British TV

Friday, June 6

Friday night, nothing to do. I've spent the last two days exchanging money, getting a phone, and riding the Tube to map out my route to work. It is now time to watch some quality British television.

Oooh, EastEnders is on. I’m totally watching. All I know about the show is that Bridget Jones loved it, so hopefully it’s entertaining. I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be a soap opera. In American soaps everyone is rich and beautiful with glamorous jobs and houses all perfectly lit. EastEnders . . . not so much. I think the characters aren’t supposed to be that wealthy – hence living on the cheaper east side of London – but man, those are some shabby flats. A lot of the actors are rather out of shape and all the indoor scenes are quite dark; the actors’ faces are all in shadow. Production values are definitely a lot higher in the US.

The show is a little hard to follow because I can’t figure out who anyone is. I don’t think anyone has been named in a whole hour. On The Bold and the Beautiful people are always having long conversations where they state each other’s names dramatically: “Ridge!” “Brooke!” “Taylor!” I’m impressed with the variety of scenes on EastEnders, though. There are several different (shabby) flat interiors, a dance club, a pub, a restaurant, and quite a few outdoor street scenes. I don’t think they ever go outside on B&B.

Oh, they’re playing Amy Winehouse’s "Rehab" while a character is sitting in her car drinking. HAHA.

Next on: a show on that relates the news of the day while making fun of it. The host and his panelists are pretty funny; he looks familiar but I can’t place who he is. They had a long section on the American presidential primaries, basically making lots of jokes about Hillary and Barack. They pronounce Barack Ba-RAAAAAAAK. Heee. Apparently they think all our candidates are very silly. Man, we finally get some good candidates and we still get no respect. At least they’re making fun of their own politicians too.

3 comments:

Megan said...

Gotta love British TV. Hollyoaks is way better than EastEnders. Waaayyyy better.

Karen said...

Now that I have finally watched Hollyoaks with you I agree. But it's on so early! I'm usually still riding the bus at 6:30. Mary Queen of Shops is still my favorite British TV show ever.

Megan said...

I will have to agree with you. Mary is good but not as good as the FWord