Summary: An investigative team confronts and repels extraterrestrial threats from earth. Dark and unconventional, they often toe the line of evil and good but ultimately save the day. Torchwood was originally a hit in the UK and is currently being broadcast to American audiences.
Mr Thesaurus: clever, riveting, enthralling, shocking, campy, passionate, light-hearted, unsettling, creepy
Awards: Best Drama Series (BAFTA Cymru Awards), Best Actress (BAFTA Cymru Awards)
Hybrid: Buffy the Vampire Slayer & X-Files
The Best Show You’re not watching: 8
User Critics: 8.7
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actually as of the date of your post (august 8, 2009) torchwood is not “currently” being broadcast in the usa. bbca america showed the last of it about a week after britain saw it, and now selected episodes of it are being shown rather randomly (in two days, for example, they’re going to show an early season 1 [of two and a half] episode; before they showed the grand finale, the five-part miniseries, they had rerun every OTHER episode of the first two seasons. bbca had already shown all of it (except the miniseries) of course and they will continue to show it, randomly, sporadically, frustratingly (and CUT!) at their whim and leisure. to say it’s being shown currently is like saying the same of M*A*S*H — yep you can see the latter several times a day on two or three channels, but saying it’s “shown currently” without explanation implies it’s a current show, in production, with a current season being aired. (yes i know you didn’t claim this outright but the statement is still misleading.) so there is a reason we’re not watching it: except for bbca’s occasional generosity, it’s not ON.
in addition, it is odd to leave out any mention of doctor who, of which torchwood is not only a spinoff but an anagram. the character of captain jack was created as a foil and companion for the doctor, and torchwood was created based on jack’s popularity. it was also created for the purposes of having semi-whovian stories with a darker bent and without the restrictions of a pre-watershed show such as doctor who itself, which is considered to be for children (i must be a big kid then). also, technically, torchwood does not exist to combat aliens, though it is one small failing of the show that they usually end up doing so. they are there to svenge alien technology in the aftermath of such encounters; not all encounters are automatically deemed hostile.
as for campy, it has humor; i don’t find the humor especially campy. the flexible sexuality of its characters does not automatically render the show camp!
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