Torchwood Math

The second episode of the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood: Miracle Day saw a dramatic decline in viewership: about 30 percent, according to Entertainment Weekly columnist James Hibberd.

This means:

* 30% of the first-episode viewers were spared the f'ing awful hour of TV that was episode two. Everything about this episode failed: characterizations, motivations, the acting, the plot, everything. Imagine the worst expositional and mock-action excesses of 24 mixed with the logic- and chemistry-defying stupidity of MacGuyver. I gave T:MD a chance because Torchwood: Children of Earth was a gripping British SF thriller in the tradition of Quatermass. Now I'm thinking much of Children of Earth's success had to do with the direction of Euros Lyn, the wise choice to never show the 4-5-6, and a terrific performance from Peter Capalidi. T:MD is much closer to seasons 1 and 2 of Torchwood: absolute crap, start to finish.

* the 70% of viewers who returned got to sit through such gems of dialogue as "I'm not gay but I'll let you feel me up if you get me a vodka" and "Water? I'm American, too. Can't I contribute to our global cultural hegemony with a nice frosty cola?" Who would ever speak either of these lines?!

* 70% of epsiode 1 viewers got to see Wayne Knight--in a glass-walled office on a busy floor full of intelligence analysts!-- look as shifty and squirmy and guilty as anyone ever looked as he planned the end of Torchwood. It's as if the director said, "Do that character you did in Jurassic Park, but bigger." Where, oh where, is a dilophosaurus when you need one?

* 30% of the viewers are obviously smarter than I am, but rest assured I'll be contributing to the dropoff in viewing figures between episodes three and two. It's time to put the torch to Torchwood. And give good actors like Bill Pullman something worthwhile to be in.

(R)ather (E)xhasuting; (D)isappointing

RED was bad. Feel the seconds of your life running out of your body and onto the floor bad. Walk-out bad. This film was completely flat, under-written, and barely directed. Everyone except Karl Urban phoned in their performances. It wanted to be an action film but didn't have the guts to be violent. It wanted to be a comedy but didn't have the snappy dialogue or pace needed to elicit laughs. This film should have been a cross between Leon (aka The Professional) and Gross Pointe Blank. Instead it was more like a cross between The Dream Team and Kindergarten Cop. So, Producers, you think Helen Mirren with a sniper rifle can save a film? Maybe, but RED ain't that film.

It's a shame this wasn't a better because the source material--a three-issue comic series by writer Warren Ellis and artist Cully Hamner--is a compact, nasty revenge story that zips along to its sad, inevitable conclusion.

RED, the comic, is worth seeking out. RED, the film is worth avoiding.

Book Review: The Checklist Manifesto

In an attempt to improve my writing, I have decided to review films and books here occasionally. This won't be my usual rant about about the state of Dexter or my offhanded comments about Fringe. These will be short reviews of around 300 words.


First up: The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande. Gawande is a surgeon who wanted to learn how people successfully handle complex tasks, such as surgeries, flying planes, or constructing a skyscraper. How can they keep track of all the variables? Gawande's two answers surprised me.

One: You can't. But you can keep track of the individuals keeping track of the pieces and schedule communication between them. Complex systems are best managed in pieces by super-specialists. A centralized, top-down approach doesn't work as tasks become increasingly complex and involve more people and equipment. Gawande cites the failure of FEMA during Hurricane Katrina to prove his theory. Wal-Mart did a far better job of providing food, medicines, and supplies to flood victims and first responders than the government because Wal-Mart allowed their employees on the scene to use their best judgment in the moment. Similarly, Dr John Snow did a better job of stemming a terrible cholera outbreak in Victorian London than the government and health officials, because he observed and then acted against accepted wisdom based on his careful observations. [1]

Two: checklists. Yes, checklists. Even the most skilled person can forget or choose to skip simple yet crucial steps in a process because those steps don't usually turn up problems. Until they do. The deadly 1977 Tenerife airport collision of two Boeing 747s (583 fatalities) happened because a pilot skipped a routine procedural step. Simple, crucial-step checklists, not pages and pages of detailed steps, are used with great result by the airline industry. Gawande helped developed a checklist for surgeons to reduce infection rates and human error. This checklist which takes 90 seconds to run through has saved thousands if not tens of thousands of lives and countless millions of dollars and has been adopted in many countries.

You can see how answer one incorporates answer two. Gawande is a great believer in the checklist, and you might be too after reading this book. In an age where our first response is to throw money at problems and add complicated software and technology to the mix, it's nice to read that someone is espousing an incredibly simple and more comprehensive alternative.

The Checklist Manifesto is an excellent read for anyone interested in project management or effective human interactions. I highly recommend it.

Note: [1] See Stephen Johnson's outstanding book, The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World.