They would need a hell of a Yagi

Via

Incidentally, today is the anniversary of Marconi's 1897 radio patent, so the earliest radio transmissions are more than 100 light years out by now.

Life

I liked watching Life this year, what with most every other network show plumbing the depths of my indifference (or annoyance, Heroes). The ginger Damien Lewis is as charismatic as he was in Band of Brothers, although the zen ticks seemed a little forced and the most of the show is pure fantasy. But I appreciated that they closed the loop on his personal revenge odyssey last night - no endless spiral is a good thing that many, many hit shows would have better served to learn. It did feel like Luke Skywalker taking the Emperor's place, even if he did it for love, so we'll get to see how that shakes out next year - he'll have to go on the run (or not) and I'm pretty sure that it will turn out that there's an even bigger and darker bady lurking beneath the surface. Welcome to the layer cake, I'm sure.

heh

Life on Mars

I like the ABC remake of Life on Mars, or at least the two episodes I've seen so far. I can't compare it to the British original, but I'd be interested in checking it out now. I'm not sure if the Bowie reference made any sense in the first one, but I doubt it will now. Maybe that will become manifest in one of his magical realism hallucinations. Harvey Keitel is fun as always, and the rest of the cast is solid too - Dean Winters, Gretchen Mol, etc. I'll pretty much watch anything with Dean Winters in it. Michael Imperioli sports ridiculous '70's facial hair.

BUT, like Mad Men, the show pulls a fast one by moralizing over the prejudices of that time. And in Life on Mars, the main character sermonizes for us instead of leaving it implicit. My, aren't we so enlightened compared to those neanderthals... Pot meet kettle, timber in your eye, etc. etc.

The Wire

I'm compelled to say I liked The Wire, but I think it should have just ended after three seasons. Honestly, I don't think the last two seasons added much to what the original story arc finished in seasons one and three - once Stringer Bell was dead, the writers really had said their piece. And now I have too.

TV

I watch a lot of it. Probably more than I think I do, and that's with thinking that I watch a lot. Occasionally I've done without for a year or so, the old TV bleeper, more out of necessity than choice, but I've always come back.

• I still cannot watch reality TV in any shape or form.
• House has jumped the shark. Bottom line: I still Tivo it.
• Heroes hasn't (although it has the same plot holes as before)
• Journeyman is a journeyman remake of Quantum Leap, with a slightly more angsty thirtysomething slant. I blame Peter Horton.
• Speaking of whom, the goofy and shortlived Brimstone is on Chiller.
• So's Twin Peaks. Just as overrated as I remember, and like Lynch's movies, I still watch.
• Speaking of 1996, I wouldn't mind if Northern Exposure came back on.
  
• Chuck needs to spend less on their Cake et al soundtrack, and more on their writing. Rocky IV is less predictable. But okay on the secondary characters, except that Seth Green should sue that one guy for infringment, or something.
• More Douche-y: The ex-navy seal on Future Weapons or that Survivor guy? I'm not sure, but they're both past 9.4 on the Douche Richter scale and that's as high as my meter goes.
  
• God, Top Gear annoys me, and yet I can't stop watching. Basically I fast-forward through everything except the part where they powerslide and hoon some exotic about. The most blatant homers ever. My favorite car shows from last year, Dream Car Garage and Sports Car Revolution, merged and lost something.
  
• Tough Crowd lasted two years. I'm curious if Red Eye will make it that long.
• Mythbusters seems like it's in the fifth year of a three year show.
  
• I'm kinda debating whether to add showtime for Dexter and Brotherhood. Maybe.
• I watch way too much of Dirty Jobs and How It's Made. It's my inner Cliff Claven. Okay, maybe not so inner.
• I tried to watch Ken Burn's WW2 thing. Not so good. Especially the music. That's surprising.
  
• I couldn't sleep the other night, and The Firm was on. Remember when Tom Cruise wasn't insane?

So, you're welcome.

The Woodwright's Shop

PBS is now streaming the 26th season of Roy Underhill's show, the Woodwright's Shop. [via] How neat is that? He always had that 70's get off the grid vibe, a la Tom and Barbara, where you live in a solar heated straw-house geodesic dome and try to figure out what to do with the 500 lbs of zuchini you over-planted. Know what I mean, M. & D.?