Dorky TV Round-Up: Venture Brothers, Dr. Who, Dollhouse, and Glee

The Venture Brothers season 4 premiere aired last night, and dorky followers rejoiced. Expectations were too maniacally high to be surpassed, but they were definitely met. If you weren’t waiting all summer to watch this as soon as it aired, get your fix here. Warning: Venture Brothers may cause disorientation if you aren’t caught up on your episodes -- so, get caught up. Laughter is good for you.

Doctor Who fans are suffering some withdrawal right now, since season 5 won’t be out until 2010. Torchwood is getting a fourth season, but it’s unclear what could possibly happen in it since almost every character is ... indisposed (spoiler alert? Oh, just watch it). You can keep track of BBC America’s Dr. Who showtimes on the Dish Network, since they run weekend marathons of the existing seasons -- a heck of a lot cheaper than springing for those box sets.

Being a Dr. Who fan in America continues to be rough. When is the SyFy channel going to start airing these episodes at the same time that the Brits get to see them? (And when do we get to go back to calling it the Sci-Fi channel?)

If you’re longing for some spirited Whovian debate, here's the latest in sci-fi blog drama. The Spearhead, a blog made up of (apparently only) hetero men, takes on women and gays by asserting that science fiction would be much better without them. Richie over at Crimitism rebuts their claims soundly by explaining that Doctor Who was gay all along, thank you very much.

Meanwhile, Joss Whedon feels the pains of dismissal once again, as apparently Dollhouse is suffering a ratings slip. I’ve been blowing off the second season of Dollhouse too, even though I loved the first season. Whedon gave us too much closure in those initial 13 episodes, and now fans are feeling dolled out. Summer Glau will be guesting in a couple weeks, so maybe Firefly and XKCD fans will find that worthy of their Tivos.

You’ll notice in that previous link that Glee has gotten a ratings jump, probably because theater geeks -- a woefully untapped market -- have enjoyed having their own show to obsess about. Jezebel tells me I shouldn’t like Glee because it uses all the same tired tropes as Gossip Girl -- but you know what? If Gossip Girl included more Journey and jazz hands, maybe I could’ve made it past episode four.