“News Flash” Update: Lollipops at Macy’s and the Revolt of TiVo
October 9th, 2006
Amazingly, just after I posted about watching LolliLove, in which a clueless rich couple forms an organization to give out lollipops to the homeless, I myself had a lollipop encounter in the accessories department at Macy’s. Dormouse and I were standing there looking at scarves when a woman came up to us and asked, “Excuse me, would you like a lollipop?” I almost died. It turned out it was part of a Clinique promotion, which seems odd, but at least it’s not posing as charity.
Now for the distressing news: Entertainment Weekly and TiVo have both failed me. EW claimed that last Friday’s “Doctor Who” was the season premiere, but it turned out that the premiere had aired the previous Friday, along with a two-hour between-the-seasons special. That’s three whole hours of David Tennant that I missed! To compound my angst, our TiVo for some reason claimed to be recording “Doctor Who” last Friday, while it was actually recording “Battlestar Galactica.” I accused Porpoise of deliberately trying to sabotage my DT obsession, but he claims innocence, so I guess we’ll have to blame the TiVo. Still, I checked to make sure it was properly set up to record the first installment of Casanova last night.
I suppose I should wait until I’ve seen the second half of Casanova before commenting on it, but I have a few things I’d better say while I’m thinking about them. First of all, I forgot that another Casanova came out last fall: a big-screen film starring Heath Ledger and Sienna Miller. Don’t know anything about that movie. I suppose I should Netflix it for comparison’s sake, but it doesn’t look that interesting. I admit I’m biased, but I don’t see how Heath Ledger can be as interesting a Casanova as David Tennant. Ledger is good-looking in a more traditional (i.e., hulking, oafish) way and therefore rather boring. Casting someone with Tennant’s quirky good looks means that the actor has to suggest that there’s some appeal to Casanova other than merely the physical.
This appeal, in the BBC Casanova’s case, is his outrageousness and cheekiness, not to mention his undying ardor for the one woman he can’t have (though of course that doesn’t stop him from sleeping with lots of other women). Casanova screenwriter Russell T. Davies (the Welshman also behind many of the recent “Doctor Who” scripts) wanted to make Casanova a more sympathetic figure than he’s often been. Says Davies, “When I sat down to read Casanova’s autobiography - all 12 volumes of it! - I discovered that our modern-day impression of a lascivious, misogynist man is hopelessly wrong. . . . This man genuinely loved women, and respected them with an astonishingly modern mentality. I also discovered that, outside his love life, Casanova was a wonderful, barmy, inventive man. And what a fraud! Like an 18th century Jeffrey Archer, but funny. He wasn’t born an aristocrat, he lied his way into jobs and positions of power with charm and cheek. He’s just irresistible.”
The style of this Casanova is also rather barmy and inventive. Porpoise commented as we watched that it almost felt like an episode of “Doctor Who” (and this was before we looked up Russell T. Davies on IMDB to find out why his name sounded so familiar). It has electronic music here and there, a fast, almost goofy pace, a mix of humor and occasional pathos, and intentional anachronistic flourishes. In fact, the latter made me think of Sofia Coppola’s upcoming Marie Antoinette film, much of which is set to 80’s music.
Anyway, Casanova is certainly more risqué than most Masterpiece Theatre miniseries, though I suspect it’s been toned down a bit from the BBC original. Still, I would advise parental discretion (meaning: parents, you probably don’t want to see this). It has its merits, though, especially in the portrayal of Casanova and his lady-love Henriette as two low-born posers scrambling to get by any way they can in class-conscious eighteenth-century Venice.
Entry Filed under: Movies, Uncategorized
9 Comments Add your own
1. Jillian | October 9th, 2006 at 10:55 pm
Oh, Casanova! My sister and I both watched it and put the kibosh on having the parents see it… although, we were watching the original version. I’m sort of curious what they cut. Other BBC America versions have cut the *weirdest* things…
Yes, Casanova is more RTD’s zany style. And Murray Gold did the music for Casanova–as he also does the music for the latest installments of Doctor Who–including the re-imagined theme song. I actually made a point to watch the original BBC Queer as Folk because it’s a creation of the very young RTD (and has Stuart buying Vince one of the real K-9s from Doctor Who as a birthday present
).
Eh, so if you missed the first week of Doctor Who, which did you see? Episodes two, three and four (understanding that The Christmas Invasion was a special and New Earth is episode one) were arguably my favorites. Or definitely the most re-watched.
Nonetheless, seeing Casanova prior to most of season two of Doctor Who will be fun for you aka spot the British actors that you remember.
2. Jillian | October 9th, 2006 at 10:58 pm
Wait?! They’re showing Casanova in two parts? Not three?… strange
I bawled my eyes out at the ending…
3. Jillian | October 9th, 2006 at 11:10 pm
Sorry about the excessive commenting! I’m just really excited that you’re getting to see Casanova and Doctor Who season two.
Because, I can show you this which was a little pet project I started with a friend of mine at the beginning of DW season two…
4. theotter | October 10th, 2006 at 5:52 am
Missed the first two weeks of “Doctor Who”–groan. So I’ve seen nothing so far. Fortunately, Dormouse has all four hours of missed stuff (the Christmas special and two episodes), so we’re going to have to schedule a viewing this week.
We actually can’t get BBC America here–Casanova was on PBS, which is why I’m guessing they edited out some of the “mature” content. I don’t know that for a fact, though. It’s about three hours total (two hour-and-a-half installments), which seems to be the length of the DVD as well.
Wow! “Time Love” looks pretty impressive–when’s part 2 going to be finished?
5. Jillian | October 10th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
Oh, it was worse that I imagined, I sort of skimmed your comments from excitement (and probably the lateness of the hour)… you have yet to see any of season two! Alas!
Ahahaha! I don’t get any TV stations here, I just assumed BBC America grabbed Casanova… PBS makes sense too. I used to watch Doctor Who on PBS back in the day. I’ll have to do some checking and see if Casanova was slimmed down or not.
As for Time Love, we wrapped it up in part two and part three. You can always feel free to visit the comm, here as we’re pretty decent at keeping all the spoilers hidden away and labeled.
Isn’t Krycek_Chick an awesome artist?
6. Jillian | October 10th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Er, I meant here. My my, I’m butter fingers and scatterbrained when I get excited about Doctor Who.
7. theotter | October 11th, 2006 at 8:48 am
Yup–her Doctor definitely looks like David Tennant!
I have no idea who Romana or K-9 are, so I probably can’t fully appreciate their characterization yet–I’ve got a long way to go before I’m caught up on Whovian lore.
So . . . tell me, how DO you get access to all these great British shows (like Casanova, the new Robin Hood, etc.)? I’m most curious.
8. Dormouse | October 11th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
Hey, no fair picking on Heath Ledger! Hulking…I suppose–but do remember that we don’t all go in for the scrawny types! But oafish? *pout*
9. theotter | October 11th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
Yeah, I suppose “oafish” more describes his character in A Knight’s Tale. The only other movie I’ve seen Ledger in is Ten Things I Hate about You, in which I quite liked him (as a character, not as a physique). My heart, I admit, does belong to the scrawny.
Oh, speaking of A Knight’s Tale, the actress who plays the woman blacksmith also plays Henriette, the unattainable love interest in DT’s Casanova.
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