Implausible Bollocks: Addictive
British TV (Honourable exemptions admitted) rather lacks a certain gloss, a certain professionalism, a certain je ne sais quoi, which, in recent years American TV seems to have discovered. Currently I cannot get enough of the whole CSI oevre, Numb3ers, Law and Order, NCIS and recently, Dexter. Starting soon is Pushing Daisies, from the man who bought you Wonderfalls. Fan-blinking-tastic. Can’t wait!
These programmes have more gloss, better scripts, better acting and [many show] a totally unrealistic belief in the infallibility of science. In these programmes science proves the cases. It doesn’t show that DNA and other evidence only show probabilities of truth. DNA matches do not show that the chance of X killing Y is one in several billions, but is actually about one in several hundreds of thousands, which, in reality, means that many hundreds of people could be matched to the killer, in (almost) any given country. This therefore makes it easier for the RF’s (religious fanatics) to disparage science by pointing to the areas of doubt and uncertainty in real science (that real science is happy to accommodate). RF’s say that science claims to prove everything, and that when it revises theories in the light of new, better evidence, that it is therefore wrong. And unfortunately, too many people’s experience of science only comes through TV programmes like CSI:Whereever.
So these shows are full of implausible bollocks, but they remain addictive.
...ravings from the Shell... 
My husband and I have a special ‘date’ each Tuesday evening to watch NCIS. It’s the one television show we both enjoy. There are several attractive elements: the ensemble cast works well together, the character of Abbie is the most adorable geek EVER, the mix of goofie science and action is balanced with some cute humor, and the man who plays Gibbs (Mark Harmon) is a hottie. Well, my husband doesn’t agree with that last one.
You know, I haven’t seen any American Comedies in I don’t know how long that are a patch on things like, Keeping up appearances. I miss the witty sarcastic humor.
Im tired of humor being race based.
I pretty much have stopped watching television all together.
I did see a documentary about hijacking the vote. It was hilarious if you knew anything whatsoever about computers and the basics of programming. But for anyone else I am sure it was shocking and compelling. I get bored with the misinformation and just turn it off and tune it out.
American news is the WORST!
[…] see from Ammonyte’s blog that he is now hooked on American TV too. What is odd, is that now I live in the US, my DVR is […]
Greener Grass « A Brit in California said this on April 8, 2008 at 5:33 am |
I agree with amberfire … American news stinks!
As with any rule, there are exceptions. NPR is really good sometimes. We absolutely love the integrity of the Lehrer News Hour – those are REAL journalists.
British news is definitely getting worse. More insular, more sensationalist. A few years ago there was a brilliant satire called “The Day Today” http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/daytoday/index.shtml, which featured pompous presenters reading extravagant links and news items, swelling up with overblown egotism, in front of ludicrous sets and set to apocalyptic music. Instead of taking this as a warning, news programmes seem to have taken it as a template. The team behind The Day Today then went on to produce the equally brilliant “Brass Eye” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass_Eye.
P.S. a more-than-honourable mention is also due to “Drop The Dead Donkey” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_the_Dead_Donkey