What Am I Watching?

[shipperx]

This post by elsaf made me think of TV shows that I'm currently watching. Like Elsa, I'm not shipping anyone at present, which is an odd hiatus for me. I've had years upon years of shipping behind me. I shipped Mulder and Scully. As XF died down, I shipped Michael and Maria on Roswell. Then, I fell for Spuffy, and that was all she wrote for all while.

I still dabble in Spuffy as far as fanfic goes (I swear to God, I am still writing both Perfect Vengeance and When Darkness Falls. I'm just unforgivably slow.) My Spuffy situation is rather odd because I can still ship Spuffy in fanfic. However, as far as canon goes, I'm completely off it. It's a weird combo, I know. But, somehow, it makes sense in my head... at least until a new ship comes along.

I will most probably continue to ship fanfic Spuffy (and Spred) as long as I can have fun writing them. In a very strange way, my dissatisfaction with canon is why I continue to write Spuffy. In contrast, I loved shipping Aeryn and Crichton of Farscape, but I've never had any desire to seek out fanfic or to write fanfic about the characters. Where Farscape is concerned, I was and am satisfied. The story that Farscape gave me feels so complete, that I don't feel the need to tinker with it or play what-ifs. I'm happy with it and that's enough. I suppose it takes some dissatisfaction to fuel my plot bunnies.

I don't know when a new ship will come along. I'm not really looking for one. I'm happy to watch TV without shipping. It's so much easier in so many ways. Still, it's odd that at the time being, I don't have a show or a specific fandom (other than continuing to hang in the familiar grounds of Spike fandom). It's an odd feeling to be without a show that I'm somewhat possessive of.

So what have I been watching? My LJ makes it clear that I watch both Project Runway and Lost.

Project Runway is simply fun for me. It reminds me of when I was in architecture school in so many ways -- unrealistic deadlines and projects, and crazyass people claiming to be artists.

And I think I enjoy Lostbecause it isn't my show. I think if I shipped anyone or if I was really obsessed with the clues and the mytharc, I would probably be frustrated with Lost by now. However, I don't ship anyone. And, since I am an old XF ho, I know better than to obsess over the mytharc. That only leads to disatisfaction. My casual interest and my willingness to simply enjoy the ride, is most probably why I continue to enjoy the show.

I also watch Battlestar Galactica. I find the show to be intellectually fascinated. However, emotionally, it leaves me rather cold. I don't have any attachment to any of the characters. I'm most certainly not involved in any of the ships. And it's not "must see TV" for me. It's more along the lines of "Boy, I'm glad something is on Friday Nights."

I enjoy My Name is Earl a great deal, but My Name is Earl is a comedy. It's not something that I become involved in. I just want to laugh a few times. Earl and Randy are sweet and stupid and make a bunch of pop culture references. That amuses me, but it's not the same experience as when I'm involved in a show.

And, I'm thrilled that Dr. Who is coming to sci-fi. I enjoyed the season off of the torrents and am happy to rewatch when it legitimately begins airing in the US. Still, with the way that it's airing (and, admittedly some of its campiness) it's not quite the same experience. I like Dr. Who a great deal, but I don't covet it in quite the same way as shows where I'm really actively involved. Still, excellent show.

Also in elsaf's post, queenofattolia mentioned that she had been watching PBS. In responding to her, I realized that some of the shows that I've most enjoyed recently have been on PBS (and were BBC productions, but my cheapskate cableservice doesn't actually have BBC America unless I get digital service, so I only see them on PBS).

In particular I have enjoyed:

Elizabeth I: The Virgin Queen Elizabeth was such a fascinating person. I loved Cate Blanchett's version of Elizabeth I, but I think I enjoyed this mini-series even more. I thought Anne-Marie Duff did an outstanding job. She made Elizabeth appear to be very much the daughter of Henry the VIII. Romantic and autocratic, mercurial and vain. And I liked the way they played off the relationship of Elizabeth and Robert Dudley, making it both romance and machination on both Elizabeth's and Dudley's part. She loved him, but she couldn't marry him. And he could never quite separate his love for Elizabeth and his own ambition (the actor looked too much like the guy who plays Nicholas Cassadine on General Hospital though.) And it was interesting the way that they took Elizabeth's love for Dudley and showed her transferring onto his 'stepson' the Earl of Essex --who was manic depressive... if not just out and out batshit crazy. Rome's Kevin McKidd plays the Duke of Norfolk in this one. Anyway, if --like me-- you're a ho for historical epics, I rec this one. It's probably my favorite thing on TV in the last few months. Who knows, or cares, how historically accurate this one is. It is well acted and populated by fascinating characters.

I also enjoyed Henry the VIII. I thought this was -- all things considered-- a rather sympathetic portrayal of Henry the VIII (though they did seem to forego mentioning that he had syphillis at the end of his life). They made him seem to have more conscience about the deaths of his wives than most portrayals. He seemed rather three dimensional in this telling. I was a bit distracted by Helena Bonham Carter playing Anne Boleyn because the first time I remember seeing HBC in anything was playing Jane Grey in Lady Jane. It's sort of weird to see her as two different historical figures, that closely related in time and story (not related, related, but part of the same timeline more or less). Sean Bean appears in this story as well, so that's always nice.

Watched John and Abigail Adams last night on PBS and that was also interesting. I remember once reading some prints of the letters John and Abigail Adams wrote to one another, and they really must be one of the great love stories from the period of the American Revolution. Their letters always came across as being devoted to one another, and it was surprising --given the time period-- how very much John Adams depended on his wife. There was information I had never known -- and wouldn't have imagined-- in the documentary. I never knew that Thomas Jefferson PAID a journalist to run a smear campaign on John Adams in order to bring Adams down and run for the office himself. It was nice that Jefferson apologized twenty years later, but it showed how dirty politics has always been. John Adams was doing what he thought was right and what he thought was honorable, and Jefferson backstabbed Adams a few times. Jefferson was a complex man -- and not always a wholly likable one. Anyway, I found this documentary to be both informative and interesting.

In Search of Shakespeare was another very interesting documentary as well as the Dickens documentary (though it didn't make me like Dickens much... okay almost not at all. He was an utter bastard to his wife and kind of a hypocrit. But it was a fascinating biography).

And all of that makes my quality TV viewing look entirely too high because... I'm really looking forward to the return of reality shows The Amazing Race and Survivor. Sometimes we just want crap!