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BS: U.S.TV-100% American?
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Subject: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: autolycus Date: 02 Aug 07 - 01:48 AM Seems a good question - is there any non-American programming on US tv? I'm ignorant about this, never having been to the States, and not having asked anyone who has. Ivor |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: Bev and Jerry Date: 02 Aug 07 - 02:11 AM Ivor: We're not big TV viewers but the only non-American programming we've ever seen is an occasional BBC documentary and a few British comedies like "Keeping Up Appearances", "As Time Goes By", "Monty Python", "Mr. Bean", "Are You Being Served" and "Barbara". These programs only appear on Public Broadcasting which is non-commercial and is supported by viewer subscriptions which are optional, grants from corporations and charitable foundations and, to a lesser extent, the federal government. Bev and Jerry |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: SharonA Date: 02 Aug 07 - 02:26 AM I just posted the following over on the Hugh Laurie thread, but it's pertinent here, too... Here in the Philadelphia PA suburbs, local cable service has 27 Spanish-language channels and 17 "international premium" channels (Chinese, Korean, Farsi, etc.). There's also a cable channel called BBC America. As for the broadcast channels, only the Public Broadcasting Service channels (the ones that are commercial-free or nearly so, and rely on pledge drives, corporate grants and government revenue for their income) show a BBC news program and a very few British sitcoms, along with the indefatiguable "Masterpiece Theater" and "Mystery!" programs. There is only one PBS broadcast station in the area (WYBE chnnel 35) that shows a steady diet of international programs from many countries. So that's what's available... but who knows how many Americans watch which? I confess: my guilty pleasure, while it was on the air here, was "My Hero"! |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: jacqui.c Date: 02 Aug 07 - 07:10 AM Dr Who is going over well on the sci-fi channel right now. I've seen various British films advertised on the regular channels - Brassed Off, Love Actually and An Ideal Husband, for example. 'Hustle' was being advertised on one channel a while back as well. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: George Papavgeris Date: 02 Aug 07 - 08:56 AM So that's where the good programmes have gone! Can we get them back? And return "Hero", "Lost", "Medium", "CSI - xxx" and all US comedy programmes except Frasier and Will & Grace. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: artbrooks Date: 02 Aug 07 - 09:07 AM I also don't watch much TV (despite just having bought a new one) but, as previously noted, there are a lot of Spanish language programs - at least 4 Spanish cable networks,I think - although much of the programming originates in the US, some is from Mexico and points south. The cable system to which we subscribe also carries "BBC America", which seems to be a collection of BBC programs selected to appeal to what TV producers think Americans want, which means it is mostly drivel like Footballers Wives. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: Bill D Date: 02 Aug 07 - 09:10 AM There are many BBC programs at various times here in this area..(Wash DC & suburbs) as well as Spanish language on 3-4 channels and various Asian programs. We get comedy, as noted, BBC World News, and a number of documentaries obviously produced in the UK...(Sometimes I wonder why most of the nice programs about archeology, environment, animals...etc..seem to require me to tune my ear to English accents and pronunciation...) Anyway...we got 'em. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: Hollowfox Date: 02 Aug 07 - 03:39 PM Don't forget the Japanese animation on Cartoon Network and the Sci Fi Channel. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: maire-aine Date: 02 Aug 07 - 04:17 PM I'm rather fond of DaVinci's Inquest, a Canadian program(me). Since I'm in the Detroit-Windsor area, I watch some Canadian TV, altho my reception isn't great. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: Ebbie Date: 02 Aug 07 - 04:25 PM PBS has a weekly (?) presentation of the House of Commons pitting the Prime Minister against vocal and articulate -hmmmm - people. Very entertaining and informative. I hadn't realized that Gordon Brown stammers a little when he gets excited. Tony Blair was easier to listen to but it's still early days. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 02 Aug 07 - 04:31 PM <">all US comedy programmes except Frasier and Will & Grace." I'd want to hold on to My Name is Earl. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: Don Firth Date: 02 Aug 07 - 05:27 PM Here in Seattle, and anywhere within reach of KCTS Channel 9, a PBS affiliate, by broadcast or by cable—and that would be a good chunk of the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia—one can see programs such as Masterpiece Theatre, which has offered excellent British productions and mini-series over a number of decades now. My wife and I watch it fairly regularly. We started with "Upstairs, Downstairs" in the 70s, and since then, we've seen three different productions of "Jane Eyre," two of "Pride and Prejudice," "The Six Wives of Henry VIII," "Elizabeth R," "I, Claudius," "The Duchess of Duke Street,"and—well, far too many to list, really. My wife and I watch it regularly and consider it to be some of the finest programming offered on television. Makes having a TV set worthwhile. We also regularly watch Mystery, where we've followed the adventures of "Brother Cadfael," "The Inspector Linley Mysteries," "Inspector Morse," "Foyle's War," "Sherlock Holmes" portrayed by a couple of different actors, two incarnations of "Miss Marple," and many others. And fairly recently, "Monarch of the Glen" (a Scottish soap opera? But good.). Science fiction has included "Doctor Who" and "Red Dwarf," of course, "Blake's 7," and others, not to mention "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." And then, a fine run of comedy shows, from "As Time Goes By" with the marvelous Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer (more than just a comedy show, actually), and "Good Neighbors" (or "The Good Life," depending on where it's shown), through my favorite telecourse on the nature of politics anywhere in the world, "Yes, Minister" and it's sequel. "Yes, Prime Minister." Then a whole string of fairly zany comedies like "Are You Being Served," ""Allo "Allo," "My Hero," and many others. And a fair number of non-fiction shows from the BBC. We also have another PBS affiliate in Tacoma (30 miles south of Seattle) that we get on cable, that offers many of the same shows mentioned above, usually at different times, so if we miss a show we're following on one channel, we can usually get it on the other. U. S. television has a few good shows and maybe one or two comedies that aren't abysmally stupid, but if we couldn't get our local PBS affiliates, it would hardly be worth owning a television set. I don't know how many times I've taken a look at the TV listings on evenings when there were no British productions on and thought, "Over seventy channels and not a damned thing worth watching!" Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: Becca72 Date: 02 Aug 07 - 06:25 PM Here in Southern Maine we get BBC America and there are a lot of British shows on PBS. The city I live in has a very large Canadian population so I also get 2 French-speaking Canadian channels though I couldn't tell you what they are...one I believe is CBC and the other I don't have a clue...I speak no French so I don't watch them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: autolycus Date: 02 Aug 07 - 06:26 PM Firstly, thank you for taking the trouble. I am touched. Then i should have realised that if wasn't going to be American it would be the Beeb - doh ! - and I felt a bit proud. Also, interesting there's a bit of canadian, no mentions for Australia and South Africa and New Zlnd. At first I thought people read my original as, 'oh, praps he wants to know we watch British stuff'. There's little or nothing on UK terrestrial that's not British or American. Another 'doh' there as well i'm afraid. I'll think things thru properly one day. Ivor |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 02 Aug 07 - 06:45 PM 'Here in the Philadelphia PA suburbs, local cable service has 27 Spanish-language channels and 17 "international premium" channels (Chinese, Korean, Farsi, etc.).' I don't watch TV, and I had no idea that there was so much variety available. Interesting! |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: Don Firth Date: 02 Aug 07 - 07:02 PM On cable we also get the CBC. There is some pretty good stuff to be found there, and I've recently noted that Canada has some very fine actors. Oddly enough, I discovered a number of them recently by watching "The Red Green Show." When I first saw this, I thought it was the dumbest thing I'd ever seen on television, but I got to watching it more out of morbid fascination than anything else. Now, I'm sort of hooked. It deals with Red Grean, the head of Possum Lodge (motto: Quando omni flunkus moritati. Translation: "When all else fails, play dead!"), located on the shores of Possum Lake, the most polluted body of water on the North American continent. It's impossible to describe the show in any way that makes sense. It deals with handyman (?!??) Red Grean, a plaid-shirted, suspendered, bearded walking disaster area and the bizarre assortment of nut-balls who orbit around him. Some of these nut-balls are played by (I assume) reasonably well-known Canadian entertainers letting their hair down. One of these is Hap Shaunessy, the local tall-tale teller and blowhard, played by Gordon Pinsent. We've seen Pinsent in a couple of dramatic productions, and he is one darn fine actor. Unfortunately, we don't get very many Canadian shows here, except by tuning in CBC wherever it's available. Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 02 Aug 07 - 07:03 PM "There's little or nothing on UK terrestrial that's not British or American." Apart from a couple of Australian soaps...And there are foreign films from time to time. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: Don Firth Date: 02 Aug 07 - 07:06 PM (By the way, that's "Red Green" not "Red Grean." I manage the same typo twice. But that's the way Red's repairs and upgrades usually turn out.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: Ebbie Date: 02 Aug 07 - 07:07 PM On occasion I too watch the Red Green show, on PBS. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: bobad Date: 02 Aug 07 - 07:11 PM Red would use "duck tape" to fix those typos, Don. Pat McKenna , who plays Harold, is a fine actor in his own right. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: Don Firth Date: 02 Aug 07 - 08:01 PM Yeah, Harold (Red's nerdy nephew, and the only person on the show who may actually be able to lay claim to a brain) is a real snort. He's my wife's favorite character on the show. I had seen Graham Greene (Edgar K. B. Montrose--K. B. for "Ka-BOOM!!"--the explosives expert (?), who never met a problem that couldn't be solved if you used enough dynamite) on a number of shows before I saw him on "Red Green." Notably, "Northern Exposure" (TV) and "Dances with Wolves" (movie). One of my favorite charaters is Ed Frid, the animal control officer who is terrified of animals. I've heard that duct tape is actually pretty good stuff for quick repairs. But not all that good for taping ducts. Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: RangerSteve Date: 02 Aug 07 - 09:47 PM I can't be the only one here who's old enough to remember "The Avengers". One of the few Brit shows that was shown here but not on Public TV. We missed the rirst year or so, it wasn't broadcast here until Emma Peel joined the show. Benny Hill was also shown here in the states for a while. Some of the British comedies just don't seem all that funny to me. I guess we have different senses of humor. The ones I enjoyed were "Good Neighbors", "To the Manor Born", "Keeping Up Appearances", "Butterflies"(which got a little to maudlin after a while), and "Fawlty Towers". One of the independent stations in New York City would, on occasion, show an entire week of BBC, complete with commercials. They also ran a Brit series called "Father, Dear Father", which had writing as good as the best of Burns and Allen. I'm surprised that the public TV statioms mever picked it up. They also had the guts to run "I Claudius" complete. PBS actually censored one episode - the one where Caligula killed his pregnant wife. PBS cut out the nudity. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: Rowan Date: 03 Aug 07 - 08:10 PM The comment "Sometimes I wonder why most of the nice programs about archeology, environment, animals...etc..seem to require me to tune my ear to English accents and pronunciation..." is really interesting, to me at least. In Oz we get a lot of British and American teeve broadcast at us as well as a fair bit of Oz and occasional NZ stuff and that means we're inundated with almost every version of spoken English, none of it requiring much in the way of concentration. So I was a bit surprised to hear that Taggart (a Scottish cop shop thing on in Oz at the moment) required dubbing with American accents for broadcast there. I realise it's a common complaint among film/TV producers that the American market won't accept anything with accents further east than midAtlantic or further west than Hawaii but Bill's comment (which I'm not criticising) goes some way towards explaining the, apparently intense, resistance againt the "foreign" and focus on "local" that is sometimes detectable in the US. The more accents the merrier, for me. Cheers, Rowan |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: robomatic Date: 04 Aug 07 - 02:38 PM Da Vinci's Inquest is a good example of fine ensemble acting, it gets shown in Anchorage at weird hours, though. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American From: Alice Date: 04 Aug 07 - 02:48 PM What happened to my post about Red Green?
-Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: 3refs Date: 04 Aug 07 - 03:48 PM You forgot to mention Red Green's "Man's Prayer". Man's Prayer I'm a man... But I can change... If I have to... I guess. ...and keep your stick on the ice!!!!!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: Cluin Date: 04 Aug 07 - 05:11 PM "And, if my wife is watching, I'll be home right after the meeting. Leave the light on in the back porch, please... I don't wanna do THAT again." |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: DougR Date: 04 Aug 07 - 06:30 PM U.S. TV is pretty bad. I can't say that TV in Great Britain is any better though (other than some super TV series and some very funny half-hour shows, most of them produced several years ago.) Regular TV there is about as dismal as it is in the U. S. I think. DougR |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: Don Firth Date: 04 Aug 07 - 08:30 PM "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy." —Red Green |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: pattyClink Date: 04 Aug 07 - 08:56 PM Rowan, I don't think it's fair to call it 'resistance' to accents as if it's snobbery. There are some British productions which are much much harder to hear clearly than others, and if you can't understand the words you have no choice but to give it a pass. I have no problem making out most 'furrin' versions of English, but there are some films where the audio is bad, the actors swallow their words or speak rapidly, etc. where I simply can't follow what's going on. I think it's the same reason Tommy Sands wasn't more popular over here, just can't follow the words well. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: WFDU - Ron Olesko Date: 04 Aug 07 - 10:49 PM I was hooked on Ballykissangel, although I kept comparing it to Northern Exposure as it seemed to copy the format. The major terrestrial networks do not carry much non-U.S. programs except for a few special occasions. If you do not own a satellite dish or a cable hookup, you are stuck with the networks and PBS, which will show British programming and a few from other countries. The problem with cable networks, including BBC America, is that the shows are cut to fit U.S. commercial schedules, which can be very annoying. My wife and I were discussing the changes in the industry over the past twenty years or so. It used to be an "event" when a major motion picture was shown on television. All three networks devoted time for showing movies (with commercials) each week and you would make at it a point to sit down and watch a film when it was on. Now, with cable, DVD's and the internet, you can watch at your leisure and there is no compelling reason to plan a schedule around TV - unless it is a live event. All the people who say they "don't watch much television" probably end up watching DVD's and other programs that in the past would have been considered "television". |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: Alice Date: 04 Aug 07 - 10:57 PM I was hooked on Ballykissangel, too. Has anyone posted the link to BBC America? |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: autolycus Date: 05 Aug 07 - 09:11 AM Yes, Ron, I was going to make the point that all the interesting programming on US tv is on PBS or cable. if that's right, it says something about the terrestrial. It's too similar in UK. I keep thinking of giving up my tv cos I watch it so little. Radio is better, and actually has a bigger total audience than tv anyway. Ivor |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: Rowan Date: 05 Aug 07 - 06:38 PM 'Resistance to other accents as snobbery' is an interesting point, pattyClink. There are lots of things in that melting pot. But I'll leave aside the strange notion that Americans who travel internationally and can speak other languages can have such behaviour held against them in elections. Most 'catters would not place high value on such isolation. My experience of regional accents from within the US is that some are almost as difficult (for me as an outsider) to understand as Glaswegian; I pick on them only because the reputation of that accent is that it is very difficult for outsiders to grasp. But we don't 'see' many of those US regional accents on film or mainstream TV and our only likely experience of them is via documentaries from within the US. So there seems to be an aural 'dumbing down' going on and I suspect it goes on in Britain and Oz as well; it may be more noticeable from the US because there is so much more from the US. And your point about speaking too rapidly was reinforced on Oz TV recently. In Oz, we're approaching national elections and a major issue is likely to be Industrial Relations, as the governing coalition has introduced legislation that wipes out much of what has been gained over the last 150 years by workers. The union movement brought three Americans (at least two, and possibly all, were from South Carolina) for a visit so they and we could compare the US and the Oz experiences. In an interview towards the end of their visit the comment was made by one of the visitors that they had trouble with the rapidity with which Australians spoke; it impeded their ability to understand the accented English. I've never heard that comment from English-peakers from other Anglophone countries. One of the interesting things (for me) about Mudcat is that 'catters express themselves in whatever argot they feel at home with. And most of us type sufficiently slowly for the rest of us to have no trouble reading. Cheers, Rowan |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: artbrooks Date: 05 Aug 07 - 10:21 PM I am fairly hard of hearing, and often have difficulty understanding even "standard" American English (which is generally considered to be the Mid-western dialect). The various accents found outside the US are even harder for me to understand, since I am exposed to them less often...and when they include local words to the point that they become a dialect it is nearly impossible. Most of my exposure has been to BBC programs and I remember being totally lost trying to comprehend some of the conversations in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, and Robin Hood is just as bad. (I would prefer not to discuss trying to understand the accents of the people who do telephone computer support.) Luckily, in recent years many/most programs are subtitled and newer TV sets can pick up these. Imagine - needing subtitles to understand the BBC... |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: Alice Date: 05 Aug 07 - 10:26 PM Funny... I do that too, turn on the subtitles for BBC programs so I can understand all the words. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: Donuel Date: 06 Aug 07 - 11:43 AM al jazeera is banned on US cable tv |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: Ebbie Date: 06 Aug 07 - 02:44 PM "I think it's the same reason Tommy Sands wasn't more popular over here, just can't follow the words well." pattyclink Tommy Sands, the Irish singer/songwriter? That Tommy Sands is superlatively popular in the part of the US that I know. He is wonderful. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: 3refs Date: 06 Aug 07 - 03:09 PM Having the best of both worlds! Here in Canada, where I live(Ontario), we get every major U.S. station and network. From N.Y.C. to L.A. Alaska to Texas. We also get much of the good stuff from the U.K. Cable! It's such a wonderful thing! Unlike America and the U.K. we can understand both. We understand Benny Hill and In Living Colour! I don't mean for this to be a slight on anyone. It's just that we live across the street from the Yanks and our heritage is mostly British! And we love ya both!!!!!! We get it from both sides! |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: pattyClink Date: 06 Aug 07 - 07:42 PM 3refs, good for you. I also feel multililngual, was raised in the midwest and live in the south. I think I'm one of 10 people in the world who 'got' all the jokes in both "Fargo" and "O Brother Where Art Thou". Ebbie, I wasn't saying Tommy isn't swell, just my personal reaction and theory. Sorry. And to stir the pot some more, Christy Moore is even harder work to listen to.. . |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: Ebbie Date: 07 Aug 07 - 01:20 AM s'ok. And I didn't take what you said as a criticism of Tommy- I was taking issue with the idea that he isn't popular in the US. is that true? He does a US tour every year and judging by the response in Juneau, Alaska, he draws good crowds. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: pattyClink Date: 07 Aug 07 - 02:50 PM I couldn't tell you how he would draw around here, he doesn't play our part of the country that I know of, but he seems more obscure than many. Hard to assess the relative obscurity of folk artists, I guess you'd have to have some album sales figures to go by. |
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Subject: RE: BS: U.S.TV-100% American? From: WFDU - Ron Olesko Date: 07 Aug 07 - 03:07 PM "al jazeera is banned on US cable tv " That is not true. It is available via subscription on a number of systems. Cable operators are not required to carry anything. My system does not offer Al Jazeera, but they do not offer BBC America either. Not a political choice necessarily, but a business choice. |
