What's Hot for the Week of July 19, 2009

New collection of Michael Jackson solo at Motown.

Compiled before his death, this three-disc collection 
of Jackson's 1971–75 solo work is a sad but timely reminder of how gifted he was from the start. There's a lot to celebrate on Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection, beyond hits like ''Rockin' Robin'' and ''Ben.'' From 
a previously unreleased master of his winsome take on the Supremes' ''I Hear a Symphony'' to the inclusion of original liner notes and album art, it's a gift for completists and just-minted 
fans alike.

Torchwood (2008)

WORK THAT BAWDY John Barrowman is glovin' every minute of BBC America's odd sci-fi series

A recent installment of the breezy, genially sleazy British sci-fi series Torchwood found the dashing Capt. Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and his titular team of supernatural sleuths investigating an edible extraterrestrial. During this adventure the following exchange occurred between Torchie Gwen (Eve Myles) and the celestially promiscuous Harkness, who has bedded at least one female member of his Torchwood crew, one male member, various comely outer-space creatures, and a smoochy ''Time Agent'' played by guest star James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer):

Gwen: ''You ever eaten alien meat?''

Jack: ''Yeah.''

Gwen: ''What was it like?''

Jack: ''He seemed to enjoy it!''

Torchwood, now in its second season, is the Benny Hill version of Blade Runner. Jack's character is spun off from Doctor Who, the long-running British-TV equivalent of Star Wars, Star Trek, and H.R. Pufnstuf all rolled into one. Torchwood, set in the present day, is both more dramatic and even campier. In Jack regalia, Barrowman looks like Tom Cruise with suspenders, but minus the Scientology. (Except for when he starts musing about ''alien intervention,'' ''mind probes,'' and ''sleeper agents...ready to take over.'') Captain Jack tracks down — and occasionally beds — ETs with the help of his quartet of bedazzled groupies–slash–Experts in Their Fields: One's a doctor, one's a cop, one's a scientist, and one...makes tea piping hot. It's like the Justice League of Extended-Pinkie Nerds.

Torchwood can be jolly, if winceable, fun, but it's also tonally weird. The cheesy special effects (the alien-meat creature's mouth clapped shut like a ventriloquist's dummy) and cheesier heroic proclamations (''The 21st century is when everything changes, and Torchwood is ready!'') make the series seem aimed at kids. Yet there's also lots of bloodletting and rather explicit sex, along with florid, romance-novel subplots, such as team scientist Toshiko (Naoko Mori) falling madly in love with a cryogenically frozen World War I soldier. The series' attempts to cross X-Files monster suspense with Buffy-style wisecracking just come off as endearingly goony: Jack interrogates an alien by bellowing, ''Why do you give off electromagnetic waves? Why?!'' And apparently in the U.K., it is inherently amusing to locate Torchwood HQ and the time-space rift that sets loose so many alien subplots in the bleak-looking town of Cardiff, Wales; I gather this is comparable to, say, locating Lost in a Paramus, N.J., park. As with P.G. Wodehouse novels and Robbie Williams songs, you have to be either British or adolescent to commit to this stuff; for the rest of us, it's a head-scratching lark.

MOVIES
HUMPDAY
In this indie film, two ''pretty solidly not gay'' friends decide the wildest thing they can do to win a porn contest is sleep with each other. Okay, not wildest — but funniest.

MUSIC
''S.O.S. (Let the music play),'' Jordin Sparks
''That crazy chick don't know who she's messin' with,'' sings the former Idol champ on this slick new dance groove from Battlefield. Anyone bold enough to sample a Shannon hit from 1983 is okay by us.

MOVIES
(500) DAYS OF SUMMER
Lurking in the middle ground between Memento and Juno is this charming romance starring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. An onscreen chronometer spins through the year and a half of their romance, punctuated by music, whimsy, and the loveliest shots of downtown Los Angeles ever taken.

DVD
CORALINE
In theaters, we loved Neil Gaiman's tale about a girl whose perfect imaginary world turns on her. On disc, savor director Henry Selick's virtually hallucinogenic visual effects and marvel at how they were created.

BOOKS
ZEITOUN, by Dave Eggers
The author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius deftly blends prose and purpose, chronicling a man who refused to run from Hurricane Katrina and earmarking profits to benefit storm victims.

MOVIES
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
Torn between teen angst and adult danger (crushes and Death Eaters: equally evil?), the stars of Half-Blood Prince not only look keen on screen but prove they've grown into fine actors.

TV
BIG BROTHER on CBS
Forget chance — this season the Chenbot assigns the players to cliques. Just be careful, athletes. With BB vet Jessie on your team, even we'd plot against you.