You need a license to watch TV in UK?!

Arguing from ignorance, McGentrix? How many languages do you speak? How many TV programs of how many countries do you actively follow, on a weekly basis?



That's like saying that McDonald's must offer the world's best cuisine, since they're doing business in so many countries.

The reality is that America is the only remaining superpower. Whatever happens in the United States is extremely relevant for the rest of the world, and with that comes a cultural dominance in many fields - from Hollywood to fast food chains to tv programs.

Some of it may be truly desirable to people outside the United States. Other things - like tv programs - are relevant, because they allow people around the world to keep tabs on what's going on in America. It's like people keeping tabs on Xinhua - it's not because it's the absolutely best and greatest news service in the world. It's because China is an important geopolitical power, and following Xinhua allows people around the world to get an insight into the official positions of the Communist Party of China.

No.



No.



It isn't.



Your lack of understanding of how things work in other countries makes you happy to be in the US?

Ignorance? Hardly. I speak the language that counts.

I actively follow like 5 TV shows right now. Does that mean I can't be an expert on TV though? Neil DeGrasse Tyson has never visited another planet, yet people do tend to consider him an expert in astronomy. Bill Maher has never been funny, yet people consider him to be a comedy expert.

I wouldn't consider a shows like "Friends" or "The Big Bang Theory" to be an honest portrayal of what is going on in America.

Aren't you happy he's in the US? I am.

Some things are irreconcilable. He thinks paying a TV licence is a bad thing, I think turning a school into a shooting gallery is a bad thing. You just can't square that circle.

You don't let your ignorance get in the way of pontificating.



No it's just further proof of your profound ignorance.

This thread is just a lame attempt for you to pretend that things are so much better in Trumpton. All you're proving is that your priorities are seriously fucked up. You don't pay licence fees, and overall your telly is crappy, your children are killed daily by pathetic idiots with guns, people die from preventable diseases because health care is a racket, you have 150 toxins in your food that are banned over here and your air and water are being poisoned. Why do you think holiday bookings for America have dropped off a cliff? I

Trump is flushing America down the crapper and you're grasping at straws.

That's why Gordon Ramsey is telling American restaurant owners how to run a restaurant, and there are no Americans doing the same over here.

You mean it isn't a documentary?

I like that a film/program is shown without interruption of ads.
I sit down for 90 minutes to watch a film - with ads it is endless and the
thrill is broken and sooner or later I stop watching all together.
So paying a licence has it good sides too.

Well it's definitely not a comedy.

Ramsey's kind of an asshole character and a showman. Hes NEVER really discussed "cuisine"
clever or unique food prep. He just goes on about the business of basic restaurant ownership and operation . Its a show that is rooted in snarkiness as entertainment.Actually it was more a show about hygiene and design .
Taking a losing restaurant and turning it around is a theme thats been done over and over on local cable . Ramsey was just a new character type.
In fact, Ramsey parallels the popularity growth of several asshole led shows like "hotel management", Barroom advice , Jesse James builds cars, Your own "Top Gear" which was very entertaining because Jeremy Clarkson was a complete patrician asshole. Donald Trumps tv career followed the Jesse JAmes era when assholeness was considered a TV asset.

BTW, Hell's Kitchen" or "The F Word" were first done inthe UK. US producers found a novel talent and lured him to do a similar show in the US. SO your beief that theres no US talents doing such shows in the UK, is acomment on entertainment, not food prep. We got tired of WEmeril La Gasse, Paul Prudhome, or "Giardia"
Alton Brown ' early stuff goes way back even before Ramsey but its being rediscovered in reruns of shows like "Good Eats"

Weve got 100's of TV channels all devoted to some different formula. There are some high quality hows and some very huge piles of dreck.
Fargo nd Sopranos could NEVER have been made in UK because you guys really have no frame of reference. Same thing with westerns, such a shoow type is born of chaos not order.

like mcg says, thats just my opinion.

Actually, this thread was an attempt to understand how you guys tolerate something like what happens in the video I watched to actually happen.

I am fine with you guys paying a telly tax. You guys pay all kinds of taxes and that doesn't surprise me at all. I am going to look deeper into this and try to figure out what happened to the Englishman's balls. I think I saw that there were litter cops? Is that right?

So far as the rest of your screed... whatever dude. You'll not get an argument from me that people killing other people is bad and wrong. They are idiots. A healthcare racket though? Seems a bit of a stretch. I always wonder why foreigners ever come to America to get healthcare provided to them. Then I remember that we offer some of the best in the world. Yet you say "preventable" diseases... You'll need to give some examples for that ****.

You really make the US sound like a terrible place. Makes me wonder why you care so much about it.

but what about Coronation Street?

surely that's the BBC

In the early days actors tended to be either BBC or ITV, Arthur Lowe's stint on Coronation street meant his casting as Captain Mainwaring wasn't as smooth as you'd imagine.

You tolerate schools being shot up by armed nutcases. The guy in the video is stealing from other licence payers like us. Having a TV is not a necessity, or a right, like UHC, he can always get rid of it.

We tolerate licence avoiders having to deal with the bailiffs, you tolerate dead children. Your priorities are totally fucked.

We get all sorts of American shows, but I've never seen an American cook show, there's no demand. Too much fat, too much sugar, and they cook foul muck like scallops, yuck!

You think I don't know that. He just went to make a ton of money off the septics.

I am really curious, is there anything you like about the US?

I like jazz. I don't like schools being used as shooting galleries, or people dying from preventable illnesses because of lack of money.

Me either, I am hoping there will be shift sometime before I die, or at least in my granddaughters lifetime.

Not crazy over jazz, but I understand a lot are, it mostly comes from down south I think. I used to like country music, but, not the last 10 years. Mostly I still listen to the music I grew up on because I remember the words, can't really hear the words anymore. I confess, my brother was crazy about the Beetles, an old ex-con got him into it and we listened to them all the time we were growing up and other music similar to it. He was basically in charge of what we listened to, luckily I liked it just as much as he did. So another point given to the British.

As for the subject at hand, if you guys are happy with it, I don't see the big deal. We have to a license to fish which I never understood.