Trailer Park Boys.
Oh, dear. How I do love foreign TV shows…
Okay, so there’s this genre of shows in Korea called hallyu, which are basically the Korean version of telenovelas. Basically, they are awesome. I am mildly ashamed to admit to watching them, because they are deeply self-indulgent and girly and romance novel-ish, and the heroes are often colossal jerks, but I just cannot resist.
The best one is probably “My Name is Sam Soon,” which is about this woman, who is getting older and is a totally fatty, by Korean standards (which means she weighs maybe 130 pounds dripping wet), and she kinda wants to get married. The problem is, her boyfriend is a total jackass who just dumped her, she doesn’t have a job, and her life basically sucks. So enter the hero, who runs a restaurant (she is a desert chef), and who ends up having to hire her because his old chef ditches. But–oldest plot in the book!–his mother is pressuring him to get married, so he decides to have Sam Soon pretend to be his girlfriend, for which he will give her a large sum of money. Of course there are complications–a tragic old girlfriend returns, her boyfriend wants her back, she falls in love, etc. The reason it is so awesome is because of Sam Soon herself (and other characters, like her older sister, who divorced her cheating husband and came back to Korea to make Sam Soon’s life a misery.) Sam Soon is drunken, totally impolite, and she lusts after her boss. She is generally pretty amazing. The show itself makes me laugh like a maniac, despite the ridiculous slapstick humor, and mildly alarming relationships.
Most of the rest I’ve watched are even worse, including “My Sassy Girl,” and “Full House” (which stars Rain/Bi, a strangely attractive k-pop star who plays a total and complete jackass, in the worst romance novel style.)
I also watched j-drama sometimes… most recently, “Nobuta wo Produce,” which stars this ridiculously attractive j-pop star named Yamapi, and is basically awesome. Again, oldest plot in the book–unpopular girl, picked on at school, is made over (e.g. “produced”) by the hottest boy in school. He is helped out by his demented sidekick, who wanders around like some kind of demented Japanese Jack Sparrow and laughs like a maniac. I kind of love it. In an American series, this would probably end with one of them falling in love with Nobuta, but since it’s Japan, not so much. That’s probably why I love Japanese/Korean shows so much. They are stereotypical and–just typical, in their own way, but not in the way that I’m familiar with.
Most of these shows haven’t been imported per se into the US, by the way, except maybe in Hawaii. I mean, I think they sell subtitled versions, but I don’t think they have ever been aired on mainstream American TV. But yeah, I could go on forever, but shall resist.
Ab Fab, Extras, Coupling, Dr. Who and Japanese Iron Chef.
Degrassi Junior High was the same way - produced in Canada, but you wouldn’t know except for some of the accents and the Canadian maps hanging in some of the classrooms. And actually, having watched a couple episodes of Degrassi on Noggin, that show is not so bad in the context of all 'tween shows.
Oh! Yes, I’d forgotten about this one. Surprisingly charming (except for the actor who plays the imam…termite infested wood has more personality), and it was an absolute RIOT to see Carlo Rota in a comedy and on **24 ** in the same time period.
I’ll second EastEnders (do you watch the PBS reruns - I think they’re around 2001 now?- or the DishNetwork PayPerView - we’re about a month behind?). We get the DishNetwork PPV - I’ve been watching since about 2000, and I love this show, even when it’s sucky.
(I’m repeating a lot here…)
Extras
Coupling
Life on Mars
Waterloo Road (are we ever going to get a second series of this?)
Doctor Who
Viva Blackpool
Little Britain
The Office
F Word
Footballers’ Wives (I actually can’t stand Overtime, though)
The Catherine Tate Show
And there was one show where they were doing kind of a Top Chef kind of thing, but it was much more subdued. Anyone remember that? I loved that show!
I love Father Ted.
No Heartbeat fans?
UK
Ab Fab
Braniac
Who’s Line Is It Anyway? (UK version, obviously)
About Top Gear – I have no idea when it comes on, but I’m positive I’ve run across an episode before and became completely engrossed. I seem to recall them testing to see if a pickup truck could actually survive being submerged in the ocean and still function afterward.
Also, there were a couple of series of shows that my wife and I were rather addicted to that were hosted by a crazy guy who liked to rebuild and restore things. One series followed him restoring a motorcycle, which was really cool, and the other involved him assembling his own airplane while taking flying lessons, if I’m recalling correctly. Someone help me out, here.
Canadia
How It’s Made
Degrassi Jr. High (when I was a kid)
Japan
Iron Chef (I will never, ever forget the “Iron Chef, how COULD you?!” reaction to the squid ink ice cream)
Cowboy Bebop
Samurai Shamploo
Robin the Witch Hunter
I miss the original Iron Chef. Does anyone remember how controversial Morimoto was when he was first introduced as Iron Chef Japanese? I think it was because he’d spent time in the U.S. beforehand, and as a result, his techniques weren’t traditionally Japanese.
My current fave Japanese show is “New Dotch Cooking Show.” Let me see if I can explain it correctly. There are 10 people sitting on a stage, and they have to vote on which of two gourmet dishes cooked in front of them will be served at the end of the show. The thing is, only the people who vote for the winning dish actually get to eat. There is a lot of explanation of the provenance of the ingredients (e.g. jumping shrimp caught on a moonless night in a certain bay of the Sea of Japan), as well as the cooking techniques used. It’s pretty fun watching people going nuts over the details of a particular dish.
Won’t metion the obvious. Be couple that didn’t make it over here
The Dinning Ladies.
Not the 9’o’clock news.
That sports show (comedy) I can’t remember the name of.
If we can include radio/internet, 'Round the horn.
One’s the did
The Young Ones
Blackadder
The Goods
The Fall and Rise of Reginan Perin