Coming to America. But it's not Neil Diamond.

I'm not the biggest Doctor Who fan in the world. I tried watching a few of the "classic" episodes, but was always taken out of the plot by the extra cheesy special effects (and I'm saying this as a huge fan of "planet of the paper mache rocks" and "run back and forth across the bridge" of the original Star Trek), sometimes impenetrable British idioms, generally childish plots and labyrinth mythology. So when the Sci-Fi Channel picked up the recent version of Doctor Who, and the advance press promised it would have better production values and be accessible to new viewers, I gave it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised, and it was quickly added to the Tivo Season pass list. (Or, as it's known here in Comcast-land, the list of shows that you want to watch that are either recorded occasionally, leaving out key episodes, or recorded over and over including repeats until you want to bash your forehead onto a juicer). The plots were well crafted, and though the subject matter and execution can trend a bit young for my tastes, the central performances of the two Doctors (long story), Christopher Eccelston and David Tennant, are spectacular.

A character that appeared in several episodes, the "omnisexual" time traveler Captain Jack Harkness, was given a spinoff called Torchwood. The first season of this intriguing new show pops up on BBC America this weekend. It promises to be darker and edgier, dealing with more adult themes, and sounds like a British X-Files combined with a Whedon show. In fact, I ran across this article today (h/t Whedonesque) featuring interviews with the writers. When they speak of their influences and favorite shows, all the Whedon shows come up (naturally), along with Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, Lost and Heroes. That's good enough for me to give it a try. We'll see if favorably compares.