There is absolutely nothing like being in love with a TV show that no one else you know is watching to make you realize the importance of community to the modern state of television.
I'm talking on a level beyond fancy Facebook campaigns and on-screen Twitter commentaries -- I'm talking about the state of knowing that you are the only person to care about something, even something as silly as a TV show.
The title of this rant is drawn from an obscure British film, which is appropriate since I am writing about a (relatively) obscure British show.
The currently running BBC series "Ashes to Ashes" is a spinoff of the better known "Life on Mars," a clever cop drama about a modern-day police officer who is inexplicably sent back in time to the 1970s and forced to solve crimes. The show combined surrealist touches with the long-established crime-of-the-week format -- and threw in some sweet '70s fashion and music for fun.
"Ashes to Ashes," which probably will never see American adaptation like its parent show (Side note: Have you heard what the twist ending of the American "Life on Mars" is? Because if you didn't, look it up -- it's crazy!) takes "Life on Mars" and adds a modern female detective sent back to the 1980s who is conscious of her circumstances but still trapped by them, and also attracted to the brutish yet irresistible Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister).
These two factors give the show some pleasing self-awareness as well as a touch of "Castle"-esque sexual tension. That, plus the inherent cheesiness of the 1980s, make "Ashes to Ashes" an improvement on "LIfe on Mars" (while of course owing it a huge debt).
No one I know cares, of course. I have to watch "Lost" the night it airs for fear of spoilers, I enjoy hours of discussion about "Project Runway" and "Mad Men" with every new episode, but when it comes to one of the most creative and interesting cop dramas of the last decade, I am entirely on my own.
I'm willing to chalk this up mostly to the fact that the show, beyond an underpublicized BBC America run, has never found any traction on our shores -- and thus it's not like people should know about it.
I don't typically blog about my personal TV viewing habits, in part because it might mean admitting that I do not get all of my media from strictly legal sources. But I am currently watching the third season now and I am lonely.
Sure, I have friends who are interested in watching it (usually after hearing me rant on this topic), but at this point, to properly understand the show they'd not only have to watch the previous two seasons of "Ashes to Ashes," but also "Life on Mars." That's 32 hours of television -- each season lasting eight episodes -- and thus too much to expect at this stage.
