IAmATVJunkie.com is a Torchwood Spoiler Free Zone Until July 20

UPDATED: Video -- Sarah Silverman Program Producer Rob Schrab Gets Ninth Doctor Eccleston for Guest Spot

UPDATE: Just back because I love my British readers and I have YouTube links (and you can use them too, Yanks!). Click here, here and here and each of the three clips will open in a new window.

Why no one tipped me off that Rob Schrab was a Doctor Who fan or that Eccleston was appearing as Dr. Lazer Rage is way beyond me.

When people know stuff like this they should tell me. And Rob, if you are such a fan that you show up at the convention, I would really enjoy meeting up with you this February.

In the episode, Brian spends the couch rental money (couch rental?) on the box set of the series after this doctor (small d, gotta have reverence for the other) tells him to from the DVD box.

Brian and Steve must get great weed.

After the jump, a behind the scenes where Rob and the cast discuss Rob's Doctor Who obsession. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Also after the jump, Brian learns a valuable lesson from Dr. Lazer Rage.

Doctor Who Davies Era From the Beginning on BBC America

Imagine my surprise when I saw that BBC America was running the new series in strip (Mon-Fri) at 3 pm Eastern and Pacific starting today.

If you click over there right now you can see how Rose Tyler meets The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston, who btw is upcoming in the big screen GI Joe).

So, if you haven't read this in time, at least set your DVRs if you've been interested but not so interested as to go buy DVDs (but you probably will eventually anyway, just like I did last November).

Or, there's a very good recap of the episode ... well, all over the internet. The 'net's just crazy for the Doc and Rose.

Ah, five minutes in and the Doctor and Rose are running already. Always running.

About Billie, I'm seriously looking forward to all the press that wil accompany the debut of Secret Diary ... in the US. And I think it'll be good for Doctor Who as well.

Making the Best of My Busted Weekend With RTD's The Second Coming, Torchwood

So, what did I do yesterday while the throngs engaged in all things Who yesterday? I watched the Russell T. Davies TV mini The Second Coming. Well, the first part of it, anyway.

Great TV. Christopher Eccleston plays a regular ol' bloke Steven Baxter who suddenly has the Son of God thing thrust upon him right there in the middle of Manchester and has a really rough time explaining to his family and friends that he's not crazy or injured or Satan.

You can't keep your eyes off Eccleston when he's in front of the camera, he demands your attention with all his quirky eye and mouth stuff, but then draws you in with a great performance, just mastering his dialogue.

And Lesley Sharp, who I had never seen act until I popped this in the DVD player (thanks, Bill!) is just blowing me away as Steven's unrequited love and the most ardent critic of his revelation that he is "God made of flesh on this Earth."

I also watched last night's Torchwood episode, Meat, written by Catherine Tregenna (last season's Out of Time and the penultimate ep of the first series, Captain Jack Harkness) and once again was blown away by how this show turns on a dime from thrills to pathos.

Just like in Sleeper two weeks ago, there's a moment you're fearing that some alien entity is going to do harm to your favorite team member and the next you're in mourning for that entity's loss or lot in life and looking for a way to save their humanity or yours or at least do the right thing.

More, including the requisite clippage, after the jump.

The Doctor Who Oeuvre of One Steven Moffat

We all know Steven Moffat (below right) as the creator of Coupling (and how nice is it, btw, that every weeknight at 10 you have to just click over to BBC America for an episode, a great way to wind down after a long day, imho), but in the last 24 hours I have managed to come across three of the four eps of Doctor Who he has written since the show returned in 2005, including the two-part introduction to Jack Harkness, The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances.

Now, I'm certainly not the guy to be assessing what the best episode ever is (newbie) , but there seems to be a lot of discussion on the web about where these two episodes rank. I found this comment at IMDB that I found interesting:

Where the story fails in some places can be attributed to writer Steven Moffat , a scriptwriter who has a large fan base but a writer who I have never warmed to. In every story this series there's a line which previous producers would never have got away with, in this one there's two lines , one where a young boy makes blatant assertions to have been abused by a paedophile while another insinuates that one of the supporting characters is gay.

Seems to me the commenter in question has more of a problem with societal progress and shedding light through the popular media on the issues of our day.

Maybe previous producers wouldn't have included said content, but then again, previous producers were working on the show in the late 1980s. If a program is to remain relevant to its audience, it has to move along with the world.

Anyhow, the two-parter, from the Eccleston series, looked so great (especially Rose hanging from the rope attached to the blimp in the midst of the Blitz), and it was good to have seen the eps now that Torchwood is on my weekly calendar (more on Torchwood later in the week).

Those episodes played on my local PBS station last night (and I watched them instead of the season premiere of SNL, which as we all know will air again in about four weeks or so). Last night on BBC America was The Girl in the Fireplace, a David Tennant ep also written by Moffat where the Doctor has a romance of sorts with Mme. De Pompadour, played by Sophia Myles, who's just starting up in the US series Moonlight (which I didn't care for, click here for that).

Also very good, I'm not going to even think about recapping it as anyone who cares has already seen it.

There was one more Doctor Who ep available to me on TV yesterday, it was The Sound of Drums, which aired on SciFi over the weekend. It's the penultimate episode of series three and the only episode with Martha Jones I've seen, and only half of it at that. In other words, I have no idea what happens with this Saxon guy, so don't tell me.

(One of the problems with trying to catch up with episodes out of order, btw, is doing the research to understand what's going on without spoiling the narrative. As you know, I'm no fan of spoilers.)

I think I'm going to end up buying this series on DVD when it releases on November 6.

Finally, here's an interview with Myles about the costuming on The Girl in the Fireplace.

LINK

Snogging the Doctor must have been a good time, Myles and Tennant have been dating ever since.

Patrick Stewart Interested in a Doctor Who Guest Shot

Or maybe more than that.

MSN.com:

The 67-year-old Star Trek star, who is currently playing Macbeth at London's Gielgud Theatre, said he was a fan of the long-running time travelling show, but was sad he had never been involved.

"I have been (a fan) actually yes, and deeply dismayed that I was never asked to be in it! I think it's a terrific series," he said.

I've been watching lots of Doctor Who on the weekends between the episodes that are currently running on BBC America with David Tennant and Billie Piper and the Eccleston episodes that are still running on my local PBS affiliate, KOCE here in The OC.

And what's funny is that I think of Patrick Stewart as an American actor, because I never saw him perform until TNG hit the airwaves. And how does my brain explain away the accent? I guess I tell myself that Picard was British so of course he would have an accent. Of course, Stewart is from Yorkshire.

What's really going to throw me off for the next few weeks is that our cabler SciFi is jumping into the mix with episodes from series 3 featuring Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones and an appearance by Captain Jack himself, John Barrowman.

If I had "all the money in the world" (a game Jennifer and I used to play, BTW) I would just buy the DVDs and make sure to watch them in order. But in the meantime, I'm doing more time travelling than the Doctor, Rose, Martha, and Sarah Jane put together, and all from my recliner.

One more thing, check out all the regenerations of the Doctor at this YouTube clip (it will open in a new window, but embedding disabled, unfortunately) by user CyberDalek.

You Know What I Like About Doctor Who?

What I like is that it doesn't take itself so seriously. Also, there's a particular esprit de corp that makes it an enjoyable ride.

I'm not going to be writing about each episode as I catch up with it, because anyone who really has cared enough about the show to search blogs for info has already seen these episodes that are currently running on BBC America, but I did want to share what my fascination with the show has been and how I've surprisingly come to enjoy a lot more in the science fiction genre than I used to.

I really enjoy David Tennant as the Doctor much more than I did Christopher Eccleston (who I saw in the last two episodes of his run). Eccleston isn't the friendliest looking guy in the world, and his performances were fine, I guess, but there's a little bit of whimsy that comes with David Tennant, which is something I very much enjoy.

(Oh, BTW, for those of you who have shown up at this blog for pics of David Tennant and found a tag for Dave Tennant and no pics, you need to know that Dave Tennant is a writer on Scrubs.)

And, it's nice to have something to watch on Saturday nights (this show and the very good Torchwood). The broadcast networks have thrown in the towel on Saturdays. I remember, and it wasn't too long ago, that the top-rated TV shows of the week aired on Saturdays, from The Bob Newhart Show and Mary Tyler Moore to The Golden Girls.

Why did the broadcast networks decide no one watched TV on Saturday nights? When did that happen? Don't the TV gods realize that if they made some stuff we really wanted to see that we would make sure to show up for them?

I'm Just Stopping By to Check Up On You ...

... on what is turning out to be one of the hottest Labor Day weekends in a long, long time.

You have two choices:

1. Stay inside and crank that A/C
2. Go outside and sweat your ass off

I've chosen unwritten choice #3, which is stay inside and lay very very still, hoping that you won't make it more ridiculously uncomfortable than it already is.

The only problem with laying very very still is that I fall fast fast asleep. I've tried to watch two things on video on demand today and I keep falling asleep in front of them, which I think says more about me than it does the shows.

I did watch, for the first time, Doctor Who yesterday (the last two eps of Christopher Eccleston's reign as the Doctor). When I can think straight (so to speak) again, I'll tell you what I thought. I thought it might be a good idea to watch one or two before I start watching Torchwood next week on BBC America.

Speaking of Torchwood star John Barrowman, look at him as a blond chorus boy in The Producers.

LINK

This entire post was actually concocted so that I could post this clip. I have never laughed so hard than I did when I first saw Gary Beach's entrance in this clip. Whenever the movie is on cable, I make sure to tune in at the one hour thirty minute mark so I can see him.

Here's Me Rambling on About "Heroes" and Making Bad Predictions

First off, before I get too into this post, click over to Greg Beeman's blog if you want to submit questions for him to answer about the show during it's March-April hiatus. And if you're interested in what it takes to put together an ep of this massive show, you should be reading his blog after every episode.

Now, the Haitian and Claire take HRG to the same bridge where he shot Claude years previously, he shoots him and wipes his mind, but then he's in the preview for the next ep (and I saw Simone, too! Aaaargh! How is this happening?). What's that about? More flashback? Or just to confuse me?

Well, at least we know now from his dying words that there is a thriving underground of people with abilities that are trying to hide from, of all people, Mr. Nakamura, who I'm thinking we're going to find out has a trick or two of his own up his sleeve. And Eric Roberts' character works for him, kind of a U.S. representative? What do you think? It's seems non-governmental in nature or possibly a brass-plate operation for some kind of secretive international organization.

Here's something else I think I just missed -- where did Hana Gitelman go after they broke into the Bennet house? I don't know how I missed it, I might have had 120 pounds of dog in my face at the time (Bad Homer!).

One thing I do know is that I got email from her yesterday, and it gave me a link to this website, which looks like her blog to me. You might want to listen to the voice mails that are posted there because one of those calls might be you (really, they'll explain).

I also got pulled away and did not see where Matt and Ted headed. You can either fill me in in the comments or I'll just watch it again online.

So, what are you thinking? HRG, RIP, or is he stowing someone away that can bring him back to life? Loves Claire or is it all a front? Is he the Matt Damon character in "The Good Shepherd" or does he have a soul?

Because I don't know if both is possible.

"Heroes'" Invisible Man and "Scrubs'" Dr. Cox

It occurs to me that Christopher Eccelston is playing the same role in Heroes as John C. McGinley plays in Scrubs, the tormented-by-everything broken mentor of the protagonist.

And really, that's all I had to say, except to reiterate that McGinley is constantly  overlooked playing one of the great supporting roles in TV comedy. I watched the ep where JD's brother comes to tell him is father died earlier this evening. I find I'm appreciating the show so much more since it sold to Comedy Central and in syndication.

And yes, I know that the pic I'm using of McGinley is from the movie "Summer Catch," but it's a pic with Henry Aaron, and I wore Aaron's number in Little League and he's a hero of mine and it's MY blog so neh-neh -- neh-neh-neh!

Oh, one more Heroes factoid, Claire's real mom, played by Jessalyn Gilsig, has signed for a seven-episode arc on the show according to Wikipedia, and unless they change story midstream, I think we can assume that HRG will find some nefarious way to dispose of her.

Oh, and just by the by, I think the father is Nathan Petrelli. At least that's what I say from the info gleaned by the character's right arm and shoulder, and the way those bodyparts were dressed.

Whaddayou think? The comments are below.

The New Hero on "Heroes"

Doctor Who fans will be excited to know that it is Christopher Eccleston who is the new cast member on Heroes. Well, he's the new male cast member, anyway. It looks like there will be a new female cast member as well, who will be revealed, apparently, during the ep of Deal or No Deal on Monday that airs before the show. Why? I have no idea.

I really don't know much about Doctor Who or Eccleston, but I would bet that there is a lot of overlap in fans of each show. It seems like a great casting idea on the part of NBC.

There's more at HeroSite.net about Tim Kring's new hire, a great piece by Craig Byrne.

UPDATE: You know, I might be wrong about there being a new female cast member. Maybe they're referring to the Eccleston character, but it seemed to me that the silhouette that they showed in the promo was female? Can anyone check me on this? You know where the comments are.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Saw that NBC promo again, and the person in silhouette is certainly not Christopher Eccleston. Looks female to me. Yes, I can still tell the difference.