Doctor Who

[~L]

My sons got me started on Doctor Who with the 2005 series restart.  It is all available on Netflix instant, seasons one through five, or through sidereel.com  (where you can watch 72 minutes at a time for free, and then you have to take an hour break before you can watch your next 72 minutes free, I don't know why, but that's their system.) We don't have TV service and are watching the current season the day after it airs on sidereel. 
 I have watched every new series episode, some more than once,  each has it's merits, some are written by different people so there may be aspects you like more or less based on the writers style.  The hardest part of watching is the gap time between seasons, but a post-season yearly Christmas special helps out!  Overall the series is a lot of fun to watch.  There are certainly some amazing episodes, like the weeping angels,  and the visuals are very striking, and very funny, but scary too.  The original series is historic, but really dated, moves slowly, and it is hard to watch unless you like the look of retro TV. The new series is  action packed and very fast paced, that's why it holds up of multiple viewings of the episodes so well.   
The Neil Gaiman episode is a perfect one to watch as a one off, because it shows all the existing themes and explores them, picking up and leaving off in exactly the same spot, but detailing an amazing facet no author touched on before. 
I don't know of any other consistently brilliant current TV series.

[Denim Gremlin]

It also helps if you're a bit of an anglophile since it's about as British as it gets.

I don't wanna come off as a dick but....

I'm not sure about that. I live in the UK and I don't know many people who are into it. My American brethren however are very much getting into it. Somewhat like that whole Royal Wedding business.

And further - "it is about as British as it gets" - again, the vision of Britishness as seen from the outside. The parts of the UK outside of London, not so much. The North of England could not be further removed from the ideal of Britishness shown through the media. (Consider the New England Yankee ideal often shown through American media compared to say, the heartlands of the South?)

yeah, I thought twice about that after I wrote but I left it in because I couldn't really think of a better way to express what I was trying to say at the time. maybe I should've said English instead of British? I'm not trying to offend.

I guess I was trying to say that it's a long running tv institution there and that for a show where the limits of time and space are endless it's quite anglo-centric.

[Yannick]

I love the show but this current season is leaving me more or less cold, especially after a really promising first episode.

[CSW]

yeah, I thought twice about that after I wrote but I left it in because I couldn't really think of a better way to express what I was trying to say at the time. maybe I should've said English instead of British? I'm not trying to offend.

I guess I was trying to say that it's a long running tv institution there and that for a show where the limits of time and space are endless it's quite anglo-centric.

I know you didn't mean any offence. Sorry I went off on a bit of a rant there for no good reason. I think Britisness is more accurate than English to be honest and I did know the point you were making.

I guess it's just that from the outside there is sometimes kinda one view of what is British, which is fair enough as that is what is largely protrayed. Actaully there was a good article along these lines in Time around the time of the Royal Wedding. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2067959,00.html
I'm a duel national (originally from California, grew up over here) and I guess I just have a weird habit of trying to stress to American folks just how different the working class provinces of the North of England are

But in fairness it is an old school institution and somewhat of a British tradition. And I should clarify my other point - I don;t know many adults that watch the show over here, seems like its more popular with kids (and by extension, their parents) I used to watch it when I was a kid in the 80s.

So yeah, sorry if I went off on one.

[~L]

Check out the Doctor Who stars' guest appearances on Top Gear for a treat.  Watch Billie Piper's, then David Tennet's on you tube.

[~L]

Er, Tennant.

[buffcoat]

I thought his name was Neil Tennant.



All I know about England I learned from "Are You Being Served?" and "Are You Being Served Again?" and "Are You Still Being Served?"

[~L]

Great season so far! Are you still watching???

[Gilly]

I thought you nerds might like this... Link expires at 11pm CST.

http://www.teefury.com/

[~L]

@Gilly: Thanks, loved the 3d glasses!

[~L]

The new Doctor Who episodes, on BBC America, start August 25th!!!

[~L]

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/481055

For the crafty Doctor Who fans... you will like this!