ADDED: Speaking of British TV:Instead we are now watching the Twilight Zone where Art Carney is the drunk Santa.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) December 25, 2020
My answer is always when it's British TV.Ok I’m deeply curious about this, how often do you use subtitles on your TV?
— caitie delaney (@caitiedelaney) December 25, 2020
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129 comments:
Art Carney was a great one.
My wife uses subtitles for everything. And she hears fine (though she seems to not hear me regularly). It's just something she likes. I find it disrupting to what I'm watching. But like you, Ann, I do use them for British movies- at least until I get the lingo. It's as if I have to train my brain to understand what they're saying, but after about 20 minutes or so, my brain adjusts and I can do it. Of course, some dialects are harder than others.
With actual foreign languages, I obviously need the subtitles, but again, I find that I'm reading the movie and miss some of the facial expressions, or background shots if I'm reading subtitles.
But like you, Ann, I do use them for British movies- at least until I get the lingo. It's as if I have to train my brain to understand what they're saying, but after about 20 minutes or so, my brain adjusts and I can do it. Of course, some dialects are harder than others.
My moms sister lived in Mississippi. She would come to visit, and it would take two days before I could translate what she was talking about. Her southern drawl was intense.
On Christmas day you post something I can wholeheartedly agree with.
:-)
Merry Christmas.
Even better than the Art Carney episode is "The Changing of the Guard" in which an elderly prep school History master (Donald Pleasance) has been told he must retire just as winter break begins. Suicidal, he now finds that his classroom is filled with all the boys (now men) whose lives he influenced--the scientist, the soldiers....
Captions are good to avoid the annoying commercials
"Changing of the Guard" actually takes place on Christmas Eve.
We use CC all the time. We've learned we just can't watch a British show without subtitles.
I lost the hearing in my right ear a decade ago. Hearing in my left ear is not great, either.
Subtitles are a god send.
Watching British detective shows on PBS without captioning is a real challenge. There are so many times my wife and I look at each other and say, "I didn't understand a word they just said." We always have cc on when watching them on Prime.
One of the reasons I dislike British TV. Why punish yourself like that? I don’t watch TV to read.
Another reason I dislike British TV is that it’s so mediocre and bland. So many Americans hear a British accent and immediately think, “smart, intriguing.” Having lived “over there” and met many stupid people, and being able to distinguish accents, I don’t.
Merry Christmas!! I've been watching knitting YouTube videos, and the Johari pregnant giraffe cam. No subtitles necessary on that one-- there's no sound.
Less than two minutes, a Yes, Minister Christmas:
https://youtu.be/vShJa6GobFQ
The husband was strictly a john wayne or clint eastwood movie guy, until I started using CC. Then he got into all the brit shows, moreso than I did actually. I mean downton abbey, call the midwife, everything.
Like I never knew him.
I use subtitles with the British because it's not just the accent, it's the mumbling.
Also, when music comes on, it's going to be too loud. If I turn the TV up to the level where I can catch every word the actors are saying, the TV will be on too loud. I think there's a style of sound that was developed in movies about 20 or 30 years ago that is supposed to be exciting, but it's very pushy. I don't like it, and it gets in the way of hearing dialogue, because in the home, it's just too loud.
I don't like it in the theater either. It's the "amusement park ride" type of movie — thrills, horror, startling. It's very bad in the home, unless you seal off a room in the basement for that sort of thing... which I wouldn't like anyway.
I watched the Christmas service from Bethal Church, they had subtitles for all the hymns to remind me of what I may have forgotten or couldn’t make out over the sound of the organ, Happy holiday in this season of lights.
The only British shows I am watching are "The Crown" and "After Life."
I'm not intrigued by British TV. Don't even know what the shows are. I like Ricky Gervais, but I bought a box set of his "The Office" and could never even get through the first episode. I was missing so much of the dialogue. I didn't think of turning on closed captioning, I guess, and now, I think I've thrown it out.
My wife and I watch British dramas almost exclusively (AcornTV; Brit Box). Love them, although I agree with Ann that British shows often have screwed up sound - voices too low sometimes and music that is often cranked up too high. I don’t use captioning, however - you get used to the accents after years of listening.
My favorite British TV episode to watch at Christmas: the All Creatures Great and Small episode titled “Merry Gentlemen”.
The only Gervais that was the right kind of humor was Ghost Town (2008). The rest have too many people overacting unfunny roles and for god's sake a laugh track.
Subtitles a must for British tv.
Rod Sterling served in the Pacific in WW2 and it really put the zap on his head. Have to believe it made him a much more insightful writer when crafting Zone episodes. Listen to these lines Art Carney delivers in the TZ episode Night Of The Meek. They must have come from deep in Sterling's tortured soul
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iUEx-XqbB2M
British TV, Foyle's war, A Touch of Frost, Inspector Lynley, Inspector Lewis, Endeavour were okay cop shows, meaning I bought them all and watched to the end.
Some of the Oxford crimes got predictable if weird. Writers out of material.
"My favorite British TV episode to watch at Christmas: the All Creatures Great and Small episode titled “Merry Gentlemen”.:"
I loved this show back in the 1970s. I'm skeptical of the remake that's coming out in January. How can anyone live up to Robert Hardy as Siegfried?
I use subtitles on everything.
Foyles'w War had Honeysuckle Weeks (actress, real name)
Some of the Brit Tv heroes turn up as bad guys in other Brit films, which is a little off-putting.
They all tend to play with the same mannerisms regardless of role assigned.
I use subtitles with the British because it's not just the accent, it's the mumbling.
Also, when music comes on, it's going to be too loud.
And here I thought the wife and I were the only ones who felt that way. You are missing out on “Midsomer Murders,” “Inspector Morse,” and it’s spinoff/sequel “Lewis.” Not to mention David Suchet as Hercule Poirot.
Yes i rediscovered suchets poirot.
Twenty Twelve, and W1A (its followup) were what The Office ought to have been, underplayed dysfunction in bureaucracy.
More Brit TV: Fake or Fortune, Escape to the Country, Yorkshire Vet.
Dr. Who is supposed to be great but there are too many episodes to risk it.
"I think there's a style of sound that was developed in movies about 20 or 30 years ago that is supposed to be exciting, but it's very pushy. I don't like it, and it gets in the way of hearing dialogue, because in the home, it's just too loud."
I agree. I think sound designers work under the assumption that everyone watches television in a 'home theater set-up', with no concerns to overall volume or natural room ambience -- or the desire to not have household items rattle from overbooked bass sounds. The audio gets congested, and the dialogue often comes across as an afterthought. Pretty much like the sound mix on a video game.
I am Laslo.
Merry Christmas!!! You want to talk about hard to understand accents, try Derry Girls on Netflix - I swear at times it almost sounds like they’re speaking a different language, especially when you add their specific slang on top of the thick North Ireland accent!!! Still an amusing and funny show though, even when about a third of the dialogue slips by not understood. I’m hesitant to turn on subtitles for two reasons - I don’t want to slip into always needing them (I don’t know why, but it’s somewhat akin to a bad habit in my mind), and by the time the actor has said the whole line, I’ve already read them and it sometimes messes up the delivery. Anyhoo, Merry Christmas to Ann, Meade, and all the commenters, who give me much to read and think about day to say!!!
I have found myself watching a British movie and been forced to turn on the English language subtitles. Since I got into watching Spanish-language TV, I just keep the closed captions on all the time. It's a good way to learn a language, and also to make sense of the shows.
Now the cable company is also giving us French-language TV from Canada. Four years of high school French and no formal lessons of Spanish ever, and the Spanish is still much easier for me than the French. In a more rational world, Louis XIV and Napoleon wouldn't have been able to foist their language on the rest of the world, but I suppose English is no easier or more logical to foreigners.
I soured on British cop shows. Too PC nowadays, but also, just too many of them going over the same material over and over again. Right now, Scandinavian and other foreign cop shows are more interesting and available in different formats to Americans. They aren't so far behind the Brits in political correctness and casting, but the setting is a little fresher. Fresh faces, too. I could go a lifetime before I ever see Robson Green again in anything.
P.S. Jackie Gleason was the "Great One." Not sure what that makes Art Carney.
We do not use subtitles on Brit shows. Yes there are times that we miss something but for us the quality of Brit TV far outpaces US crap. A good many shows have been mentioned already. There are more though. A few more.
Death in Paradise New Tricks All Creatures Great and Small Silent Witness
We have been watching MHZ and IMBD have shows from other countries. They all have subtitles.
We have been watching "Mrs. Browns Boys" an absolutely hilarious show. Very not PC.
Ok I’m deeply curious about this, how often do you use subtitles on your TV?
Touchy subject. I am an "only when necessary." My better half is an "Always." Compromise typically resolves it, but every once in a while we go 15 rounds over it. And then I apologize, and we watch with the goddamn subtitles on. But still. He was proficient in English before we met. He says he when he was younger he watched shows with the subtitles on to practice English and got used to the subtitles being on the screen. He doesn't need them to understand the dialogue. Why are they on the screen?!.
In any event, I never got into British comedy too much. A lot of friends in high school were into Monty Python and Dr. Who. My father tried to show me Benny Hill. Nope. Nor was I ever much of a fan of Mr. Bean. I did like Fawlty Towers and Absolutely Fabulous, though. I remember seeing The Full Monty in theatres and occasionally having a hard time following the dialogue.
"Never" is okay if you don't watch foreign language films, but if "Never" means dubbing, it's awful. I took a date to see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. While we were leaving the theatre, he said, "Oh my god I didn't know it was going to be subtitles. I thought it was going to be, like, dubbed." "Yeah....I ate a lot of popcorn and half your candy, I'm not really feeling dinner, are you?" Dating is such a humiliating social activity. Thank God for serendipity.
Classic doctor who available on pluto, the newer one less so
"Inspector Lynley"
Just re-watched these on Britbox. Love the characters, but what a bloody show!
Upstart Crow has a pretty funny plague lockdown Christmas special. Can be found on youtube.
The german channel dw used to have montalbano, brunetti dubbed from german and others but the new version os just news
Darling daughter 18yo has turned us on to the charming Great British Baking Show. Last night we watched their Christmas show that brought back past semifinalists to make gingerbread creations. I like the show in part because all the people - contestants, judges and presenters - are quite likable and there's no meanness. The show's format is simple and doesn't manufacture fake controversy or villains, it just gives these nice folks who are adept at baking some rather difficult challenges. Subtitles wouldn't help with the English baking terms and other Britishisms they use.
A peaceful Christmas to all Althousians.
90%.
How on earth would I know that "I'll knock you up a ruby" is being said - had to look it up.
Living with an ESL partner, long used to watching with subtitles.
We got used to Brit accents when local PBS was showing "Keeping Up Appearances." Much later I discovered the Australian series "City Homicide," but it was the lingo, not so much the dialect, that took some getting used to. After the four seasons (of five) that I watched, I caught myself inserting Aussie slang here and there.
Subtitles are a must for foreign language films though my Spanish, Portuguese and French are middling but capable enough to discern the dialogue from context. The only film I'll watch without subtitles is "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg." The subtitles seem to me that they get in the way of the music, which is the main thing in that movie.
Death in Paradise
Wonderful show, with intricate plots, but mix and match British accents with Caribbean and ...
With the advent of streaming TV I’ve gotten into the habit of usually leaving the subtitles on even though I don’t need them.
Often I can cut thru the accent, but I cannot cut thru the British slang. Come again?
Mix the two - and ya might as well be listening to Swahili.
?Subtitles for my own language. Brilliant!
When I first saw "Hard Day's Night" in 1964 it was mostly uninteligble. Later in life I understood that Liverpudlian humour was/is based on opposites as in "He's a clean old man" when Paul was talking about his grandfather. It's fun to try and winnie out the meaning due to context and facial expressions.
Downton Abbey did not require sub-titles. The accents were polished and minimal.
The more obscure, earthy and comical - or regional, almost, it becomes a challenge.
The only British shows I am watching are "The Crown" and "After Life."
I enjoyed the first season of "After Life"
Are you on season 2? I had to turn it off. The humor is... not my cup of tea.
I've mentioned it before, I think.. If you are interested in a cute little 3-part series - Q-Up
"Detectorists"
I also finished Fleabag season two this month. Morally reprehensible in the extreme though also funny and touching if you can get into it. I didn't get the title, but finally figured "Fleabag" must have been the nickname of the creator-star (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) at some point.
One thing about British comedy: they don't go as far with the show as Americans do. There were many cringeworthy moments in both versions of The Office but the American series dragged out over years while the British show was only two seasons and Christmas specials.
One show I liked in spite of itself and myself was Good Night, Sweetheart in which the main character realizes that by walking down a certain street he can return to WWII Britain. Such a wacky premise was hard to resist.
Blackadder and The Young Ones were also good. British shows like Blackadder and Monty Python and Doctor Who do tend to become cults for American adolescents, though, and by the time one reaches adulthood one can get very sick of them.
There are also adults who love their favorite British show so much that they will tolerate to criticism of it. Internet discussions can get surprising heated.
I had never seen that Art Carney Santa thing.
I have always thought of him saying "Hello, ball!"
they don't go as far with the show as Americans do.
I loved Absolutely Fabulous but there were only 17 episodes, and only a few were classics. When they tried to revive it, it bombed.
Funny I never needed captions for Ab Fab though.
stated watching "fleabag" - turned it off after the first 5 minutes. ugh.
MI 5 which was the british '24, was good for a while, but it got more woke over the years, there's that british cop show, by the maker of the bodyguard, name escapes me right now, which took a little while to get into, in the classics there was reilly ace of spies, about one of the inspirations for bond, played by sam neil, mucking about all around the continent,
this is the one I was referring to:
https://watch.mhzchoice.com/detective-montalbano
Like to watch mind expanding stuff on science and the universe.
I highly recommend anything narrated by Jim Al-Khalili.
Like this
Everything & Nothing
No sub-titles needed.
this is that other series,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm15jZ9B_dI&feature=emb_logo
I can pretty much make it through most British shows without the subtitles but must admit I miss some of the dialogue. I forget the name of a Scottish show I just watched but I absolutely need captions.
I am hooked on "Line of Duty" which is excellent with tremendous acting. Several seasons with the same actors. I just finished another British show called "Save Me". It stars Lennie James and was gripping. Subtitles may be necessary. Surprised it was never written up as a good new show.
I must be running out of things to watch and recently found some good Australian TV. No subtitles needed and I really enjoyed the Aussie accents. The Jack Irish series was excellent. Also, three seasons of "Janet King" about an Australian judge.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Seems like many actors have fallen into the annoying practice lately of whispering their lines. I guess they think it gives them gravitas or something. I sometimes put cc on just to figure out what the H they are saying.
that's the one, i guess it's part of the grittier type of cop show, akin to bodyguard, which delved deeper into politics and foreign policy after a sort,
I always turn on the subtitles except when I am watching the news or a discussion program like BookTV or Mark Levin.
Are you using subtitles to keep up with the explosion in downtown Nashville?
We don't use subtitles for British shows. There is an episode of Gervais's Extras with David Bowie that has one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen.
On one of my earlier films one of the actors spoke in a hungover drawl; at one point I seriously wrestled with the idea of adding subtitles to his dialogue.
We probably should have re-filmed, but 'no-budget' limits such options; besides, I loved the performance, despite the difficulties.
Instead, I went in syllable-by-syllable adjusting volumes so swallowed consonants came back, flew in stronger pronunciations or sounds from other takes, and slowed speed on several words so they had a chance to be heard.
In a way, it was like conducting an orchestra that has already played the piece.
I take pride in elbow grease as needed.
I am Laslo.
Of course, the only British shows we've watched are all the Gervais shows. We don't watch many shows. Lots of movies though.
English is not my wife's native language so we leave the subtitles on most of the time. I turn them off for sports because they get in the way.
May you never have a Christmas so low as to watch the VHS-bootleg "Chuck Berry's Secret-Camera Christmas Bathroom Special."
With or without subtitles.
I am Laslo.
I think as you age and lose the very high frequency response, you are reduced to picking up mid-frequency cues for what you're missing, and ambient noise also resides in those bands and you lose intelligibility. Podcasts will be fine (no competing noise) but movies always have background noise and subtitles are variously necessary.
I do not watch mainstream American TV. It's awful.
I cannot stand American Idol type shows, All the various clone talent shows where the person with the most talent sounds like another canned version of Beyonce or Brianna or...
I detest American drama or American crime shows. All late night PM-TV and AM shows are Demcorat Party TV. It's all dripping with political bias and woke lecture.
That leaves the Brits for entertainment in English. I'm open to TV from anywhere really. It limits my TV viewing, and that is all OK with me.
A good series from Australia is "A place to call home" - tho It is a bit of a soap opera.
many actors have fallen into the annoying practice lately of whispering their lines.
Gah I hate that! Amazing how bright and vivid both lighting and soundtrack were in the old hollywood movies.
That said, I'm still waiting for TCM to run something besides Meet Me in St Louis or In the Good Old Summertime.
I didn't know that there was a series featuring Detective Montalbano. I happened upon the novels, by Andrea Camilleri, I don't remember how. They're pretty good and what adds to the interest is the setting and culture (a small Sicilian city) which gives them a different flavor than cop stories set in the US, Britain, and Scandinavia.
The Detectorists was good, so were The IT crowd (about technical support) and Dead Pixels (about compulsive online videogamers). A lot of British shows get remade in the US. Our IT crowd was apparently lousy and was never actually aired, but a show like Silicon Valley shows what Hollywood can do with all the money it has to throw around compared with the shoestring budget of the British IT crowd.
I got into an online argument with somebody about the British and American versions of Life On Mars (the one where a cop in a coma is transported back to a 1970s police force). The point of the show seemed to be the backwardness and benightedness of '70s society, but if you have memories of New York City in that era, the show was like going home, and Manchester in those days just looks ugly, gloomy, squalid, depressing and brutal. Also, the other person liked the actor Philip Gleniston, while for me preferring some Brit to Harvey Keitel was almost unpatriotic.
Another fight about Downton Abbey versus Upstairs, Downstairs. You can criticize Downton but it brought the resources of today's television to the story, while Upstairs was your mother's television. This is not a very effective argument to use against someone who is probably of your mother's generation.
Historical British cop shows usually have one character who represents the modern woke orthodoxy. In Grantchester the young priest is getting involved in all kinds of progressive social causes that the old detective doesn't think much of. In George Gently it's the old cop who is 21st century woke, progressive, tolerant and saintly in ways his younger colleague can't match.
Present-day British (and Australian) cop shows tend to involve ethnically diverse, female-led teams with a White guy thrown in as a villain or bigot and/or somebody to be killed off to leave the ethnically diverse, female led team intact. From what I've seen, none of them is as good as The Wire.
Lemme just put in a good word for two French series: Spiral (Engrenages, a cops and lawyers show) and The Bureau (Le Bureau des Légendes, a spy saga).
I haven't watched American TV in decades, except as a prisoner. I do use sub-titles on all my streaming; got used to it watching TV with my hard-of-hearing father. I read extremely fast and I don't have to have the volume up so loud. My favorite show from Britain: Doc Martin (though I watched it on VHS back in the day)
THEOLDMAN
Merry Christmas to all!
"There is an episode of Gervais's Extras with David Bowie that has one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen."
For sure.
I haven't seen After Life yet. Extras is the only Gervais show/movie that I've really enjiys.
We have Acorn and Britbox. British TV is better than American. They seem do more with less and also lean more towards storytelling. Competent actors with a much more organic look to them. Like real people you might actually meet. American TV is mostly action, hot looking stripper babes and wooden male stars. The acting is so bad, I assume cock sucking is the most important skill to making it in Hollywood.
"many actors have fallen into the annoying practice lately of whispering their lines."
That is SO annoying. I have stopped watching series that I enjoyed because of this irritating mannerism.
Semi-watching some old college football games. Will watch the Saints and Vikings later.
I just like having sports on TV even when I'm not actually watching. :-)
I often use subtitles when watching DVDs as it seems like the soundtrack is always much louder than the dialogue.
For perhaps the first time, we finished Christmas preparations before midnight last night. This left enough time for a couple episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Very Christmas-y!
I've enjoyed a couple of episodes of Delhi Crime (Netflix) even though I don't always understand the dialog. The feel of the show is much more third world than I am used to, and the actors are far less pretty and glamorous. It's a fun show to juxtapose with Babylon, Berlin.
I like subtitles but I hate closed captioning—the ALL CAPS, mispellings, and out-of-content mistakes drive me nuts; they always make me feel bad for people who depend on them and count on them to communicate meaning.
Surely in the 21st century we can do real-time transcription better. Sad.
mockturtle said...
Semi-watching some old college football games. Will watch the Saints and Vikings later.
I just like having sports on TV even when I'm not actually watching. :-)
Same here.
I prefer closed captioning because I prefer foreign films, that no longer seem available.
American media, on whole, sucks. Direct TV, the closed captioning is just off center from the center of the screen. Not at the bottom, where a normal person with a functioning brain would put it.
"many actors have fallen into the annoying practice lately of whispering their lines."
Yes. You turn it up in an attempt hear the dialog, then the score/soundtrack kicks in and blows your eardrums out.
We watch a lot of British murder shows.
I was complaining to my neighbor (from Leicester, England) that I couldn't understand the dialog on a show that took place in Northern England.
He said he could only catch some of it...Scottish dialog not at all : )
Never had a bit of problem understanding the Brits (except maybe Compo when he goes off in full Yorkshire on Last of the Summer Wine), I do have to use the captions for most modern Hollywood movies, though. It seems to me that most of them have the soundtrack music mastered much louder than the dialog. Also, everyone seems to talk too fast these days.
The French series "A French Village" ran for seven seasons. It's about life in a French village during the Nazi occupation. It's the best thing I've ever seen on television. Imagine if The Godfather" ran for 72 hours.
It has subtitles.
DePalma is planning a remake set during the Civil War.
JSD said...
British TV is better than American. They seem do more with less and also lean more towards storytelling. Competent actors with a much more organic look to them.
I've always appreciated the way British actors let themselves age naturally.
Compo when he goes off in full Yorkshire on Last of the Summer Wine"
Husband liked that and it took me years to get into it. Now I'd like to move to that village and live next to Nora Batty.
"Historical British cop shows usually have one character who represents the modern woke orthodoxy."
I think this is true for a lot more than just cop shows. My spouse and I have a running "spot the Guardian reader" contest for British shows, especially BBC productions. The goal is figuring out which character is the stand-in for the writers.
"Yes. You turn it up in an attempt hear the dialog, then the score/soundtrack kicks in and blows your eardrums out."
My hearing has gotten terrible lately ('70s rock) but this new (and it is new) trend of not matching the dialog to the score drives me crazy.
The intros are usually very loud, so I turn the sound down.
Then the dialog starts and I turn it up.
Then there is a transition from one scene to the next, or some big dramatic moment, and the music/effect is so loud is scares you.
On a scifi show recently I almost jumped off the couch.
The Brits seem to be the worst. Their sound is often muffled and poorly matched...
Lemme just put in a good word for two French series: Spiral (Engrenages, a cops and lawyers show) ..
Dirty cops, rotten lawyers, decent characters killed off, no PC, homeless and muslims villans.
A heartwarming series, I love it. Haven't found "The Bureau (Le Bureau des Légendes, a spy saga)." on hulu netflix, or prime for free.Someone here recommended it earlier this year. Will have to check again.
I've always appreciated the way British actors let themselves age naturally.
Yes. It's jarring to be watching a period piece where everyone has freakishly whitened teeth.
I watch British TV because the plots and drama seem better. No orange fire balls, no car chases, little gun fire, not as much profanity. But current stuff is starting to be filled with SJW crap like American TV.
Subtitles are a necessity for all TV due to hearing impairment. Miss some of the visual subtleties but at least I can understand the dialogue. Captions for news and sports are hopeless as the transcription is not fast enough.
Flash Mob! -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU&feature=emb_logo
There's lots of terrible UK tv. Get Britbox for a free week and take a random sample.
mockturtle said...
Yes. It's jarring to be watching a period piece where everyone has freakishly whitened teeth.
Well, the British have never been well known for their dentistry!
The sometimes wonderful show Moonshiners uses subtitles for some of the more heavily accented drunk distillers. Because they make Joe Biden sound like a vaunted thespian, declaiming Shakespeare, especially when things go sideways at the still after they've been drinking.
I watch a lot of Asian shows, mostly Korean, so I need subtitles for that. Other than those, the only show I can remember using subtitles for was "The Sniffer", which is in Russian.
I've been binging "Death in Paradise", which I like. (Although I felt utterly betrayed with the beginning of season 3.) I've been watching more British shows this year, including "Grantchester" and "Endeavor". I end up dropping them because I get irritated with characters that express 2020 ideas in the 1950s or 1960s. It just gets to a point where it's unbelievable for me. I never have a problem with the accents, even for shows set in Northern England or NIR (like "Derry Girls".)
I liked the British "Life on Mars" and the American one, but I don't like the ending of the American one. There was a Korean one, but I didn't like it as much. I think one main reason for that was that I didn't recognize the songs and the music was such a big part of it all.
"Yes. It's jarring to be watching a period piece where everyone has freakishly whitened teeth."
Or 17th century women with fake tits : )
Was watching a modern British cop drama ('Line of Duty') and the main character, a black actor, had a very noticeable hole from and earring seen in many close-ups.
The actor never wore and earring on the show. I just looked odd.
The production couldn't afford any spackle?
Roku TV + remote is good for the bad soundtracks because you can mute it, and then turn the volume down without the sound coming back on until you either un-mute it or raise the volume.
"It just gets to a point where it's unbelievable for me."
The Brits have gone into full-on, raging SJW mode.
You mentioned 'Grantchester,' which takes place in the '50s if I recall.
It seems like the entire show morphed into racial politics with every other couple being interracial.
Just fucking stupid...takes you out of the story.
There's a production coming out with a black Anne Boleyn.
Talk about your cultural appropriation...
Ahh! Ann, that sounds like sight privilege to a sight challenged whiner.
KfB Thanks for the tip on Save Me. I got addicted to Line of Duty. Although the amount of corruption got to be incredible. What can be left covered for Season 6? They will toy with us over whose honesty?
I am surprised at all you folks who can't decipher Britspeak w/o subtitles/surtitles. To me it seems trivially easy, except when you hit, say, actual Scots (as opposed to a Scottish accent). Maybe it's because I read a lot of English crime literature, or because I lived in London for ten months or so back in the late 80s, but it just doesn't seem terribly difficult.
Favorites: Monty Python (of course); Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister (no one who disbelieves in the "Deep State" can have met Humphrey Appleby!); House of Cards (I haven't watched the American one, and don't intend to); The Office (ditto); AbFab,; Inspector Morse..
I have seen the Lynley series, but they don't compare at all to the Elizabeth George novels they're based on. (Nor can they, b/c George has generally about ten times the number of characters the series can handle.) I annoy my husband whenever I watch one of these, because I'm always explaining, "Well, in the book this happens . . ." It sucks to be a reader and see all your favorite books turned into pale precursors of the superior art form come to supplant them. Must be like listening to (say) Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet with someone beside you whispering, "But, see, in the play what happens is . . ."
Simpler British mysteries fare a lot better, Agatha Christie in particular. I wonder that no one seems to have tried Margery Allingham or Ngaio Marsh or even Catherine Aird. Edmund Crispin would probably be too much work, but if anyone could make a book like Holy Disorders fly onscreen, it'd be a Brit.
The only Gervais that was the right kind of humor was Ghost Town (2008)
Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni help too. Outstanding actors and Tea Leoni in particular, besides her other allure, is really good at getting good performances our of her male co-stars.
Watch anything with her in it, and notice how good the guys playing against her are.
Used to watch a lot of Brit-coms shown on the Maine (and, to a lesser extent, N.H.) PBS stations on weekends maybe 25 years or so ago, starting with the bestest of them all, "To the Manor Born." Some of the regional accents got a bit thick, but I never had any real trouble understanding the dialogue.
>>Less than two minutes, a Yes, Minister Christmas
Wow, how did Sir Humphrey (aka (the mad) King George) get through that set of lines! Originally saw "Yes, Prime Minister" before "Yes, Minister." Both great Brit-coms.
>>I did like Fawlty Towers and Absolutely Fabulous
Both excellent and a very limited run: about a dozen episodes for Fawlty Towers and eighteen I thought (someone earlier said seventeen) for the initial run of AbFab. "To the Manor Born," which I have on DvD, was also relatively limited and had a definite story arc.
OTOH, there were the ones that seemingly went on for ever: the Judy Dench one I can't remember the name of, "Waiting for God,", "Allo, Allo," "Good Neighbors," "Keeping up Appearances," and, of course, the ultimate one: "Are You Being Served?"
On the other side was "Take a Letter, Mr. Jones," with the fabulous Rula Lenska (those of a certain age will remember the weird shampoo commercials that started out with her exclaiming "I'm Rula Lenska!", when nobody in the U.S. had any clue who she was) and John Inman/Mr. Humphries of (Being Served) fame. I don't think I ever saw more than two or three episodes of that one, where Inman played Rula's secretary.
Miriam Margolyes, who showed up in a number of the Brit-coms (I remember her especially is some of the Black Adder stuff, the only Rowan Atkinson I could ever stand), as well as various movies, etc., used to be a somewhat regular participant in an Italy forum I participated in on Compuserve back in the 90s.
One of the U.S. networks tried an Americanized version of AbFab, which was a total flop. One problem there was they just couldn't go with the main characters being unlikeable (but extremely funny). But maybe would have flopped, even if they had had the nerve to go that way.
Ditto with "Coupling" (which was itself more or less a much sexier ripoff of Friends). The American version totally flopped, even though the first three or four episodes used the original British scripts with very few changes. Somehow the Brit versions were funny but the American ones, using essentially the same scripts, weren't.
--gpm
FWIW I pity American viewers of Monty Python because unless one was stationed/lived in the UK as did I when the Python series ran in the 70s one missed roughly 25% of the "in" running jokes referring to local customs/politics etc. Same for AB FAB which constantly referred back to Python days..
One film which REALLLY IS better in CC is the 70s French gangster film Borsolino (title derived from French company of same name famous for making gangster-favored fedora hats) starring Alain Delon & Jean-Paul Belmondo & filmed in and around Marseilles. Shot in the French language, European version used CC while US/NA release used dubing--resulting in a FAR inferior experience..
I started reading comments from the bottom and whaddaya know? I'm like the Prof and at least one Unknown in not really caring for BritTV all that much.
I watched Downtown a few seasons, my wife a few more; she likes Inspector Morse more than I do but needs subtitles--unfortunately her vision is not much better than her hearing and I have to repeat or explain a lot-- any nuance just goes right past her; we watched that short season of the Dutch cops (played by Brits) and I needed subtitles myself. It was too PC and the characters were too quirky to be believable, so my time was wasted. Never again!
Other than Monty Python, which we had to find at movie houses before the shows were widely available on the TV, the comedies (Fawlty, Are You Being Served, Dr. Who, the Yes series) and doctor/vet/cop shows are a complete mystery to me.
Tea Leoni, quite. Don't know that movie though.
Narr
So much junk, so little time
Only the cream of British television reaches US. And vice versa. I believe a UK poll had Friends as second greatest TV show of all time.
But I rate Fawlty Towers greatest comedy. Writing oneself a such a character in the midst of lovable characters is genius.
But I rate Fawlty Towers greatest comedy. Writing oneself a such a character in the midst of lovable characters is genius.
It was my father's favorite television show and he taped every episode. My husband and I enjoyed them, too. I got the tapes but no longer have a VCR player.
Virgil, as my husband was British and, as I am also very familiar with British customs and running jokes, we didn't miss anything. ;-)
Some of our favorites were:
Monty Python
Fawlty Towers
Two Ronnies
Black Adder
Ripping Yarns
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
I drew the line at Benny Hill.
Twenty-Twelve is a contemporary Britcom that's cringey and funny in a very particularly British way, and having sold out to a UK-based multinational and worked for them for a couple of years, I think it nails the London office culture it skewers. And it's got the lord of the manor from Downton Abbey. Otherwise, besides Monty Python and David Bowie, who gives great interview, can't recall loving too many British tube entertainments. Now the Scots have made some great stuff, but subtitles absolutely required there.
"(title derived from French company of same name famous for making gangster-favored fedora hats)"
Borsolino is Italian...
"Rula Lenska"
Steve Allen did a funny parody of her. It not hard to find people on the internet who remember it, but it doesn't seem the footage is available.
"Ditto with "Coupling"....Somehow the Brit versions were funny but the American ones, using essentially the same scripts, weren't."
American cast were a bunch of stiffs.
Best British series: The Sandbaggers
Miniseries: A Perfect Spy
My wife is a francophile. Consequently we stream a channel called "Mhz". It has TV shows in all European languages. She is addicted to French drama including french detective series. Some are quite good. She turns on the subtitles for me. I have never used subtitles for any english speaking accent.
>>American cast [of Coupling] were a bunch of stiffs.
OK, looked them up. I had a vague recollection that there was at least one OK actor but, nah. Never heard of any of them.
--gpm
One TV sitcom adapted from the British that was actually better in the US was Sanford & Son. [The title was slightly different in the UK]. I'm sure a lot of Redd Foxx's jokes wouldn't pass the PC sniff test today but they were very funny. Demond Wilson was good, too, as were the supporting characters. As virgil xenophon observed about British comedies, some of the jokes might have been lost on those with little or no familiarity with POC.
If the show is about politics or reporters, it's a no-starter for me. And really, SJW scripts are just so appallingly bad in period dramas. Young Wallander comes to mind. The original was great but sad. I couldn't even get through the first season with the racial and immigrant aspect of the storyline. The writers either have no imagination or want to prove their wokeness for the next job opportunity
THEOLDMAN
I really like suggestions on blogs (comments) such as this one - Imma gonna try A French Village soon. Thanks. Had a great day, enjoyed Christmas dinner cooked for me and then went to a meeting where my lady friend and I wound up being the speakers. Next week is the Alcathon.
"Sanford & Son"
Steptoe & Son.
There's some UK sitcoms, like Only Fools and Horses and Till Death Do Us Part, where the characters are more desperate than we see in US sitcoms. I think Lamont Sanford might be the only US character who scrapes that bottom.
We used to love "Last of the Summer Wine". It was set in west Yorkshire, and the actors' accents were a little tough to understand, but it was worth the effort. At the time, we didn't have the option of using subtitles, and I'm glad we didn't. If you're dealing with a real foreign language (French, German, Chinese, Urdu, etc.) subtitles are OK, but English-speakers with accents? I see subtitles when the speaker is from Mississippi for gosh sakes! Make the effort! Or as my Yankee ancestors would have said: Make the effuht!
"Young Wallander"
We loved the old Wallander...
After seeing the new preview I didn't even bother...
I believe the original Mad Max movie was dubbed in the US because they figured we couldn't understand the heavier Aussie accents.
We've been watching Taggart, set in Glascow, Scotland. The captions don't always agree with what I'm hearing.
when music comes on, it's going to be too loud
That seems to be particularly bad with all streamed TV. I have to keep it up loud for my half-deaf dad to hear the dialogue, and then some music blares out too much even for him. He's OK watching sports with the sound off, but then he sometimes announces the game himself.
Haven't found "The Bureau"
I believe it was on AcornTV.
On Taggart, they refer to the top cop as "the Biscuit" (Britspeak for cookie) behind his back. It isn't clear if that's a standard term like "Guv" or "boss" but it makes me smile.
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