TV

American tv shows in Iceland amount to one or two sit. coms., a slew of cop/lawyer shows (Law and Order and its spin-offs and CSI), and "reality" tv (Bachelor/Bachelorette, Survivor, Amazing Race, the list goes on...endlessly!).  My viewing pleasure is satisfied by CSI: New York and Las Vegas (Horatio ruins the Miami installment-how can that guy still be getting parts?!), occasional Lost episodes, occasional Supernova episodes, and Sleeper Cell.  
The best thing about the not-acted-not-scripted-not-not-news-or-talk tv shows is that the fact that they take up so much air time means that I end up watching a whole lot less tv.   Unfortunately, the void in my American mind that was once filled by greats such as The Dukes of Hazard, the A-Team, Greatest American Hero, Remington Steele, and All in the Family is now filled to brimming by the game Civilization 4.  Even though this blasted thing runs slower the farther one gets in the game, I sit entranced for hours.  Sometimes I feel ashamed when I’m pried out of the computer screen by my loving wife who’s been home for a few hours without me noticing.  But then I realize that she’s been home for a few hours and all she’s done is listen to the news and listen to talk-shows about people arguing about politics or some rights issue or the business world and  Isee that it would not have mattered if I had been attentive to her because she was doing something I don’t like so much.  I do enjoy the news.  Over here we don’t have the Fear Factor style of news reporting one gets from American “news” media-even CNN since 9/11.  No, we get robotic talking statuettes that would keep a straight face and a measured tone if Godzilla bit off the roof of the building from which they were reporting.  It’s somewhat refreshing.  We get the facts-with an occasional correction from past reporting-about what’s going on in Iceland as well as far and wide in the world.  We hear about which of the 6 guys guys who own everything in Iceland is in the dog house today and we get a tally of the Israelis and Palestinians killed today.  We get video or sound footage of Bush’s latest screw-up and the on-going debacle in Iraq.  Then we usually get some good news.  We hear about a guy swimming the English Channel to try to raise money to support a woman’s right to NOT be raped.  We hear about two kids who held a yard sale, made 50 bucks and then gave it to a charity.  Then we get the weather.  This is one of my favorite things in the news broadcast here.  The weather people are all VERY strange in some way.  There’s a woman who sounds like she’s trying to swallow her words before they come out of her mouth.  There’s the fat guy who believe that meteorology is the most fascinating and wonderful subject anyone has ever heard of.  But the best thing about the weather report at 7:00 pm (19.00) is that no matter who is doing the reporting, they start with, “The weather at 12:00 was…”  I laugh inside every single time I hear that.  Is this weather for those who slept all day and yet care enough about life to wonder how the weather they missed was?!  Who cares what the weather was like.  I hardly care, at 7:00 what the weather IS like.  In the evening, I’m looking for a forecast.  I want to know what to expect tomorrow and on the weekend.  Can I plan the fishing trip?  If so, do I need to bring a heavy coat or shorts?  Those are the questions that come to me when I think about the weather.  I can see how the weather is by looking outside.  I know what the weather was like at 12:00 because I was awake then.  Silly.  But hey, maybe it’s of interest to someone…I like to fish, some people collect stamps, maybe someone is interested in the weather that they already lived through.  Maybe that’s it…maybe they say the weather at noon so that one can think back fondly to a lovely luncheon meal in the warm sunshine at 66°N.  I’ve always wanted a weather reporter to come on the screen and say things like, “It’s crappy outside.  If you have to go out, wear a rain coat with a sweater under it,” or “The weather’s great, so get off your lazy bum and get some fresh air.  By the way, you won’t be needing a jacket.”  They get all wrapped up in exact description of temperature and humidity and all sorts of indices.  That’s not what we need.
Hmm, how did I get on the subject of weather reporting when I started this as a responses that I got for the not-acted-not-scripted-not-not-news-or-talk tv post from yesterday.  What I wanted to say to Júlía is that even though I despise the idea of a tv schedule filled with lots of versions of the same premise, I know that others like it and I don’t look down on them for it.  Accepting the fact that others have different opinions than one’s own is all part of living among 6,000,000,000 people.  I won’t criticize anyone for not sitting down with me and watching 16 continuous hours of documentaries on life in the sea as long as no body forces me to sit through more than a few minutes of America’s Next Top Model.  But I will kill anyone in order to avoid watching 16 continuous hours of The Bachelorette!

Rock Star Rupernova

“Rock Star Rupernova”  has achieved the status of Most-Watched Television Show In Icelandic History.  Magni Ásgeirsson, an Icelandic singer competing with a bunch of Americans, an Aussie and an African, is the reason for this.  This is the first “reality tv” show I’ve watched and really enjoyed.  While I think they don’t have to drag it out so much (it was obvious that some of the contestants should have been dropped weeks ago) and all of the suspense that underwear model and bubblehead Brooke Banks tries to muster is completely lost on me, I enjoy the show and I like the concept.  But when I started writing an email about it, I realized that I should just blog what I have to say.
I just want to remind people that the stuff that passes for reality on tv is only reality in so much as the people are not acting scripted characters.  Take “Survivor” as an example.  If I were designing a show to be called Survivor it would be about survival.  I mean, it would be interesting to see a bunch of Americans sent out into the wilderness somewhere to really survive on their own without killing each other.  By survive, I mean, find food and build shelter while avoiding being eaten by jaguars or killed by angry natives trying to protect their land or infection of one of the myriad diseases we in the West have been protected from for generations through vaccination and medicines.  “The Apprentice” is not reality either.  You merely have to write a resumeé, and go for a couple of interviews to get hired by a big company.  “The Bachelor and Bachelorette” are shows that make me retch.  How is it that whoring yourself out has not only become acceptable, but makes you desirable?!  Who cares about which team can rebuild a decrepit house the fastest?  Sure, in “The Amazing Race” you can get around the world quickly on someone else’s dime, but why not have a show about reality where the contestants are spending their own money?  And the worst one is “Fear Factor”!  What is there to be afraid of?!  You’ve got safety ropes and air bags and emergency teams and professionals giving you advice, etc. or the scaring thing is eating something disgusting until you puke!  Boring!  That show would be a whole lot more interesting if there was actually an element of fear of mortal injury.  How about making the Fear Factor contestants swim through shark infested waters blindfolded carrying a paper bag full of pig blood or a running race through one of the outskirts of Baghdad wrapped in an American flag holding a sign that says “Thanks for the oil.  I’m glad your kid was burned to death!”  We’d see some real heated competition and fear there!  
The real problem here is that, for the most part, people watch tv in order to escape reality!  I know there are a lot of news shows and documentaries and these are the real Reality tv.