Weird and interesting TV facts

[Nuytsia]

My (forum based) images are still out too.
I used to drink White Russians when I was about 18 !!!!!!
I love that Moss drinks it in The IT Crowd!
I couldn't imagine it having been invented in Russia - I get the impression that they would generally prefer straight alcohol.....

Also, it turned out that Russian movie was SO WEIRD And I really liked it.

It's just called "4" - has anyone seen it?

The problem is, I know so little about how life truly is in Russia that I don't know what parts were real life and which were intentionally absurd!
I hope pretty well all was the latter!!!!

[Nuytsia]

Geees it's weird how things relate to each other. I posted this about the drink White Russian , and the next night I was watching Foyle's War on TV (see it relates to the thread topic) and I learned what 'White Russian' actually IS (presumably where they got the name of the drink from).
Apparently it referred to those Russians who fought on the opposite side to the majority of Russians (ie communist and hence ''Red Russians' according to the British anyway) in WW2. I didn't realise that even happened. I MAY have learned it in school and forgotten..... but I don't think so.
ps Yay they just started screening new episodes of Foyle's War! It's not the sort of show I'd ever have thought of watching, but I did watch it once and it's really good! Interesting to learn about what was going on in WW2 England and it's fun trying to solve the murder! (there are actually clues that make sense so you CAN solve it! not like most shows like that)

[maulkin]

Also, it turned out that Russian movie was SO WEIRD And I really liked it.

It's just called "4" - has anyone seen it?

The problem is, I know so little about how life truly is in Russia that I don't know what parts were real life and which were intentionally absurd!
I hope pretty well all was the latter!!!!

I visit Russia fairly regularly. I have not seen 4 but anything absurd and relating to Russia is probably true!

[Nuytsia]

Wow that must be fun! Is that for work?

In the movie the craziness started with drinking huge amounts of alcohol and chain smoking while talking about a great new product for improving your health (some sort of ioniser I think) THEN driving your car .....
Probably true....

It got a lot more nuts from there though.

Recommended.

[Farseer]

I HATE cars (especially watching things like Formula One/V8 Supercars etc) but love watching 'Top Gear'...go figure...!

[Nuytsia]

Cool I quoted from another thread!
Farseer you probably have a wonderfully developed brain from all that non-TV watching! I'm sure you weren't doing anything 'wrong' quite the contrary no doubt (no TV as babysitter!!!)
Hey I used to love cricket when I was a kid - as my boyfriend found out the other day much to his shock (I found an old scrap book of mine )
I've lost interest in cricket these days, BUT I'm Soooooooo looking forward to the World Cup (go us!!!!!!)

You don't get any TV when it rains!?? I am going to sound like a doofus here, but do you get TV from a transmitter via the regular method ?

Farseer I thought people would watch MORE TV when they'd had a baby.

Not me! Ahem...maybe I was doing something wrong (though both my boys were pretty high maintenance early on, due to a few medical dramas)?! I went for YEARS without really watching TV, listening to the radio or reading a book...I even missed Allan Border's last season of international cricket AND Queensland's first ever Sheffield Shield win and that's saying something (way off topic...you are a bad influence on me ...but I was an absolute cricket nut and therefore that's the best measure I have for my total lack of media immersion in those years!!).

How many channels do you get total?

Growing up, I only had the one and, being out of town, that was usually fuzzy (ABC, which was all I needed for the cricket and footy anyway!). It wasn't until I reached my last year of high school that we finally received commercial television (the first show I saw was a re-run of 'Happy Days' and it was awesome to see the Fonz without having to be on holidays in Brisbane!).

Nowadays we get ABC, SBS, Impara and Seven Central (though, as we are out of town and have satellite television, we do also receive inter-state versions of ABC and SBS eg we can watch a show on Qld ABC but, if we miss a part of it, we just have to wait a few hours and can then view it again on Western Australian ABC !). In saying that, we can't watch a thing when it rains (which is very annoying seeing as how cricket season coincides with our wet season!!).

Everywhere on the coast/down in the south-east corner etc receives ABC, SBS, Channel Nine/Win (I thought they were the same?!), Channel Seven and Channel Ten (as well as all the rest of the free-to-air digital channels you can now get with a new HD TV set - ABC2, ABC3, GO! etc).

Sorry all...it's Nuytsia's fault !!!

[Farseer]

On the subject of weird television, does anyone here regularly watch Canadian TV? No? Didn't think so. Moving on...

There are quite a few Canadian television shows on, here in Australia. I grew up watching the first few seasons of 'The Kids of Degrassi Street'...or was it called 'Degrassi Junior High' back then...whatever it was, it was one of my favourites !

[Nuytsia]

Hah that's right!
I think there was degrassi junior high then degrassi high and possibly others that i have forgotten! Those kids are probably grandparents now!!!
Now that you mention it I've seen a lot of shows that I thought were good and at the end it turns out they were Canadian (ok I ADMIT I can't really tell the difference between Canadian and some American accents unless I am actually looking for it ...)
Now hmmmmm I just have to think of what shows they were .....

Heh I just consulted the TV Guide - looks like we get a lot of Canadian kids shows here! (here is Australia btw)
Some of my faves are Arthur and Jane and the Dragon......

ok revealing too much about how I like watching kids TV ........

On the subject of TV I am currently watching 'Inside Nature's Giants' which is really interesting! This week they are dissecting a WHALE!

[Lord Punctual]

Don't feel bad. I have trouble telling American and Canadian accents apart, and I'm Canadian. I mean, everyone can pick out Deep south, Boston, Rural Newfoundland and French Canadian, but the middle of the read accents really blur together. I used to work in technical support over the phone, and it was very rare that Americans could pick out my accent as being Canadian. (And I'm actually from one of the more recognizably accented parts of Canada, the Maritime provinces.)

I watched Degrassi when I was a kid too. Actually, there's a new series on now called Degrassi, the Next Generation, that actually features a lot of the children of the original characters - often with the original characters (same actors) playing the background roles of their parents.

I must admit, I'm really surprised to hear that Canadian television is shown in Australia. I mean, the CBC always claims that our programs are shown all around the world, but I just thought that was one of those things that they say to make us feel important, like "Santa Claus is Canadian" and "Spelling colour with a U makes us seem cultured."

There's a comedy show they just started showing here called something like We Can Be Heroes and another one called Summer Heights High that seem to be Australian in origin. Are they?

Arthur's a Canadian show? Neat.

[Farseer]

I must admit, I'm really surprised to hear that Canadian television is shown in Australia.

There's a comedy show they just started showing here called something like We Can Be Heroes and another one called Summer Heights High that seem to be Australian in origin. Are they?

Yep, 'Summer Heights High' is an Australian television mockumentary series...I think it's hilarious but it doesn't take much to get a laugh out of me ! Not sure about 'We Can Be Heroes'?? Besides the various Degrassi shows, here are a few other Canadian shows I know of and have seen here...

Babar (kids)
The Beachcombers (one of my favourite shows when I was very young!)
Caillou (kids)
Cyberchase (kids...my kids have all loved it!)
Fraggle Rock (kids)
Franklin (kids)
The Saddle Club (Australian show but is co-produced with Canada)
Stargate SG-1 (sci-fi)
The Swiss Family Robinson (another of my childhood favourites!)

Totally off-topic but totally related (!!)...one of my favourite boardgames as a kid was 'Klondike'!