Dr. Who but make it American I guess

Disney + is brokering a deal with the BBC to acquire streaming rights to Dr. Who, something that the BBC does - offering non-exclusive streaming rights. Part of the deal, apparently, is funding from Disney to juice up the special effects etc. This really feels like a gross misunderstanding of the appeal of Dr. Who, as well as a lot of classic BBC shows. When you only have so many props and sets it inspires a unique kind of creativity, and it's also a fun game for viewers to spot well-used favorites. Throwing money at special effects, especially from a company who's recently produced shows with visual effects (notably "She-Hulk," a show I really enjoyed otherwise), feels like something that's just... not going to fit with the feel of the show and also look dated in a way that "blue box spinning against a void" doesn't. Like yes, it's dated, but it's simple and practical and somehow universal and timeless despite being dated. Sometimes shitty but earnest graphics and effects are just part of the show. Other times they're the result of underpaying and overworking your VFX team and settling for low quality stuff because it's cheap and you're not willing to pay for the actual high quality stuff your VFX team is capable of and wants to do.

Something I wouldn't mind at all seeing, though, is a new version of a Dr. Who-type show stripped back to the original concept: a rogue dude with a time machine traveling through history to explore things and be goofy. Look, aqueducts! Flint knapping! Making ink out of gall! How to play stickball! Berlin prior to WWII! The evolution of paper/books! The Harlem Renaissance! A focus on saving endangered animals and which have been brought back and how!!! Just pick a bunch of random stuff that's cool, that's important, that's fun trivia, that's influential, that's forgotten, that's hopeful. Don't focus on famous people - mention them, maybe - focus on every day people. "Normal" people. Don't visit Jane Austen or Pliny the Elder or whatever. Just every day stuff.

will i like this if i hate it?

I worked at a pie cafe once (one of the best jobs I've ever had) and two people came in once and were looking at the pies in the case and asking questions. One of them was, obviously, what's my favorite pie. I mentioned that our cherry pies are great, my favorite fruit pie we sold. So one of them asked "If I don't like cherry pie, will I like it?"

And I just stopped and looked at her. How do you answer a question like that? I don't know! I have no way of knowing! Probably not? But maybe?

So I asked her what she disliked about cherry pie and I mentioned that our cherries are a tart variety and we don't use a lot of sugar and the cherries remain fairly firm, not mush. She looked interested.

So then I said hey, if you don't like it, I'll give you something else instead. No problems.

She tried it, she liked it, she and her friend bought something else to take home.

But that moment, that exact moment of mentally slamming into a wall at a question, has stayed with me.

"If I don't like the thing, will I like this version of the thing?"

Taste is so subjective.

What a question.

just a woman and a guitar

Watch on YouTube

This reminds me of being in high school, when alternative music could and did involve a woman and a guitar and crackling, restrained emotion, something surprising at 2:00 a.m. when you were up late cramming for finals.