Highly Anticipated Season 6 of "Doctor Who" Begins Tonight on BBC America!

Is there anything that fans of Doctor Who can say to people who haven't watched it yet, that will get them to watch it? Maybe that's it's the most exciting, imaginative, adventurous, philosophical, humane and riveting entertainment that you're going to find anywhere on your television? And that's no exaggeration.

Season 6 (which is what they call it even though The Doctor has been a part of British TV since the early 1960s, but it's dated now from the revamp a few years ago) starring the superb Matt Smith in his second year as the 11th incarnation of Doctor Who premieres tonight over here on BBC America, and it's guaranteed to be a doozy! If you don't believe us, take a look at the BBC's promo for the season:




Fans of America's dwindling space program will be particularly tickled by tonight's kick-off episode entitled "The Impossible Astronaut". Here are couple of short previews of the eerie excitement coming up -- one a trailer, one a short scene, from the BBC.

This season promises extra-special thrills and a plotline that brings The Doctor and his companions Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) to the U.S.A. for the first time. As you saw in the preview, President Nixon figures in the story as well as creepy extraterrestrials who are guaranteed to freak you out in typical smart and scary Doctor Who fashion.

As DW co-star Alex Kingston (above, who starred over here in ER for several seasons) pointed out in a recent interview on Entertainment Weekly.com, Doctor Who is a beloved children's favorite in Great Britain, while over here it's science fiction fans who flock to the series. Over there, The Doctor is the kind of kid's hero we just don't have over here, someone wise and witty who genuinely has the power to inspire young people to be better human beings. Here children's TV only aspires to what the advertisers want: to have the kids buy more junky products. As we've said here before, Doctor Who is the perfect example of family programming, meaning a series that could be watched by viewers of various ages and all would be grandly entertained and feel that the show had been made expressly for them.

Here is the BBC America promo for the new season starting tonight:

If you are new to Doctor Who, plan to start watching BBC America at 8pm tonight for Doctor Who Rewind which will take you through what you might want to know before diving in tonight, but even if you don't have time to catch up, I'd still sit down and just go in cold turkey. If the infectious spirit of Doctor Who doesn't capture your imagination, maybe it's just not for you. But if it does, you will have made a discovery that will stick with you the rest of your life.

Be sure to visit BBC America's Doctor Who site for more information, and there are countless other DW fansites out there that you'll want to explore once you're hooked. The only complaint I have is that BBC America doesn't always run encores of Doctor Who uncut -- beware the shortened version of this year's Christmas episode which runs following "The Impossible Astronaut" tonight, and when they replay the first episode from last season which introduced Matt Smith as the new Doctor they always cut it and lose many of the most charming moments. I advise watching the series on DVD if you're catching up, that way you'll get everything as it was intended to be seen.

Doctor Who, Season 6, premieres on BBC America tonight at 9pm!

2010: My Favorite TV Performances

I hope you've read Jane's post from yesterday on her Top Ten TV choices from this year. It's a terrific and well-reasoned list, and after such a wonderful look-back, I need to do something different. I agree with Jane on all her choices, But I can't just repeat the wonderful things she said about Louis C.K., for instance, or all the other accurate shout-outs she gave to our favorites. How about I offer my favorite performances from this past year? Firmly believing that TV is all about personalities, here's a selection of the actors and actresses I loved best -- my top seven. (Who needs a Top Ten when seven will do?)

Charlie Day as Charlie on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, on FX: All Hail crazy Charlie, King of the Rats! Though I don't think this was the series' best year, Charlie Day is a constant delight. He's not only hilarious -- a great physical comedian as well as a plucky actor with truly funny bones -- he's also able to convey an almost hapless melancholy that brings his performance into a special place. Charlie's some kind of a savant living life as a dope, he's the butt of everybody's jokes, he puts mittens on cats and keeps a dream journal, and you can't wait to see him appear in every episode. Whether it's his unique voice or his lithe form in his Greenman costume, Charlie always rules the Day! He's an absolute delight.


John Slattery as Roger Sterling on Mad Men, AMC: Though Slattery has been superb all through Mad Men's run, the blue note he often played this season really got to me. Roger's got everything -- money, prestige, a doting wife, all the liquor he can possibly imbibe -- except the things he wants most. Respect...he doesn't have that, just remember how the creepy tobacco heir Lee Garner (played so well by Darren Pettie) smooshed his ego flat when Roger asked for a little time to break the news about the loss of his account. Yikes, so cold, such a wake-up call, and not the only blow Roger would face this season. The wise and eternally sultry Joan sees his desperation and calls off her sometime fling with him, too, over that debacle. And even worse, his dictated memoirs get nothing but giggles from Don and Peggy when they surreptitiously listen to them. In terms of Slattery's comic chops, anytime we saw him working on his memoirs was pure gold, always funny, often bitter and ultimately more sad than anything else. Dyspeptic, often cruel, ultimately heartbroken, John Slattery showed us the rue this year, plus he stepped into the director's chair a couple of times. So talented! I'm even okay with his car commercials...

Randee Heller as Miss Ida Blankenship on Mad Men, AMC: Don Draper's idiosyncratic fill-in secretary was a special treat, at first a tad annoying but then a treasure. We learned, via Roger's memoirs, that she had been a sexual vixen back in the day, and she had lost none of her tartness as she served up wry and cheeky observations which usually left Don speechless. We figured that her sudden death in the 9th episode ("The Beautiful Girls") meant a dark shift for the last few episodes of the season, and we weren't wrong. We really missed Miss Blankenship after that, and kudos to Randee Heller for playing much older (and virtually in disguise) with such heart and humor.

Betty White as Elka Ostrovsky in Hot in Cleveland, on TV Land. Betty White had a golden Renaissance this year, not that she needed one. The TV comedy veteran has never had a dull or a non-working moment, but it was extra nice to see her co-starring on TV Land's successful new sitcom alongside the talented Wendie Malick, Jane Leeves and Valerie Bertinelli. Yeah, so her character is maybe a little cliched -- a man-hungry senior lady -- but nobody does it like Betty White. Her comedy timing is unsurpassed, as we also saw with her great guest hosting appearance on Saturday Night Live in May. She's always the funniest one on whatever stage she's on, and we love her.


Julia Stiles as Lumen Pierce in Dexter, on Showtime: I've been cool on Julia Stiles in the past, but she won me over as the disturbed gang rape victim turned avenger in Dexter's 5th season. Damaged almost beyond salvation yet brought back to life, through death, by Dexter (Michael C. Hall), Lumen turned out to be courageous, resourceful, necessarily savage but ultimately human again as she finally found her peace. I'll miss the down-to-earth sneakers that she always wore, the perfect choice of footwear for a woman teetering on the edge episode after episode.


Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson on Masterpiece Mystery! Sherlock: The always perfect Freeman (The Office, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) was a wonderful sidekick to the icy idiosyncratic genius of a modern day Sherlock Holmes, played by an equally skilled Benedict Cumberbatch. There's something about Freeman's everyman looks and essential kindness that makes him so tremendously watchable. He was charming, bemused, intelligent and brave as Watson, a troubled Middle East war veteran medico who brought humanity and friendship to the prickly Holmes. Definitely check out this three-part presentation if you missed it. If you did see it, you know what I mean -- Martin Freeman was terrific.

Matt Smith as Doctor Who, on BBC America: It's not like the franchise needed or wanted a new Doctor; everybody loved the wonderful David Tennant as the 10th Doctor, but Tennant wanted to move on. Big shoes to fill, there; Tennant was nothing less than superb. But now we have the 11th actor to play Doctor Who, and the youngest one yet. Matt Smith is only 26 but has proved to be a terrific choice to carry on the whimsical, intelligent, wise and humane legacy of The Doctor. Smith's Who is exactly right, with a manic energy and humor befitting his age and the sensibility of these times we're in, plus a brilliant mien that clearly takes much from the actor himself. If you want to see an actor put his heart, mind and soul into a part, in a way that you simply don't see here on American TV, I urge you to watch Matt Smith as Doctor Who. He was my favorite new face of 2010, hands above anything else on the tube, anywhere.

Here's to many more sensational performances and break-out personalities in 2011!

Happy New Year from The Flaming Nose!

Christmas Night with Doctor Who!

Happy Holidays from The Flaming Nose! We hope you're up to opening presents, cooking and eating delicious food, and watching some great TV!

Our recommendation for today and tonight: BBC America's all-day Doctor Who marathon, including the 1pm Doctor Who at the Proms, where the Who-niverse invades London's traditional Royal Albert Hall Proms musical concert. Taped in July 2010, it features the newest Doctor Matt Smith and a bevy of Who villains, personalities, and of course terrific music from the series. Very much a bit of British tradition -- the Proms part, at least! (Think of The Proms like a wonderful Hollywood Bowl concert, or a Boston Pops extravaganza.)

The biggest present for us comes at 9pm -- the simultaneous UK-USA premiere of Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol, with special guest star Michael Gambon. BBC One airs DW: ACC at 6pm their time, and you should check out their fabulous Doctor Who website here. We're incredibly lucky to get it here on a same day basis -- for some reason BBC Canada doesn't air it until tomorrow. (Of course ultimate DW fans will be watching it on the internet the minute after it airs, so why the delay?)

If you're not a Doctor Who fan, you might become one after today! The DW tradition has been charmingly and successfully carried-on by Matt Smith, the youngest actor to play the Doctor but with every bit as much panache as the best of them. Also here's a recommendation you won't always hear -- Doctor Who is suitable for the entire family! And I mean that in the best way...there's nothing childish about it, just amazing adventure plus a huge dose of heart and wisdom for everybody to enjoy. Completely accessible science fiction excitement!

Anyway -- watch! And Season's Greetings!

Churchill and Daleks and Who, Oh My!

Hope you've been loving -- as we have -- Matt Smith's wonderful performance as the latest incarnation of Doctor Who, as seen on BBC America, et al. He's doing a tremendous job in keeping the excitement level high, the humor crisp and contemporary, and the sense of intelligence palpable, bristling and inspirational. There simply is no other show that so well combines good old fashioned Saturday afternoon serial-esque thrills and chills, out-of-this-world science fiction wonders, a crazy, unique and often hilarious P.O.V., and yet manages to always leave this viewer, at least, with a feeling that the world is an all right place, indeed. Not many things can give you that, I'll wager. Fun and philosophy, imagine that...

Tonight in "Victory of the Daleks" the Doctor and his spunky companion Amy Pond find themselves in WW II-era Britain, complete with Winston Churchill and the return of one of the best DW villains ever. I can't say enough good things about the Doctor, and if you haven't checked it him yet, I urge you to wait no longer.

Doctor Who airs tonight on BBC America at 8pm, with several encores. Don't miss it!

Matt Smith as Newest "Doctor Who" Coming Saturday to BBC America!

Even if you're not already a fan of the long-running and much loved British science fiction series Doctor Who, we highly recommend taking a look at the newest season, premiering tomorrow night on BBC America and on Space in Canada. In a nutshell, Doctor Who has been more-or-less on the air since 1963, with the neat plot twist of having a succession of different actors playing the title character, a galaxy-traversing Time Lord from the Planet Gallifrey. Last year the very popular 10th Doctor, played magnificently by David Tennant, regenerated into the 11th Doctor, played by 26-year-old Matt Smith, the youngest actor to ever inhabit the role.



Expectations have been very high for the new Doctor, as well as there being some trepidation that anyone could successfully step into the sneakers of Tennant's stunning and moving Doctor. Since the new season started two weeks ago in Britain, I've been able to watch the first episode already, and am thrilled to report that all feedback is positive and the new Doctor Who is bloody brilliant! I can't think of another recent entertainment experience -- save the new Star Trek movie -- that contained so much concentrated excitement, heart and sense of wonder as this new Doctor Who incarnation.

(Though you don't really need an iota of previous knowledge to enjoy Doctor Who, it might be of interest to realize that the Doctor always picks up a companion from Earth to be his traveling buddy, and you'll love how Smith's Doctor Who finds his. Charming!)

One thing that's so terrific about Doctor Who is that it's always presented very strong, intelligent and vibrant female roles for a succession of actresses, and this newest Doctor Who is no exception. Even -- especially! -- the little girl who figures prominently in the early part of the episode is amazing, exquisitely played, and unlike anything you'll see on U.S. TV.



The Doctor Who craze in the U.S. really began several Doctors -- and decades -- ago with Tom Baker's delightful interpretation from 1974 - 1981, he of the long knitted scarf and slouch hat. (Younger folks might know him as the narrator on Little Britain.) For a quick look at all 11 Doctors over the years, take a look at the short video below. You'll see that the good Doctor has become generally younger as the years go by, and a good deal wackier than the first one out, as he reflects the different seasons of the production. What has never changed is the Doctor's intelligence, humanity, courage and willingness to help Earth out of a number of mindbending catastrophes.



Don't miss Matt Smith as the new Doctor Who! I can't think of anything that you won't enjoy, except if you happen to object to outrageous monsters, frightening, spectacular and potentially Earth-shattering plot predicaments, beautiful leggy girls in British Bobby costumes, clever dialogue, beautiful English settings, or the like.

The new season -- and face -- of Doctor Who debuts tomorrow night at 8pm on BBC America. We also highly recommend tuning in an hour before for Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide, which will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about DW. (The BBC America DW website is here, but you may also want to check out the official UK version of the Doctor Who site, which is located here.)

I think you're going to love him.

Why?

Because he's the Doctor.