Of "space Gandalfs" and sassy redheads

To celebrate Matt Smith's tenure as the Doctor, which will be coming to an end after this year's Christmas special, here's a pretty great deleted scene from the fifth season's "Flesh and Stone" where Eleven describes himself in Tolkien-esque terms. (It's also a great pick-me-up if you're still sad about Game of Thrones.)



This deleted scene is fun and entertaining, despite the fact that it reminds me of that awful time when Amy was trying to hook up with the Doctor. However, it also reminds me of the reason I so loved the second-greatest sassy redhead to ever grace the TARDIS: she is constantly calling the Doctor on his shit. (As did the greatest sassy redhead to travel with Space Gandalf, Donna Noble. I miss you every day, Donna.) After all, someone occasionally needs to point out the Doctor's propensity for traveling with young, hot girls and only young, hot girls.

I'm not too sad about Smith's departure yet; we still have two episodes to go before we have to bid farewell to Eleven. But I know that when the time comes I'll miss his antic energy, his awkward attempts to mimic human behavior, and the sadness and rage and fear that are just barely balanced by love and optimism. Even so, I'll be excited to see what the future brings; after all, I thought no one could ever match David Tennant, and Smith's fantastic performance proved me wrong time and time again. In the meantime, we have "The Name of the Doctor" and the reappearance of Ten and Rose Tyler (at least) to look forward to. Personally, I'm hoping for a Donna Noble cameo.

2012 was apparently the year of kick-ass women on TV

Flavorwire just came out with a supercut called "TV's Year of Kick-Ass Women," which celebrates the girls and women who rocked the small screen this year.



While I don't disagree with Flavorwire's Michelle Rafferty when she calls this year's crop of female characters "intelligent, empowered and awesomely flawed," the supercut leaves out a number of TV's best ass-kicking women. It was nice to see 30 Rock's Liz Lemon, Up All Night's Reagan and the women of Community alongside the (more traditionally) badass Nikita and Olivia Dunham, but where were The Vampire Diaries' Caroline and Rebekah? Why not include Archer's Lana Kane next to Selina Meyer of Veep? Why is Lady Sybil the only Crawley who gets a place on the list, rather than Lady Mary or the Dowager Countess? And while I wholeheartedly support the presence of Daenerys Targaryen and Brienne of Tarth, where exactly were Arya Stark and Cersei Lannister?

The Walking Dead's third-season trailer is action-packed and tense (and probably misleading)

Every time I vow to stop watching The Walking Dead, the show sucks me back in by doing something amazing: the tense confrontation between Rick, Glenn and the two mysterious strangers; terrifying, heart-pounding action set-pieces; and Shane (finally) getting what he deserves. Those moments of brilliance are almost always wasted, lost in the endless conversations about nothing and the inexplicable continued existence of Lori and Andrea, but the promise of more sends this viewer into self-perpetuating spiral of hate-watching.

The Comic-Con trailer for Season 3 is no different; it's beautifully done, propulsive, mournful and action packed, and it teases a season full of constantly shifting allegiances, lots of actual anti-zombie combat (something the show has a tendency to forget about until it suits the purposes of the plot) and, of course, the (spoilers ahead) long-anticipated appearances of Michonne and the Governor and re-appearance of Merle Dixon. What we'll probably end up with, however, are endless debates about post-apocalyptic morality and Carl doing stupid things in order to move the plot along, not to mention a general dearth of zombies getting their heads sliced off by Michonne's katana. Until that inevitable disappointment, I'll just watch this trailer on repeat and pretend that Hershel's farm never happened.

 

If you ever wondered what Better off Ted would look like if penned by Armando Iannucci, wonder no more

Those of you who love Better off Ted as much as I do (and I love it a lot, as evidenced by my summer TV suggestions) will probably enjoy this profanely filthy outtake reel from the show's hilarious second-season outing "The Impertence of Communicationizing." Fair warning: it's extremely NSFW, so unless your workplace has, like Veridian Dynamics, instituted a policy that requires employees to use offensive and insulting language in the workplace, you should probably put your headphones in. (via The A.V. Club):

This quote tells you everything you need to know about Ryan Murphy

Ryan Murphy and the cast of Glee. Photo courtesy of SugarSlam.com.

In a fascinating interview with Vulture, Glee and American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy responded to his very vocal critics and discussed the burden of acting as a showrunner for three series at the same time (his comedy The New Normal just got picked up by NBC). The whole thing is worth a read, but there is one remark in particular that not only stands out, but that offers an explanation of how Glee went from a snarky-yet-heartfelt story about a high school glee club to a self-proclaimed Important Show About Important Issues.

The seminal childhood TV viewing experience for me was the episode of All in the Family where Edith almost got raped. Also on Maude, when Bea Arthur made the decision to have an abortion. I remember watching those shows and talking to my parents about them, and it was a way for my parents to talk about those things with me and feel comfortable doing it. So it really is something I’ve always loved since I was a kid, that form.

Murphy's self-aggrandizement aside (Glee's sledgehammer approach to "issue" television is worlds removed from the subtlety of Maude or All In The Family), this quote sums up the ongoing problems with Glee and dashes any hopes I had that The New Normal might stay away from the endless preachiness that has become a Murphy trademark.

Because this comment isn't a response to a question about portraying social issues on television or Glee's recent, much-maligned domestic violence episode. The interviewer had merely asked Murphy why he had decided to try his hand at a half-hour comedy. His immediate jump to a discussion of Big Social Issues not only glosses over the fact that a sitcom is a very different beast from an hourlong drama or dramedy, but demonstrates his preoccupation with making TV shows that "matter."

Fringe gets a thirteen-episode fifth season

Per J.H. Wyman's Twitter page, as of last night Fringe has been picked up for a thirteen-episode fifth season, which hopefully means that we will get to find out more about the dystopian future, the bald-headed oppressors' ultimate plan, and what happened to Olivia.

Of course, in the alternate universe, Fringe gets ten million viewers every week and will run for at least six seasons (and possibly a movie?), but on this Earth we're just grateful that the writers are being given a chance to wrap up the storyline. Talking to EW.com, executive producer J.J. Abrams promised a "wild and thrilling" conclusion, while showrunners Wyman and Jeff Pinkner thanked the show's "enthusiastic fans," and guaranteed that season 5 will be a "conclusive thrill ride."

And yes, there is somehow already a trailer for the fifth season. Enjoy, and tune in tonight, when you can finally watch an episode of Fringe without feeling a lurking sadness in your soul.

Is Rachel Dratch unemployable because of her talent, or her looks?

Steve Buscemi on Boardwalk Empire, and Rachel Dratch on Saturday Night Live.

Yesterday, Slate's DoubleX blog ran a post by Torie Bosch that challenged recent claims put forth by Rachel Dratch in Girl Walks Into A Bar..., her recently published memoir. In the book, Dratch claims that the rejection that has faced her since she left Saturday Night Live - she was famously replaced by Jane Krakowski on 30 Rock, and her big leading-lady moment Spring Breakdown was relegated to the direct-to-DVD wasteland.

Bosch, however, disagrees. She writes:

But was Dratch really a victim of Hollywood’s insane beauty standards? What if her particular brand of acting—and she has admitted that she is more a character actor—just isn’t right for leading-lady-dom? Am I betraying feminism if I say that I’m just not a huge Rachel Dratch fan? She seems like a lovely person. Girl Walks Into a Bar’s discussion of her unexpected, late-in-life pregnancy is funny and honest and poignant. I’d love to get drinks with her. But as much as I strive to support smart, funny women on TV and in the movies, Dratch’s work doesn’t appeal to me.

I actually sort of agree with Bosch on this one, at least to the extent that Dratch's acting style has always turned me off when it appears outside of sketch comedy. In particular, Bosch's claim that Dratch's appearances as various characters on 30 Rock didn't really fit with the tone of the series was, I thought, pretty spot-on.

But that doesn't mean that Bosch's argument is airtight. The biggest problem on display is her assertion that Dratch "isn't right for leading-lady-dom" because she is a character actor. The writer appears to have forgotten that "character actor" is generally synonymous with "person who is too unattractive for a lead role." Bosch reverses the causality, assuming that it's Dratch's particular acting style that keeps her from getting lead roles, and conveniently forgetting that Dratch's appearance has, in all likelihood, consigned her to these sorts of roles.

Smash's best (and worst) musical moments

This week's episode of Smash, "Heaven and Hell," was, surprisingly, pretty good. Both Karen and Ivy had likable moments, Ellis got put in his place, and coverage of Julia's personal life was... brief. Plus, we were treated to a great new musical number (albeit not from the newly-title Marilyn musical, Bombshell): "The Higher You Get, The Farther You Fall" from Tom and Julia's previous success, Heaven on Earth. So, in the spirit of that particular, charming number, let's recap the best (and worst) musical moments from Smash's run so far.

"The Higher You Get, The Farther You Fall," from "Heaven and Hell"

I literally have no idea what Heaven on Earth could be about, but this clip makes me want to see it all the same. Despite Ivy's total unprofessionalism (I know she's supposed to be upset about losing Marilyn, but no actual chorus girl would turn in that lackluster of a performance), the tune is catchy, the choreography is appropriately clever, and Norbert Leo Butz is charismatic (can we get him as a series regular? Please?). I finally understand why people are so into Tom and Julia's work.