French Television

Ringo let me borrow an old television and a truly spectacular antenna. There seem to be a fair number of American shows on, but not as many as you might expect. A sampling of French TV shows:

Star Academy: Like a cross between American Idol and that dance show. Contestants take classes in the entertainment business, perform, and are voted off the show one by one. This seems to be on every time I turn on the tv.

C’est du propre: Another reality show. Béatrice and Danielle raid the homes of people who live in filth, teach them to clean up, leave them with a spotless pad and come back unannounced later to inspect the place. It was sad…I know my apartment has looked like the bedroom of one of the guys on the show (he lived with an Italian roommate who kept her room spotless. She said she didn’t mind the state of the rest of the house as he was such a good cook and that was more important. Though how he managed to cook anything I don’t know…) Luckily, I’ve never smoked or had a cat…so that eliminates half the mess right there. They also give you tips for keeping things clean and in order…like wiping the leaves of your plants with water and beer on a sponge, and sprinkling pepper in the dirt so your cat isn’t tempted to pee in it. Or putting sachets of chamomile around your house to keep fleas away. Or rubbing rust spots in a bathtub with a mixture of salt and lime (they played “Tequila” in the background).

(Yes Mom, I’m taking notes.)
(Do we have anything like this?)
(I’m wondering whether the Power Puff girls know someone stole their theme music…)

Saturday morning:

Some cartoon dealing with these three kids, one of whom is bald and wears orange Buddhist monk-ish robes. They try to discover the secret of an ancient grudge between two tribes, one of thick, pelt covered Neanderthals and another of thin, robed, elegant Asian looking people, who are forced to cross the Grand Canyon together (how did they get there? I don’t know, I didn’t see that part.)

Some live action TV show à la Nickolodeon (but definitely originally in French) about a boy who periodically turns into a girl, with only the tingling of a scar on his arm as warning. Apparently a group of girls (headed by shim) is pitted against a group of his (her?) guy buddies in a hockey match, which the girls managed to win with the help of the coaching expertise of his/her grandfather (who trained in Quebec!), and the fact that his/her athletically hopeless father and brother were forced to join the boy’s team after a series of contrived “accidents.” I couldn’t help thinking Ranma should have been involved, so they could have played Martial Arts hockey (anything goes). But that might be difficult with real actors.

(Why are there no TV shows about girls who periodically become boys?)

Saw something briefly on the television today about the riots, but I didn’t get it all. Apparently they’ve progressed to my corner of France, but they seem to be focused in the poorer side of Rouen, on the other side of the Seine. In case you’ve missed this, some French politician, the secretary of the interior, I think, said something really idiotic about “wiping Paris clean” of the riff raff (ie immigrants) and they got really upset and are now going around burning lots of cars and vandalizing buildings. And recording their exploits in Blogs, apparently. (No, I don’t have the link.)

It seems desperate people are wiling to take desperate, fruitless measures when the opportunity presents itself…in the US and in France. What do you do? If you apologize and trying to make things better, you’re rewarding destroying other people’s property, and if you don’t…well, they have a reason to be upset. And they won’t just stop.