What You Should Have Been Watching: Millennium

All The Common Man can say is, don't do it America. If this CNN report is to be believed, many of you are thinking about ditching your cable TV or satellite service for the glories of television on the internet, "Data show that increasing numbers of people relying on the Internet for at least some of their TV viewing. Users watched more than 24 million videos on Hulu in December, a record for the fledgling company. And Joost users viewed 818,000 hours of video in January, up 25 percent from the previous month, a spokesman said. A recent survey of 3,000 prime-time TV watchers by Integrated Media Measurements Inc., an audience tracker, found that 20 percent watched some TV online."

It's not that TV on the internet isn't a good idea. In fact, The Common Man has been known to catch up on his Lost or his Battlestar Galactica or his 30 Rock or his Friday Night Lights on occasion. When he was painting the house, he went through the first seasons of Weeds and Dexter. But understand this, dear friends. The internet is not soon likely to replace your television. Particularly if you're a man like The Common Man. Because football, baseball, and the Final Four are not likely to be adequately represented there anytime soon. Baseball does have a Season Ticket option that will allow you to watch local games online, but for the playoffs, you'll need your TV. And the big networks have exclusive control of football for the next few years.

And if you do give up on your cable, America, you'll miss out on reruns of Millennium, the most recent installment in The Common Man's attempt to shape your viewing habits. Millennium was Chris Carter's follow-up show to the iconic X-Files, and was a creepier and more extreme version of the same show in the run up to the year 2000. The series starred veteran character actor Lance Henriksen as Frank Black, a profiler with a unique ability to see and comprehend evil. Black works for the Millennium Group, a shadowy organization of former law enforcement officers who consult for the FBI and local police departments on difficult cases, and who believe an apocolypse is coming. The Millennium Group uses the crimes they investigate to better understand the coming apocolypse and how to prevent it (or perhaps control it).

Complicating matters is Frank's driving commitment to keep his family safe. Following a breakdown, he and his wife and five-year old move back to Seattle to recover and to build anew life. Yet, danger and evil keep seeking them out, and Frank struggles to meet his goal, especially when the larger goal of preventing the apocolypse (which, you know, would benefit his family a little) seems to conflict with short term desires to protect them from harm. His struggle mirrors the difficulty of being a father and husband, when things beyond a man's control can threaten to take what he holds dear and has vowed to keep safe, no matter how strong, courageous, and intelligent a man is.

The larger plot of the series becomes very convoluted, and each of its three seasons has distinct differences, as the creative decision makers changed each year. What was consistent was the characterization of Frank and his family, and a dreary and ominous feel to the show, almost a dread. It is filled with disturbing iconography and images and just feels creepy. And as one of the first shows to deal with with "profiling" (which has since become cliche), the show was truly groundbreaking. And Hendriksen's work here, as well as the work of Meghan Gallagher and Brittany Tiplady (as Frank's wife and daughter, respectively), is really excellent. Hendriksen's haunting and gravely voice bely a weariness and worry, but also wisdom and compassion, and his face seems etched with the evil he has faced.


If you're a fan of the horror genre, and of serial television like Lost, Millennium is a terrific show for you (plus, Terry O'Quinn!). It's not perfect; at times, for instance, in the third season it drags. But it's compelling and addictive. You can find Millennium on ChillerTV, where it's rerun three times a day, and you can find out whether this world survives an apocolypse in the year 2000.

What You Should Have Been Watching: Doctor Who

To discuss this most recent addition to the list of shows you should have been watching, is only appropriate today. For four years, the reboot of Dr. Who has been wowing audiences on both sides of the pond, largely through the excellent work of series producer Russell T. Davies and star David Tennant (the 10th doctor). The show has been progressive in its portrayal of sexuality, prejudice, and other social issues. It has not ducked social commentary at any point, and has both deepened and simplified the Dr. Who mythology, making the show far more accessible to fans.


Both Davies and Tennant have announced that they are leaving the show. Davies has turned production over to one of his lieutenants, while Tennant is scheduled to appear in four special episodes this year before handing the reings over. According to BBC News, the new Doctor, Matt Smith, is a relative newcomer to television, and the youngest ever Doctor (he's just 26). The casting decision has the internet abuzz today with fans at once intrigued and confused about the decision, and wondering what Smith's casting will mean for the series's future, particularly since the Doctor is supposed to be more than 900 years old.



The series revolves around a time-traveling alien (The Doctor), whose ship (TARDIS) allows him to travel anywhere in time and space. The Doctor generally travels with a companion or two who help(s) him right wrongs, prevent disasters, and generally meddle. In this most recent incarnation of the series, The Doctor is the lone surviving member of his race (the Time Lords), and seeks out these companions to combat a powerful and overwhelming loneliness.

And Chad Orzel, over at Uncertain Principles, wonders what, exactly, the big deal is with Doctor Who,

"I've watched it on occasion since the days when PBS re-ran Tom Baker episodes, and I just don't really see the attraction. I don't hate it, mind you-- as I said, I've watched a fair number of episodes over a period of many years. But its main appeal for me is pretty much on the level of kitsch-- chuckling at the charmingly inept special effects, the character affectations, the deus ex machina endings of most of the plots, and that sort of thing. It's goofy and fun, but I have a really hard time taking it seriously."

Here, in pleading his ignorance, Orzel has hit on the exact appeal of the show. As I wrote in his comments section, "I like to think of it as a madcap romp more than anything else, and don't mind turning off my brain a little each time (okay, we're in Pompeii. okay, we're in a 41st century traffic jam. okay, we're at the end of the universe.) in the name of social commentary and good fun." Frankly, it's not supposed to be taken seriously, but taken as fun. It's a chance to get lost every episode in a different totally different world, to imagine what can or should be, and to fight a swashbuckling adventure against evil in various forms.

While the special effects of the original series, as Orzel points out, were hokey and often laughable (though, to be fair, the show aired 40 times a year at its peak and visual effects were far cruder then than they are now), the Davies reboot, however, has had sparkling visual effects. The aliens are more believable, the ships and explosions are bigger and more exciting, and the physics of the show seem far more real.

What has remained consistent throughout both incarnations of Doctor Who, however, has been the show's optimistic outlook about humanity's potential to accomplish greatness (also, its potential to be destructive), its irreverence and the banter-y kookiness of its title character. Indeed, The Doctor has always been the backbone of the show, using his wit and his genius to appeal to everyone's inner nerd, despite the fact that he's kind of a fop. And Tennant and Christopher Eccleston have both admirably lived up to the character defined by Tom Baker, Jon Pertnee, Patrick, Troughton and others while each adding a unique flair (Eccleston was goofy and affable, Tennant tragic.).

Remaining mired on BBC America and the SciFi network has insulated the show from the network meddling that will eventually derail Joss Whedon's new Fox show, Dollhouse, but has also drastically reduced the show's potential audience base. As such, many American viewers simply have not noticed the show, which is clearly and consistently funnier, more tense, more exciting, and more interesting than 90% of shows on the traditional networks. For now, you can find the first three seasons of Davies's Doctor Who online at Netflix, along with several old episodes of the original. The fourth season is currently in reruns on both SciFi and BBC America. Fortunately for you, while four seasons sounds like a lot, a British season is just 10 episodes long, so you can catch up in no time. Then you can be ready in late 2009 or early 2010 to rip on the new guy.