Where is all my TV?

The thing about living in Australia is this: I don't quite understand the scheduling of American TV, nor do I know when a TV show is going to have a little mini-hiatus right in the middle of its season.

I mean, I don't really know what 'March Madness' is (I know it has something to do with basketball but I really don't want to find out more. If I can't give a damn about Australian basketball, no way am I going to care about it in the US), but is it followed by 'April Apathy', where everyone winds down from the crazy and forgets to put my shows on?

Like, all last week I was expecting my shows to appear on the internet, kindly uploaded by the good-natured pirates, as per normal, but the only one to appear was The Good Wife. And it's the same this week so I did some investigating and found out that none of them were supposed to air anyway which is very disappointing. There needs to be some kind of app for international downloaders to keep us aware of scheduling changes so that we don't get our hopes up like I did last Friday, expecting to come home from work and find all my Thursday comedies ready to watch; I'd been anticipating them all week, looking forward to The Office for the first time in a long time, but they weren't there.

A couple of new shows did air so I gave them a try.

Chaos had an decent premise (the three musketeers and their d'Artagnan in the CIA) but wasn't very good. If it does improve I imagine that it will develop a huge slash fandom thanks to its cast of attractive white males. Only one female series regular in the pilot (and she was a POC so yay) but Christina Cole has made the jump across the pond to play the other (still a ratio of five guys to two women, though. Disappointing). Apparently Christina Cole will be playing against type: her character will be nice. The only times I have ever seen Christina Cole not play an uber-bitch were her small role in Casino Royale and as Norah in He Knew He Was Right (though Norah had a few moments). It's kind of amusing how many of the great bitches of English Literature she's played: Blanche Ingram, Caroline Bingley, Mrs Elton.

Anyway, I might keep an eye on the reviews to see if it gets better. I do enjoy stories about spies and James Murray's face.

The Killing was much more impressive. I really like the main character, Sarah Linden, who is very thoughtful and speaks only when necessary, but doesn't come off as cold, aloof, or bitchy. If they pace it right, the murder investigation could be really compelling and I like watching these stories unfold over multiple episodes so I'm in for now.

( Spoilers for The Good Wife )

When models try to act

Just got back from seeing the Perth Theatre Company's production of The Ugly One which features supermodel Gemma Ward. She's been trying out acting for a while now - she was in an Australian film called The Black Balloon and is in the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie - but this is her debut on stage and it's a tricky play: she plays three different characters, two of them significant.

I thought she was decent but not a revelation. Her facial expressions were good but she doesn't know how to modulate her voice to show emotion - some of her line readings were too monotone (though she does have a very interesting voice: deeper than you would expect from her appearance). She was better as the older, more confident woman, rather than the young wife. Still, I think she has potential, she just needs training.

As for how she looks...beautiful and healthy, I'd say. I know that plenty of blogs and magazines were calling her fat after she stopped modelling, which was ridiculous. She just wasn't model-thin for the first time in years. In this she was still thin but not so waif-like - she had good muscle tone on her arms and legs. And as she's getting older and with perhaps a little extra weight, her features don't look quite so odd, though she's still remarkable to look at. Not typically pretty at all.

I know she stopped modelling partly because she was involved with Heath Ledger at the time of his death. In a twist of cosmic irony, the play was being shown in the Studio Underground at the State Theatre Centre, which also contains the Heath Ledger Theatre.