British TV

When we first moved here and lived in our apartment, we were quickly indoctrinated into British TV via our "Freeview" box and three BBC channels. We watched some football (soccer), rugby, and some news shows (where the anchors are not required to meet the same attractiveness standards as anchors in the US-- can we say orthodontist, anyone?). There were some interesting documentaries, including one I liked about Ewan MacGregor and his mate (friend) riding their motorcycles around the world, and another one called "America Unchained" where a British guy tried to make it across the US eating, sleeping, and gassing up only at non-chain establishments. And of course, there were the comedy shows. We watched the British version of "Thank God You're Here!" and a few other improv kinds of shows. To be quite honest, a lot of these shows were really funny, but there were also some that were pretty vulgar. Let's just say that they don't have the same restrictions as the US for TV in terms of language and nudity. (There's even a show called, "How to Look Good Naked" where the host actually helps middle aged women find ways to well.... you get it). Of course, when we first got here, we were missing the US, too. Thankfully, the Brits love American shows, especially Friends. It seemed to be on all the time.

When we moved into our house, we decided to get not one, but two satellite systems (which means we have not one, but two satellite dishes on the side of the house). We chose SKY TV, because we heard that it had a lot of American shows including Lost, which I am a fan of. SKY has a ton of channels, and with all the selection, I do tend to watch American shows more than British ones. I can watch Lost, Dancing with the Stars, and Barefoot Contessa (of course). The kids have found a lot of shows that they like; again, mostly American shows. They love Scooby Doo, Tom & Jerry, and a lot of Nick Jr. shows. What I love, is that the characters from Lazy Town, Wonder Pets, and Backyardigans, all speak in British accents! They also like one British show called In the Night Garden. You can tell that it was made by the creators of Tele-Tubbies, but it isn't quite as annoying.

Our second cable system is the AFN- Armed Forces Network. It doesn't have a ton of channels, but it does have American sports. This way Ethan can watch his Yanks every once in a while. The AFN also has American sitcoms, movies, and late-night shows like Letterman. The best part about watching the AFN is the "commercials." They aren't advertising anything... they're more like promotions of Armed Forces propaganda. There are commercials reminding you to always be on the alert, to report suspicious behavior, to remember to vote.... they're pretty cheesy. If you copy and paste these web addresses, you can see a few on YouTube (or on YouTube, simply type "AFN commercials").

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bNrrQ7xhyQ&feature=related
www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Q-eTJWt_I&feature=related

So, with all of these channel choices, you'd think we'd be watching cable all the time. The truth is, we also signed up for Netflix, and have been pouring through the DVDs for season one of Heroes. Are there any other Heroes fans out there? We finally watched the season finale the other night, and will soon get to watch season two on one of our channels. We had better make the best of it - we had to pay a $270 licensing fee just for the privilege of owning a television in the U.K. (and this is an annual fee!!)