The Boob Tube

Today, the United States and France joust in the topic of television. Interestingly, I've watched a lot more of the boob tube in France than in the U.S.--a function of both how much more free time I have this year as well as my classification of T.V. as an "educational experience" when I watch it in French. Things going for French T.V.: the commercials are more concentrated and therefore interrupt your shows a lot less often (in fact, sometimes you can watch a full-length movie without any interruptions), not to mention the fact that you can occasionally see glimpses of nudity (oo-la-la!). However, even the occasional nude woman on network T.V. is not enough to compensate for the overall crappiness of French T.V. There are a few decent programs--I really like Nicholas Hulot's Ushuaia Nature (a cool nature show featuring the current version of Jacques Costeau) for instance--but overall their dramas and sitcoms are a far cry from those in the U.S. In fact, the most popular programs on French T.V. currently are translations of American shows (Lost, Desperate Housewives, Prison Break, Grey's Anatomy), and for many of these you need cable to see them. So this is another lopsided decision: The U.S. wins easily and knots up the score at 1 apeice.

French for the Day: The French word for "free throw" is "un lancer franc"

Link of the Day: A veritable smorgasbord of Star Wars fan movies. Some of them are quite professionally done. "