Hmm. Summer tv leaves much to be desired. Well, ok, “Doctor Who,” Series 3, on SciFi has been kind of entertaining. I keep missing “Eureka” – you’d think that now that I finally have cable, I’d actually watch the stuff I’ve been wanting to watch! “Burn Notice” seems entertaining, but I haven’t watched very consistently. “The Company” also looks intruiguing – perhaps I should watch the miniseries since I doubt I’ll be plunging into the rather thick book any time soon. “Mad Men” also seems interesting. “History Detectives” on PBS has been consistently good, except now they’re showing reruns from the previous summers.
Otherwise, it’s been about watching reruns on cable – mucho “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (10th Anniversary, people!), and even “X-Files.” God, I need a life.
NBC has a preview for the upcoming fall premiere of their new show: “Life.” (posting link to the YouTube presentation; not going to embed the whole video). Actor Damian Lewis stars as the cop who had been wrongly convicted of a crime he didn’t commit (sentenced to … you guessed it… life) and then gets his life back. In the video, Lewis does some commentary about the role. Lewis does it in his character’s American accent, which sounds great and so… American. Which is weird, because he’s British. Hell, he played Soames Forsythe on PBS’ “The Forsythe Saga” – the quintessential repressed upper class Englishman. I envision ignorant American tv viewers becoming upset when they find out that he’s British, kind of how they did when they found out about Hugh “Dr. House” Laurie wasn’t really from New Jersey.
Thumbs up, though, to NBC. I’m getting eager about this series. Just don’t mess it up, please.
The New York Times’ Mark Bittman on making a pasta with shrimp ragu – based on his theory that a good way to have shrimp flavor is to make shrimp stock. It sounds lovely, and well, I’m a sucker for shrimp.
NY Times’ John Tierney on the theory that maybe our reality is just another’s computer simulation. Boy, does that put a spin on God as a watchmaker, who makes the watch and then steps away to let the watch keep running… doesn’t it?