TV Meme

Elsewhere made up a meme and since I am procrastinating madly, I thought I'd join in. Plus I love TV. (Oh, I decided to make this the 'with added BtVS edition of the meme.)

1. Earliest remembered television?

Watching Sesame Street is my earliest memory of TV. Events-wise, I recall watching Charles & Di get married and seeing the news about the Challenger disaster.

The earliest Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode I remember seeing was The Pack, where Xander is infected with the hyaena-demon spirit and he and the cool kids run riot at the school. They even eat the school principal. I was hooked.

2. TV series you would want on a desert island?

Northern Exposure. I really enjoyed this show when it was on and I think it would be just the thing to distract oneself from the realities of being stranded somewhere and having to eat raw molluscs and coconuts for every meal. All those lush Alaskan landscapes could drive you mad, though.

Of course, that's if I couldn't have Buffy.

3. TV that made you laugh

This is, of course, highly contestable but I reckon Blackadder was one of the funniest things ever. I particularly enjoyed the second series, possibly because I am the sort of person who thinks jokes involving madrigals are teh funny.

One episode of Buffy I remember as being particularly funny was Halloween, where everyone becomes their Halloween costumes thanks to a curse by the evil costume-store owner. Zander's transformation into an arse-kicking military man was genius. Once More With Feeling also gets an honorable mention -- though you swing between cringing at SMG's singing and laughing at the whole over-the-top mess.

4. TV that made you cry

Tough, as I am prone to crying for no good reason at all, given the right combination of mental state and tear-jerk sentimentality.

Of course I cried during the last ever episode of Buffy because I was so sad it was all over, even though I knew it was time. Even I had had enough of the Buffy-Spike sado-masochistic co-dependency thing. I also cried when Tara died and Angel went off to the city after his whole bad-dead-alive thing.

5. TV crap that you enjoy.

Once I loved Idol, but then there was Kyle Sandilands, who ruined it just by having his smug beady-eyed little head on the TV. Now I enjoy, um, that show? With the people being stupid? I know this must make me sound like an insufferable snob, but I just don't watch a lot of 'trash'.

Then again, I'm sure my normal TV watching habits would count as brain-rotting rubbish for many people anyway, and it has been suggested my Buffy obsession is sign of a disordered mind.

6. TV you'll never forget.

I watched a BBC show called Sex Traffic earlier this year that was pretty rivetting and unforgettable.

When Jon is away I tend to stay up watching weird TV which has lead to some very odd moments on a Friday and Saturday evenings, watching late-night SBS. This has taught me FAR more about human peccadillos than I would have ever dreamed possible. Like the one about the woman who wanted her legs amputated? That will stay with me forever.

Unforgettable Buffy episode: it's a tough call between Hush and Once More With Feeling. Both episodes came from patchy seasons but both are absolute classics in the context of the show and TV itself. A whole hour, well 45 minutes, of TV when no-one speaks? Brilliant.

7. Favourite TV adaptation.

El hated PnP , I loved it. It came out when I was in year 12 and my nerdy friend C. and I would watch it on Sunday nights then phone each other to talk about how great it was. Watching it as a grown-up wasn't quite the same, but it was still good, especially the bit with the pond. El says bowdlerised, I say inspired.

I can't really think of many other novel-to-TV adaptations I've enjoyed, but if you go for the film-to-TV option I can, of course, mention Buffy again. The original film really wasn't much chop, though it had its moments.

7. Favourite nerdish program

Nerdish as in Firefly and X-Files , two of my favourite TV shows I have not had the chance to mention? Or nerdish as in Carl Sagan's Cosmos or David Attenborough's classic 1980s documentary spectacular Life on Earth?

Sadly, you don't get much more fan-girl obsessive nerdish than a Buffy watcher. Ooh, I wrote 'watcher' in a sentence about Buffy!

I am so lame.

8. One TV program you are currently watching.

I'm not currently viewing any Buffy, but I know it's always there if I need it.

I am currently watching BSG (we're still in the first season) and though I am enjoying it, it's not as great as I had hoped. There are a few things that bug me about it. Sometimes the dialogue is a bit cliched and it suffers from the usual lack of non-white diversity. I find Apollo and Starbuck the least interesting characters, and the show suffers a little trying to incorporate the one-off shows into the wider story arc. Still, it's exciting and fast-paced and from what I can gather the second season is pretty good.

I am also watching Love My Way, which is enjoyable and soapy, even if I do want to smack Charlie and Julia, both, very hard, repeatedly.

10. Now tag five people.

I prefer to let memers join in by choice.

Bonus video: A very Merry BSG Christmas to you!

Comments

[elsewhere]

Cool. Some great choices, like Buffy and Blackadder. (I did like the first TV version of P&P.)

[Mark Bahnisch]

So I get the impression you like Buffy, Kate? If I did the meme, it mightn't be that dissimilar! Except I didn't watch Northern Exposure - have been considering getting some dvds...

The Pack, where Xander is infected with the hyaena-demon spirit and he and the cool kids run riot at the school. They even eat the school principal. I was hooked.

Heh! Yes! A classic!

I was talking to a friend of mine the other night and we were wondering when we first got into Buffy. I'm pretty sure we didn't watch the first few eps (though we'd both seen the movie) - it was more give it a go, then get hooked. I suspect things would be very different now in these days of the intertubes...

[Mel]

Crap - I thought Buffy was an Xbox game? its a tv show. Righto.. I will find that too.

[otherkate(we need better names)]

Speaking of late night SBS - were you the third person watching the doco on elevators a few years ago? I was telling my brother about my insomnia, and how I had consequently seen this doco that turned out to be fascinating, and he replied: "Yeah I saw that too, and I got tired, but I stayed up and kept watching". I had thought watching a doco about lifts would be enough to put me to sleep, but alas... (Cue Mrs Bennett style swoon onto the lounge)

[Cristy]

I thought about doing the meme, but realised that I have never really watched enough television and have a crap memory - so I wouldn't remember the name of anything.

I have a confession to make though... I never really got in to Buffy. sorry.

I did love Black Adder though, and the Young Ones - both my father's influence.

My current obsession is the West Wing. We have 6 series on DVD.

[Ariel]

Yes - I just did this and forgot Blackadder and The Young Ones, both brilliant. My personal fave Blackadder was the WWI series, esp. the episode with Rik Mayall as Lord Flashheart.

[Avon calling]

Oh, frackin' EXCELLENT find, Katester.

Re: Alaska, Canada etc. have you ever spent a winter in these sub-Arctic regions? I think you should just to get it out of your system. It wears thin after a while – trust me on this: there’re shiteloads of Russians in Thailand as we speak, avoiding their particular brand of sneg.

Thanks to the magic of Teh Intertubes I can also share with ye this Nollaig nostalgia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ManxoYO73vs

Because I am likewise avoiding work and am blogless, I'll do your meme here, if you'll let me.

1. Earliest remembered teev?

An anime cartoon I knew as "Goldorak", dubbed into French. This is Goldorak bien habillé:

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Fanart-Goldrake-Full.PNG

Earliest remembered Buffy episode? I paid money to see the fillum, grasshopper. The one with Kristy Swanson [schwing] playing Buffy and Paul “Pee Wee Herman” Reubens [no schwing], post-public masturbation (but pre-kiddy porn charges), heavily disguised as a vampyr.

2. TV series you would want on a desert island?

Is this a trick question? All four series of Blake’s Seven, natch. Nigh on 52 hours of kick-arse space opera right there – by the time you’re finished you’re ready to start over again.

3. TV that made you laugh

What, intentionally? Jeez, so many choices. Blackadder, Father Ted, Simpsons, Red Dwarf, Frasier, Podge & Rodge, Spaced, Monty Python, Young Ones, The New Statesman, The Comic Strip Presents:…, D-Generation, Frontline, SNL, too many others.

Funniest episode of Buffy? Meh. That episode of Angel where they find Fred in Lorne’s alternate universe was pretty damn funny – notable for featuring Whedon himself in a rather stupid cameo, IIRC.

4. TV that made you cry

Father Ted. Tears of gut-wrenching laughter, e.g.

"Just play the f@3$%g note, Dougal, play the f@3$%g note!!!"

5. TV crap that you enjoy.

Feck, how much crap do I enjoy? Where do I begin? Australian Princess, Temptation Island, Playing it Straight, jaysus I’m embarrassing myself now so I’ll stop - you get the picture.

6. TV you'll never forget.

Bloody hell. SBS on Friday nights. If you EVER see this show on the schedule, fucking tape it: “Fat Girls and Feeders”. Unbefeckinlievable.

7. Favourite TV adaptation.

Persuasion (1995) was actually made for TV, so I’ll nominate it as the best. adaptation. ever. In respect of proper TV series, though, I’d have to say “I, Claudius”, with Derek Jacobi absolutely brilliant.

7. Favourite nerdish program

Again, so many to choose from. I dunno…Firefly? Do I need to sing the lameo theme song to prove it?

8. One TV program you are currently watching.

Smallville - trooly excellent take on Superman. The dilemma of the moment is why Clark keeps chasing after breathy and boring Lana when Chloe is far spunkier and dangerously curvier altogether. Oh, and can the fecker start flying already? Sheeyit, how long does it take to realize you can fly, you can fly, you can flyyyyy!

10. Now tag five people.

Wot Kate said.

[coz]

Yay for Buffy and Blackadder.
The BSG clip is gold.
BSG is good and gets better I think, we are half way through the 3rd season. Though I'm not sure about the lack of non-whites in the show. How many whities are too many? How many non whites are a balance?
There's Boomer, Dee, the Priestess, a cylon, The prez's assistant, a couple of pilots and Mr Gatar and Adama aren't exactly white either...

I've started to watch 'Dexter'- serial killer with a mostly heart of gold. Its pretty good

[Kate]

El, I've never seen the first PnP tv adaptation. Also, no Colin Firth.

Mark, how did you ever guess?

Mel, in this day and age it is both an xBox game, a TV show, a movie, comic books, the inspiration of many a wordy cultural studies essay, and much much much more. (You can also get action figures!)

Otherkate, sounds very familiar. If you and I meet will we obliterate each other, like matter and anti-matter?

Cristy, that's okay, we still be friends even though you don't like Buffy :P. I find the West Wing a bit too much like hard work. Thinking! It's a chore!

Ariel, I think the only Blackadder I didn't really enjoy with the first season.

Fyodor, I spent a winter (and a summer and then half of another winter) living in Canada, though it was one of the warmer bits. That means I've only experienced -30 degree temps on a few occasions, but I do have some idea of the misery of a long cold awful winter. Still, the summers are good. Except for the mosquitos.

Also, I did see that show on the feeders. It was one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen. Thank you also for your responses. Most amusing.

Coz, I guess I'd like to see say, Adama or Tigh or the Prez be black. Also, I'd like some gays and lesbians and an atheist or two. Can someone get on that for me?

[Laura]

Fyodor, you have excellent taste.

[audrey]

I think we may share the same TV brain. I also love series two of blackadder. He is oddly fanciable in this one, more so than in the others. I think it might be the beard...

As for Buffy - a woman after my own heart! I also love The Zeppo, where Xander gets to star in his own save the world storyline without the knowledge of the others. As for crying episodes, The Body did it for me, and The Prom. 'Class Protector..." (tear!) I love the one with her in the mental hospital (can't remember the title!) and Andrew is probably in my top 3 favourite characters.