They have an entire channel of American shows (US 5, I think it is) that includes Scrubs, Beverley Hills 90210, CSI: Las Vegas, and My Name Is Earl. A rather odd sampling of shows, but we'll go with it. I have watched a lot more Scrubs in the past month or so than I ever have before, but I won't complain.
The popular British shows include Doctor Who, a sort of sci-fi/time-traveling thing that I just can't get into, and Hollyoaks, which is your standard OC/Laguna Beach/whatever other teenage soapy drama you can think of. Skins is also another one of those.
They are also big on game shows. My favorites include Golden Balls (where people have balls with monetary amounts in them and have to collaborate with each other to win the pot of money at the end) and QI, which is just a funny game show hosted by Stephen Fry, who asks the contestants/comedians (Hugh Laurie was on once!) questions and they respond in the wittiest way possible. Pretty arbitrary, but a hilarious show.
Similar to this is Mock the Week, which also uses a panel of comedians. They take current news events and make jokes, also in order to get arbitrary and useless points. STILL, the chuckles I get out of this show are numerous.
Another quality show I enjoy watching is Top Gear. This is not your typical American car show where they talk specifications all day long and it's completely boring. They test out a car or two a show, the host is hilarious, they usually have a celebrity guest that will race the car around a track, and they have a big list of all the cars and people who have raced. On one episode, he had this tiny tiny tiny car that he drove around the BBC studios, and that you can literally pick up by the bumper and walk with. And in another one, he raced a runner through the London marathon course during rush hour to see who would be faster (the runner was).
I discovered this last show, Snog Marry Avoid, just a couple nights ago. It has people who have extreme looks (such as the body modification guy, or girls who are very orange and wear lots of make up), and asks people on the street if they would snog them, marry them, or avoid them. Sort of the British, made-for-TV version of the teen game "Kill, F***, Marry." They have to predict what people will choose, and then do the same thing after they have a "make-under." Of course, they all look much better after the make-under, and people want to snog or marry them more than avoid them. The ones that I have seen have yet to keep their newer and better looks however. Their loss!
And so... that is British television for the uninitiated.
They need, That 70s Show. They should really just cut everything but Scrubs out, and have it on. They could even cut Scrubs, as good as it is.
ReplyDeleteDr. Who is weird like that. You need to watch it from the right season.
Top Gear is doooope!! Clarkson is friggin' hilarious. i love the one where he raced Hammond and May across Japan in a Nissan GTR.
i'm glad to see that you're getting out there and really immersing yourself : )
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