Suspect

Doctor Who to match wits with farting aliens? Oh my.

The Beat

Caught a bit of VH1's Bands Reunited: The English Beat tonight. Sadly, it didn't include a reunion concert as they couldn't get original bassist David Steele or guitarist Andy Cox (the two that went on to FYC)to come 'round. It's got a few minutes of chatting with the guys that were willing to get together for one last gig: Ranking Roger, Everett Morton (the original drummer) who still plays with Roger, the legendary Saxa, and Dave Wakeling. You can tell none of the other fellas have ever forgiven Wakeling for busting up the group the way he did and it leads to a few awkward moments. The word "greed" gets tossed around quite a bit. They all seem like good guys though, Wakeling the least of them, but at least repentant and not in denial about wha'ppened

I was amazed to learn that Ranking Roger, in addition to still touring, is also a part-time inline skating instructor. I know those guys never made U2 money but ...

In any event, it's cool to see Dave, Roger, Everett, and Saxa react to invitation and to hear them talk about the old days when they were one of the world's best bands. Wakeling and Saxa join the latter day pub band Beat to perform "Mirror in the Bathroom" at the end of the show and I'd have loved to have been in that room. It shows on VH1 again Sunday afternoon at 2pm ET.

That Would Be Good

Moore Hopes to Get Fahrenheit 9/11 on TV Prior to Election [USA Today]

Cheney

The 9/11 attacks happened on Bush/Cheney's watch and yet Cheney's got the gall to say if you vote for the other guys this fall, you're inviting another devastating attack? If it weren't so sick, I might've laughed.

PBS Priced Out of the Market

More on Doctor Who, PBS, and the Sci-Fi Channel. Very few PBS stations show it any longer and the BBC is about to make it harder for them to do so as it closes in on a deal with Sci-Fi. Pluses and minuses here. Boston and RI PBS don't carry it, so Sci-Fi would be increasing the show's presence around here. And really, with the DVDs coming out, it doesn't really matter much to me either way. I can still get my fix. It's still a moneymaker for the PBS stations that carry it, so in that regard it'd be a shame to see move solely to Sci-Fi where it'll probably be on at times when it can't possibly find an audience -- and be full of commercials.