American TV: fact or fiction

If  the  premise  of  the  article's  author  is  accurate,   there  would  additionally  be  the  need  of  a  cultural  anthropologist  and  interpeter  to  get  the  story  right.    I  watch  a  lot  of  BBC....but  that  is  not  the  same  as  saying  that  therefore  I  know  all  that  there  is  to  know  about  the  United  Kingdom.   A  fresh  set  of  eyes,   from  England  and  well-versed  in  their  culture,  would  correctly  often  say  that  I  was  guilty  of  a  case  of  1st   impression, or  that  I  often  imposed   the  "usual  spin"  of  a  critic  from  The  Colonies.

i  had

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Doesn't every Tribe have its own peculiar/particular set of cliche' ???

The English have a most extrapolated sense of Propriety, that so borders on deliberately over-done that its almost phony, and is one of the things that make British Television Shows (the Comedies) so incredibly funny; Fawlty Towers especially, and The Eastenders...

John Cleese on Fawlty Towers, is an American who grew up in England, and unless one has read that somewhere, one would never know it by watching him ... He is incredibly quick and his delivery is flawless, according to British Tradition(s)

And then of course, is the ubiquitous Umbrella or "Bumbershoot" as they used to call it ... probably the first of all British cliche' to be recognized ... Just as Cops and Donuts Shops are over here ... Germans all wear Tyrolean Hats, French all appear to be Gay and walk like Chickens, Japanese all wear black-rimmed Glasses and Earth Shoes, and have a Camera hanging around their necks and ont it goes .......  All the cliche that one can think of are used like Props to ensure "Type" on Television and in the Movies ... Works doesn't it ...

We are all observed (and I mean each and every person, not to mention each and every nationality and ethnicity) through cultural lenses.  Stereotypes, if you prefer.  The human mind is all story- and picture-based.  We have scripts floating in our minds... always.   "The girl who sleeps around, gets pregnant, marries the father, discovers he's violent, leaves him, and raises the youngster alone" is just one of hundreds.  Real life is messier.  Sometimes the girl saves herself, doesn't get pregnant, but still gets married and discovers he's violent, stays with him until he leaves her, and moves in with her mother.  Is that a different story or a break in 'the script'?  I'll leave that up to you.  ---  It's a bit amusing to see how quaint 20 and 20 somethings think sex among 'seniors' is.  The young don't really see the story of their own lives following a script where that's 'part of the way it is'.  And then again, maybe I'm projecting my own script on THEM and thinking, 'I never/always thought....'  It's seldom the case that we follow our scripts very well.  We are all shameless 'ad libbers'.  We just hate the feeling that we're unique and that our lives are ad hoc inventions.  Culture (including stereotypes) provides structure to our chaotic existences -- giving us a feeling of significance, safety, and predictability.   Culture is a lie.

All that said, lies are the basis of fiction. Some find solace in romance novels (or TV sitcoms); others flee the room, bored to tears.  It would be interesting to know why THAT difference! 

Relevant aside:  My son (now a 35 year old father, happily married and a homeowner in Tokyo) grew up in Houston, Texas, but couldn't understand why 'King of the Hill' http://kingofthehillepisodes.com  was considered 'funny' or 'comedy'.  He's a bright kid, but it simply seemed to him that Hank, Boomhauer, LuAnn, Peggy, Bobby, and all the rest were just 'folks'.  Nothing unusual -- just his environment.  But at his high school, he was the first to admit the kids were divided into tribes: 'The Avon Ladies', 'The Goths', 'The Kickers', etc, etc, etc.   We humans are strange.....

Factionally accurate the boob tube be. The art of a mix of fiction and a few factoids creates the memes that fuel our perception. An ad man can marry a witch and deal with a meddling mother-in-law while enjoying a perfect martini at the end of every day. Why not? 

When I was ten years old, I read an article about how  televison offered lessons in being
 an American.  I was extremely depressesd, as I could not relate to the inspid children that ran amuck on situation comedies and movies of the week.  I lived in NYC and my friends were not like the kids on Welcome Back Kotter.   The fledgling actress I knew were not as well dressed as That Girl.  There was just not enogh  diversity.  Family shows may have been minus one parent, but there where  zero  characters with diabilities.
And those with the linquistic ability to  speak more than one language were looked down on as janitors or jokes.
 
I think there are accurate observations about our values and lifestlye as seen  through pop culutue.  The Gilmore Girls's premise that every woman grows up to be like her mother   
  fosters interesting conversations among teenage girls.  But I could never have a friendship with anyone imitating the Sex and The City Life style or aspiring to live on Wisteria Lane.

Culture shock is always a little difficult to overcome, but to expect or to even base an opinion on what is on television would have us all singing in front of someone just to be insulted or "living" on an island in a skimpy bikini joining an "alliance"......or of course, somehow, living in New York, wearing thousand dollar shoes and sleeping with everything in pants.

Andy: Last year I was waiting in line at the Deli and the person at the head of the line was being very verbally abusive to the recent immigrant behind the counter.  The young lady was having difficulty repeating back what her customer wanted.  Everyone stood there listeing to the abuse untill two show biz types in the middle of the line did a duet of   "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off."  It difused the situation very quickly and everyone was entertained.  But that's kind of a New York thing.

 
How odd. At 10:19 PM last night, I wasted a perfectly good arcane American TV reference. A case of premature ejaculation? (by all means, check on down its definitions before blowing a gasket)

Jalopkin,

When my family expressed an interest in clambering up well-worn stone steps to see London from the roof of St. Paul's, it seemed like a nice time for me to wait out front and have a pipe.

Not one but two large coaches of Japanese tourists had arrived at the same time and they were all wearing cameras.

One family asked politely if I would photograph them in front of the cathedral and I did.

Many more evidently believing that I had entered into a tacit agreement with an entire race, thrust their cameras into my chest despite the palms-up demurral that I was trying to execute.

I've always wondered how they felt back home to find only several very nicely set up shots of a hovering and extremely busty blond woman in an orange dress

 

TV exhibits our trends and tastes, but you can't watch the evening news to learn about Islam, the govenment and how it operates, or anything of cultural value because the whole story just isn't there. It takes inquiring minds, interest, and years of learning, research and experience to understand a culture. TV is like the cover of a book; it doesn't tell the whole story.

 C-Span

Julia, that's a great story -- and yes, a New York thing; how nice to hear.

Well said, Doc Nolan!  We must keep in mind that the main purpose of TV shows is to entertain.  Therefore, contrived situations and 'cultural lenses' are the means by which opinions are generated concerning cultures we do not normally encounter.  The band "Abba" allegedly learned all about America and American folk ways and mores by listening to American rock 'n' roll music and watching American TV.   But, "Welcome Back Kotter" is hardly a representative microcosm of American schools.  "Leave It to Beaver" and "All in the Family" display only small facets of the way we actually live.    All shows, in my experience have a biasd approach to the subject.  Mostly to make money from entertainment in one fashion or another, including the "news."  In the old Soviet Union, there were but two, State-controlled newspapers--Pravda (Truth) and Izvestia (News).  The people had a saying, "In News there is no truth, and in Truth there is no news."
  Seems true even today.

Television shows are entertainment and as such they may take a small part of our lives, be it funny, poignant or wretched and build a whole season's "entertainment" on it.  There are little bits of us in all of it recognizable in many of us.  I love the movie "A Fish Called Wanda" and yet certainly that's not how I formed my opinion of the British people. 

STONEY:  Excellent Bubba !!!   You've struck upon it precisely !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  "Busty Blondes" are the one thing the Japs have not been able to duplicate the way they have Cars, Radios, Cameras, and Ball Point Pen Springs .......  They tried duplicating Hush Puppies, and instead we got Earth Shoes, with a Negative Heel and a Built-Up Toe ... of course, the American Consulting Engineer they hired to help them with the design was a fellow named, Eddie Corrigan (Must be in the Blood)

I'm sorry, how soon we seem to have forgotten a certain fellow named Newton Minnow. He called American television a "vast wasteland", and comments to that end; a wasted opportunity to educate and entertain.   We use most shows,with the exceptions mostly of Nova,etc.to seperate commercials-messages they're called-but shameless hype is what they really are. View,for example,the spate of political messages,paid for by himself,and the fact that the last Presidential election spent ,I believe,TWO BILLION DOLLAR$ on local and National commercials.    And what did we learn?!? TO not believe what we see on TV!!!    So imagine what other countries really see when they look at our TV without the local bias that we filter it with.  If you want a better example of insipid,aside from children's television, it would be hard to imagine.    Now, for a thought completely in an other direction...if there are other planetary beings watching,   what must they think of us

 C-SPAN

Jalopkin: Don't be so sure. Last month there was young Asian girl in the news for undergoing plastic surgery to look like Jessica Alba. Or was it Jessica Beal?  I don't know those American Jessica actresses all look a like to me.  Must have had the same father. 

They all have the same father alright, and it wasn't Marco Polo .......

And neither of the Jessicas mentioned is a "Busty Blonde" ...

Stoney~ I awaken to CSPAN,and even listen in my vehicles via XM. There definately are "other worlders"calling in to Washington Journal in the mornings.

CLARIFICATION That is not to say I awaken in my vehicles,other than the RV,.......

But anyone can buy implants , if they're dumb enough to want to undergo anethesia.
Changing your haircolr is an over the counter thing.  Sorry, I hadn't noticed their physical attributes as I'm not familiar with their work only their news stories.  But what I meant is you can physically remake almost anyone with out cloning.  Just a little silocone and a few gallons of peroxide. 

Peroxide is hard enough to take ....... Silicone is a complete Turn-Off for me .......  That much Ego is nothing but a Ticking Bomb ....... Besides, it doesn't look right, it doesn't feel right, and it doesn't move right ....... I still prefer Quality over Quantity, and have found that in most cases, the more plastic in the tits the more air between the ears .......

Jalopkin: I'll take your word for it.  I'm happy not being blonde. As for the rest of it, well .... I owe it all to pasta!     

Because I am picky about what I watch, I don't fit into The Guardian writer's boxes, were I to don his shoes for a day. Or longer.  In no way does American tv genuinely reflect our lives; like any fiction, it chooses a possibly-true (or not; doesn't matter...this is FICTION, as VP Quayle was often reminded when he got upset at the tv character Murphy Brown's wanting to have a child, though not wed) diving-off point, and goes from there wherever ratingsmeisters and such tell it to. 
 
I admit I never saw even one episode of most American shows on The Guardian's page, so I may not be entitled to opine.  But having fallen in love 25 years ago with Sam Waterston in a wonderful play, "The Benefactors," in NYC, I looked for any of his work (hard to do, as he chooses carefully...Oppenheimer, The Great Gatsby...), so discovered Law and Order, and watch it when I can find it -- it describes a very particular world, with fine writing, good production values and direction, and superb chemistry among characters. 
 
Before L&O, though, there was "I'll Fly Away," an excellent series set in the midst of '60s civil-rights activity, filmed down the road in Madison, Georgia (probably because Madisoin's looks haven't changed). Mr. Waterston starred, beautifully, in that difficult series, which was too good for network tv so was moved from night to night, finally abandoned.  Wisely, PBS bought it and showed it.  Don't miss it: perfect depiction of every aspect of those times -- plusses and minuses, for Waterston's character, a lawyer or DA, had grown up as we in the deep south all grew up, and now had to face dramatic change in his life, conscience, work, his youing children's lives, and especially in the other star's life...  Lily, a young black woman hired to 'tend the children because Waterston's wife was in a mental hospital, encountered equally dramatic change.  Seeing him grapple with, ponder, ultimately change his views (with Lily's unwitting help) was as realistic as it gets. I'll never forget the day she asked to register to vote; he supported her (and fine conversation resulted from each such encounter)  and rednecks spat at her as she walked down the sidewalk. I won't go on, but thought as I watched that every blackk mother in the US should be forced to sit down with her children and watch that series -- rather than smart-aleck black kids in sitcoms.
 
OF news, The Lehrer Newshour is there every night, a far cry from netowrk news. aND AS stoney REMINDS, c-sPAN.  I find BBC news at the tail-end of our nightly news, sometimes; you never know.  
 
I was meanest mother on the block when my children were small, though they never knew: We watched Captain Kangaroo together every morning, I loving it as much as they, for it worked on more than one level. Then turned tv off, and not 'til they were in the greater world (going home with friends, once in kindergarten, for example) did they know tv worked after 9 a.m., beyond the few programs suitable later in the day.  Mr. Rogers and esame Street were permitted; Davy Crockett was ok; not much else. For such a relatively-short piece of their lives do children's minds 'belong,' so to speak, to their parents, and when there's a library story-time, countless parks in which to have last-minute picnics, a place to swim, run, scream, enjoy pets and friends, why why let tv babysit? 
 
I like Britcoms on Saturday nights; not alone did that writer watch Last Days of the SUmmer Wine, ok but not my favorite.  But others are excellent. If you like Hyacinth in "Keeping Up Appearances," get from Netflix "Pirates of Penzance,"with (ooohhh) Kevin Kline as Pirate King.  Because it's a play, filmed, there are limitations -- and unfortunately they cast a pop singer as Mabel, can't remember her name because Like Julia Maasi, I get those starlets mixed up.  In Augusta Opera's Gilbert and Sullivan productions we've had many a better Mabel; in fact never one so poor.  But the whole is grand; Hyacinth will amaze no less than she does in Britcoms; and Kevin Kline can do no wrong.
 
My few-but-perfect visits to England were just that, and always I was dragged away kicking and screaming.  But I did more of what Stoney did, and don't recall watching tv more than rarely. I wasn't wise as you, Stoney: In York, we agreed to climb to the top of Yorkminster Cathedral -- view for miles. But it's ancient, and the tower in which one climbs up twists cdonstantly, growing ever smaller in circumference as you near the top.  Talk about sweating! I know: Horses perspire, gentlemen sweat, and ladies glow.  I was taught that, too.  Not true. Once in side the tower there3 was no way to get out, with people lined up close behind you, but to keep climbing. In front of me was a woman too large, as the circle grew smaller, to fit, so her husband pulled her from the front while her daughter pushed her back upwards. It was slow going, but we finally made it and from that medieval tower indeed the view all 'round was breathtaking. If there's a next time, though, I'm downstairs on a bench beside Stoney, whose Japanese tourists (always in three-piece suits with many cameras around their necks, always polite) found me in Vienna, in a palace yard. 
 
I love having something in common with you,. Stoney!

oops, I got it wrong, and grandmothers are turning in their graves: Horses sweat, gentleman perspire, ladies glow. Not me, not that day.... 
 
Hand to forehead, leaning left, "ooohhh, I may have a case of the vapors."

  
Georgia,

I think we have a lot more in common than that sugar.

I have always liked the British mysteries: Inspector Morse (Although I abhorred the ending as much as Isles probably loved it); Midsomer Murders; Rumpole and the like.

Andy,

I formed my opinion of the British by how I was treated by them. Oddly, the more prosperous and educated, the nicer they were. Doormen and barmen were great too.

We were so grandly ignored in a hat shop that I had always wanted to visit that we finally walked out. It might have had something to do with red Patagonia windbreaker, kahkis, Rockport loafers and blue oxford button down I was wearing... Yank.

It was so completely different when we went back that I asked my wife: "What the hell is going on here? Last time, we were invisible and today, I need a spatula to pry their lips off my behind,"

A well turned out man in his forties knew: "It is likely your parcels, Sir, they smell cash upon the waters."

We had been to the Hardy Fly tackle shop and Swain Adney and Briggs and both had provided us with those sturdy, almost carton quality, twine handled bags with their printed logos.


We were surprised to see about forty German boys ranging from ten to thirteen or so running rampant at St. Paul's in defiance of admonishments from the management that it was a church.

A visiting Italian monk knocked a couple of their coconuts together and when they were unable, for minutes, to wake up and then, get up, the whole gang was ushered out. It was a nice ending.

Anyone remember "Strange Report"?...a British detective show in the late 60's or so. Even as a very young lad I thought it was good. The Avengers and The Saint were also favorites. As I got older Monty Python was a favorite if only for the occassional breast shot. Those Brits really know how to put on a show. And of course Benny Hill...
 
No wonder my idea of British life is so jaded...
 
I've seen the changing of the guard in Monaco at the palace while eating one of the best pizza's I've even had. You just can't put that in a TV show...it's too strange no one would believe it.

 Yes, STONEY, dear, we do, we do, and it delights me to know it.

Well...I like Inspector Morse too, and Midsommer Murders, and isn't there another with "Snow" or something likewise cold in the title?  another Brit series?  Thank God Above or Wherever for Masterpiece Theater, since that channel once known as ARTS and Entertainment has forsaken me for the Dumb and Dumber audience.  Seems to be a lot of them out there.
 
So...here's another American who watches British murders mysteries, they're delightful.
 
 
But my heart belongs to SURPRISE! TCM, which just ran a really unsettling film from 1959, very very depressing, a warning to us all:  On The Beach.
 
Now TCM is showing A Streetcar Named Desire with Marlon Brando in that white tee shirt and my goodness, It's not exactly a slice of American life as I know it, but I sure like peeking.
 
And that's about all I watch on television, and it doesn't sound like I'm missing anything.
 
Oh, and Law and Order when I can find it.

The mouse that roared,carry on nurse,and other early in my life British Tongue in cheek,droll humor pieces taught me that farse was an entirely different venue,at the same time as my peers were dragging me to Martin and lewis. Peter Sellers? Pink Panther? What did we do to compare? Well, Sid Ceaser and the Show of Shows comes to mind, and yes, even Carole Burnett, and Bob and Ray...just sayin'

I do think a program reflects the nation where it is made and intended for broadcast. What I've watched in other countries is decidedly different than what is seen here, in both content and appearance. I especially enjoy the weather forecasters on Italian television that wear military uniforms and Monday Night Football in New Zealand that is Rugby.
I've never been much of a TV watcher, but I do enjoy some of the programs on PBS: Mystery!, Antiques Roadshow, NOVA, Nature, and Great Performances are my usual favorites.
I grew up in a quiet household that encouraged reading over watching and I tried to create that kind of environment for my children as well.
Reading to them was one of the greatest joys of my life. The rapt attention they paid to every word you spoke, the wide-eyed wonder, the questions, the discovery of new words, and the way all of us would get wrapped up in the story (and wrapped up on the couch together) were, and always will be, priceless moments and memories for me.
I still enjoy reading aloud and hearing the sound of a gentle voice tell a story of an evening, cozy and content...even if the only one who listens now is the cat.
Television can be entertaining and informative, but I've always felt that it's essential to practice using one's own imagination, instead of constantly being led by the pictures created by someone else's mind.

 We were radio people... still are.

 
The egg layer in P of P was Linda Ronstadt.

Her album "'Heart Like a Wheel" is a classic.

At some point, she attempted to go upscale and without meaning to be unkind, she was more successful personally than professionally if you know what I mean.

It may not have helped that she became stridently political as well.

When she was good, she was great.
 

I give up.....P of P?

  Pirates of Penzance

OMG oodness....I never would have guessed.  I have so little desire to see movies,I'm sure it may even be thought of as anti-establishment. But I do watch TV,tho truth be told, I treat it more like the talking lamp.In fact, it is on right now:NGC, Peru's mass grave mystery...documetary about a vanished civilization....while I graze the Economist article on "Gendercide"....but it was tuned to SNL,and it did record Red Green at the Possum Lodge

JULIA:  I was the only Jew growing up in an Italian Neighborhood ....... Pasta, and the results of it, are two of my favorite things in the world .......

I LOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Mystery.
 
IVAN-- off topic- I was out of town & no computer available-- I saw your post about Harvard on-line. I was referring specifically to the hack/scam Thayer,Strayer,Phoenix places offerin bogus degrees to incompetent people. If you saw how many people I work w/ who have graduate degrees from these "places"-- you would weep. or scream...
 
STONEY-- "Heart like a Wheel" -- so beautiful. I was seeing someone at the time & have very wonderful memories of slow dancing to Linda Ronstadt. I also remember those Rolling Stone covers that men loved....
 
PARK-- every time I watch Mystery I think, "My friend Park is watching too!"

Yes, bebe, I am probably watching Masterpiece Theater, and I am definitely your friend.
 
Missed you!

MISS BEBE, I quite understand ... and agree with you that the Diploma Mills should b shut down ...  I must admit however, that the few Legitimate Colleges and Universities that offer genuine Academic Diplomae/Degrees have been a Boon to the Military, and the poor devils that are holding down two or more jobs but still want/need to better themselves and increase their Education, especially if they are trying to learn how do actually   DO   something constructive and contributory, that keeps them off welfare and out of my Pocket ... I don't mind "GIVING" to help someone in need, but don't Highjack me thru Bogus Legislation, and give my Money to someone who isn't a Citizen of this country and who has never contributed a stinking Dime to the System ... Guilty White Liberals have spawned an entire Nation of Professional Welfare Recipients, who get paid more and more of MY Money for squirting out Babies, and have Diplomas in how to make the Welfare System work maximally for them ....... The women who walk in with six to fourteen of the same children, that three previous women also walked in with, and the women who work for Social Security and/or the Welfare Agencies ... now   THERE   is where Academy Awards need to be handed out .......

I will continue to do all I can to be sure children are fed and clothed, and warm and dry ...as well as any of the adults that really need help and are not enjoying being on the Dole ....... but this stinking destructive Welfare System(Thank You EleAnor Roosevelt) has GOT to be changed ... Education will help, but it has GOT TO BE the right kind of Education ... We don't need any more MBA's or Unspecified Arts & Sciences Majors, or Philosophy Majors, or Sociologists ... We need people who can   DO   something ... and everybody ... needs to learn to properly speak the Official Language of this Country ... English ... Stop screwing around with some Ebonics blathering idiot that was handed a Degree and a Teaching Certificate, to fulfill some Quota of the Guilty White Liberals, who are trying to teach kids who to Diagram a damned sentence ... Teach kids how to READ, let them read GOOD Writing, and that will teach them how to properly speak the Language

I had a woman at a table with three other women, just inside the Door or a Local Supermarket, approach me as I walked in and ask me if I had ever thought about continuing my Education and going back to College ... I told her that I was never able to finish High School ... she said, "Thats too bad ... were you a Drop-Out ???"  I looked her dead in the face and said, "No Ma'am, Caesarean ..."   As she stood there, stunned and blinking continuously, I went on and did my Shopping ....... When I was leaving the Store, I noticed the table was bare, and that the women had left ... Been three years, and I have never seen them since ....... Dedicated Education Professionals, no doubt .......

IVAN--- I agree!!!!!!!!!! I would go even further & say that not everyone has what it takes to go to college. We have watered down what a college education is to such a degree that it is shameful & harmful to this country.
 
Trade colleges should be a definite for many people--- and be clear I say that w/ much repsect & reverence. Why pour people thru university who have no business being there??? I also fear that these same people also don't have what it takes-- the dedication & the work ethic--- to go to a trade school. It's almost a no win situation.
 
I wish I had been a fly on the wall at the "education" table that day....