We're All Americans Now

[Moor Larkin]

I was reading a British TV book from 1956 and this [slightly paraphrased] passage made me grin:

Cinema in Britain had been endemically dominated by American product and another big query over commercial television was how much the future of TV would be 'Americanised'. The I.T.A. undertook to limit it's imports of American programmes and noted the BBC continued to 'anglicise' American ideas. The TV Mirror explained what it meant by 'Americanisation',

"Very largely it means the emotional level to which programmes will be allowed to develop. Americans are emotional people who, unlike the British, believe that emotions are for public display. Public display nowadays means television. Joy, Grief, Embarrassment, they are all regarded as good camera material. Will that eventually become the British view? Our reserve, our 'stiff upper lip'; the boast that 'we can take it' - Are they likely to become old-fashioned? What of the grisly element which has crept into American TV, which reached its peak a short while ago when a lung operation was televised on a public network? Was it medical interest or sheer sensationalism which prompted the programme? At present the British answer is 'Sensationalism'; and it is to be hoped that it will always to be so. Those responsible for our programmes must hold back from that slippery slope where every baring of emotion has to be capped by even greater emotion."

So you see........we were warned.........

[TimR]

No - you have not become Americans. If anything, the gulf is even wider now.

Although for stiff-upper-lip reserve, the author had obviously never traveled to northern New England; the local populace there make the English look rambunctious in comparison.

However, your tabloids are way over the top, even by American standards....

(Lung operations on television...so that is what they were watching back in the 50s. And to think I missed all that fun!)

[batman]

Originally Posted by TimR However, your tabloids are way over the top, even by American standards....

Wouldn't argue with you there .... if we don't count The National Enquirer, which most of us have heard of .... what's the worst US tabloid?

Bats.

[TimR]

Originally Posted by batman Wouldn't argue with you there .... if we don't count The National Enquirer, which most of us have heard of .... what's the worst US tabloid? Bats.

Oh, gosh - the Enquirer is the worst - but almost no one actually buys it. It has a tiny circulation.

For us, the horrors of "reality television" and talk shows have replaced newspaper tabloids. (And of course this junk is exported to the world, unlike your tabloids....) Our city-based newspapers and leading magazines are models of gentility in comparison.

[batman]

Originally Posted by TimR Oh, gosh - the Enquirer is the worst - but almost no one actually buys it. It has a tiny circulation. For us, the horrors of "reality television" and talk shows have replaced newspaper tabloids. (And of course this junk is exported to the world, unlike your tabloids....) Our city-based newspapers and leading magazines are models of gentility in comparison.

We get both junk TV and junk tabloids .

Bats.

[samkydd]

Originally Posted by batman We get both junk TV and junk tabloids . Bats.

If people didn't buy those newspapers and didn't watch crap like Friends and the other dross that fills our channels (like the American style stage-managed chat shows), and stopped eating lukewarm burgers at American style takeaways then things would have to change because they'd be losing so much money!

If we give in to the way things are then it will just continue because the British are perceived by the rest of Europe as being rather stupid, and we just accept everything that's thrown at us without protest! Which is why we are taxed to the hilt, have no say in anything that affects our lives and have little or no cultural identity!

[Harleybloke]

Originally Posted by batman We get both junk TV and junk tabloids . Bats.

Isn't that Tabloid TV and Junk Tabloids............. Nah, as you were Bats, they're both junk....saw-ree...!

[HIPPIEDAVE]

I think American tv gives the impression that everyone is rich, has big houses and cars.Kids programmes are the worst with the rich brats and having been there know its not like that anyway.D

[TimR]

Originally Posted by HIPPIEDAVE I think American tv gives the impression that everyone is rich, has big houses and cars.Kids programmes are the worst with the rich brats and having been there know its not like that anyway.D

Good point.

I am confused by the popularity of American television in Britain. I certainly understand the popularity of high quality films and television made in the US, as that transcends national boundaries - but the poor quality stuff turned out in large quantities by any nation usually has little to say to other countries.

The high-quality shows produced in Britain find a specialized audience in the US - but of course, here a specialized audience consists of ten or twenty million people. The junk on British television is almost never imported to the US.

Is Friends really a success there? It seems incredible that a glossy piece of trash like that would find an audience. They don't even succeed in portraying New York realistically. It is a Californian's idea of what New York is supposed to be like.

[oxfam1uk]

... and Friends is a British teenager's idea of how all Americans live. Our view of America is incredibly narrow.

It's, like, SO irritating !