As some of you may know, there is this general perception that British Television is a total Bore! (No offense to the Brits!) But for those of us like me, who are literally TV-addicts, the wide array of cable & satellite channels in
In actual fact, the idea of being under-siege & restriction of only having access to British television gave me many sleepless nights! But in my honorable quest for knowledge and self-betterment, I coaxed myself, with great pain, into de-toxing my habit and brain of my TV-addiction.
And so amongst my farewells, I said my goodbyes to Showtime full bouquet, orbit… goodbye to the ever-annoying habit of channel-flighting, goodbye to snubbing Egyptian Television… and goodbye settling down in front of an old classical English/Arabic movie.
I packed by bags with a number the complete series of “Sex in the City”, a number of my favorite chick-flicks, and depressing classics, and even treated myself to some Arabic-movie VCDs for when I get the urge of watching an Arabic movie… and off to
Now 6 weeks in, I have to admit:
Perception is a devious thing… it is often built not on facts, but on here-say, on misconceptions, on historical & quick judgment. A closer look at British television revealed a splendid array of shows, programs, series and even… yes Movies!!
So despite my resolution of removing the television addiction out of my system, I remain a serious TV addict! But I must say, that I had to “tweak” my preferences t suit my new environment. Instead of Bones, CSI, Ghost-Whisperer, NCIS, Medium, the occasional Arabic Series on Egyptian television and the controversial “Al Qahera Al Youm”… it is now: The X-Factor, Hell’s Kitchen USA, the Whistle-blowers, Spoof, and of course BBC Breakfast, ITV’s Morning Show and Loose Women.
Yes indeed – one of new discoveries is Day-Time TV. So I start off my day at the early hour of 7:30am with BBC breakfast… It wakes me up to the hard news in the UK & the world… as we go along the 2 hour show, we go through the key news articles, the Weather and the key “Hot-topics” affecting the Brits & residents of Britain such as daily crimes, tube-fare increases, turbulences at the post-office and the “Missing File” for lost teens & children across the Isles.
Next, at 10:30am I switch to iTv to tune in to the softer-news show: The Morning Show. Again, in a lively TV Platform setting with 2 like-able anchors who quickly become household faces… we get a very interesting line-up of news, entertainment & social segments. The regular line-up consists of an update of the last episode review of the soap that was on the day before (be it coronation street, Doc Martin, Emmerdale, Secret Diaries of a Call Girl etc), a fashion review (which gives you great tips on what to wear and where to buy it from), a cooking segment (with fabulous easy recipes), the Weather (of course!!!), a bit about the local news, and hosting of a number of entertainers and social figures who are currently making the news for one reason or another.
Basically you start your day knowing exactly what happened & what is happening in
Equally exciting, is Evening-time television… with iTv2, Channel 4, E4, and Film4 (not sure what the significance of “4” is…) These channels offer episodes of TV series that are similar to those I was hooked on in Egypt, Friends, Fraiser, Smallville, OC and One-Tree Hill… and even the occasional Jericho & Ghost-Whisperer!!
So, in a nut-shell British Television has been doubted and named “Boring” unfairly! And… for the TV-addicts like me, it is worth every pence of the annual fee of GBP 140… mesh khosara fihom khales!
