Three weeks into the football season and one week shy of the return of our network favorites, this weekend might be your last chance to check out some of cable’s recent offerings before both of your box’s tuners are otherwise ocupado. I’m referring to two shows in particular: BBC America’s run of Torchwood and HBO’s new relationship exposé, Tell Me You Love Me. Though one is about alien hunters and the other is about couples with issues, they have one thing in common: lots and lots o’ sex.
I wanted to review Torchwood in week one, but the pilot wasn’t remotely sexy – and that’s what has earned the show most of its buzz. That changed in the second episode when we met an alien that fed off of sex with humans until they were reduced to pile of dust. Not what you’d expect from a Doctor Who spin-off, but it’s what we got. DW veteran “Captain” Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) leads this small cast as they try to make the streets of Cardiff safe … and he’s more than happy to sleep with anyone who looks at him right. There are a couple of reasons to tune into this one. Barrowman’s real life sexuality is shared by his alter ego, and Torchwood’s willingness to show their lead in comprising positions with both men and women is definitely a first. The show is also entertaining as hell and captures the sublime amalgam of comedy, camp and drama that has made the new Doctor Who such dynamic programming. Either way, I’m sure the folks at Sci Fi are kicking themselves for not securing the rights to this one.
As for Tell Me You Love Me, it’s impossible to mention the show without making sex the focus of the discussion. The story of three troubled couples and the therapist they share, TMYLM aims to shed an unforgiving light on intimacy. And they accomplish this… by showing testicles. Creator Cynthia Mort maintains that the graphic sex and nudity is just there for heightened realism, but it’s actually quite distracting and, in many scenes, horrifying. Besides, is there ever any sex or nudity in film and TV that isn’t gratuitous?
That’s not to say it’s bad. Where the documentary style filming and elderly bjs are tiresome, the acting and character development (especially on the part of the women) is remarkable. Most interesting of all might be Carolyn (Lost veteran Sonya Walger). The British actress plays a woman desperate for babies with the steely resolve of a vampire on the prowl. Her ignorance of how she’s destroying her marriage with her quest to brood is hard to watch but even harder to turn away from. Also noteworthy is Katie (Profiler’s Ally Walker), whose sexless marriage and resulting loss of gender is like watching a car accident in slow motion. She’s so consumed with her role as mother; she doesn’t even remember how to be alone.
Torchwood (BBC America; Saturday; 9PM) is fun, and Tell Me You Love Me (HBO; Sunday; 9PM) is kind of fascinating. Neither are required viewing, but both are worth checking out.