UK vs US: Television Format

While the third series of Sherlock was running, I had recurring conversation with a number of my friends and family all revolving around the same topic, British television versus American television. It probably had to do with the fact that most of friends are firmly in the US TV camp (ie that’s what they predominately watch) so a show like Sherlock is very different from what they view as the standard format. But the more I thought about the talks I had; especially with my Mum who is British herself and more of an expert on the subject than I am, the more I thought about those strange seemingly inconsequential differences that create two completely different markets of entertainment. So I’ve decided as something that will be recurring for a little while is some interesting difference between the two areas and if it really makes a difference.

This post is going to be focusing on formatting and structure, and you may surprised what a big difference that can make.

Series versus Season

Based on the heading for this subtopic, you might think that merely focusing on the semantics and vocab, but the word choice in a way goes beyond a simple title for a portion of a program’s lifespan. Any one who watches both British and American television will tell you that a little difference in terms of jargon is that while in the states a television “series” is made up of seasons, a season in a British program is dubbed a series (hence my not calling the most recent run of Sherlock its third season).

Now while for the most part it’s trivial, you can dissect it into slightly deeper meaning as to how these shows are written. I talk a little bit about why the mini-series is in many ways more satisfying for this post I wrote two years ago for a intern blog at IBM, and I won’t go into too much detail but the main argument remains the same. Because much of British TV is more compact and stand-alone; closer to a mini series, a lot is cleaned up and not left hanging come the finale of that particular series. Now obviously there isn’t a guarantee that a British show will end smoothly, especially if it ends abruptly (I’m looking at you The Hour Series 2). But there’s something far more pleasing about closure with a show that’s been around two years as opposed to a show that they kept going for eight because that’s how the market works. The Brits just seem a little more sensible.

Don’t get too attached

I’ve recently been re-watching the entirety of BBC 3’s Being Human and it’s definitely struck home something that it, Misfits, and MI-5/Spooks do in their show. They are not afraid to kill off or get rid of very important characters (especially Spooks). You just don’t see that same kind of banality (or done casually I guess I would say) with American shows. Sure deaths and departures happen but they are really big deals…  even more than they are across the pond. If you’ve watched Spooks then you know what I’m talking about.

While haven’t watched most of the US version of Being Human (simply because I’m being snobby and refuse to), reading the various plot summaries shows that while the show is different (thankfully) from it’s British big brother… it definitely doesn’t seem to hold the same gravitas that the original had. The show is going into it’s 4th season and all the main characters are still alive and mostly the same (give or take some moments of being human, which would never happen in the British one). By the end of first episode of the 4th series of the original program, three quarters of the original cast were dead… and then Annie was gone by the end leaving the show with a completely new cast of supernatural housemates.

My mum speculates that maybe it has something to do with contracts and other commitments that American actors just don’t seem to have, which I’d be inclined to agree with her but can’t talk too much about as I’m not really knowledgeable of this realm of the acting world. But there may be something to be said about American actor’s picking up TV show gigs and sticking with them and being famous for that rather than the diversity that a lot of British actors have.

In the end, it doesn't really matter

Spooks Series 1 Cast: only one of them is in every series

You could spend an entire media studies course dissecting the differences in terms of structure of these two very different television markets. While I have an obvious preference of one over the other, there’s no clear right choice when it comes to what you should watch. There are a lot of long running American shows that are staples in the history of television on a global scale. But it’s fascinating that these two countries that speak the same language have fundamentally different approaches to how to structure the same medium.

Dwarves, Fungus Zombies, and Chiptune Music: A Review of 2013

In 2012 we had Gangham style, The Avengers, and threats of the apocalypse because some Mayans said so. So as 2013 comes to a close, it's hard to say what made this year so special, for better or worse. As every publication, podcast, blog, critic, and self-proclaimed expert in something is giving their review of the year in a "best of" or "most disappointing" format that would make cracked.com and buzzfeed smile with pride, I feel that I should do the same. As this blog is written by someone who judges everything and is a self-proclaimed expert in nothing, I couldn't pick one particular area to focus on. I could narrow it down to popular culture, but the only thing I've made easier to avoid is politics, which doesn’t exactly streamline my subject. So taking another page from the internet (with apologies again to Cracked), my review of 2013 is going to be a best of the year in a variety of categories, some you may not have considered before. Some may call this unorganized and lazy. I would agree with you and add sporadic, chaotic, and overall a borderline clusterfuck of topics.

Best movie trend:

Winner: Sequels that didn’t totally suck

If there’s one thing that I really enjoyed about movies this year is that despite the abundance of sequels that could have been absolute garbage they turned out to be great films. Now that’s not to say that they were all amazing or significantly better than their predecessors, but when its become typical for a sequel not to live up to the hype or success of its big brother(s), it was definitely a nice trend to have Iron Man 3 be better than Iron Man 2, Star Trek: Into Darkness not be a train wreck and Thor: Dark World be far more entertaining than the first chapter. Hell, Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug was even able to throw in characters that don’t exist in the book and was still better than Part One. (fact: I’m someone who likes the first movie more than I should).

While sequels aren’t always bad, there is often a stigma with them that sometimes is hard to shake. But it’s pleasant to see that studios aren’t simply coasting on what for the most part are guaranteed cash cows, they’re actually bringing them back

Honorable Mention: The Revival of the Kaiju Genre

Pacific Rim was sweet and Godzilla in 2014 is looking like a reboot in the right direction

Game of the Year

Winner: Read to find out (that’s right, I’m making you read)

To say I had a tough time picking the winner of this particular category is an understatement. I liken it to asking me to pick between my non-existent children (ok so not a good simile, but you get the idea). 2013 proved to be a great year in the gaming industry for both AAA titles and indie games alike. Bioshock Infinite was stellar, Borderlands 2 DLC was a riot, and countless other games made 2013 a great year to be a gamer. But there was one game that not only has shown that games can always push the boundaries between gameplay and ground-breaking storytelling, but truly redefined what we can get out of games. If you haven’t figured out that I’m talking about The Last of Us, then you probably don’t play games.

If you’ve played it, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t played it… what are you doing reading this? Seriously, stop right now and go get it. No I don’t care that you don’t want to spend the money, just go watch a commentary free Let’s Play (if it hasn’t already been pulled by Youtube).

P.S. it’s made me fear all forms of fungus, as if I didn’t hate mushrooms enough as it is.

Honourable Mention: Papers, Please

Glory to Arstotzka!

Game console of the Year (can't go to the PC, because it would always win)

Winner: Nintendo 3DS

Sony and Microsoft have continued to make great home console experiences, the PC continuing to be simply the best, and Nintendo’s Wii U finally having some games worth playing on it. So while some of you may think that my singing of Last of Us praises in the last topic may put toward me being somewhat of a Sony fanboy… you’d be right. But the best console hands down was surprisingly the 3DS. The sheer number of fantastic games on the system made it a great platform this year. Animal Crossing, Fire Emblem, Luigi’s Mansion, Pokemon X & Y and the new street pass games made this a fantastic gaming device and time sink. The amount of hours that I have put in on this console this year alone was well worth the price of admission.

I have friends who scoff at the idea of getting a 3DS for a variety of reasons, and all I do is nod while silently judging them and feeling sorry for them.

Honourable Mention: PC

I personally blame Steam and their sales

Best Indie Album

Winner: Absolute Zero by Little Green Cars

So I’m a fan of indie music, specifically of the folk rock variety. And while I lament the popularity of Mumford and Sons (still one of my favourite bands, but it’s not as fun when everyone else likes them too), I have found a band that I had the privilege hearing live last year and found an absolute pleasure to listen to. Little Green Cars (since there’s a good chance you haven’t heard of them) are a great Irish folk rock band and their entire album is wonderful to listen to. If you’re a fan of Indie folk rock, you have to give these guys a listen, they’re fantastic. Especially the songs Angel Owl and The John Wayne

Honourable Mention: Trouble Will Find Me by The National

One of my favourite bands and their latest album is another great release from them. The song Pink Rabbits is probably my favourite.

Best Indie Electronic Album

Winner: Endless Fantasy by Anamanguchi

I’m going to saying this is the best with a disclaimer in that you really have to like chiptune music. Also, I’m not even really sure if Anamanaguchi even counts as indie despite the lack of mainstream recognition and wikipedia saying that one of their genres is indie rock (because we can totally trust wikipedia right?). But never mind that, what matters is the entire album is amazing and I can not stop listening to it. In fact my only regret is that I didn’t know there was a Kickstarter for the album until it was released because I would have been all over it. Seriously give this one a listen, it’s amazing.

Honourable Mention: Couldn’t think of one… but it’s probably because I’ve forgotten it

With 2014 shaping up to be an interesting year with Captain America continuing Phase 2's success and Sherlock finally back on television in the first month, who knows what other amazing surprises or purely terrifying horrors await us. In fact if I were to list all the things that we have to look forward to in the upcoming year, then I’d just be saying what other people already have, and that’s no fun for anyone (especially you). All we can do is listen to those ancient words of wisdom given by an incredibly useful guide book: DON'T PANIC (I probably still won’t follow this advice anyway)

Here’s looking at you 2013, full of Dwarves, Fungus Zombies and my bankruptcy due to Steam sales. Thanks for all the fish.