One of the great benefits of satellite TV is BBC America. Or the "Beeb" as it is affectionately referred to in the UK. With a long summer of re-runs right around the corner, I recommend many of the viewing delights to be had from across the pond.
If you doubt, then remember that the Brits were responsible for the original versions of both "The Office" and "Trading Spaces," among many others.
Included on our list of current favorites are; "How Clean Is Your House?," "Bargain Hunt," "Cash in the Attic," "Kitchen Nightmares," "Last Restaurant Standing," and "Wire in the Blood," which is based on the mystery novels written by Val McDermid.
The last two aired their season finales this week. Luckily for all of 
us, "Wire in the Blood" is continuing to broadcast past shows on Sunday afternoons. Each episode is two hours long and features British actor Robson Green as Dr. Tony Hill, a clinical psychologist who teams up with a very no-nonsense police inspector to solve particularly disturbing crimes. I find the show to be very well written (although we have to go back occasionally to try to decipher the accents), less graphic, yet more interesting and compelling than its US equivalents. Another thing that we like about British dramas is that the actors all look like real people rather than like models straight out of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog.
us, "Wire in the Blood" is continuing to broadcast past shows on Sunday afternoons. Each episode is two hours long and features British actor Robson Green as Dr. Tony Hill, a clinical psychologist who teams up with a very no-nonsense police inspector to solve particularly disturbing crimes. I find the show to be very well written (although we have to go back occasionally to try to decipher the accents), less graphic, yet more interesting and compelling than its US equivalents. Another thing that we like about British dramas is that the actors all look like real people rather than like models straight out of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog. Robson Green starred in another BBC series, "Rocketman," a highly entertaining show about a widower and his kids, their very eccentric neighbors and their united efforts to build and launch a rocket to put his late wife's ashes into space. I hope they re-broadcast it--watch for it, in case they do!
The subject is "must see TV." What are your recommendations?
Well...we don't get BBC (dangit) but we have a few "must-see" shows:
ReplyDeleteMedium on Mondays (I have a secret crush on the husband Joe who just seems like the perfect husband- and yes, I realize he is fictional)
Top Chef on Wednesdays (Chris and I spend a lot of time dabating, analyzing and remarking on the chefs and their dishes, even though we usually have no idea what it is they are actually making -we don't eat a lot of fois grois or seared bison at home. We also both despise the host Padma- nothing personal to her, she just sorta bugs us)
The Office on Thursdays (no explantation necessary- if you don't think this show is funny, I don't want to know you.)
Those are the Rossetto picks!
I too LOVE Medium I use to always tell people I really don't watch much t.v. I can say that isn't true anymore. I am hooked on many shows these days (thank you DVR).
ReplyDeleteHere is our shortlist:
ReplyDeleteMedium
Top Chef
The Office
Days Of Our Lives(ha ha ha)
Project Runway(starts in July FIERCE!)
I see that good taste runs in the family. Ok minus "Days Of Our Lives".
I'm afraid our list of favorites is so long it's a little embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteTop Chef (Eric calls Padma "shark bait"...a very mean reference to the long scar on her arm)
The Office
Survivor
Hell's Kitchen (we all remember Eric's man crush, right?)
Kitchen Nightmares (the BBC one is WAY better)
Gordon Ramsay's F Word (another BBC one that is very entertaining and doesn't acutally use the F word)
Last Restaurant Standing
American Idol (I despise David Cook...he is so smug and smarmy with his fake humility)
Project Runway
Shear Genius (I haven't decided if I'm going to torture Eric this year and make him watch it again)
Amazing Race (of course!)
Law and Order (the original is best...SVU bugs)
Wife Swap (Em)
Super Nanny (Em)
John and Kate plus 8 (Em, Abby and Liv)
Prison Break
Criminal Minds
House (LOVE it)
Last Comic Standing (you have to watch something during the summer)
24 (if they'll ever bring it back)
I think that's about it...anything else and we may blow up our DVR.