tv

ponderings / north america / tv

first of all, getting past the whole 'tv' not 'telly' thing was tricky (not to mention 'vcr' rather than 'video') and then it seems tv is a whole new world here.

i'd obviously been to the US plenty of times before but i don't think i really took in what went on on the tv properly - i just saw lots of good shows on all the time but lots of really irritating, terrible adverts (sorry, commercials). 18 months down the line i do still find the ads irritating but i'm finally coming to terms with the fact that you hear the opening theme song to a programme (show) and then promptly go to an ad break just as you're all excited about the programme starting.

commercial breaks i've always loved studying the ad breaks to watch the target audience eg. in britain, countdown is full of pension/elderly healthcare ads but i'm rather offended by the fact that BBC america contains lots of dental commercials - it seems to english people in america are embarrasing the americans with their bad teeth. sascha was watching cops on afternoon and all the ads were for college courses obviously for the audience of males / no jobs / interested in criminals :)

i still have a hard time with ads that compare themselves [favourably of course] with their competitors and all those ads for getting in on class action court cases [there's a 'hey - come join the party' type spirit to the whole thing]

scheduling i have very much got used to the idea that most of the programming is identical day in, day out ie. 7.30 blue's clue's; 8.00 dora the explorer; 8.30 spongebob; 9.00 jay jay the jet plane [playgroup] 11.00 teletubbies [lunch, kids go to bed]; 1.00 changing rooms 5.00 spongebob; 6.00 news; 7.00 just shoot me; 7.30 friends etc. etc. etc. - every single day. there's a slight variation on the theme at the weekend and once the new season starts, a new prime time show every night at 8.00 but other that than it's same old same old. at least you know where you stand.

soap operas what's all that about? i've never actually watched once in america properly, but then people don't do they? i think i've only met one person who watches any of them since i've lived here. i wouldn't mind but every single network channel seems to think that that's what absolutely everyone must want to watch between 9 and 12 every morning [never a prime time thing like it is in britain]. i don't know if i've just been brain washed by british and australian soaps but the quality here seems so bad and every time i catch a glimpse of one by accident i'm convinced it's a joke version.

[i have to say, since canada have just started showing coronation street [god knows how old] at prime time in the evenings, maybe they're getting the hang of it. they haven't yet moved emmerdale from it's 3.30pm slot though.]

news i think i might have mentioned elsewhere in the site how i feel about news. besides most of the world not existing ie. anywhere not in the states or not at war with the states, the quality of news stories and news presenters just seems to deteriorate each day. this morning the wather girl missed her entire broadcast segment because she was discussing how she should wear her skirt with the news guy while her screens full of weather news flew by behind her.

the news casters don't seem to have any morals which upsets me - in the 4 o'clock news report they'll tell you that new evidence has come out which could save your child's life when driving, but that you'll have to tune in at 6 if you want to know what it is. what if i have to drive somewhere before 6?

what i would call 'news' just takes on a whole new meaning here. one day i was sitting watching a pbs station and their daily bbc news report came on - i could not BELIEVE what was going on in the world - there was flooding, a huge bombing, an embassy storming and a burst dam. i felt suddenly as though i'd been locked in a box. i've never been someone who is desperate to read the newspaper or religiously watch the news but i guess from listening to the radio and having the news (including international news) appear on tv you always absorb what is going on in the world. anyway, i turned onto the cbs nightly news to find out that their headline was that someone had discovered a new way to fry food using less fat and that you could turn a loved one's remains into a diamond [of course there was the obligatory car chase for the evening and they were LIVE outside a building in the dark which had been broken into 2 days before]. i sighed.. oh well, back to reading the bbc site.

other whines about 'no news news' in the blog archives:

• march 2003 - the michael jackson interview-interview-interviews
• february 2003 - don't stand on rail tracks!