It was very poor. Painfully unlikeable and self-obsessed characters (with barely an ounce of professionalism between them for a top-secret, world-saving organisation) and worn-out plots in an apparent attempt to make Doctor Who an “edgy” show, well, just didn’t work.
I am afraid I agree with most of the above - it wasn’t great. But like Dr Who itself it was filmed mostly in Cardiff, so it was quite fun spotting the locations (I lived in nearby Newport for a few years).
Torchwood = Doctor Who …anagram in case nobody noticed
chowder, I never noticed that. I wondered why it had the stupid name. I liked Torchwood as it was in Dr. Who, defending the British Empire.
Hey! That’s a spoiler for Doctor Who! I think.
As I understand it, ‘Torchwood’ was the anagrammed codename for the new Doctor Who series while it was in development and under wraps - and that a cover story for it had been written that somewhat resembles that of the current series, then later someone decided that the cover story was good enough to warrant actually trying to make.
Ayyyeeeeeeeeeee…aw, CRAP!
Mrs. Dvl and I were so geared up for T’wood.
“By the makers of Dr. Who!” So it must be good, no? And…and… and Captain Jack is back!!! Woot! What, no help? Aw, crap.
Hex had us all psyched up too, but that drivel didn’t last long 'round these parts. We’ll still be giving T a shot, but we’re a wee bit deflated now.
In the meantime,
Thankyou Jekyll
Thankyou Mi5
Thankyou Murphy’s Law
Tankyou BBC-A
…now when the hell is Life on Mars going to return?!
There’s a sequel series to Life On Mars coming out I think. Ashes to Ashes or some other Bowie title is the name of it.
Ooh, speaking of Life on Mars…can someone tell me: I’ve just started watching it, and I acquired what I thought was the entire run of the show, but it seems to only be one season. Is there only just the one? I was pretty sure there were at least two…?
Great show, love John Simm - these English actors can work a battered leather jacket, can’t they?
There were two seasons of eight shows apiece.
Thanks, I thought so.
Sorry to bump, but I have just read that Freema will be in four eps of T’wood before rejoining the Doctor.
And while I agree that Torchwood is not nearly as good as Life on Mars or most of Dr Who, I found it a diverting and enjoyable show. At its worst, it’s almost unwatchable, granted. But at its best it’s better than much of the middle-season Angel and Buffy dreck, and well above the last couple seasons of The X-Files. I’ll watch series 2.
.
Just another bump for any fans that have HDNet on their cable box. They will be showing Torchwood in HD on Monday evenings, starting on Monday 17th.
[sub]If only HD improved the script quality as well as the picture quality[/sub] 
Captain Jack Harkness was a great gift to Slashers.
And I’ll be watching Torchwood, despite the criticisms. BBCamerica is running it, along with The 10th Doctor’s first season. Hey, it’s included in my cable bill.
That may or may not be, but at its best, “Buffy” was outstanding. Now leave her alone. The woman was a saint. 
I’ve only seen the first episode of “Torchwood.” It was entertaining enough to stick with for a while, but it’s hardly a must-see.
Being a glutton for punishment, I watched the first episode anyway. You were right, it is pointless.
So…there must be a lot of good british shows, unlike this or Hex or that Clatterford show. Why does the BBC-A not want us to see them? There are other british scifi shows other than those two and Doctor Who on the air now, aren’t there?
I can’t think of one, unless Life on Mars or Jeckyll count.
Let us not speak of Hyperdrive. (Seriously. Let’s not speak of it. If we all ignore it, maybe it will go away.)
Torchwood had lots of shots of John Barrowman posing in his RAF surplus gear, and apparently hoped we would all be enthralled by that and wouldn’t notice the plot holes. Sorry.
(Though I will say this much; if the new series features an episode where Owen falls under a steamroller and is crushed to death, painfully and slowly, over the course of the whole forty-five minutes of the episode, I will watch that.)
I watched the first episode on BBC-A and it was not good. I will give tonights episode a watch, if it is as bad, I doubt I will watch another.
I will say for good Brit shows to watch on BBC-A, look for/record and watch Coupling. It is a great comedy. One of the best shows I have seen in years. Season 4 was very good, but season 1-3 were incredible.
If you have not watched them, you could look for the early seasons of Red Dwarf in a Video store or Netflix. This was a good humorous Sci-Fi series. I think it ran from the late 80s into the early 90s. It then had a comeback a few years later that was not as good.
Of course the newer Dr. Who is on the Sci-Fi channel, it is only a half year behind the BBC. The last 3 episodes have been incredible good.
Jim
I’ve seen the first two episodes now on BBC-A. Watching it back to back with the Dr Who episodes on Sci-Fi, which are astonishingly good lately, of course it pales in comparison. But it has an interesting premise and it looks like it has someplace to go. The series starts with the original Torchwooders so involved in their duty that lose sight of their humanity. The newbie cop is teaching them to value saving not just the world, but the common person affected by the strangeness going on. And of course all the characters have flaws, like bringing home the alien tech and certain characters being somewhat snide and arrogant. Jack has his various secrets. The show seems like it has potential. How well it plays out the rest of the season others know all ready and remains to be seen for me. The alien-sex thing was fine with me for the second episode, but if that’s the theme of every episode as some have suggested, it could get old quick. I’ll definitely watch a few more episodes and unless it gets really bad probably the whole season. I do love my Jack!