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Theres plenty to choose from, I have access to cable with about 54 channels [I could get more but I would have to pay a subscription]. I get channels like:
nbc, abc, pbs (they have sesame street), fox, upn (new buffy season 6), espn, comedy central, mtv, vh1, tnn, tnt, bet, a film channel, history channel, nickelodeon, cartoon network................
Yet there is about as much good television on as there is back home.
1. Somewhere there is always an episode of I love lucy on.
2. They schedule their best shows against one another
3. They show endless repeats
4. They syndicate their shows = one network makes the show and play it on their network and also sell the rights to show it on other networks [ I was watching a comedy show with Martin Lawrence in it and changed the channel to find another episode airing at the same time]
5. The weakest link U.S.A (there is no excuse for this sort of thing)
6. Celebrity bottom kissing shows- welcome to our show we will promise a top rated celebrity on our show but they will be around for about a minute to plug their latest project. Also counting celebrity editions of shows : who wants to be a millonaire, celebrity weakest link (there have been so many of these on recently, you'd think they had no real contestants)
7. Talk shows: there are loads of them during the day (at least twce as many as on UK television
8.Advertising: back home the ads are short in duration compared with the marathon sections that are on. At the beginning of a normal show they will go to the adverts after the intro part, then short periods of programme followed by what seems like equal durations of advertising. I was watching the film Blade on television and it took them around half an hour to show the last 10 minutes of action because of the adverts.
9.Ratings: a show is deemed succesful by the size of its ratings and the demographics of those viewers (the ability to pull in more advertising revenue)
Granted they have more choice, the v-chip and baywatch. But there is no balance, they split their audiences up by screening similar programming schedules at the same time so instead of getting all of your sci-fi viewers for your advertisers, they are sharing them with another station while another popular station is raking in the ratings [low ratings = short life for show]
Apparently culture is the largest export from the states, well thats fine as long as they don't start exporting shows like who wants to be a princess.
The only major difference between UK television and USA television is money, the stations rake it in here through advertising and syndication revenues, where as the bbc and the other commercial stations do a lot more buying in of shows than exportig their own creations.
nbc, abc, pbs (they have sesame street), fox, upn (new buffy season 6), espn, comedy central, mtv, vh1, tnn, tnt, bet, a film channel, history channel, nickelodeon, cartoon network................
Yet there is about as much good television on as there is back home.
1. Somewhere there is always an episode of I love lucy on.
2. They schedule their best shows against one another
3. They show endless repeats
4. They syndicate their shows = one network makes the show and play it on their network and also sell the rights to show it on other networks [ I was watching a comedy show with Martin Lawrence in it and changed the channel to find another episode airing at the same time]
5. The weakest link U.S.A (there is no excuse for this sort of thing)
6. Celebrity bottom kissing shows- welcome to our show we will promise a top rated celebrity on our show but they will be around for about a minute to plug their latest project. Also counting celebrity editions of shows : who wants to be a millonaire, celebrity weakest link (there have been so many of these on recently, you'd think they had no real contestants)
7. Talk shows: there are loads of them during the day (at least twce as many as on UK television
8.Advertising: back home the ads are short in duration compared with the marathon sections that are on. At the beginning of a normal show they will go to the adverts after the intro part, then short periods of programme followed by what seems like equal durations of advertising. I was watching the film Blade on television and it took them around half an hour to show the last 10 minutes of action because of the adverts.
9.Ratings: a show is deemed succesful by the size of its ratings and the demographics of those viewers (the ability to pull in more advertising revenue)
Granted they have more choice, the v-chip and baywatch. But there is no balance, they split their audiences up by screening similar programming schedules at the same time so instead of getting all of your sci-fi viewers for your advertisers, they are sharing them with another station while another popular station is raking in the ratings [low ratings = short life for show]
Apparently culture is the largest export from the states, well thats fine as long as they don't start exporting shows like who wants to be a princess.
The only major difference between UK television and USA television is money, the stations rake it in here through advertising and syndication revenues, where as the bbc and the other commercial stations do a lot more buying in of shows than exportig their own creations.
I however have formed my own limited viewing habits:
Watch reruns of cheers, frasier, simpsons, saturday night live when the are on.
Shows like change of heart, blind date tv, the man show.......
I switch cahnnels if montel, oprah, rosanne or any of those other chat shows are on (with the exception of Jerry springer. Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry)
The only problem I have to contend with is my roommate who either watches the sport or is a sleep a lot of the time, so I only get small windows of oportunity to watch television.
Watch reruns of cheers, frasier, simpsons, saturday night live when the are on.
Shows like change of heart, blind date tv, the man show.......
I switch cahnnels if montel, oprah, rosanne or any of those other chat shows are on (with the exception of Jerry springer. Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry)
The only problem I have to contend with is my roommate who either watches the sport or is a sleep a lot of the time, so I only get small windows of oportunity to watch television.
I lived in the States for a bit and got totally sick of trying to watch the TV. The adverts as you pointed out went on endlessly. You loose the plot of what you've been watching as the adverts take over. But to give it its dues there are some fab channels. HBO the Movie Channel was a life saver. PBS is great if slightly weighty at times. But for a homesick Brit endless reruns of Morse were great.
In terms of the bottom end of the market they really have it covered - pardon the Carry On style pun. I had the misfortune of watching Jerry Springer rescuing the fattest man in the US.(probably the world).
I didn't mean to watch it (honest guv) my flatmates had it on and I wandered through to make a cup of tea. I made disapproving noises about it being exploitive pap etc and then hung around as the kettle boiled watching it.
So anyway the fattest man in America is a hostage in his own home. Gerry finds some of America's finest fireman to cut away the front of his clapboard house to rescue him. He is then lifted out by 10 of America's strongest men as the nations media watch. He is taken to a Weighbridge to be weighed. He weighed like 45 stone.
He's then taken off to the hosptial with Jerry in tow. The wierdest thing was that this man was a Transvestite. How exactly you get to express your transvestism when you weigh 45 stone and only a sheet fits is beyond me. But they went on and on about it. It was freakish horrible etc and totally compulsive. It was one of those experiences where you come away feeling cheap and used.
It brings into sharp contrast all those arguments about a free media. A media that is driven solely by profit. It was totally and purely a modern day freak show with a few psychobabble platituides thrown in to make some nod at humanity. I'm sure it went through the roof in terms of ratings. Got to give the folks what they want. But what if they want exploitative rubbish?
Having finished my rant I must say my local Blockbuster did good business out of me. I watched more movies in 18 months than in the rest of my life. Can't be all bad.
In terms of the bottom end of the market they really have it covered - pardon the Carry On style pun. I had the misfortune of watching Jerry Springer rescuing the fattest man in the US.(probably the world).
I didn't mean to watch it (honest guv) my flatmates had it on and I wandered through to make a cup of tea. I made disapproving noises about it being exploitive pap etc and then hung around as the kettle boiled watching it.
So anyway the fattest man in America is a hostage in his own home. Gerry finds some of America's finest fireman to cut away the front of his clapboard house to rescue him. He is then lifted out by 10 of America's strongest men as the nations media watch. He is taken to a Weighbridge to be weighed. He weighed like 45 stone.
He's then taken off to the hosptial with Jerry in tow. The wierdest thing was that this man was a Transvestite. How exactly you get to express your transvestism when you weigh 45 stone and only a sheet fits is beyond me. But they went on and on about it. It was freakish horrible etc and totally compulsive. It was one of those experiences where you come away feeling cheap and used.
It brings into sharp contrast all those arguments about a free media. A media that is driven solely by profit. It was totally and purely a modern day freak show with a few psychobabble platituides thrown in to make some nod at humanity. I'm sure it went through the roof in terms of ratings. Got to give the folks what they want. But what if they want exploitative rubbish?
Having finished my rant I must say my local Blockbuster did good business out of me. I watched more movies in 18 months than in the rest of my life. Can't be all bad.
Theres plenty to choose from, I have access to cable with about 54 channels [I could get more but I would have to pay a subscription]. I get channels like:
nbc, abc, pbs (they have sesame street), fox, upn (new buffy season 6), espn, comedy central, mtv, vh1, tnn, tnt, bet, a film channel, history channel, nickelodeon, cartoon network................
Yet there is about as much good television on as there is back home.
1. Somewhere there is always an episode of I love lucy on.
2. They schedule their best shows against one another
3. They show endless repeats
4. They syndicate their shows = one network makes the show and play it on their network and also sell the rights to show it on other networks [ I was watching a comedy show with Martin Lawrence in it and changed the channel to find another episode airing at the same time]
5. The weakest link U.S.A (there is no excuse for this sort of thing)
6. Celebrity bottom kissing shows- welcome to our show we will promise a top rated celebrity on our show but they will be around for about a minute to plug their latest project. Also counting celebrity editions of shows : who wants to be a millonaire, celebrity weakest link (there have been so many of these on recently, you'd think they had no real contestants)
7. Talk shows: there are loads of them during the day (at least twce as many as on UK television
8.Advertising: back home the ads are short in duration compared with the marathon sections that are on. At the beginning of a normal show they will go to the adverts after the intro part, then short periods of programme followed by what seems like equal durations of advertising. I was watching the film Blade on television and it took them around half an hour to show the last 10 minutes of action because of the adverts.
9.Ratings: a show is deemed succesful by the size of its ratings and the demographics of those viewers (the ability to pull in more advertising revenue)
Granted they have more choice, the v-chip and baywatch. But there is no balance, they split their audiences up by screening similar programming schedules at the same time so instead of getting all of your sci-fi viewers for your advertisers, they are sharing them with another station while another popular station is raking in the ratings [low ratings = short life for show]
Apparently culture is the largest export from the states, well thats fine as long as they don't start exporting shows like who wants to be a princess.
The only major difference between UK television and USA television is money, the stations rake it in here through advertising and syndication revenues, where as the bbc and the other commercial stations do a lot more buying in of shows than exportig their own creations.
nbc, abc, pbs (they have sesame street), fox, upn (new buffy season 6), espn, comedy central, mtv, vh1, tnn, tnt, bet, a film channel, history channel, nickelodeon, cartoon network................
Yet there is about as much good television on as there is back home.
1. Somewhere there is always an episode of I love lucy on.
2. They schedule their best shows against one another
3. They show endless repeats
4. They syndicate their shows = one network makes the show and play it on their network and also sell the rights to show it on other networks [ I was watching a comedy show with Martin Lawrence in it and changed the channel to find another episode airing at the same time]
5. The weakest link U.S.A (there is no excuse for this sort of thing)
6. Celebrity bottom kissing shows- welcome to our show we will promise a top rated celebrity on our show but they will be around for about a minute to plug their latest project. Also counting celebrity editions of shows : who wants to be a millonaire, celebrity weakest link (there have been so many of these on recently, you'd think they had no real contestants)
7. Talk shows: there are loads of them during the day (at least twce as many as on UK television
8.Advertising: back home the ads are short in duration compared with the marathon sections that are on. At the beginning of a normal show they will go to the adverts after the intro part, then short periods of programme followed by what seems like equal durations of advertising. I was watching the film Blade on television and it took them around half an hour to show the last 10 minutes of action because of the adverts.
9.Ratings: a show is deemed succesful by the size of its ratings and the demographics of those viewers (the ability to pull in more advertising revenue)
Granted they have more choice, the v-chip and baywatch. But there is no balance, they split their audiences up by screening similar programming schedules at the same time so instead of getting all of your sci-fi viewers for your advertisers, they are sharing them with another station while another popular station is raking in the ratings [low ratings = short life for show]
Apparently culture is the largest export from the states, well thats fine as long as they don't start exporting shows like who wants to be a princess.
The only major difference between UK television and USA television is money, the stations rake it in here through advertising and syndication revenues, where as the bbc and the other commercial stations do a lot more buying in of shows than exportig their own creations.