Thank Goodness for BBC America
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With the incredible mediocrity that is television in the United States, it is so nice to know that, when the few shows I watch are not on, and there are only movies I have seen or do not want to see on the premium channels, I can tune to channel 264 (on DirecTV) and see pieces of art, drama, and comedy that are so far removed from the drivel found on network television that I must rejoice when looking at the guide.
Whether it is the tales of ‘MI-5′, with its stark, yet vivid view of the criminal world, or the complete fantasy of ‘Doctor Who’ or ‘Torchwood’, or the the funny, yet realistic situations of ‘Coupling’, I am always rewarded for the time I take to watch. I am never wishing I had spent my time with a book or on a computer instead. The quality of the shows are consistently superb.
Now some would say that PBS offers the same level of quality, and they would be correct - but only about quality. The offerings of PBS are of great quality and should be praised, but seldom is there anything that approaches the topics covered by the Brits. There are no sci-fi programs on PBS, there are no shows that show relationships as candidly as ‘Coupling’, probably out of fear of funding loss, and somehow the BBC seems to get exactly how to put out great drama without becoming ‘highbrow’ about it.
Other shows I see less often, and the titles escape my memory at this moment, but every one I see gives a higher level of satisfaction than almost anything found domestically.
Did I mention the news programs? BBC World News easily surpasses the quality of anything available here, with the possible exception of McNeil - Lehrer Newshour. Anyone who wants an unvarnished look at the truth need look no further. Also, there is much talk about the world community, but very little about it on domestic news broadcasts. It makes one think that the rest of the world just might be right in their opinion of ‘those Americans’.
So for those who can get the channel, take a look, you won’t be disappointed. It also might cause enough people to question why we can’t have things like this on our broadcast channels to do something about it.
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Tags: bbc america, television quality, doctor who, torchwood, coupling, mi-5, pbs
2 Comments
Simon Lucas
April 17th, 2008
at 5:36am
Because the BBC is publicly funded through an annual licence that every TV owner must purchase (colour TV Licence costs £139.50, about $270), it can afford to keep the quality high. The other commercial channels are obliged to keep up to those standards through public pressure; do they get it in the neck when standards slip! So, generally, although we only have 4 or 5 channels that everybody can access - BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4 & Channel 5, the quality is reasonable and often good.
the oracle
April 17th, 2008
at 1:54pm
Simon, thanks for the comment. I read with interest how Great Britain is using a staggered rollout of digital television, which I think is a good idea. Is it happening in your area yet? I also haven’t been able to find out if all digital television will be the same (follow the same standard) worldwide - it would make sense to get rid of NTSC, PAL, and SECAM all at once, but then humans don’t always proceed logically.
I also think it is a shame we are not staggering the rollout here in the states, just in case! I’ve recently read things that confirm problems I had anticipated with digital television, yet the people here are pushing everyone into the belief that digital is a panacea -which, just as with audio, it’s not. Silly humans.