h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Oh, American TV is great!

(I agree on the Seinfeld thing though. Could never see what was funny about it. Maybe 'twas just me.)

The BBC's _Nighty Night_ that's showing at the moment. Disturbing, sick, surely based on a warped view of the world. And gosh darn it, blooming hilarious!

*That's* the kind of thing the BBC gets absolutely right.

What it gets wrong, however, is all the stuff that it's famous for getting right. Like balanced news coverage.

I can't say that the BBC is *trying* to be unbalanced. I just have this feeling that they have bought into their own reputation as the "broadcaster of record", and they've become somewhat lazy in their research and presentation of 'facts'.

Let's look at the high quality entertainment the BBC is providing the Brits with tomorrow night.

19:00 - 19:30: Open All Hours.
Ah. A twenty year old sitcom repeat. Well written, well acted but, let's face it, a rerun.

19:30 - 20:00: EastEnders.
Inexplicably popular and dreary soap about a squalid part of London and the dire people that inhabit it. Awful.

20:00 - 21:00: Pat and Mo: Ashes to Ashes.
Good, I thought, it's a drama. Nope. It's an hour long EastEnders spinoff set in the 1950s. Oh dear...EastEnders The Costume Drama.

21:00 - 22:00: New Tricks.
A cop drama (now there's an original idea) about a team of ex-police pulled out of retirement to work on old cases. The cast appears to be a team of aging actors pulled out of retirement to work on a cop show about...ahh, who am I kidding? Not a bad cast at all.

22:00 - 22:35: BBC News at Ten.
At last, some bona fide quality. The Beeb still has the best news coverage on the planet and I miss BBC News 24 desperately.

22:35 - 00:00 : Car Wars.
Real police, real crimes, real thefts and stuff...but about cars!
Docu-cops.

So, with most of the evening devoted to East Enders and its monsterous, eldritch spawn where is the quality, excellent TV that Donald was going on about?

Where it's been for ages and ages. Satellite TV.

talk shows like springer are awful and the world would be a better place without them but freedom of speech i guess. the american way of life is put in cartoon form with the simpsons being your average american family. i can't say that i watch it all the time but i do get a good kick out of it when i do.
american t.v. is cutting edge in alot of ways and honestly i haven't seen anything cutting edge from the bbc at all unless dr.who is as cutting edge as it gets.

Well Six Feet Under I didn't like very much I must confess. I struck me as trying too hard. CSI I've never watched.

The Simpsons, however, is definitely not "trash". Its just about as intelligently written as it gets.

" unless dr.who is as cutting edge as it gets."

Them's fightin' words in these parts.

ha ha ha, i bet they are fightin' words! not much else to do around there huh?

The Simpsons is perfect, pure TV. Not a word, inflection, or movement is wasted.

Whether this is a good or bad thing is, of course, open to debate.

RF

"ha ha ha, i bet they are fightin' words! not much else to do around there huh?"

Depends where you mean. I'm in Phoenix. But you know, this is a BBC site and insults aimed at 'The Doc' may bring a ton of angry geeks down on you.

Besides, I bet you just live for 'Days of Our Lives'.

I am not American, but I like quite a few of their shows, especially C.S.I and E R, I have never heard of six feet under so I cannot comment on that one, I only have the Simpsons on if my grandsons are there as they love it, one being 6 the other 4.

Donald, animation is *not* just for kids, so jump down off that cardboard box if you would. The Japanese animation industry proved you wrong before you even thought about typing that post.

Secondly, living in Canada right now, and having been brought up on UK TV, I can safely assure you guys in the UK that you've not seen trash visual entertainment until you've really seen the stuff that gets shown in North America. I've gone from watching about 8 hours a day, to barely that in a week.

But, the good stuff from America is really and truly excellent. Mainly HBO shows like Six Feet Under and The West Wing. I am sure a lot of hootooers like 24 (I never made the effort, and it's the kind of show you need to watch from episode one to understand). I liked Sex and the City (there's nothing wrong with being shallow every now and again). I love The Simpsons and That 70's Show too.

Star Trek is also American, and it's watched by a lot of people on this site, no doubt. Like with anything, North American TV is good in places and awful in others - there's just more trash because there are more people over here to watch it.

I hate to disagree with you, Ste, but the Simpsons both blows and sucks at the same time, to quote Bart.
They haven't changed their clothes or aged in 14 years, what's that about? Maybe it's meant to be 'post-modern and irnic' but it seems to me to be cheap Hanna Barbera save animation costs thinking.
It's elitist, like most American sitcoms. Homer Simpson, Al Bundy, Fred Flintstone - all working class = all too stupid to live.
As for the other prejudices it puts across, I'm literally too scared to say - many of them are things too many Hootooers agree with and wouldn't even see as prejudice! We're all blind to our own.
Two words - Mrs Krabapple...

<< Did anyone else think that show was just pants ?>>
Absolutely. Complete rubbish. Like Friends, it went on and on and on until we all screamed "enough already"!
Frasier, yes, that's brilliant. Sadly, that's the *only* good US sitcom I can think of. In NZ we've been subjected to years of re-runs of Home Improvement, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the Simpsons and Friends. I had to see MIBII (good by the way) to realise - hey, Will Smith has grown up!
(As, surprise, so have the little boys on Home Improvement...)

what's with the liberal use of words like 'rubbish'? Can't people just dislike something without condemning it for everyone else?

That said, I think CSI is the funniest show around. Ever notice the cheesy porno music that comes on anytime one of the oddly beautiful and made-up lady cops starts going over a crime scene?

One of my favorite memories of my american life with my british husband was our weeknights on Fox - simpsons, that 70s show, will and grace, dharma and greg, king of the hill, *Voyager*, and a nice rounding off with 3rd rock from the sun. Ah..that was last year and the line-up has changed, but it's just as well. My british love is back at home . Sometimes the memories associated with TV is enough to make it worthwhile.

Nyss, I have to say that the line up you cite, sounds *awful* except for Voyager (Star Trek I assume. Mmmm yummy Science Fiction... )

*gasp* speak not ill of 3rd rock

then again, my hubby and i are perhaps not the best people to ask. we've been known to watch Judge Judy

Aaaaagggghhhh, Judge Judy! (That was on here, and we used to watch-it-because-it-was-there just before the news at 1800 hours, but eventually, (a) we got seriously fed up with it and (b) so did the channel, and they mercifully took it off.
3rd Rock? Bring out the that is so stupid! (The first season was good, but it deteriorated, as is the case with so many other things...)

Aargh. How can I cot mention "Alias"? I love Alias. It's like a cheesey Bond thing and this hot chick gets to go on these silly missions in disguise all the time with techno playing in the background. Awesome. Then there's this whole conspiracy involving these wierd ancient artifacts and the CIA and underground criminal organisations. Brilliant.

Re: The Simpsons.

"They haven't changed their clothes or aged in 14 years, what's that about?"
It's a joke. They make fun of that fact in the show itself all the time.

"It's elitist, like most American sitcoms. Homer Simpson, Al Bundy, Fred Flintstone - all working class = all too stupid to live."
Yep, that's *the point*. And it runs with it and it's blo*dy hilarious. It's ripping into that dumb male-head-of-the-family sitcom stereotype, whilst actually being more witty and observant than any other sitcom at the same time. Notice how the shows main character shifted from Bart to Homer because he was just so damn funny.

"As for the other prejudices it puts across, I'm literally too scared to say"
Go on, tell us Della...


Nyss, we can call something rubbish if we want to.


Ste

Did I ever say you couldn't?

~*~American T.V. is cutting edge in a lot of ways, and honestly I haven't seen anything cutting edge from the BBC at all, unless Dr. Who is as cutting edge as it gets.~*~

Hey, Brit TV is some of the best stuff around man! Especially Dr. Who!