British Television dominated by American Shows... why?

asim

asim

asim

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I wanted to post this in GD because I thought it would get a lot more responses from a broader range of people who dont necessarily check out the "Music & Box Office" forum.

For quite some time it feels as if british television has been dominated by american shows. I'm not complaining, as a kid I'd watched british tv because I didnt know any better but as a teen I found hollywood movies, which led me to american tv shows and the rest is history.

But still I couldnt really answer my own question. I have an opinion but that doesnt mean I'm right. If more people agree then maybe I'd get a better understanding of it.

Is it because american television is better? America, big place. Big enough to find some decent talent that knows how to write, act, direct, all that malarky.

Is it because they have more money? I assume they have a lot of money with the amount of big budget movies/tv shows they put out compared to the UK.

So whats the answer? Why does american television/cinema dominate our screens. Is it something that will change? Do we actually have any quality tv worth mentioning?

I have heard that they steal some of our ideas for shows and create them with american actors because apparently no one wants to hear and all brit show and they cant understand our humour.

Thoughts?
 
The US has:

More people
More TV stations
More Ads
Therefore More Advertising Revenue
Therefore Bigger Budgets
Hollywood
Did I mention more people? (~8 times as many)
 
you think too much :p and watch too much TV, lol

but i do see where your coming from with shows like lost or 24, and i normally tune into ABC and watch that for a day, or e4 for friends and scrubs and the war at home, is an interesting point.

I think british drama and TV shows are boring personal, i dont mind channel 4 documentaries on something relevant or interesting most of the BBC stuff is poo imo.
 
We simply don't have the budget to compete with the US. And regardless our shows tend to suck. We make shows that aren't so good, the US buys the rights and makes them so much better.

Never thought I'd post such a pro-US reply :D
 
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Rosbif said:
Too many ugly women get cast in UK TV. Its simply not superficial enough.
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i disagree, hollyoaks has some stunnig women, weather you like the storeylines and screen play is not important, the women are georgious and i stand my ground firmley :D
 
You are right, but we also have a strong television industry in this country, which you can probably thank the BBC for. Many countries have very little in the way of their own broadcasts and all they have is American tv, or American tv translated.
 
vonhelmet said:
Any examples of American TV that's all over our screens? Might give a better idea of what you mean...
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Lost, 24, House, My Name is Earl, Prison Break, Friends, Desperate Housewives, Nip/Tuck, CSI, Arrested Development ( :( ) etc etc
 
Benny06 said:
i disagree, hollyoaks has some stunnig women, weather you like the storeylines and screen play is not important, the women are georgious and i stand my ground firmley :D
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Yes but Hollyoaks is very much the exception and not the rule.
 
There is lots of american tv.. but i wouldnt say it dominates our channels whatsoever.

channels 1-5 are primarily british programming
 
Benny06 said:
i disagree, hollyoaks has some stunnig women, weather you like the storeylines and screen play is not important, the women are georgious and i stand my ground firmley :D
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Compare it to something like The O.C, very similar in many ways but American, and it suddenly doesn't seem so good though ;) . Also the plot is much better and so is the acting (compared to Hollyoaks most things are!).

Rachel Bilson, Mischa Barton... mmmm :) .
 
And what do we get? Guff like Shameless, which is focused around mankey ugly baboon arsed council estate scrubbers. I should hope something like that never gets exported, LOL. What an embarrassment.
 
Rosbif said:
And what do we get? Guff like Shameless, which is focused around mankey ugly baboon arsed council estate scrubbers. I should hope something like that never gets exported, LOL. What an embarrassment.
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I quite liked Shameless :(
 
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