Being raised on a steady diet of Mr. Bean and A Bit of Fry and Laurie as a child (thanks, Mom!), I was looking forward to fleeing American cable saturated with Jersey Shore for the comfort of quality programming this side of the pond. (Or is it programme-ing?)
Before I even arrived in my flat, however, I was receiving threatening letters from the authorities making sure I immediately paid my TV tax. Even though all TV channels are technically free (with the exception of Rupert Murdoch's channel SkyTV, God bless that capitalist), the BBC is financed via a stiff annual tax on anybody with a television. Per television set.
Luckily for me, I'm a student, so I'm too poor for a set. That didn't stop the letters, though. They kept coming and coming, promising me every time that They Would Find Me and someone would Come To My House To Make Sure I'm Not Watching TV. The worst bit is, I think they actually would have. To avoid that bit of unpleasantry, I returned the letters assuring the sender I wouldn't watch live television, and now enjoy all the same shows on BBC iPlayer after the appropriate delay. Don't tread on me!
Now. British comedies. Where do I begin. Um? I'm not so sure they could broadcast most of these comedies on American TV. I won't go into details, but . . . Let's just say I can't get into details.
"So, you bleep out those words when it's actually broadcast on TV, right?" I asked an English friend.
She looked at me like I had ten heads. "What words?"
The philosophy is, if it's after "watershed" or about 9 pm, parents should know to keep kids away from the telly because the humor becomes a bit, well, puerile. It's so puerile, in fact, that on American television it would only be found on premium premium cable such as HBO. Nope! Here I can get it for free on the official YouTube channel.
Eventually, another ex-pat assuaged my concerns by reminding me: The Puritans did, after all, leave England.
Oh, well. I can't complain. Now I can watch back episodes of Top Gear to my heart's content, and not the cruddy American version either. Jeremy Clarkson all the way. Some things, after all, should stay as they are, unadapted across the pond. God knows I didn't come here so I could watch Geordie Shore.
Before I even arrived in my flat, however, I was receiving threatening letters from the authorities making sure I immediately paid my TV tax. Even though all TV channels are technically free (with the exception of Rupert Murdoch's channel SkyTV, God bless that capitalist), the BBC is financed via a stiff annual tax on anybody with a television. Per television set.
Luckily for me, I'm a student, so I'm too poor for a set. That didn't stop the letters, though. They kept coming and coming, promising me every time that They Would Find Me and someone would Come To My House To Make Sure I'm Not Watching TV. The worst bit is, I think they actually would have. To avoid that bit of unpleasantry, I returned the letters assuring the sender I wouldn't watch live television, and now enjoy all the same shows on BBC iPlayer after the appropriate delay. Don't tread on me!
Now. British comedies. Where do I begin. Um? I'm not so sure they could broadcast most of these comedies on American TV. I won't go into details, but . . . Let's just say I can't get into details.
"So, you bleep out those words when it's actually broadcast on TV, right?" I asked an English friend.
She looked at me like I had ten heads. "What words?"
The philosophy is, if it's after "watershed" or about 9 pm, parents should know to keep kids away from the telly because the humor becomes a bit, well, puerile. It's so puerile, in fact, that on American television it would only be found on premium premium cable such as HBO. Nope! Here I can get it for free on the official YouTube channel.
Eventually, another ex-pat assuaged my concerns by reminding me: The Puritans did, after all, leave England.
Oh, well. I can't complain. Now I can watch back episodes of Top Gear to my heart's content, and not the cruddy American version either. Jeremy Clarkson all the way. Some things, after all, should stay as they are, unadapted across the pond. God knows I didn't come here so I could watch Geordie Shore.
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