Celebrity Stand-by

Reason #48 Why I Don't Understand the English*:

The week before last, Doctor Who was on (on Saturday! Whaaa?) at 6:15. (Weird, but OK.)

Last week, Doctor Who was on at 6:30.

This week, Doctor Who will be broadcast at 6:45.

Now, I get that Brits don't interject nearly as many commercials. so you generally don't get a full hour of any given TV show. That leads to 10-12-minute "fillers", as represented in the past by, say, "Doctor Who Confidential" that, as far as I could tell, was broadcast just after the episode to round it out to an hour. All right. So WHY CAN'T THEY BUILD A CONSISTENT TV SCHEDULE? What in the world could possibly be the rationale behind bouncing a show all over the place? (Sometimes you'll find Doctor Who being broadcast on Fridays, sometimes Mondays. Who knows? IT ALL MAKES NO SENSE.) Are the TV stations (I'm looking at you, BBC) trying to a) get people to stay and watch more TV by changing up the times unexpectedly, so that they always have to be at home on their couches so they don't miss their shows, b) stimulate the population's social lives by juggling the programming schedule so that people can arrange other activities at different times and still not miss their favorites, or c) thumb their noses at the public and act out because they're so bitter that the Interwebs and DVR's are robbing them of any real control of their audience's viewing practices?

WON'T SOMEONE STOP THE MADNESS?!?   *Ahem.*

* * * * *

Dear Networks:

Please set a schedule and stick to it for, like, two weeks. Just to see if it works. And think about how much less time you could be spending on your "creative programming" if you already knew when shows were going to be happening the following week! You could catch a (live) cricket match! Or go celebrity-stalk the Beckhams! Or have an extra 4 or 5 dozen cups of tea! You should try it.

Thanks,
Me

* * * * *

Speaking of celebrity stalking, today I was at a relatively prominent London theatre to see one of my course-mates in a performance that was part of an experimental-theatre festival, and after picking up our tickets and moving outside another course-mate asked if the girl in line behind us, the tall one, was the chick from Doctor Who. Y'know, the red-haired one? Honestly,I thought I was way too old and blasé to be impressed by the appearance of, at best, a minor celebrity - and yet, I immediately went giddy and oh-so-casually strolled back into the building to figure out if it was really her.

I could totally be friends with that girl -
I, too, have the "why is the weird kid
staring at me?" look down pat!

And IT WAS. It was really KAREN GILLAN FROM DOCTOR WHO standing at the desk with all her hair tucked up in a hat (but I totally recognized her profile!), tall and skinny and super-pretty and I sound like I have a girl-crush, don't I? I went back out to confirm to my group that it was really her and I didn't say "Hi" or ask for a picture or anything and I really want to go back in and talk to her but that would be obnoxious and intrusive and I can't believe I was standing 6 feet away and by the time I decided that I would ask for a photo or an autograph but everybody would have to come in with me she was gone.

It's probably just as well - it might have taken me a few minutes to convince her I was a harmless American student, and not a crazy American tourist. I try to contain it, but sometimes the crazy gets away from me. (True story: My fangirly squee to my course-mates was "I wish I had my 'Doctor Who Experience' program with me so that she could sign it!" To their credit, the eye-rolling was pretty minimal.)

My first near-brush with (OK, regular) celebrity! About time, London! (Now where, pray tell, is Richard Armitage? He can't be spending ALL his time in New Zealand!)



* Just over a week ago we were informed that not all British people define themselves as "British"; most don't, in fact. They are Scottish, or Welsh, or ENGLISH, thankyouverymuch. (Irish are always and completely Irish. Period.)