TV

Television programming here is fairly interesting. We have satellite TV and get about 40 channels in English. These channels include the Asian version of popular American stations like ESPN (healthy dose of soccer and cricket), Nickelodeon, Disney, National Geographic, The Discovery Channel, etc. Unfortunately we do not get HGTV – so no House Hunters from Kuala Lumpur or Bangladesh – which just about sent us packing, but we’ve since forged on.

The other types of channels we get are best referred to as “Casserole Channels” – a little bit of everything rolled into one. These channels will show a program from one network (from previous seasons) and then follow it up with a program from another network. The other night, Numbers (CBS) was followed by Lost (ABC) and then ER (NBC). We also get the Today Show and NBC Nightly News – the next day. The one difference is when Al Roker sends it out to “take a look at the weather in your neck of the woods,” we don’t get a Mandarin speaking weather man talking about the squall coming in off the China Sea. Instead, you just get the camera left on the NBC set and you hear the Today Show cast chatting amongst themselves.

The only bad thing about these “Casserole Channels” is the lead-in music when they return from commercial is best defined as “sensual.” It’s either a catchy little ditty that has been pulled from an adult film or a sassy number from American music history. The other day, after we had watched the Today Show, we walked in on Juliet playing and she was singing to her baby dolls: “You can even marry Harry, and mess around with Ike.” Fabulous.