Jen Star says: I'm watching Battlestar Galactica. Fantastic show.

Elena says: I left you a comment on that one. My mom has been at me to watch Battlestar. When I read your post I laughed so much, I'd just gotten off the phone with my Mom who was going on and on about this week's Battlestar finale and how I had to get watching the show.

I want to like it, but the few episodes of this season I've seen hadn't grabbed me. I'll try season one.

Jen Star says: You've watched them out of order? Good God, why?!? It's a serial show of epic proportions! Stop! Stop watching the new season until you've seen the first two.

Elena says: My mom makes me watch when I visit in the hopes that I'll get interested. So, I'm afraid I already know some major plot twists. But I don't plan to watch the finale or anything. I hate not watching from the start. What was the miniseries you mentioned tho? Is that before season one? I checked at Rogers and they have seasons one and two for rent, but I don't remember seeing a miniseries...

Jen Star says: BSG started as a four-hour miniseries to see if there was enough interest in reworking the show (it first aired in the '70s). When there was, the miniseries became the pilot episode.

Elena says: Ah, got it. Is BSG as good as Buffy would you say?

Jen Star says: I have no idea. It's hard to compare. It's as good as Deadwood.

Elena says: Ewwgh. Is Deadwood good? A western with cowboys isn't it?

Jen Star says: Deadwood is amazing. I can't believe how much I love that show.

Elena says: Really? Huh. Can't say I ever wanted to watch it. What's so great about it?

Jen Star says: Timothy Olyphant plays the lead guy.

Jen Star says: Larry, from "Hi, I'm Larry, and this is my brother Darryl" is in it.

Jen Star says: Molly Parker is in it.

Jen Star says: It is violent and moody, and the characters are so compelling that you feel like you've known them forever.

Jen Star says:It is everything in its second season that Rome wasn't.

Jen Star says: A historical look at real people (Olyphant's character is a guy from Etobicoke; nearly everyone else is someone from the real town of Deadwood) that is well made and realistic. And immensely watchable.

Elena says: Huh. I'm intrigued. I so need another TV show to watch! Is it still on the History Channel?

Jen Star says: Nope. They ran it twice and then pulled it from the lineup. I'll try to remember to let you know when it starts up again.

Elena says: Thanks. I guess I could also rent it. Lots of swearing sounds good.

Really? Rob and Amber and Eirene? Both in one night? This is why I got up one hour earlier this morning?

I've been waiting half a season for Rome to get going, and it finally did last night with the partnership between Octavian and Antony. I have no idea why they've chosen to spend half of their 10-episode final season on hissyfits and Servillia and Timon rediscovering his faith, but at least now things should speed along.

Historically, Antony and Octavian join up to fight Brutus and Cicero. They win, and Antony marries Octavia. Then he leaves her, gets way too big for his britches, falls for Cleopatra, fights Octavian, and commits suicide in the arms of his lover. Which, when you think about it, is quite the story to tell, and combined with Vorenus and Pullo, it would have made for a very compelling season.

And really, would anyone have missed Servillia if she'd been killed first thing this season? It's not like she's historically significant, or did anything other than sleep with Caesar for several years. We could have done without the Joan Collins/Linda Evans of her relationship with Atia.

And while I'm bitching (which I wasn't planning to do when I started this post), can I just say how sad a sack Vorenus is this season? He even seemed lost banging the bejeesus out of Gaia, and she's smoking hot, so that's really saying something.

To sum up, I'm liking the season, but last night was the first episode that I want to watch again. Hopefully it keeps up for the duration of the run.

Season Two of Rome starts production on April 10.

(No more Variety links for the rest of the day, I promise!)

I know, I know, Carly. So cliché. So sue me.

Do I even remember how to do this? It’s been a while since I posted, but a snowy, quiet last-day-of-2005-esque day like today feels right for getting back into it.

10. What Not to Wear (TLC). I love this show with every fashionable bone in my body. Unlike other makeover shows, when I’m finished watching WNTW, I feel like the recipient has learned her fashion lesson and will continue along the path of righteousness. Stacy and Clinton aren’t trying to make everyone into clones (though the striped blouse-sweater combo of 2004 was starting to get predictable), which means that there’s something new to learn each week. I keep waiting for a chocolate-eyed, pale-skinned girl to appear on the show so I can get shadow tips from Carmindy.

9. My Name is Earl (NBC). Damned Jason Lee and his damned Scientology. I thought he was so cool in Chasing Amy (even though it was Ben who stole my 20-year-old heart), and was shocked—shocked! —to discover he was a member of The Church. I really didn’t want to love this show, but Jamie Pressly, Ethan Suplee, the guy who plays Crabman, and even Xenu-loving Lee, made me a fan. It’s like having my beloved Roseanne back, it is!

8. The Comeback (HBO). Normally, I am so not a fan of embarrassment humour. I couldn’t watch Meet the Parents or There’s Something About Mary without feeling incredibly uncomfortable and awkward. Friends and family have met with my cold shoulder when they behaved like freaks in public. I just can’t handle scenes like that. Which makes my love of The Comeback just that much more inexplicable. Lisa Kudrow’s Valerie gets shat on, literally and figuratively, for 13 episodes, and I can’t look away. I don’t know that she was meant to be a sympathetic character, but she had me rooting for her from Episode 4. Rot that Paulie G!

7. Survivor/The Amazing Race. I’ve been watching Survivor since Mike fell into the fire in Season 2, but TAR is new for me this year. I started watching because Rob and Amber were on, and was in love. I caught up on the previous seasons over the summer, so even the terrible Family Edition (more milkmaids, you say? Whoda thunk there were so many farms in this vast and apparently boring country of ours? Also, shut up, Weavers.) couldn’t scare me away. Survivor had two very strong seasons this year. I’m thrilled Jeff signed on for more seasons. Stephenie as a host would have been awful.

6. The Block, (HGTV Canada, Channel Nine in Australia). My sister and father say this show is getting too personal and is losing its home renovation roots. I say that Australia’s most popular show ever is freaking awesome, and I can’t wait to see how lovely Jane looks at her and Matt’s wedding.

5. Scrubs (NBC). I almost forgot to add this show to the list, it's been so long since it was on. Come back to me, J.D.!

4. The Office (NBC). See above, re: Embarrassment. I found the British version of this show awkward, but this one is just too funny. As much as I love the principals (Dwight!), it’s the secondary characters that make this show so awesome. I think I have an Angela at my office, and I know I have a few Kevins. Even Creed, who we knew nothing about when Michael tried to fire him in October, is starting to become an integral part of this show. I have to say that I’m worried about Jim and Pam, tho. I just can’t see it happening without one of them leaving Dundler-Mifflin. It will be way too Cheers for my liking.

3. Arrested Development (Fox). I have to say that I had my worries as this season began. I got that Charlize Theron’s Rita was supposed to be slow, but the one thing that keeps this show from becoming farceical is its timing. Hold a beat for too long and the jokes aren’t that funny anymore. I was glad to see her go, and even gladder to see this family close back in on itself (“Hi, Uncle-Father Oscar!”). Last season started out loose and tightened up by the fourth or fifth episode, and this season is gearing up to do the same. If Showtime doesn’t pick this up after Fox finally cancels it, I will be one unhappy pappy. You know, if I were a guy.

2. Veronica Mars (UPN). Like you didn’t see this one coming.

1. Rome (HBO). This show has everything I love. Somewhat-accurate history, warfare, costumes, nakednes—and real, no-fooling, character development. These people love, hate, hurt and find pleasure in everyday things. I can hardly wait until 2007 to watch Octavian and Antony go Gaulish on Cicero and Brutus’s asses.

Honourable Mentions go to Frontline, The Daily Show, The First 48 and Family Plots. Who knew I liked so many shows? Okay, don’t answer that.

After last night's episode, Rome is, without a doubt in my mind, my favourite TV show of 2005. The execution scene alone had me screaming, crying, squeaking with squeamishness, and cheering for my beloved Pullo to beat the odds and survive his own death sentence. It was phenominal.

How many days left until 2007?

Though I knew Eirene did not love Pullo, and that he was sprinting towards disaster every time he looked at her,
but . . . wow. I just did not see another man in the picture. Poor Pullo—and poor, poor Eirene.

And poor, put-in-his-place Vorenus: "And here you are, with your nice clean white toga. Stays clean no matter how deep you wade in filth. Time was, you said Caesar was a rebel and a traitor. Now today, he tosses you a little coin and some farmland, and he's savior of the Republic." Ouch.

Two episodes to go until 2007. Want to lay odds on when Vorenus discovers his wife's infidelity? And whether his response will be any more civilized than our heartbroken Pullo's?

HBO's Rome pages, complete with screensavers of hot Roman soldiers and the slutty women who love them.
 
They sexed up my Roman orgy, says glum director. From the Sunday Times. Thanks to TV Tattle for the link.

Before I get into how obsessed I am with Rome, I want to tell the six-year-olds in my neighbourhood that there is more to superhero life than Batman.

I finally watched Rome this weekend. Wow. I am so very hooked.

The nature of my hooking went a little something like this:

Episode 1: "Not bad. Polly Walker is a long way from mild-but-busty Jane Fairfax in Emma. Too bad there aren't any real cuties here, besides that babe Mark Antony."

Episode 2: "Pullo, you dog! 'I'm going to drink all the wine, smoke all the smoke, and fuck every whore in the city.' Indeed! I hope you and poor Vorenus can still be friends. Mark Antony, stay naked, baby! What's with Octavian? He seems pretty emperor-like. I wish I knew even a little about Roman history, so I knew if I this was all real."

Episode 3: "Wha, What? . . . TVOntario? What the fuck happened to my Rome? Damned Replay didn't tape the right show! Goddammit!"

Episode 4: "Hope I didn't miss anything. What's this? Pompey's retreated and Caesar has Rome? Vorenus's wife is a giant whore? Pullo's stinking rich? Awesome!"

Episode 5: Hmm, this Vorenus is one handsome fellow. All buff and blonde and hairless on his firm little ass. And is that a Scottish accent I heard creeping through? Mmm!"

Episode 6: "'I did not realize until now what a wicked old harpy you are.' Ouch! Kick Atia's ass, Antony!"

Episode 7: "Why didn't Pullo and Vorenus's clothing get more damaged in the shipwreck? We should at least be seeing a cheek here. WTF?"

Episode 8: "Cleopatra is an opium-smoking slut! Ride that bitch, Pullo! Sire Caesar's heir!"

Episode 9: "Eew! Octavia is such a dumbass! And Octavian. What kind of monster boffs his sister just to teach her a lesson about snooping. Eeuch! And, what's this with Pullo and his slave? Shouldn't she be more grateful for his attention? Poor pup. Look at his eyes. He just want to be loved. For a long time. On film."