Sunday - January 02, 2011

just how utterly thick and stupid is the american tv audience? tv execs think pretty thick …

And to see under comments in the Mail, an American going along with that makes me see red.
Or, are the execs right after all and I’m just in denial? 

There has been a truly wonderful program aired recently and coming to American TV, probably on PBS, called Downton Abbey. It a period costume drama and I can understand there will be many who just aren’t interested in that sort of thing. That doesn’t mean they are thick or dull or stupid. It’s a simple matter of personal interests.  And the wife and I have always been interested in programs like that.  Downton Abbey is very much like Upstairs/Downstairs which aired some 30 years ago.  They have just released a new version of that btw. And it’s a funny thing, I wasn’t a huge fan of that old show.

If I have one complaint with Downton Abbey, it’s brief, but for me, stomach churning scene of two queers in an embrace. It could have been hinted at or strongly implied without the clinch.  It wasn’t done to shock anyone. Not these days. It was simply acknowledgment of the acceptance of how normal that is nowadays.
But other then that scene, it is a brilliant show and well acted. 

Well friends, it wasn’t my intent to promote a TV program or try and play critic. Seems it worked its way in due to my frustration with TV executives who wrongly I think, believe an American audience just won’t understand. Or as they put it ....

“American TV executives fear its intricate plot will baffle U.S. viewers”

Well it didn’t baffle this American and I’m no rocket scientist.
What it boils down to is that those guys hold the American audience in such low esteem, that they will cut the show and commit artistic vandalism cos we’re really too thick to understand the finer points and intricacy will baffle us.  Unless of course they guide and lead us and think for us.
It just pisses me off and I’m glad I’m here and can see it as it was meant to be seen and as it was written.

So now you folks in the USA know what the powers that be in TV land really think of us.
No wonder I keep hearing about the shows produced for the lowest intellect.  They don’t think anyone else in great enough numbers is out there and worthwhile.

Naturally when the news is out there are ALWAYS the anti American comments and the over used phrase, Only in America.
Like everyone here is of faultless taste and a member of mensa. Yeah. Right.

Downton downsized… by two hours because American TV executives fear its intricate plot will baffle U.S. viewers

By Chris Hastings

* Eight-hour ITV series slashed to six for the States
* Inheritance story­line simplified for Americans

Its intricately detailed plot and sumptuous production values, with lingering shots of the magnificent stately home, made Downton Abbey the TV hit of last year.

Unsurprisingly, the lavish period drama has now been snapped up by an American network - although it seems the beautifully nuanced portrait of pre-First World War upper-class life could prove just a little too complex for the trans­atlantic audience.

For in the land of the notoriously short attention span, TV executives have taken a knife to the artfully crafted series, slashing its running time and simplifying the plotline for fear viewers will be left baffled

Rebecca Eaton, an executive producer for the PBS network - which will be airing it from next week - admits that American audiences demand a ‘different speed’ to their shows.

As a result, Downton, which ran for eight hours on ITV, has been slashed to six for the States, while the story­line about the inheritance of the Abbey has been downplayed

And that is a damn shame too because it’s really very interesting. It’s even mind boggling to think that once, what they’re talking about was par for the course and unremarkable. But it’s history damn it. It actually happened that way. Why shouldn’t Americans who haven’t heard or read about it, be exposed and educated about it. Besides, wouldn’t you think that anyone who liked watching this kind of thing to begin with, isn’t in any hurry.

The show’s ten million British viewers will be well aware that much of the drama revolves around challenges to the ‘entail’ - the legal device which determines how the estate should be divided up - after Lord Grantham’s heirs perish on the Titanic.

But Ms Eaton said: ‘We thought there might be too many references to the entail and they have been cut. It is not a concept people in the US are very familiar with.’

However, that did not seem to faze British viewers, who would have been similarly unaware of the term before watching the series.

PBS also believes its audiences will need an American to outline the key themes of the show.

So before the first episode, actress Laura Linney will explain the inheritance principle.

Let me explain: Actress Laura Linney will help U.S. viewers by explaining the inheritance principle - central to the plot - before the first show.

She will also inform viewers that the idea of a wealthy American heiress such as the fictional Cora, Countess of Grantham coming to the rescue of a hard-up aristocratic British family is rooted in fact.

On ITV, the series, which starred Dame Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern, ran with advertisements, while PBS - the Public Broadcasting Service - is free of commercials.

MORE HERE

Funny thing about how things work here. We don’t have a TV but were able to watch the first two episodes commercial free with the ITV iplayer.
But something weird happened or a setting or ...??? I don’t know. But we’re no longer able to get anything on that network now, although we can if we want, see BBC. I don’t understand it.  We’re gonna buy the DVD set later on and watch the whole thing on puter.

Hey guys, for those of you who are interested in this kind of thing, you can get the free player from ITV. If rejected cos ur out of the UK, then download a program (free) which bypasses the restriction and makes the systems here think this is where you are. It’s worth it.

Posted by peiper     on 01/02/2011 at 05:10 PM   
Filed Under: • Television •  
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