MISCmedia for 9/4/00
The English Channel

RECENTLY I GOT me that AT&T digital-cable thangy, of which I've already written about in general terms.

One of the most intriguing and bizarre channels on the system is BBC America.

I hadn't been a PBS pledge-giving Anglophile for umpteen years, but the BBC America package is something else. Like few cable channels since the early MTV, it's a whole. It's got a 24/7 unified programming aesthetic at work, due to its careful selection of BBC-controlled programs and the clear look-and-feel of its promo spots.

A brief explanation: The British Broadcasting Corp., as part of its continuing, government-directed drive to reduce its dependence on "license fees" to TV-set owners (kind of like a mandatory HBO subscription for all UK viewers), established two ad-funded cable/satellite channels for exporting its programs. BBC World is an all-news channel, beamed to cable systems and hotel rooms from Paris to Sydney to Santiago. BBC America is a mostly entertainment channel, aimed squarely at U.S. and Canadian cable and home-satellite systems.

Its schedule is aimed strictly for this niche, and emphasizes the types of BBC programs previously familiar to U.S. audiences on PBS stations. Hence, it doesn't replicate the schedules of the BBC's two U.K. broadcast channels (which include plenty of bizarre kiddie shows, collegiate quiz shows, fine-arts documentaries, morning talkfests, U.K. domestic newscasts, one or two Hollywood hit series per night, and day-long weekend coverage of darts and snooker tournaments).

What you do get are:

• Contemporary dramas;

• Historical costume dramas;

• "Britcom" comedies (including the already famous Absolutely Fabulous, Blackadder, and Fawlty Towers) in two-hour blocks of three 30-minute episodes (plus ads);

• Several simulcasts per day of BBC World news half-hours (always followed by a newsmaker-interview show called Hard Talk);

• Some daytime homemaking and decorating shows (including the original U.K. episodes of Antiques Roadshow, whose U.S. remake version has become the most popular show on some PBS stations);

• New and old episodes of the primetime soap EastEnders;

• Episodes from the Tom Baker era of Doctor Who; and

• a few pop-music shows, including the great variety show Later With Jools Holland.

But's the juxtaposition of all this hi-class programming fare with the cheap-tchotchke commercials that really puts BBC America over, at least to me. There's nothing quite like the hushed dialogue and slick camera moves of a drama like Love Hurts (office politics and sexual intrigue at a charity agency) or Casualty (office politics and sexual intrigue in a hospital) being interrupted by the loud hawking of such "As Seen on TV" products as the Turbie Twist hair turban, the Craftmatic adjustable bed, and a wall clock with pictures of toy trains.

It sure beats those "underwriting announcements" for ExxonMobil.

TOMORROW: A pair of local zine reviews.

NEWS ITEM OF THE WEEK (P-I Bumbershoot preview by R.M. Campbell, 9/1): "Bumbershoot has a long history of supporting local dance groups. Most are local...."

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