friends from oz have always said their telly is a bit poor, and a quick glance over that schedule seems to confirm that, however, one programme did catch my eye ....
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SBS
13:55 - 15:00
WEATHERWATCH & MUSIC
A continuously updated weather report, bringing viewers the latest weather conditions from around Australia, and featuring a selection of quality music.
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its a shame they couldn't just export pages from ceefax really, but i suppose as long as the music is nice it will pass the luxton test
On the TVNZ channel at 1pm weekdays. Now somewhere in Mark III. Dunno what they're gonna do when those run out, apparently it's popular down there, I fancy a repeat for the hell of it. TVNZ also shows a hell of a lot of British programming from their schedule.
Can't have too long left then - I'm surpised Carlton couldn't have just shunted it to ITV2 and made it for export for TVNZ. I'll be very interested in how Mark III is doing in the popularity stakes against its corporate predecessor.
1:05 pm - Crossroads(PGR)
The baby is finally named William, but the ceremony makes Murray broody. Angel gives Kate an ultimatum - it's her or Phil and the baby that have to go.Kate gives a devastated Phil two weeks notice.
So basially not that far into MK3 then - viewers must have had one hell of a shock from Phil crying in his cell one day then the next Angel rubbing herself in soapsuds!
Upon consulting my copy of "TV Guide" from my holiday last year in New York & Toronto I remember sitting in our very expensive suite in the Helmsley Windsor hotel eating a nice sandwich from the local deli and watching a lot of British programmes on the WLIW-21 network, such as Keeping Up Appearances, Eastenders, Yes Minister, As Time Goes By and Chef! Oh, and BBC World News of course!
All the programmes (except the news) were preceeded by the BBC America/Worldwide globe!
I can also remember seeing the Antiques Roadshow on WNET-13.
1:05 pm - Crossroads(PGR)
The baby is finally named William, but the ceremony makes Murray broody. Angel gives Kate an ultimatum - it's her or Phil and the baby that have to go.Kate gives a devastated Phil two weeks notice.
That'll have been transmitted by now and that's episode number 343 overall, or number 23 of the Mark III run. They've got enough now to take them up to Christmas.
Going back to the American issue, do you think UK programming would do well over there? I can't see the likes of Heartbeat competing against NYPD Blue, but I do wish they would give some of our comedy a chance rather than saying they just wouldn't get it. We have to put up with US sitcoms - I wonder what the American's would make of things like Phoenix Nights and Teachers.
I also guess an issue in the US is running time. Their hour long slots are 44 minutes (I think the UK's is around 48 minutes on commercial TV), while obviously BBC programmes run for virtually the full hour.
In Turkey the state broadcaster TRT occasionally shows the odd classic British comedy (particularly "Benny Hill and "Yes Minister"), CNBC-e is the channel which shows American and British shows in their original language with Turkish subtitles... They've just added "Coupling" to their primetime schedule, accompanied by an advertising campaign.
Otherwise it's hard to find British content on Turkish TV channels. I guess BBC Prime fills the void, but that's useless if you don't speak English.
If there's one thing which irritates me about American remakes, it's how they completely gloss over any of the edgy elements in the show. It's inevitable in any case, since most American series last more than twice as long. They did a pretty good job with "Queer as folk" though, I thought.
They will never show imports in primetime on network television in the US. The people that run the networks feel Americans wont understand or get British humour. Plus I think they feel if they screen imports that the number of series produced will drop. I do agree that the remade imports are rubbish. But some can be quite successful. But it something usually gets lost. For example when Changing Rooms was imported and remade the, the name was to Trading Spaces and it was stretched to an hour. For the most part the designers are rubbish even though they have more money to work with. One design created what can only be described as a bedroom grave. You figure that one out. Plus they think its friggen comedy hour they are always trying to be funny instead of doing the work. There was also a remake of What not to Wear, again expanded to an hour. Rubbish. The Coupling remake is terrible. BBC AMERICA rescreen the same episode (UK Version) after the US premiere, they cut so much out. Its amazing that the programme was understandable. The entertainment industry in Hollywood is very wealthly but short on ideas. That is why they are looking to other English speaking countries for formats and such. This trend will continue. Hollywood has more money and resources than the UK. Hence the reason the season are longer than the UK average of 6 or 10 episodes. I think America could do with a rival to BBC America. I think maybe ITVAmerica or UKTV or something. But the problem with that is that when the studios buy the rights to a particular format they also buy the American broadcast rights to the program with no intention to ever screen the international version. They feel that viewers will get confused and too stupid to make the distiction. Hence the name changes for some programmes. Changing Rooms was already screening on BBC America well before TLC decided to buy the rights and remake it. So most people think that Trading Spaces started before Changing Rooms or they just think its another show trying to copy the success of Trading Spaces. I'm afraid that if another UK cable channel isnt started, the programming will always be relegated to the lowly unwatched PBS stations or not-widely-available BBC AMERICA
They will never show imports in primetime on network television in the US.
Are we talking about commercial network television or all network television?
Incidentally, was not Monty Python shown on NBC during primetime, or am I just having a memory general protection error?
<cue :
scenes of pigs flying past butterflies
>
Most people know that the phrase "Network Television" refers to the Big Four, NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX and to some extent WB, and UPN.
Corin posted:
was not Monty Python shown on NBC during primetime, or am I just having a memory general protection error?
Python never aired on NBC. It was screened on many PBS station across the country. But since PBS is a disjounted mess it was never show at the same time across the country. Plus PBS is rarely watched. They usually screen UK series. But that is very rare now. There may be a few stations that still do but PBS is not fed nationally so the programmes are not seen by everyone.
