Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: beet1e on November 10, 2002, 12:14:39 PM
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We didn’t have a TV set in our home until I was about 9. TV was still relatively new, and because of the novelty value, many kids my age watched 20-30 hours a week. Not long after we got our first (rented) TV set from Granada TV rentals, I was on holiday in Kent with my older brother and parents, where we met a young American lad a little younger than me. We were in the TV lounge and the American lad was having trouble getting the TV to work. He said he could only get two channels, and so we had to tell him: Erm, well actually, there ARE only two channels!, as was the case back then. And he said something like Back home we get 13. Thirteen channels!
In Britain at that time we had BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and ITV (Independent Television) – and that was it. In the Midlands where I’m from, these channels could be selected on Ch4 and Ch8 on the VHF tuner. Yep, back then it was VHF and the picture was made up of 405 horizontal lines. Some time later, we got another BBC channel, so we had to have BBC1 and BBC2. BBC2 was a UHF channel, and the picture was made up of 625 horizontal lines. This format became known as PAL/625. As far as I recall, colour programmes began on BBC2 – with the famous colour test card picture of a young girl with balloons and a blackboard. She’s probably in her forties now! Very soon afterwards, BBC1 and ITV became UHF channels with programmes in colour, and then Channel 4 came along in 1982, Channel 5 some years later. We’ve had satellite for many years, offering a multitude of channels, many of which are crap.
As I was later to find out, America did indeed have something in the order of 13 TV channels, but by the time Pink Floyd released their Wall album, I was in no need of any explanation of the line ”I've got thirteen channels of toejam on the T.V. to choose from” in the song “Nobody Home”.
America uses a different type of screen format, with only 525 horizontal lines making the picture. This picture/signal format is called NTSC, also known as Never The Same Color. I couldn’t say which is better – PAL/625 or NTSC.
I never found an area in the US where there were exactly 13 channels. In Chicago NW ‘burbs, my TV set with a V antenna on top of the set could pick up all the network channels – 2, 5, 7 (CBS,NBC,ABC) and also 9, 11, 32 and 54. Of course, the first thing I noticed about American network TV was the sheer volume of commercials. This is how America offsets the need for any TV licensing tariff. The costs are recovered through advertising. On our very own BBC1 and BBC2, there was never ever any commercials. On ITV in a half hour program there might be one commercial break, or if the program was one hour long there might be two. But on American TV, Gawd!! There would be a TV commercial slot right after the opening credits but before the programme started! And another one about ten minutes later, and ten minutes after that, and between the last segment of the programme and the closing credits! As to the programs... :(:( dozens of game shows, and half hour sitcoms were shown between commercial breaks. But there was one program I used to enjoy on CBS, and that was 60 Minutes. I loved old Harry Reasoner, and was sorry when he died. His No. 2 was Mike Wallace. Wow! What an interviewer! You didn’t get away with getting your facts wrong with that guy. I once saw one of his interviewees leave the stage, almost in tears because Wallace was using material they had agreed would not be used. And finally, there would be Andy Rooney. I enjoyed his slot. And then back to the commercials. Whenever a long one came up, you knew that at the end of it they were going to say To order now, call toll free 1-800-555-1234. That’s something else. Any time a phone number is used in an American movie or TV show, it always starts 555! And the price of those awful order-off-the-TV products that Homer Simpson might have in his garage was always $19.95 or $29.95.
Of course, there was a chink of light in an otherwise depressing never-the-same-color picture. Channel 11! WGBH Boston. This was a different channel entirely, on which there were no commercial breaks, and the programmes were intelligent documentaries and dramas, often imported from Britain – shows like Poldark and All Creatures Great and Small. There was one other American programme I did like, and that was hosted by the American scientist Dr. Carl Sagan and was called Cosmos. Fantastic series. :) I was transfixed, and sat glued to the set through every (commercial free) episode. Every time I came to watch TV, I would realise that the tuner was already on Ch11. It was the only channel I ever seemed to watch. Every couple of months they would have “Pledge Weeks”. A program would be interrupted while an announcer would explain that this channel was commercial free, and relied upon voluntary donations to keep it going. Viewers were invited to make a donation, and I even sent in a $25 “single person’s” donation. I had decided by then that instead of 13 channels of toejam, I would rather have one good channel – and 12 channels of toejam.
Later on I was in Concord,CA. On the day I moved into my apartment, I could receive only two TV stations – just like England in the 1960s! The difficulty was that because of the surrounding mountains, none of the San Francisco stations could be received. I got one channel from Oakland, and another from Sacramento, and that was it. One evening, I watched (or at least tried) a WW2 film (movie). But it was impossible. The commercials just broke it apart. I timed them with the stopwatch function on my wristwatch. There would be 8 minutes of movie, then 5 minutes commercial – all the way through – 8-5-8-5-8-5... This did not matter with some of the American shows because they were so devoid of content that no concentration was needed. But what to do about the two channels problem?
I had a word with the maintenance man. He and I were friends. He knew I was English from the day when I asked him if there was an outside tap for washing the car. ”You mean a faucet?” Anyway, he advised me to get Cable, and that all the apartments were already wired up for it. As far as I recall, the cable company didn’t even need to visit the apartment. I was hooked up and ready to go. Oh, and a $28 monthly fee was payable - $300+ per annum – quite a lot more than the British TV licence fee which even now is only in the order of £120. The difference is that with cable, I could get 23 channels. This is most important in America, where they like big numbers. I always remember how the Audi 80 and Audi 100 cars were marketed in the US. Those numbers were multiplied by 50, and the cars sold as the Audi 4000 and the Audi 5000. With TV, the all important parameter was the number of available channels, rather than content. Thus, I might crow that the BBC broadcasts Masterpiece Theatre and the Sir Henry Wood Promenade Concerts from the Royal Albert Hall. But in the US, they might crow about the number of available channels! But in fairness, cable provided more choice than before, and there were now THREE educational channels like WGBH Boston. And Ch20 showed reruns of Mission Impossible! So whereas I had felt tempted to sell the TV at times, I decided to keep it on until returning to England.
In Britain, that licence fee is used to pay for the production of programmes. Is it the right way to do it? Well, it does mean that people without a TV don’t have to pay, but trapping the licence fee evaders is costly, with detector vans going round checking up! The fine is £1000, but I never heard of anyone getting done for non-payment. The fee payable is less for those aged 75+, and is also quite a lot less for a monochrome set. There is talk about scrapping the TV licence and collecting the money through other channels (excuse the pun), but I am happy to pay the licence fee which, in view of the alternative, is worth every penny.
References- Pink Floyd “Nobody Home” Lyrics http://members.surfsouth.com/~breezy/nobodyhome.html
- BBC Test cards - the girl with the balloons! http://www.meldrum.co.uk/mhp/testcard/bbc_test.html
- Different types of TV signal http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Contrib/WorldTV/compare.html
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In Ireland we get British TV for free, lol .
BBC 1
BBC 2
ITV
CH 4
CH 5 .
We got to pay for Irish TV though.
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There are a lot of reasons state sponsored television content is a good idea. Just none worth mentioning.
Is it true the broadcast of CNBC's WSJ Editorial Board has been banned in Britain?
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when I was in england the best show I seen on british tv was "the simpsons" the rest was very dull sports or talking heads. I can't believe you guys watch that crap. I was also shocked at how expensive TV's were. and how small. Course movies were outrageously expensive in london too.
Here... I don't watch a lot of TV but I rent or buy DVD's I have a 60" TV and sound system that really didn't cost much. The last DVD player I bought was 49 bucks. DVD movies cost about 9-20 bucks and are 4 dollars to rent. I have basic cable which is about 60 stations but it is pretty much wasted on me as I rarely watch it.. My girlfriend likes the "food network" and watches it when she is over.
lazs
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Oh... has anyone in the states seen a "monochrome" or black and white tv in the last 10 years?
lazs
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Yup Lazs...I have a 13" Zenith b/w in my bedroom. That tv must be at least 30 years old. It works great and never had a problem with it.
Les
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why don't you guys just make some new inspector morse episodes.....the world needs them, i need them......
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because inspector morse is dead?
Tronsky
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danger mouse need more danger mouse!
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Beetle if you are impeding upon our American friends freedom to endure a higher rate of Commericials per Capita to offset the freedom of non pay TV, I shall have no alternative but to stand aside as they chastise you.
;)
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I always remember how the Audi 80 and Audi 100 cars were marketed in the US. Those numbers were multiplied by 50, and the cars sold as the Audi 4000 and the Audi 5000.
Actually, the 90 and 100 were sold in the US after the 4000 and 5000... and were viewed as much better cars.
AKDejaVu
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Commercials suck. I pretty much only watch stuff on Tivo now. I just hit a button and zap through the commercials.
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More Faulty Towers!
Yeah, I can't stand commercials. And with all of the alternatives today commercial TV is going down the tubes, no pun intended.
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Originally posted by -tronski-
because inspector morse is dead?
Tronsky
but....but....he can't be dead - who will solve england's 4 murders per year? and what about lewis?...what a let down
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Oh! Well, I was expecting a much more severe caning than this. :confused:
Spook - Beetle if you are impeding upon our American friends freedom to endure a higher rate of Commericials per Capita to offset the freedom of non pay TV, I shall have no alternative but to stand aside as they chastise you.
LOL!
Lazs - I can't wait to see that 60". Unfortunately, that would look silly in here, or my house would look silly around it - probably the latter... I don't watch much TV myself either. There is a video rental place round the corner. Rental price for vid & DVD is £3.
Inspector Morse - filmed in Oxford. Unfortunately, John Thaw who played Morse, died of cancer - too much smoking. They even auctioned off the Jaguar Mk2.
AKDejaVu - Actually, the 90 and 100 were sold in the US after the 4000 and 5000... and were viewed as much better cars.
And living where you live, there is still no Citizen's right to bear a gas pump nozzle - or has that changed?
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I don't watch much TV, but alot of it is undiluted crap.
But there are some great shows. I don't know if you'll see them in the States, but look out for 'The Office' - it's a comedy in the style of a fly on the wall documentary, set in a...err...office. Truly brilliant.
Also, they've just done a new series of Alan Partridge. If you#ve heard of that.
BTW Laz, I don't think you could buy a black and white TV even if you wanted to. Except maybe those portable things.
I have Cable at home and have 50+ channels, and about 15 digital radio channels - all absolute crap of course. I could add the sports channels, but I'd only really watch them for the England internationals.
Quantity does not equal quality. I gladly pay a license fee just to avoid watching the mind numbingly stupid adverts.
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Oooof, "The Office" is just painful to watch, but so painful you cant stop watching to see what the idiot will do next.
(http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/extern/626629.jpg)
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I used to really love "the New Statesman", but then funnily enough Rik Mayall (and Adrian Edmondson) grew quite tiresome...who would've guessed Fart and Knob jokes would get old!?! (apart from Blackadder of course)
Tronsky
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I'm modelling my managerial style on Brent. Including the crazy dance he did in the last series. :)
Blackadder was excellent. My favourite of all the series funnily enough features Ade Edmonson and Rik Mayall. Private Plane - the one where they join the RFC and the 'Twenty Minuters'.
Lord Flasheart: "You treat your plane, like you treat your women. Get inside her five times a day, and take her to heaven and back."
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Lord Flasheart: Probably get shunned in the Officers' Mess. Sorry about the pong you fellows, trod in a Boche and can't get rid of the whiff.
Capt. Blackadder You may have been right, Balders. Looks like we're going to get rogered to death after all.
My fav (apart from Goodbyeee) is this exchange from Captain Cook:
Blackadder: It's the same plan that we used last time, and the
seventeen times before that.
Melchett: E-E-Exactly! And that is what so brilliant about it! We will catch the watchful Hun totally off guard! Doing precisely what we have done eighteen times before is exactly the last thing they'll expect us to do this time!There is however one small problem.
Blackadder: That everyone always gets slaughtered the first ten seconds.
Melchett: That's right! And Field Marshal Haig is worried that this may be depressing the men a tadge. So, he's looking to find a way to cheer them up.
Blackadder: Well, his resignation and suicide would seem the obvious solution.
Melchett: Interesting thought. Make a note of it, Darling!
Tronsky
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I prefer to tape my shows and watch them the next day. Commercial time is reduced that way :)
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Red Dwarf and Ad Fab were da bomb.
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Originally posted by beet1e
AKDejaVu - And living where you live, there is still no Citizen's right to bear a gas pump nozzle - or has that changed?
Wow beatle... how casually you ignore the fact that you were outright wrong about the Audis.
Hey... I give you credit for sticking to what you know. You should do that more often.
And... psssst... the "citizens" vote on that almost every year. Its just our way at getting back at gas station owners for hiking pices. Ah.. you wouldn't understand that because you brits have long since rolled over and blindly accepted petrol prices anyways. Hey... how'd that fuel blockade end up there?
AKDejaVu
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AHDV - off topic, besides - I was not wrong about the Audis.
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"Coffee, Darling?"
"Ah...Cupacino."
Loved the Black Adder!
Ab Fab is great as well.
As for Beetle's jealousy of the US........well, he does wear green well :)
Cobra
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Heh Tronski - Blackadder Goes Forth has to be the best series of the lot. Although I love the final episode of Series 3 - the one with Stephen Fry as the Duke of Wellington; Blackadder and the Prince exhange places and the Duke just keeps beating the crap out of him. :)
From the 'Coffee' episode:
Darling: "Have you got those brown bits they sprinkle on top?"
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LOL Cob! Jealousy???
What's Cupacino? I know only of a town in CA called Cupertino - LOL!
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Originally posted by beet1e
AHDV - off topic, besides - I was not wrong about the Audis.
They are currently called by 4, 6 and 8 in the states.
They've been called by 80, 90 and 100 since the late 80s. Go figure... nobody liked the 5000's much. big number or not.
Maybe Audi learned it doesn't matter for toejam what you call the car if its a lemon. And here I bet they too thought they had us Americans all figured out.
The "Need" to multiply the number as you claim is purely speculation and did nothing to enhance sales. Lesson learned for Audi, though not for you.
AKDejaVu
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There were some good sit coms...my daughter tells me which ones. Titus was good.. The sheild was a great cop show. What I do is simply play AH and RECORD the shows I may watch.. end of comercial problem... I watched a history of outlaw bikers on the history channel last night and it was surprisingly accurate. Speedvison is good too.
60" tv... well beetle... if you watch the widescreen versions of DVD's you are watching a picture that is about 18" high by about 47" wide. That is really not too outrageous.. I was gonna buy a "widescreen" tv but I got this one from a freind for a grand. mitsubishi. problyu over the top for regular tv but most people seem to like it. Moved the little dinky 34" set to the bedroom so the smmle (short mean mexican lady)could watch the "food network" when she is over.
more choice cheap is allways better.
lazs
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AKdejavu -
Wow beatle... how casually you ignore the fact that you were outright wrong about the Audis.
I was not wrong. I said the Audi 80 was sold in the US as the Audi 4000, and the Audi 100 was sold in the US as the Audi 5000.
Audi 80/4000 link http://www.metrocomputing.net/gtworld/cars/4000.htm The Audi 4000, equivalent to the 80 in Europe, was introduced in 1980 to replace the Fox.
Audi 100/5000 link http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Garage/9715/faq.html#intr1In 1982 German car manufacturer Audi presented a new generation of large cars. They're often called "44-chassis", from the Audi's internal model line designation. Audi 100 was a base model. In 1983 it was accompanied by it's more luxurious version, the 200. In 1984 Audi began exporting those cars to USA under the name 5000.
What is it about Pro-Gun Americans and Facts?!
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Well...today November11, 2002 - Rememberance Day - I flicked through the channels a few moments ago and I'm pretty frigging disappointed with the US TV we get here. Currently they are showing some chick flick called "Love Stinks" (Cinemax) and that Dudley Moore flick where he switches personality with his kid (HBO). The networks are on their regular schedules...lots of soaps and that is about it!
Pretty sad really. I was hoping that that there would be some shows honouring veterans, this being the proper day for it.
Forunately "Mail Call" is on the History Channel....I don't get Discovery Wings unfortunately.
What is on TV in the UK today?
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Curval - pretty crappy night, really. BTW you can use Yahoo! TV listings - see attached screenie for sample.
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Lovestinks is funny. Not really a chick flick since it is about a psychotic broad lol...
If you can stand French Stewart lol watch it some time.
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Facts? Curious that you have to go back to the mid 80's to get your facts... and that those "facts" have proven to be totally invalid and based on false assumptions (which is why you must like them so much?).
The A4 and A6 sell much better than the 4000, 5000 did... and the 90, 100's also sold better. But we're all about bigger numbers. :rolleyes:
AKDejaVu
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AK deja vu
I was referring to the early 1980s - hence the need to draw on material from that period - sorry if that makes too much sense. I was not commenting on quality of the cars, or sales volumes.
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Beetle... you are drawing from a gimmick that didn't work. You're using it to try to prove some kind of "Americans just like bigger numbers" thing.
The fact that it did not work and was later removed is irrelevant? Oh yes.. I guess it would be since it is no longer capable of proving your point.
AKDejaVu
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AHDeja Vu
The fact that it did not work and was later removed is irrelevant?
Yes, it is. You said I was wrong about the Audis, and I just proved I wasn't wrong. It is YOU who was wrong. The fact that Audi changed their marketing strategy later on does not mean I was wrong in the first place. That's like saying that Ford never made a Model T because they stopped making it a long time ago and it was superseded. :rolleyes:
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Originally posted by Dowding (Work)
Heh Tronski - Blackadder Goes Forth has to be the best series of the lot. Although I love the final episode of Series 3 - the one with Stephen Fry as the Duke of Wellington; Blackadder and the Prince exhange places and the Duke just keeps beating the crap out of him. :)
From the 'Coffee' episode:
Darling: "Have you got those brown bits they sprinkle on top?"
Hehehe,
Blackadder 2 and 4 are the best I think....always thought 3 was the weakest, but all are pretty amusing. It was excellent having Tim McInnery back in 4 (Lord Percy/Capt Darling), and anything with Fry and Laurie is brilliant.
Tronsky
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You guys export some of the worst TV in the world like.....
American Idol, Who wants to be a million air and The Weakest link, then you slip in Masterpiece theater and brag :)
Next on the Brit export list is probably Rude public behavior (recently voted the rudest people in the world) More amazinhunk tv host like Ann Robinson and Simon Cowell, Soccer holligans and Tabloids that make the National Enquirer look like the New York Times.
Krush