Tonights Viewing

I started the evening with the first ep of the fourth season of WEEDS. They’ve done a marvelous job of getting over the jumping of the shark at the end of season two and have hit their stride again. There are very few shows that can, in my estimation, Phoenix in this way. The adding of Albert Brooks, although only estimated at four eps, is a piece of sure beautiful casting. I’d watch a show simply based on the character I witnessed for what had to be less than seven minutes. My hopes that season four will continue, where season three left off in terms of cleansing the palette after the unnecessary last three or four eps of season two, to build on this wonderful premise.

Now onto shallow comparisons. I followed this with the first ep of SECRET DIARY OF A CALL GIRL and was once again blown away by Billie Piper. While not casting aspersions, I was never, shall we say, completely geeked by her on her turn as Rose on Doctor Who, I was moved, but never felt the same attraction that many in geekdom felt. As an actress, she was superb, but visually, I felt the same as I had for many of the doctor's companions, cute, but nothing special. It turned out that I found Freema Agyeman as Martha much more visually engaging. However, and maybe because she plays a call girl in this series, I find myself sort of “catching up” to the geek delight she brought to the series. What I am sure about is that from Doctor Who, to the Sally Lockhart mini for the BBC, to this most recent role, is that she is more versatile as an actress than I first suspected. Minus the obvious titillation at both the subject matter and visuals, by the end of the first ep, you are truly engaged in who this person is and what, if anything, they want in life beyond the day-to-day. I shall be tuning in for the rest of the series, surprisingly more titillated than I should be.