Yeah, you're right. Mind you, there are some bad pieces of British television, out there, or at least that's what I'm told, but I don't think we see them. What throws me for a loop is that a whole lot of Britons think American television is, by and large, better. Including British television critics. Bwuh? (I think I said British rather than simply BBC, because there are a few non BBC things that I've liked. Hell, Primeval is ITV, and it's cheesy goodness all the way!)
What throws me for a loop is that a whole lot of Britons think American television is, by and large, better. Including British television critics. Bwuh?
Yeah... WE STEAL YOUR STUFF, UK!
And our actors may be younger, but that doesn't necessarily make them better. Just...no idea. No. Idea.
I don't get BBC America in my personal 'cultural desert' but I love their programing when I am able to see it. My cable bill would be through the roof if I wanted to get that channel so I settle for getting the programs via Netflix and from friends who record for me on occasion. Doctor Who, Torchwood, the original Coupling, Doc Martin, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, Monarch of the Glen, Hetty Wainthrope, Johnathon Creek, Graham Norton, Hamish MacBeth, Jeeves and Wooster, Shameless, Top Gear, Benny Hill, The Fast Show, French and Saunders, Green Wing, Whose Line is it Anyway, etc. I'd trade most of my current channels for that kind of programing.
The only one you mentioned that I really don't enjoy is "Merlin". I tried it but never could get into it. I just can't see Merlin as a boy. But one show out of all of the UK programing I've seen isn't a bad average. Some day when I'm rich I'll get the cable package that includes BBC.
My happy little college home doesn't have cable of any kind, but BBC America is sadly disappointing anyway. OETA, our...I don't know what to call it...public-supported station? Anyway, it shows quite a lot of BBC programming, no cable required! Some of it comes on later at night, but it's still good. The rest I watch on DVD or on the internet. I just love the fact my mom and I can judge a series we've never seen just based on their production stamp.
And Merlin...it's just so full of cheesy goodness. I can see where people wouldn't like it, and as someone who's done some Arthurian study, sometimes I cringe. But it's still a campy, laughable good time for me. And the fanfic opportunities are GOLDEN.
Even now, most of our favorite comedies are BBC reruns, like "Good Neighbours", "Keeping Up Appearances", "Vicar of Dibley", "Are You Being Served?" "Monty Python"-- and of course, there's The Doctor and Torchwood; even their reality programs are better-- Gordon Ramsey rocks!
The DH and I often wonder why most of the shows nowadays seem to star nothing but teenagers. There don't seem to be any ordinary looking people on American TV...
"Are You Being Served?" is one of my FAVORITES. Gordon Ramsey, on the other hand, scares me; but I've never been a reality show kind of girl.
I agree with you on actors. It always surprises me how many shows about older people BBC puts out. Not just, "hey, we need an older person in this role," but shows centered on older characters. And they're good.
Well, here's the difference. American TV is and has been, all about profit, while the BBC was begun as a government entity and is public.
It's no accident that what originally popularized the BBC in this country was PBS. Public TV can be about quality and what is good for people. Commercial TV is...about commercials.
And while older people have money to spend, they are not so easily swayed by commercials. Young people, however, are. And they have (so the networks believe) gobs of money to spend. I don't necessarily *agree* that their assumptions are true. Most kids I know are perpetually broke-- but it's what the ad execs believe, and that's all that counts.
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Yeah... WE STEAL YOUR STUFF, UK!
And our actors may be younger, but that doesn't necessarily make them better. Just...no idea. No. Idea.
Reply
Doctor Who, Torchwood, the original Coupling, Doc Martin, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, Monarch of the Glen, Hetty Wainthrope, Johnathon Creek, Graham Norton, Hamish MacBeth, Jeeves and Wooster, Shameless, Top Gear, Benny Hill, The Fast Show, French and Saunders, Green Wing, Whose Line is it Anyway, etc. I'd trade most of my current channels for that kind of programing.
The only one you mentioned that I really don't enjoy is "Merlin". I tried it but never could get into it. I just can't see Merlin as a boy. But one show out of all of the UK programing I've seen isn't a bad average. Some day when I'm rich I'll get the cable package that includes BBC.
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And Merlin...it's just so full of cheesy goodness. I can see where people wouldn't like it, and as someone who's done some Arthurian study, sometimes I cringe. But it's still a campy, laughable good time for me. And the fanfic opportunities are GOLDEN.
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The DH and I often wonder why most of the shows nowadays seem to star nothing but teenagers. There don't seem to be any ordinary looking people on American TV...
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I agree with you on actors. It always surprises me how many shows about older people BBC puts out. Not just, "hey, we need an older person in this role," but shows centered on older characters. And they're good.
Reply
It's no accident that what originally popularized the BBC in this country was PBS. Public TV can be about quality and what is good for people. Commercial TV is...about commercials.
And while older people have money to spend, they are not so easily swayed by commercials. Young people, however, are. And they have (so the networks believe) gobs of money to spend. I don't necessarily *agree* that their assumptions are true. Most kids I know are perpetually broke-- but it's what the ad execs believe, and that's all that counts.
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