When down with a cold, there's precious little to do except drink lots of liquids and sleep through it as much as possible. When awake, it's a good time to read a book until the eyes can't take it any more. So turn on the TV and watch what? It's Saturday night and by rights most people are out partying and drinking green beer. The TV schedule looks boring as can be. Random switching about leads me to BBC America and two episodes in a row of a new series -- Robin Hood.Well I always liked Robin Hood. As a kid, I watched the old B&W series on Saturday mornings. "Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen. Robin Hood Robin Hood with his band of men. Feared by the bad. Loved by the good. Robin Hood, Robin Hood." There's a tribute page to the old series starring Richard Greene well worth the read here. Interesting to find out that political refugees from America, blackballed in Hollywood via the McCarthy hearings, were involved in this British made-series.
So I had to watch the new series and I'm glad I did. The new Robin (Jonas Armstrong) doesn't wear tights, but he looks good whether shooting arrows or fleeing from the dogs in Sherwood Forest. The rest of the cast features fine British actors, many with long years of service in all the performing venues of stage, film, radio and television. Lucy Griffiths (Maid Marian) is young and just starting out in the biz. This Marian has more than spunk -- she turns out to be Robin's equal in giving to the poor and shooting arrows. Fun stuff and a fine way to while away the cold. I've already switched on the "record entire series plus repeats" feature on the dvr so I don't have to wake up at 8 AM tomorrow to watch episode one.
The above photo is of course of the greatest movie Robin ever, Errol Flynn. I borrowed the picture from a fan site called themave.com. You can find more Flynn pics to drool over there.
