This Year's Model of Humanity

First off, Children in Need aired! There's New Who! Squee! So, here we go: ( spoilers for Time Crash )

( spoilers for Numb3rs -- Tabu )

( spoilers for Blood Ties -- Drawn and Quartered )

( spoilers for Stargate: Atlantis -- The Seer )

Also, I watched the pilot episode of Moonlight and ( spoilers -- not squeeful )

( spoilers for Numb3rs )

( spoilers for Stargate: Atlantis 4x03 -- Reunion )

I wanted to wait until all of my 'non-summer' television was over before I posted this, and Doctor Who had to go and air oddly, crossing over between fall-spring television nearly into summer. But now it's done and I feel able to sum up how I felt. So, in alphabetical order, what I watched this year:

( spoilers for Battlestar Galactica )

( Bones/Numb3rs )

( Boston Legal )

( spoilers for Doctor Who )

( spoilers for House )

( spoilers for Prison Break )

( spoilers for Smallville )

( Supernatural )

( Torchwood )

So, three of the returning shows that I'm watching this year feature pairs of brothers working together (Numb3rs, Prison Break, and Supernatural). A large part of why I'm watching the shows are because they're about strong, interesting sibling relationships.

Which brings me to a point -- where are the women? Where are the really good brother-sister or sister-sister shows? Joss Whedon should not be the only person in television capable of creating an interesting brother-sister relationship that drives the narrative forward (if you do know of any shows with strong, interesting b-s or s-s relationships, I would be thrilled to know about them).

The interesting thing (to me) is how Simon-River actually follows the 'format' of all three cited brother-brother dramatic relationships -- the younger sibling is the smarter of the two, the older starts out as/tries to be the physical protector of the two. The most straight-up example of this dynamic is Numb3rs, where Charlie and Don are pretty much set in their roles -- I doubt that we'll ever see Charlie shoot a bad guy to save Don, instead, he always uses his brain to help save his big brother (I admit to the possibility of being wrong). Supernatural also tends more toward this side of the scale -- Sam is the victim more often than not, the researcher more often than not, the one who went to college (each of the younger siblings is spot-lit in their series for 'having gone away to an important school' -- Charlie to Princeton at thirteen, Sam to Stanford, River to the Academy at a young age, Michael to Princeton).

Prison Break and Firefly each take a slightly different approach. While it's implied in Prison Break that Lincoln took care of the younger Michael, in the series itself, Michael is the rescuer of his older brother (who does still try to protect Michael, though Michael has, so far, always had it enough under control not to need Lincoln's help). In Firefly, we start out with an older brother-protector/younger sibling-protected dynamic but, by the end of the series (and into the movie), the roles have pretty much equalized, with River being the more proactive fighter.
( Spoilers for all four shows )

So, the first time that I tried to watch Numb3rs, jic and I just watched the episodes that happened to be airing the two weeks we were trying it out (they were the building/jumping episode and the clown episode).

It didn't catch with me at that time. Still, I did want to give the show another try, hopefully from the beginning (I'm very fond of starting at the beginning and getting character/relationship introductions). So, I did that, this last week, gave the first episode a try to see how I liked the show that way.

I liked it so much more than before that I've now started in on watching the second season. I really like the whole 'family' vibe that the Eppes have. I like the mix of work and personal that they have going on. I like the secondaries -- Terry and David, and Larry and Amita. The show is still a little more... openly emotional than I'm used to, but having the context of watching from the beginning, it doesn't bother me this time around.

Also, Charlie and Don are really, really hot. As a set, I actually do find them a smidge hotter than the Winchester brothers (Charlie's pretty hair! Don's gorgeous smile lines!). It's interesting how, on the one hand, they are more extreme than the Winchesters (in terms of brotherly dynamics, Charlie's genius sets him further apart from the world and makes him far more sheltered than Sam could ever have dreamed of being) and yet they are also less extreme (in terms of absolute lifestyle).

I really need to stop watching new things. I like too many of them.