We have the cheapo package from sky tv
500 channels\ 24 hours a day
Plenty to choose from
and you know what?
I only found one good programme over the entire week
Borgen.. the Danish version of The West Wing
The worst programme?
The vomit inducing Call The Midwives
is pretty high on the list
But the winner must be the BBC weekly journey into rural life for the Middle Classes ONLY
The bloody patronising
" Countryfile"
Thank Goodness The Walking Dead resumes next week
I THINK I WILL GO AND READ A BOOK!
Borgen has been fantastic, as was The Killing before it.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more John! It is the same here with Canadian/American TV. Not much to 'sink your teeth' into!!
ReplyDeleteI love Countryfile (but John Cravens false teeth put me about a bit) and I also love The Midwife. To each his own. xxx
ReplyDeleteSame here, American TV drives me crazy with all the commercials.
ReplyDeleteI watch Public Broadcasting Service more than any channel, they have the best programs, advertisement free, they get my support every year.
Tonight is Downton Abbey night, and just got through watching An Idiot Abroad on the Science Channel.
Poor sod :)
~Jo
Even Vanessa Redgrave was unable to improve the story of "... Jenny Lee and the work of midwives and the nuns of Nonnatus House, a nursing convent, coping with the medical problems in a deprived area of East London. ...."
ReplyDeleteWhat should have been riveting viewing (pardon the pun) was spoilt by a non-existent plot LOL!
We are currently getting reruns of "On the Buses", "Allo! Allo'" and that great American animation "Family Guy"!
I gave up watching TV years ago, but I really appreciate iPlayer - especially since the latest Sherlock. I wouldn't have SKY in the house, let alone Rupert Murdoch. This explains why I spend so much time reading your blog, John...
ReplyDeleteunfortunately with the tv signal as it is we HAVE to have sky!
ReplyDeleteWe have iplayer...and I loved Borgen.
ReplyDeleteBut I also enjoyed the midwives...there's some intersting stuff about social attitudes among some of the overacting.
Sundays are deadly for TV here too...the hubby is watching curling of all things....
ReplyDeleteBloody hell, who rattled your cage today? The BBC still provides the finest TV in the world and I say this without a hint of irony or cynicism. Mind you they could do well to build a new programme out of your blog -"Going Gently" with genial host Johnny Gray, the ex-Leeds United footballer now retired to an idyllic cottage lifestyle in the unspoilt Welsh countryside..."Good evening and welcome to Trelawnyd. I'm Johnny Gray (smile to camera) and in this programme I'm going to...."
ReplyDeleteIt's the Grammy's for me tonight, as Adele is on....
ReplyDeleteGill in Canada
Wow. lol.
ReplyDeleteWe'd have to have one of the more expensive packages to have 500 channels.
Makes me glad to get as much good programming as we do...
Hope you all have a good week, John.
Turn on the tele and turn off the mind.
ReplyDeleteJust saw some Walking Dead on our AMC channel over here...convince Jim to watch OK!
ReplyDeleteYep. I read a LOT of books.
ReplyDeleteNext week? I thought Walking Dead resumes tonight??? *off to check satellite listings*
ReplyDeleteI hear ya. We've got 3 trillion and 1 channels and there's nothing bloody on.
That's how I got all the laundry done...nothing good on tv.
ReplyDeleteLOVE The Walking Dead...watching the Grammy's right now, but the DVR is recording Walking Dead as I type this...
ReplyDeleteI loved the West Wing!
ReplyDeleteYay for books. Television in Australia is not up to much either.
ReplyDeleteI recently watched 3 minutes of TOWIE. If you ever need to make yourself vomit....
ReplyDeleteI believe that Celebrity Big Brother is much the same, although I've not seen it (nor will I).
John
ReplyDeleteLearn to knit!
Jane
'Television is the Bacardi Breezer of the masses' [Confucius].
ReplyDeleteI agree, thank god for the Walking Dead and lovely Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus.
ReplyDeleteIt's all cheap budget TV these days - the reality programmes and quiz shows are the modern equivalent of 18th century public executions and freak shows.
ReplyDeleteWe only watch the cookery programmes !!
This is precisely why we don't own a tv John.
ReplyDeleteAny decent programmes we watch on the laptop, on average about 4 a week.
Until it improves I refuse to get one.
The down side is that the tv license people will not let up pestering us, they simply can't believe that we do not have a tele. The last threat was a visit just to check. lol
Let em come......
Briony
x
What? You don't watch Top Gear?!
ReplyDeleteThe Toughest Place to be a Train Driver was fascinating. Stunning scenery in Peru and a thought provoker about the human cost of mining.
YP SORRY
ReplyDeletewas just wound up by another blogger who slagged me off for killing the pigs ( but who blogged about cooking a turkey at christmas!!!!!)
DAN,1st MAN,RON,CATHY
nice to see more WALKING DEAD fans out there!!! oh Norman Reedus... be still my beating heart!
Law and Order UK. 'The people and events in this programme are all fictitious etc etc' except you can recognise an awful lot of well publicised true crime among the plots.
ReplyDeleteOr Holby and Casualty? It's fun playing 'spot the stiff' before the explosion/car wreck/shooting/fall from a high building etc etc.
I THINK I WILL GO AND READ A BOOK!
ReplyDeleteThat's why we ditched the TV when we came here. I have never regretted it!
I am still mounrning the loss of Spooks!
ReplyDeleteI fought for years against paying out for any TV... then last year I gave in... we only have Freeview but also I pay for ESPN, this was only because of the World Rally Championship moving there last year. This year - disaster nowhere due to major cock up with the promoters! But ESPN is still there as it has rugby on it and I'm back to my passionate love of that sport. This weekend - two domestic games and two internationals... Mrs F was please to see Don't Call the Midwife - she likes that, I watch it as a lot of it was recorded in Chatham dockyard and a friends son is a extra so I play spot him and spot the location :-)
ReplyDeleteI have a TV but no reception unless i pay for it, which i never have and shall hold out as long as i can on that. I can watch quite a bit on my computer, if i choose, but i don't watch much on it at all. We have a wonderful video store in town, where they have not only movies but all sorts of documentaries and television shows. They also offer to order something if you can't find it on their shelves.
ReplyDeletemegan
I loved Borgen, too. But, John, can't you get FreeSat? If you can get Sky you should be able to... Mind you, Sky keeps grabbing the best foreign programs -- I loved Madmen, for example so I'll have to wait for the new season's DVD to come out. The rule of thumb seems to be that it doesn't matter how many channels you have, most of it is dire...
ReplyDeleteIf you liked Borgan as we did try the Italian Cop series that replaced it on BBC4. Inspector Montalbano, where Luca Zingaretti plays a grumpy detective who hates liars and shows no mercy for underlings who knock on his door too loudly. Set in Sicily with English subtitles.
ReplyDeletewill do Ann!! thanks for the tip
ReplyDeleteCable TV - so much money, so many stations to watch, so much crap to warp your mind.
ReplyDeleteStayed in Saturday night and downloaded two really good movies - Moneyball (saw in movies, but enjoyed seeing it again) and Woody Allen's wonderful Midnight in Paris. Well worth the extra charges.