Over the rainbow

Magnet #786 - No Place Like Home

As I was shopping for wrapping paper (I ask again, why, oh why, can't gift-wrapping be my job?), I found this perfect magnet for what's bound to be my next mini-obsession, Over the Rainbow.

Ya'll know that I hate reality television. Like a lot. I have too much scripted television on my regular schedule to get involved with reality. But every so often, there's a show the happens to catch my full and rapt attention.

Last year I got sucked into the Andrew Lloyd Webber's other two reality performance shows - BBC's Any Dream Will Do and How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria? where ALW allowed the British public to cast Joseph from Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Maria from Sound of Music for his West End productions.

I don't know who was the sillier - BBC-A for airing the competition almost a year after they aired in the UK, for shows that never made it back over to Broadway (darn it) or me for sitting through the edited US versions of them, knowing that Lee and Connie won. The answer's probably both, I'm sure.

BBC-A didn't even bother to air the Oliver! series here, and I didn't both to look it up. Mainly because, hello, it's Oliver...the boy's too young, and I didn't really know the songs, and I didn't really care because, hello, it's Oliver!

But, now, this weekend, I've powered through the first four episodes of Over the Rainbow, where Andrew's trying to cast the role of Dorothy in the new production of Wizard of Oz. I dunno what it is about these series, but I love watching.

While I'll miss Barrowman and Denise Van Outen, there's a new panel in place: John Partridge - who I don't really know from Adam, but he's pretty. And really, why is Charlotte Church still 12 years old in my head?

I'm agreeing with the panel so far - for whatever reason, this crop of girls seem to be so good! Before, I could see most of their little flaws and let's face it, their craziness, but this time around all the girls are terrific...and with just a hint of the crazy that will likely come into play down the line.

And no, BBC-A's not airing them - I'm full on watching by alternative methods. From what I can tell, I'm still two episodes behind. I know this because I totally spoiled myself by visiting @bbcdorothy's Twitter page.

I won't be able to follow @bbcdorothy til I catch up. But I have to say, it's marvelous not knowing who is going to win, week after week, not knowing the ending of the show before it's begun.

As for voting, I have my favorites, but I can't vote from here - and I gotta be honest, I've never even dialed for American Idol or Dancing with the Stars here, so I likely wouldn't have voted anyway.

So, goooo UK, vote for the one I want to win!