Lately, I have seen a mix of Canadian, Mexican, Brazilian and American telly programmes and shock, horreur! I have begun to miss Australian television, notably, the predictability of it and the set programme that allows you to pre-select what to watch. Sure, you can do that if you have TiVo or something like it, but where I am, there's no set programme. It is just a matter of luck if you catch the beginning of the film as there are so many channels in the mish mash of cable we have, that we are constantly guessing what to watch each day. Hmmm. This must also make it hell for programme makers as prime time slips and slides according to the time zone you happen to access. Somtimes we get French programmes, other times not. Ditto the Spanish and Portuguese. While we can access Omni, a multicultural station, it is not a patch on SBS with the sensitive programming it had when it was set up by Paddy Conroy in the early days. Of course, we know that it has been spoiled by current management. The knowledge of English is actually enhanced by understanding other languages and the pope gave the world a raw deal when the latin mass was banned and poor translations of the bible were approved. The news here is excremental. I have no idea what is happening without consulting the internet (TG for that invention). News in Detroit, Seattle, Toronto, New York, L.A., Atlanta, Hong Kong is light, ill-researched, gibberish and with the exception of the serious lady in Detroit, Carmen, the readers are plain awful.
I must say that I miss KNOWING what time the news is on and having it line up with my activities.
Maybe I am just spoilt? Maybe this is just a plot to get us to buy TVs with the internet on board so that it is all online and then there will be no more TV news services at all, just crappy stories badly filmed on phones and digital stills cameras on their shaky cam.
I do like Iron Chef America for its witty scripting and the American Dancing with the Stars for its hosts and incredible band. Wardrobe was marginally better in Australia though. Apart from that, there's Survivor Samoa, (nice to have on while doing something else) an occasional film if we catch them, Jeopardy (right up to date with that!) and good when Hamish and Andy are guests on the awful Jay Leno Show.Those chaps are funny AND NICE!!
