TV Made in Britain

So, I don't like TV. Most of the programmes are boring at best, and plainly annoying otherwise. So I gave up looking for the few gems in the big heap of crap, and just don't watch TV. Which is fine, since I can watch whatever I am interested in on DVD or on the internet. However, in order to find it I need to know what I'm looking for. 

Growing up in Germany, most of what you come across is US comedy shows like Friends and dramas like CSI and such stuff. A few Japanese cartoons were there to mark my early years, such as Heidi or Captain Future, or productions like Vicky the Viking or Czech children's programmes like Pan Tau or Lucy the Menace of Street. I found English titles for these programmes, so I suppose they were aired over here in Britain, too. 

The point is, these were things I grew up with, and which formed me and my life. Give me the title song (well, the one they played in Germany) of Captain Future, or anyone else about my age, and we all sit right back there on the sofa or on the floor in front of the TV set, possibly still black and white, definitely one with an antenna sticking out, eagerly awaiting the adventures the crew would meet with that day. We can still sing the theme song to Maya the Bee. In fact, my Japanese friends can sing that too, just that we grew up with different versions... We spent hours enjoying Colt Seavers beat up the bad guys or speculating over who killed Laura Palmer a bit later. We bonded over these shows, and still refer to them now and then, or use them in jokes. 

Among the shows I grew up with there were hardly any British ones. One that was popular in Germany, as apparently the dubbed version improved the show quite a bit, was The Persuaders, simply translated to Die Zwei, i.e. the two. Rumour has it that Dr. Who was aired as well, although I never came across it until I went to university. So really, the only British programmes I watched while growing up were The Professionals, Faulty Towers and reruns of The Avengers.  And I caught up later at uni with Red Dwarf, love it, adore it, no other spaceship will ever even come near it. And yes, I did watch a few Mr. Bean and Black Adder shows, but no, I just can't get into it, not my sense of humour, too far over the line to slapstick.

So, now I live here, and I notice every now and then what I have missed. It's mostly about cultural references, like when my ex-boss-boss referred to some colleagues as Thunderbird one and two... Something I intend to work on, even if I will never completely catch up.

I just wonder, why is it that it was almost exclusively American programmes that became so popular? Now that I live here I have had a chance to get a few interesting recommendations on what to watch, plus I had already fallen in love with British films quite some time ago, the dark humour in things like Shallow Grave just top anything Hollywood could ever produce. And is there any need to mention Monty Python? So why were British series hardly ever on the menu? Just because they don't have all those fancy special effects? I mean, I agree, they don't look as flashy and glitzy, but absolutely make up for it with wit and brains. Or failing the latter at least beautiful black humour. 

Well, now the problem is, what have I missed? Which shows are essential? I have watched a few Only Fools and Horses, bought the complete Vicar of Dibley, worked my way through Being Human before the Americans made this terrible remake of it, and adore the Mighty Boosh with their weirdo stories and songs... And right now I sit here snickering over the bad cop attitude of DCI Gene Hunt in Life on Mars and admire the wonderful wallpaper and brown-beige themed wardrobe of the 70s flashback. So I'm working on it! And am grateful for any further recommendation, darlings!  

        

Of Books and Covers and Other Things That Annoy Me

How we all love our categories... he is gay, she is black, they are American. And at once we have an image and the expectation for all of them to behave in a certain way. I guess to some extend this is just human, the way we make sense of the world is to order what we experience according to what we have learned before about similar things. Four legs, a tail, and it barks, must be a dog, even if it looks like a little bat, most people would say when coming across a Chihuahua for the first time. 

So yes, categories are our daily bread. But I still try to avoid categorising everything around me, especially when it comes to people and their behaviour. I mean, there are all colours under the rainbow, with so many different tastes and preferences. So I have come across a black girl who didn't like Beyonce, and a Japanese woman who hated shopping, and a gay guy who is messy as messy can be. One label doesn't mean the stereotype fits them all.

Since I try to look at each person as an individual and make as few assumptions as I possibly can, and failing on occasion, I expect the same in return. So I do get annoyed when I have people putting me in certain categories because of my nationality or job or sexuality. And have started avoiding answering these questions with a straight answer.

Just the other day I ended up with a few friends in the aftermath of Pride in a pub off Old Compton Street. We got talking to this Irish guy who immediately started asking where we were from. One girl being American he wanted her to say something, expecting to hear something like a Texan drawl, and was so disappointed when she, being from San Francisco, sounded almost like he himself. 

Me being German triggered his praise on how I must be so focussed and strong-willed, since that's how we are, we Germans, right? And he had a hard time dealing with my answer to his question whether I was gay, when I said that right now I didn't have any love interest, so I simply was nothing right now, and what comes next, well, let's see. He needed a clear answer, or at least a bi. Which I wouldn't give him. Granted, so far I have been attracted to men, but who is to say that I don't meet a wonderful woman one day and fall in love with her? I mean, among the guys I have been with up until now only one was actually my type in looks, the others I fell in love with for their personality, despite the outward package differing from my idea of what is beautiful.

Never judge a book by its cover, isn't that what they say? At least give the blurb a quick look-over before you put it back on the shelve. I know, there is not always time for this, so we have to go for the quick decision sometimes. All I'm saying is that some of my best friends who have been with me for decades were those who I didn't like at first. Or who  pigeonholed me into a certain image when we first met and were surprised to find out how much more there was besides and beyond their quick judgement. 

Well, all any of us really can do is just be ourselves, I suppose, and not pretend to be something we are not, it will all just come back to bite you where it's uncomfortable. And to keep an open mind. So here's hoping I meet those people who look beyond their set of ideas and leave room for the concept of a German who has no interest in returning to that country, who hates sausages but loves beer, and who has some other quirks that will not fit the category. I promise I will continue looking out for whatever is behind their exterior as well...