I think I can divide my friends into two batches.
It’s become more blatant in the last two weeks, but it seems more and more that my friends can be sorted by their chief television program of choice. There are the Doctor Who people and the Justified people.
The Doctor Who people easily outnumber the Justified people by about five to one. Which is odd when I remember back to the early 1980s and the time that everyone at Jefferson Middle School mocked me for loving Doctor Who. Those were the old shows…the first four doctors when they ran on PBS and you had to sit through that schoolmarmy woman telling you that if you wanted to keep Doctor Who on the air you’d send your allowance to Channel 39. At some point the Doctor quit being a quirky kids’ show with silver-painted thermoses as props and became a sleekly repackaged brand that sells chaste sex appeal and witty banter. It’s no wonder that folks love it now. Watching Doctor Who is like having a crush on the captain of the chess team when you’re in sixth grade. It’s fun and sweet and has a frisson of danger. But only just.
So I suppose I admit almost reluctantly that I’m a Justified person now. I’m still watching the New Doctor Who because it’s fun in that same way that the cartoons before the main feature are fun. Harmless, innocent, wistful. But Justified is like Doctor Who for people who have become slightly jaded yet retained both a sense of humour and a world-weary realisation that there are actually people who treat blow jobs as a form of currency. All my Justified friends are like the AD&Ders who saw too many of their characters die in campaigns. We love make-believe but we do know it bites back. We also don’t mind the occasional use of the expletive when folks are trying to make their point.
I’m trying hard to be fair as I write this because I really don’t wish to slag off either group. I enjoy both shows. But if I were totally honest (which is an impossibility; one either is honest or is not honest) I would have to say that I’ll watch Doctor Who if there’s nothing else on but I’ll watch Justified over and over and over again.
Signs You Are A Doctor Who Person: You think it’s cute when the hero has a romance.
Signs You Are A Justified Person: You know that any romance the hero has is going to end him in some hot water. Probably involving gamecocks.
Signs You Are A Doctor Who Person: You think the sonic screwdriver is the coolest weapon.
Signs You Are a Justified Person: You think Raylan Givens is the coolest weapon.
Signs You Are A Doctor Who Person: You think Weeping Angels are scary when they don’t move
Signs You Are A Justified Person: You think Boyd Crowder is scary when he starts using sentences with fewer than 15 words.
Just Another Pretty Farce 
Yes! So much yesness here. I am a Justified person by the way, but I have lots of Dr. Who friends. 😉
As a reboot-Whovian, I must say:
I don’t find it cute at all when the Doctor has a girlfriend, but I do find it amazing that someone who has visited every square inch of time and space, who has seen the births and deaths of entire races–who has brought about the births and deaths of entire races–who has more knowledge that any other creature in the universe (except for the TARDIS herself), can find a single person to fall deeply in love with, give his heart(s) to her, and then give her up for the want of her happiness.
I find the sonic screwdriver nifty, but the coolest weapon is *River Song*.
And weeping angels aren’t scary when they don’t move–they are scary because they move wicked fast when you can’t see them.
🙂
Kat H., I am with you on the weeping angels — they aren’t exactly scary when they don’t move; they’re scary ’cause you know they’re *gonna* move… and make those horrible faces.
I’m a Whovian from back in the Tom Baker days. This is the first I’ve heard of Justified, so I guess I better check it out.
And I agree with Kat about River Song. 😉
Justified. But I haven’t really watched the good doctor since I thought Tom Baker’s scarf was a great fashion statement. Raylan is a cool weapon, but I like that it’s OK that he has to be rescued once in a while, usually by Boyd. I just started season 4, and I’m still somewhat recovering from that moment when Quarles reached for his arm.
I have never even heard of Justified. It sounds like a Western? I have seen two episodes of Dr. Who, but I couldn’t get into it. So what happens when you find someone who is “neither”?
There should be a slot for fans of Sherlock….. Pretty sure.
It’s not “what are you a fan of” as much as it is “the two types of fan”. Sherlock occupies the overlap of the Venn Diagram because it is by the Who people but has a bit more of the edgier, adult-oriented writing you see on Justified.
I’ll second the Sherlock motion but am fully Justified.