Is anyone watching this? I am not sure if there is much to add to the comments made here about season two, but I am astonished by the consistent quality of this series. Almost every moment and every scene is perfectly crafted. The language is as lyrical as ever. Every character, no matter how minor, has depth (except perhaps Timothy Olyphant). Ian McShane is an even stronger presence, and now the underlings are being given a chance to shine. Unlike the last series of the The Sopranos, here the loose story linking the episodes (the battle between Hearst and Swearengen) is never hurried, but nor is it lost: it infects every secondary character and plot in the camp. This is quite sublime and easily the best thing on TV at the moment.

The British bloggers will instantly recognize this title; I am interested to know how widely known this is outside the confines of the British Isles. Anyway, for the uninitiated, Doctor Who is a cult British sci-fi TV series that has lasted on and off since the early 1960s. It follows a time travelling “Time Lord” who jets about the universe in an old blue Police call box with a series of pretty companions. To handle the change in actors playing the Doctor, every so often the time lord would experience a sort of death and a new doctor would be reborn. My formative experience was with the Doctor played by Jon Pertwee and then Tom Baker.

The series was distinguished by its tiny production budget and consequent cheesy special effects, wise-cracking and often camp dialogue, and extremely loyal following. Enough 14 year old boys found the implications of time travel and the possibilities that the inside of a box could be larger than the outside to be sufficiently profound that the fan base sustained itself.
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