In which I go on and on and on about a fucking TV show. Srsly. Me, the girl who loathes television. Don’t even read this.

I have a BF who has satellite and an HD television and we could spend all kinds of time just watching what’s on, but we don’t. We watch DVDs of Torchwood.

Torchwood, if you’re not familiar with it, is a BBC show. It’s a spinoff from the Doctor Who universe, with several characters appearing in both series. It was created by the new Doctor Who’s producer, Russell T. Davies. The show was developed almost entirely as a vehicle for John Barrowman (who first appeared as Captain Jack Harkness opposite the ninth Doctor). Harkness is the first acknowledged non-het character in the Who universe, and he makes up for it by basically shagging everything he sees, be it girl, boy, or alien.

I love Torchwood because it’s total entertainment crack.

It’s British, which means accents (which means that any and all utterances sound more profound than they truly are). It’s sci-fi, so not only do we get to examine deep themes but we don’t notice we’re doing it since there are monsters and aliens and gadgets and wonderfully cheesy special effects. (This is actually why I love sci-fi: I think it’s the bestest context for playing around with existential questions.) And, best of all, it’s got more snogging and shagging than any other sci-fi series I’ve ever seen… and I’ve watched a million hours of sci-fi so I know what I’m on about.

For instance, in last night’s episode (season 2, episode 11) Gwen rushes back to The Hub to speak with Jack about a case. She bursts into his office, only to find him half-dressed and snogging a similarly unclothed Ianto. She backs away, stammering, but they pull themselves together and rush out after her.

Jack: Gwen! There’s always room for one more! We could have used you an hour ago for naked hide-and-seek.
Ianto: He cheats. He always cheats.

Ianto is my favorite character and gets all the best snarky asides.

The good news is that Torchwood didn’t get axed after its second season, and will be returning for a partial third. The bad news is that after we watch episodes 12 and 13 tonight, we’ll have only the special left until the third season is aired NEXT SPRING! OMGWTFBBQ!!!1!! What am I supposed to DO with myself until then?!?

The name ‘Torchwood’ is an anagram of ‘Doctor Who.’ (The name was used on the dailies and rushes when the ninth Doctor’s show was in pre-production so people wouldn’t know what they were and leak clips to the public. Davies later wrote the name into the Who series in preparation for the spinoff.) I love Torchwood and will probably begin the series again at the beginning and watch the whole thing again twice before Spring!

Apparently, the folks at CERN are also huge Torchwood fans.