10 Mar 06 As seen on Brit TV
They show stuff on TV here you would likely never see in North America, but then again I haven’t watched cable TV in several years so maybe I’m wrong. We signed up for Sky digital cable and now have quite a selection of real estate and food shows to watch round the clock. And enough documentary channels to make for a better overall mix.
What I don’t think you’d see across the pond:
You Are What You Eat
Each episode has the nutritionist/host invade an obese family’s home and work with them to change their eating habits. As a shocker the family is forced to look at a table full of all the foods they normally consume in a week, likely consisting of mountains of fried potato and fatty meat products, snack foods, soda and alcohol - never much in the way of vegetables and greens. This show would be perfect for airing in America, but what you probably wouldn’t see is the part where the nutritionist has each member of the family take a poo in a tupperware and then analyzes it in front of the cameras, in front of the family! At least they all wear face masks during the process, but there’s nothing to spare the viewer a good gag.
Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares
I did see an indication that FoodTV (Canada) was going to air this show (a dead Google link) but perhaps it was cancelled after viewer complaints? Nonetheless this show is a blast to watch - celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay ventures to some out-of-the-way town and descends on a restaurant desperately in need of help. His aim is to point out all the changes needed to save the restaurant from insolvency, and this involves ripping the chef and/or owners and managers a new one. What you won’t see (actually, hear) abroad is half the words coming out of Ramsay’s mouth, since every second one is f*ck or f*ck*ng. :O)
Although these stunts are calculated to create shock value and generate more viewers, and these two examples air on the same channel, I do get the sense there is less censorship on TV in the UK, and in the minds of people in general. No Jackson Superbowl uproars here, methinks.
No Comments yet »
RSS feed for comments on this post.
GET FED: