Remote Destination – Fraudulent Liars

Shows

I’ve been known to watch a little bit of television here and there. And I tend to frequent channels a bit off the beaten track when it comes to my entertainment needs. I’m not trying to brag, I’m just saying that I have unique tastes compared to what Joe American watches.

Now some of the channels that I watch are importing programs from other countries and pretending like they’re “new” just because the American audience hasn’t seen them. I think that’s pretty cheap.

Case in point, Sundance Channel is a pretty big offender. Practically every show that I dig on Sundance was originally broadcast on another continent year ago. City of Men, which I loved, began production in 2002. I definitely didn’t become a fan until it began airing on Sundance a couple of years ago.

Two other examples from Sundance are Monkey Dust and John Safran vs God both of which were produced years before they were advertised as “new” on Sundance. Sure, it technically doesn’t take away from the entertainment value, but knowing that these shows are years old would be helpful context considering some of the humor could be considered topical.

Of course there’s another problem with pretending that programs are new, which is best illustrated by BBC America’s handling of MI-5; not only are the shows not new, but they’ve been aired in the State on another network.

Last year BBC America began airing MI-5 from the beginning. I was excited because I’d been a fan of the show ever since I was fist exposed to in when it aired on A&E a few years back. I’d managed to catch most of the episodes, but knowing that I’d be able to watch it from the beginning and be able to set a schedule to it seemed appealing.

Well BBC America decided to run the first two seasons and then take a break, as though they were waiting for the third season to wrap. It irks me that I’ve got to wait to see episodes that I’ve already seen because the network wants to keep the up the masquerade that these shows are new. It’s malarkey.

So even though I know how things turn out for Danny, Zoe and Tom, I’ve got to wait for BBC America to decide its time to roll out a “new” season of a show that’s already had exposure on this side of the pond. It’s positively frustrating.

And that’s what’s going to suck about the Writers Strike, is when the networks trot out cable programs that the fans have already seen and pretend that they’re new to fill holes in the schedule.

And now that I’ve vented I feel much better.