Doctor Who, Twilight Zone Marathons Commence: Today In Science & Science Fiction

By David Wharton | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

TimeDoctorMany of our readers are getting ready to ring in the New Year in style tonight, whether that means hanging with friends while downing champagne, dancing the night away with a signifcant other, or something even crazier. But if you’ve got the day off and nothing to do in the meantime, we’ve got some viable TV alternatives to twiddiling your thumbs for the next 12 hours. New Year’s marathons are a long-standing tradition in the TV world, and today you’ve got three excellent options to choose from.

First up, BBC America kicked off a Doctor Who marathon earlier this morning. They began with several Who specials, and as I write this they’re in the middle of the 2008 Christmas episode “Voyage of the Damned,” with “The Next Doctor” due at the top of the hour. If you missed the big Who events of the past few months, they’ll be airing “The Day of the Doctor” and “The Time of the Doctor” back-to-back tonight beginning at 9/7c.

Burned out on Who for the moment? We won’t judge. Hell, I’ve renamed my carpal tunnel Who-pal tunnel after all the writing I’ve done about it in the past six months. Instead maybe you’d like to have some laughs with the Planet Express crew. Comedy Central will air a mini-marathon of Futurama episodes beginning at 5:30/4:30c. It will run clean through to midnight, beginning with the seventh-season episode “Forty Percent Leadbelly” and continuing through to the series finale, “Meanwhile.”

One of the longest-standing New Year’s marathon around is Syfy’s annual Twilight Zone barrage. It began early this morning and continues through the wee hours. If you only feel like DVRing a few of them, be sure to get “Time Enough at Last” at 7:30/6:30c, “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” at 8:30/7:30c, and “The Howling Man” at 9:30/8:30c. The Twilight Zone marathon will continue tomorrow as well.

Last but not least, AMC is airing a Walking Dead marathon today and tomorrow. They’re currently wrapping up the first season’s episodes, with the first-season finale, “TS-19,” starting at 2:30/1:30c. It’ll take you most of the way through season four by the time it ends tomorrow night.