meets FBI meets wacky gadgets - watch a few shows and it becomes addicting; they use lots of fun ideas, like Poe's quill or HG Well's time machine), and Haven, which spun from a Stephen King story but actually has nothing to do with the story except in passing; lots of strange, possibly supernatural or superpowered goings-on being investigated by an FBI agent who has a knack for attracting such things.  Haven is not nearly as intense as The X-Files, but has some of the same ideas.

If you can only see a couple, watch Psych (watch it already, and pay attention to the pop culture references, particularly from the 80's) and Leverage.

An Old Favorite and a New Favorite

Because I caught some kind of flu-like bug, or something, I spent the week home from school with a headache pretty much round the clock, with some achy-ness and a queasy stomach (although I didn't have a fever, which was weird).  Even now, my head isn't quite right (no dumb jokes, please).  As a result of my week of do-nothing, I watched a lot of tv.  I pretty much had my fill of ESPN and the NFL labor news.  I enjoyed the college basketball games, though.  Good background noise. 

Anyway, I discovered two shows I really enjoy, one an old friend and another a new classic.  First the old friend:  On the REELZ channel (Dish Network), I discovered NewsRadio reruns.  NewsRadio is a show my brother and I got hooked on during the mid-to-late 90's (thanks Jeff).  It is a sitcom that takes place in a small all-news radio station in New York.  I don't know that there was a "star" attached to it, but the cast has gone on to many other endeavors.  Unfortunately, this show was still filming when Phil Hartman was killed, and lasted one season without him.  Basically, each episode revolved around some new hair-brained idea or situation that arose at the station, and then funny lines and high jinks ensued.  It's still very watchable.  And, I still wish that the atmosphere at work was a little more like NewsRadio.

The other show I watched a lot of is Phineas and Ferb.  This is a cartoon on the Disney network of channels, and is about two step-brothers who spend each day of summer vacation coming up with some new outrageous idea or invention.  Their teenage sister tries to bust them, but always ends up looking foolish.  Their pet platypus, Perry, is really a secret agent, engaged in stopping the evil Doofenschmirtz.  All-in-all, its very clever, with running gags and enough jokes aimed at adults that it makes it a kid show that's fun to watch with your kids, or without them.

If you happen to have the time, or a DVR, check them out.