Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon 2015 Character Cup - 3B


    Enable Dark Mode!

  • What's HOT
  • Premiere Calendar
  • Ratings News
  • Movies
  • YouTube Channel
  • Submit Scoop
  • Contact Us
  • Search
  • Privacy Policy
Support SpoilerTV
SpoilerTV.com is now available ad-free to for all premium subscribers. Thank you for considering becoming a SpoilerTV premium member!

SpoilerTV - TV Spoilers

2015 Character Cup - 3B

Jul 20, 2015

Share on Reddit




Welcome back to the 2015 Character Cup as we close out the third round. From the fourth round on, all winners will compete every day so winners of these polls will be in tomorrow's polls as well. There will be no more break in days as we are rapidly coming to the end of the contest. I appreciate everyone who has been commenting, voting, and spreading the word. It's been a fascinating turnout so far. Since we are now down to 12 shows participating, I've thrown in a new contest as well. After the polls, you will find nominations for your favorite TV vehicle. We will have a short vehicle contest starting tomorrow in round 4. Speaking of round 4, the following made it in: Samantha "Root" Grove, Kate Beckett, Daryl Dixon, and Dana Scully. Congratulations! Until then, don't forget to nominate your favorite TV vehicle and happy voting!



Prediction Cup Update - For the first time in the contest so far I think, we have the same top predictor for 2 days in a row. Congratulations to Perrin who remains at #1 today. Awesome! In second is Dark UFO with Wired Wizard in third. Excellent job, guys!



Prediction Standings
CC Facts and Stats
Scribd Bracket
Ranking Process
Rules
1A / 1B / 1C / 1D
2A / 2B
3A



Today's TV Talk Topic:

Thanks to Sandi and Ceryle for inspiring this TV Talk Topic. I really appreciate it.

TV Outside the United States - What is the biggest challenge to watching shows from other countries? Which non-US shows do you watch? What are your favorite non-US shows? What are the biggest similarities and differences between US and non-US TV? I What changes would you like to see regarding access to TV from other countries? f you are not from the US, which shows are most popular in your country? Does your country primarily air American TV or shows created in your own country?



















Bonus: Since we are starting to get fewer shows still in the contest, every once in awhile I will throw in a bonus poll to keep others involved too. In the nominating process the idea of vehicles being characters in a show was brought up, specifically Dean's Baby in Supernatural and the Tardis in Doctor Who but there are a lot of beloved TV vehicles out there. Nominations will stay open for today and the poll will take place in round 4. While you can nominate multiple times, please don't nominate the same vehicle multiple times.  Thanks and have fun.









About the Author - Dahne
One part teacher librarian - one part avid TV fan, Dahne is a contributing writer for SpoilerTV, where she recaps, reviews, and/or creates polls for Teen Wolf, The 100, Grimm, How to Get Away with Murder, The Librarians, and others. She also runs the annual Character Cup. She's addicted to Twitter, live tweets a multitude of shows each week, and co-hosts The 100 "Red-Shirted", Sleepy Hollow "Headless" and Teen Wolf "Welcome to Beacon Hills" podcasts for Southgate Media Group. Currently she writes a Last Week in TV column for her blog and SpoilerTV. ~ "I speak TV."
Recent Reviews (All Reviews)




246 comments:

  1. Polls close around 4:30 pm CST on Monday

    Rules are posted in the links

    TV Talk Topic - Thanks to Sandi and Ceryle for inspiring this TV Talk Topic. I really appreciate it.

    TV Outside the United States - What is the biggest challenge to watching shows from other countries? Which non-US shows do you watch? What are your favorite non-US shows? What are the biggest similarities and differences between US and non-US TV? I What changes would you like to see regarding access to TV from other countries? f you are not from the US, which shows are most popular in your country? Does your country primarily air American TV or shows created in your own country?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Don't forget to nominate your favorite TV vehicle. Nominations will be open for about 15 hours.


    1. Jamie - by default because I dropped Once Upon a Time because of Emma and Henry.

    2. Reid by default because I haven't seen Shameless but I really like the Reid character too.

    3. Buffy - because she defined a new kind of teen character on TV and made it okay again for women to be superheroes and kick butt. She's an icon.

    4. Peggy - technically by default because I've only seen the Game of Thrones pilot but Agent Carter rocks my world. She was one of the best new characters last year and the current embodiment of a kick butt female.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Emma : by default because I don't watch Outlander.
    Helena : same reason and I have to admit Helena was my favorite character with Allison in season 3 of Orphan Back.
    Tyrion : this one was hard because I watch both shows. But Tyrion won because he's always full of surprises and, in my opinion, one of the most surprising character in GoT.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 1. I like both characters and I could see myself voting for both honestly but I feel more of a connection with Emma so I am voting for her

    2. Reid from the casual times I watch Criminal Minds, although I don't follow the show per se. I have never watched his opponent's show, so it is by default

    3. No one. I haven't really watched Buffy enough to vote for her but I won't vote for Helena either. I would vote for any of the other clones though, but not Helena

    4. Damn... Really? These two had to be paired up? Tyrion is a fabulous character and nothing will ever be wrong with the world if he advances but I am rooting for Peggy to win the whole thing, so I am enthusiastically voting for her

    ReplyDelete
  5. Some shameless campaign for what I consider to be one the best characters to ever grace our television/ movies:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp_hO2fyaz8

    ReplyDelete
  6. Emma
    Buffy

    Peggy

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just Buffy and Tyrion for me!

    ReplyDelete
  8. So I'm not from the US (The Netherlands). Biggest challenge is trying to get legal access to shows and that's impossible sometimes.. I watch a lot of shows live which means a 6 hour time difference with the east coast. That's impossible sometimes.
    Biggest difference between live watching TV in the US and here is the commercial breaks. We have 5min breaks every 20/25 minutes, in the US it's more often, but shorter breaks.
    We get Big Bang Theory 3 weeks after it airs in the US, we get Jimmy Fallon 1 day later and Suits and Grey's Anatomy at least a year later. And shows like Parks and Rec and Modern Family are on in the afternoon. Others shows that air here are on the extra channels, so you have to pay more (The Middle for example).
    Also lots of reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond, Scrubs, That 70s Show etc and we used to have The Cosby Show..

    The most popular shows I think are the ones that are on Netflix, but also Big Bang Theory

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hmm. Harder than expected.


    1. Emma Swan. I like Jaime but I was really into OUAT for a few years and Outlander hasn't quite caught me the same way.


    2. Reid. I never watched Shameless.


    3. Really hard. I went with Helena because Tatiana Maslany really blows me away. I always forget it's the same actress who plays Helena and, say, Alison.


    4. Peggy Carter. Tyrion is probably one of my favorite GoT characters but I love Hayley Atwell and PC. But this was a hard choice, too.


    TV Topic: I think the only non-US show that I watch is Downton Abbey. And of course, Orphan Black. I believe all others are produced by American companies/networks/else.


    We have more American TV shows, I think. Way more. But that's a good thing. Except that they are dubbed and it's horrible. I don't watch TV anymore. I only watch my shows online.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Can I ask why you'd vote for other clones but not Helena? She seems to be a fan-favorite so I'd like to hear your thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Even though I am located in the US there are several Canadian Shows I exclusively watch since they do not have a US distributor when I first started watching. Those are Murdoch Mysteries by the CBC and Orphan Black by Shaw then there is Cracked a great interesting crime drama. Following that is the Listener.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Emma - Buffy - Peggy
    GIRL POWER!

    ReplyDelete
  13. TV Topic- I can hardly watch any cable shows since I am outside of the US and I really do not like that. In addition to that, it is so easy to be spoiled and I would like to be able to have that live-watch feeling!

    I do not watch any shows that are not american. German shows are god- awful. Only daytime soap operas and police procedurals. The Germans really do not know how to produce good television!

    ReplyDelete
  14. She is way too over the top for me and generally one of my least favorite aspects of the otherwise awesome Orphan Black. She was fine as a one season crazy thing for me but I am of the opinion that she should have been killed off at the end of Season 1. I can't connect with the character. The other clones all feel "real" and I can relate with them, whereas I really can't with her and relatibility is a crucial thing for me to like a character.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Voted in all four today:
    Emma, Reid, Buffy and Tyrion.
    Over the years lots of British shows have been on public TV channel here in the US and now I get to watch UK shows on BBC America. I really like a lot of the shows, including ones from the past, and have quite a few British actors as faves. Too many to name, but among current shows there's Doctor Who (of course), Broadchurch, The Three Musketeers, Sherlock, just to name a few.
    On the other hand, as an American our regular broadcast shows have much longer seasons, and sometimes the really good shows don't have lots of episodes. And the waits between seasons. Since I wait for things to come to BBC America, I have to be careful to avoid spoilers where the episodes have already aired in other places.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I see. Yeah it's true that Helena is the most difficult to relate to. She provides a lot of comic relief though so I like that.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I voted for Reid and Peggy Carter today. I wasn't a huge fan of Agent Carter in general (I know I'm in the minority), but I did like Peggy herself, and I think she needs all the help she can get against a Game of Thrones character.

    The only non-American shows I watch are British shows. I currently watch Downton Abbey, and I love Masterpiece Theatre mysteries. I grew up watching Inspector Morse and Midsomer Murders with my dad. I think the biggest problem is never knowing when these shows are airing. In Kentucky we only have one channel that airs British shows unless you pay more money for BBC and other channels) and they'll only show the mysteries periodically.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Even though I don't watch SPN anymore I couldn't help but nominate The Impala as favorite vehicle. The car that saved the world! How can you not nominate it?

    ReplyDelete
  19. I think I like the way your commercials are handled. Some shows here go to commercial so quick, you barely have time to react to the scene. It's worse when those quick cuts are often too.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Emma is the reason I stopped OuaT too. I don't know if it's more character or actor but I didn't care for her character on House either.

    ReplyDelete
  21. If it wasn't because she's up against Tyrion I'd vote for her. She is an amazing character, but for me Tyrion is just marginally better, The line is very thin.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I think the character has got better as the seasons progressed. Emma was always a bit "meh" to me as a character because I thought she lacked complexity, but once the show started exploring her childhood she became more interesting (it also helps that Abby Ross plays Emma as a child, she's such a talented young actress!). Jennifer Morrison has improved over the course of the seasons too, though there are certainly far better actors and actresses on the show (Lana Parilla for instance)

    ReplyDelete
  23. My votes:
    Emma, N/A, Buffy and Tyrion.
    It broke my heart not voting for Peggy, but I just like Tyrion a tiny bit better, mostly because he had 5 seasons of development vs 1 for Peggy

    ReplyDelete
  24. You never watched "Die Sendung mit der Maus"? You never watched "Tatort"? You never watched and Documentary on ZDF History? You never watched Dieter Nuhr or any other comedian? You never watched "Wetten Dass"? You never watched "Verstehen sie Spass"? You never watched "Drei Nüsse für Aschenbrödel"? You never watched Loriot?
    I highly doubt that there was never a German show you watched and enjoyed.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Our 3 public channels only have a 5min break in between two programs. So if we're talking about e.g. Jimmy Fallon (which airs on a public channel), we get a commercial break before and after the show, but Jimmy is saying 'we'll be right back' every 10min (if not less!)

    ReplyDelete
  26. The only german show I really liked and enjoyed was" Hinter Gittern" back in the day. "Tatort" is not my thing, "Wetten Dass" and "Verstehen Sie Spaß" is awful IMO. But I have to agree with you about the children shows. We have some really good ones.

    But yeah, I'm not a fan of german TV. Sure there are some older movies I liked but the current stuff just bores me to death.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Mickey Milkovich is the best character, hands down!! His character development on Shameless was *phenomenal*!!

    ReplyDelete
  28. My votes:

    1. Jamie Fraser (This was not only my toughest vote in round 3, but it was my toughest vote in the competition. I really, really, DID NOT want to choose between these two. I'm truly sorry, Emma.) : (

    2. Spencer Reid

    3. Peggy Carter (This was another tough vote. I'm sorry to Tyrion.)

    TV Talk Topic:

    My Favorite non-US Shows:

    1. The Musketeers (BBC/BBCA) (My overall favorite cable show, and I watch 16 cable shows.) : )
    2. Poldark (BBC/PBS)
    3. Ripper Street (BBC/BBCA/Amazon)
    4. Doctor Who (BBC/BBCA)

    ReplyDelete
  29. 1. N/A - Dropped Outlander but I would have voted for Claire if she was in. Still watch OUAT but not a fan of Emma.
    2. Mickey Milkovich - One of my nominated characters, amazing that he's made it this far!
    3. N/A - Tried Orphan Black but didn't like it, Giles is the only character from Buffy that I really liked enough to vote for.
    4. Peggy Carter - Tried GOT but didn't like it or any character in it. Love Peggy :) Haley does such a great job.

    TV Talk Topic

    What is the biggest challenge to watching shows from other countries?
    I live in Ireland but I don't really find it a challenge to watch shows from other countries here. Even if I didn't download or stream all of them, most are on Netflix and/or air here anyway.

    Which non-US shows do you watch?
    Love/Hate (Ireland)
    Sherlock (UK)
    Attack on Titan (Japan)
    Black Mirror (UK)
    Continuum (Canada)
    Darknet (Canada)
    Primeval (UK) - Only watched the first season, it's my watchlist
    Killjoys (Canada)
    Mrs. Brown's Boys (Ireland/UK)
    There have been others that I dropped though like Atlantis, Doctor Who, The Three Musketeers and a few others.

    What are your favorite non-US shows?
    Love/Hate, Killjoys, Sherlock & Mrs. Brown's Boys are definitely my favourite. Each one a different genre as well, gang drama, sci-fi, crime drama & comedy.

    What are the biggest similarities and differences between US and non-US TV?
    Canadian shows are pretty similar but with shorter seasons being more common. In other countries the main one is number of episodes per season tend to be less. Episode length tends be longer outside the U.S. as well and breaks between seasons can be longer.
    One thing I found interesting is that while in the U.S. the lowest rated shows are on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but over here it's the other way around. TV is most watched on those days and all the popular programs are on those days.

    If you are not from the US, which shows are most popular in your country?
    Well Love/Hate is the most popular show here but that show is Irish anyway. As for shows from outside Ireland that air on Irish networks TBBT and OUAT are very popular, I think AOS is as well. Revenge was very popular here, it was the number one foreign scripted show for the week a lot. The only other example I know of is Desperate Housewives used to be very popular here as well when it was on.

    Does your country primarily air American TV or shows created in your own country?

    It has a pretty good mix of both tbh/

    ReplyDelete
  30. Emma Swan and Spencer Reid

    ReplyDelete
  31. Jamie Fraser, Buffy and Tyion Lannister.

    I'm from the UK and we do actually get quite a few shows now that air within a day of the US. It used to be worse and we'd have to wait months for a season that's already aired in the US. Now most US shows air here at the same time as the US, just a day apart. I though normally watch most my US shows through streaming sites such as NowTV. I'll admit I also do download quite a few shows unavailable to UK viewers, but I'm sure everyone has done that at some point.

    I actually used to watch a lot of UK shows, but most have now ended. Here's a list.

    A Town Called Eureka (Ended) Broadchurch, Diagnosis Murder (Ended), Doctor Who, Merlin (Ended), Monk (Ended), Murder She Wrote (Ended), Primeval (Ended), Sherlock (Still on), Torchward (Ended)

    ReplyDelete
  32. Tatort seems to be the only decent one!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Long time ago I watched few episodes of Schmetterlinge im Bauch and yes, it was awful.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I've only seen a bit of "Shameless", thanks to my sister-I know she was really into that show. I think she still is, I'll have to check. But even so, yeah, obvious pick here again on my end for that poll :p.

    ReplyDelete
  35. I remember when they used Snow Patrol's song Chasing cars in hospital overdramatic scene and music was so loud that there was no chance of hearing the dialogue. It could have been the way to make this show better.

    ReplyDelete
  36. I talk to some people online from other countries, and they talk about how long it takes before current seasons of U.S. shows get over to their part of the world, and god, that would just throw me off and drive me nuts! Especially if one wants to avoid spoilers. I'm so used to our set September through May TV season here (though even that's changing a bit here and there with the way so many series do things nowadays).
    I'm always interested to see what U.S. shows other countries get, what sorts of stuff seems to take off and become really popular elsewhere in the world :).
    I envy your shorter commercial breaks. Do your networks ever do that annoying thing of having ads for other shows at the bottom of the screen (or taking up half the screen) while the show you're watching is running? If not, then I REALLY envy you :p.

    ReplyDelete
  37. I know there's some shows I've seen that I think had Canadian backing for them, but which aired in the U.S., but I'm blanking on what they were/are right now. "Degrassi" is a Canadian series, right? I've seen that one.
    I've also seen stuff on BBC America sometimes-I used to watch the British version of "Whose Line is it Anyway?" when they aired reruns of that years ago, and I've seen Graham Norton's show whenever an actor or musician I like is on as a guest.
    I've also got the complete series of "Spaced", but that's more just 'cause I'm a fan of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's work in general :D.

    ReplyDelete
  38. pretty easy brackets for me today!
    1. Jamie Fraser- I'm Outlander obsessed & Sam has brought Jamie to life perfectly! He even has picked up on the subtleties of Jamie's character in the books. I feel really connected to his story & character season 2 can't come soon enough!! Emma is awesome but for me it's no contest.


    2. Mickey- Mickey character development over the seasons of shameless has been incredible! Noel's ability to make me laugh my ass off or want break down is also absolutely wonderful.


    3. Buffy- she is one of my top characters of all time. I love all the clones & Tatiana is truly a one of a kind actress but it's almost always going to be Buffy.
    4. n/a haven't watch enough of either to vote


    TV topic: I live in Canada so I don't run into too many problems with TV show access. Sometime's certain shows will air later ex. Outlander so I will just watch it online instead of waiting. Odd times I can't find a certain shows. Which I will just find & watch online instead. Honestly I don't know too many specifically Canadian that I watch.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Now I want to watch a German program just to see how bad it is :p!

    ReplyDelete
  40. It takes a long time indeed! Luckily, I watch mostly comedies so spoilers like the last episode of this season of GoT or the big thing in Grey's Anatomy don't really hit me.

    Yeah, we get a lot of shows that are finished on Comedy Central and some other channels and I like it that we get Jimmy Fallon only one night after the US.

    The commercials are really nice! We do however (especially on the more commercial channels) get ads on the bottom of the screen, but it's not taking up half the screen, just a small part :)
    (Also we get less medication commercials, only for light meds. And I think it's funny that in the US the commercial itself only takes 10 seconds and then the instructions of use take 5 times as long haha. Here they just say: read the instructions before use. And that's it lol)

    ReplyDelete
  41. Emma by default since I didn't watched Outlander yet;
    Buffy because she's an icon on TV;
    Peggy because I hated Tyrion this season.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Ah, well, that's good at least :p! Yeah, that's the nice thing about comedies, less opportunity for a lot of really dramatic events and characters dying and whatnot (It happens sometimes, of course, but it's handled a lot differently, obviously).
    Ah, cool! Comedy Central has some good stuff, so yay for you guys getting that-I know some people in other parts of the world who were big fans of Stewart and Colbert. And I think it's neat that Jimmy Fallon has an overseas following-I don't know why that's a pleasant surprise to me, but it is.
    (On the note of late night hosts, I also know that Craig Ferguson had a big international following because people would always upload his episodes on YouTube and fans would watch them there.)
    Okay. Well, bummer about having to deal with intrusive ads at all, but at least your channels are smart and keep them small and in the corner. I can deal with it okay in those instances. It's when it takes up half the screen that I'm like, "...really, people?" And that tactic often makes me less interested in whatever show they're advertising rather than more interested.
    OMG YES to the medication ads! It's ridiculous how lengthy they are here-one commercial break can consist of a medication ad and maybe ads for two other things. And like you said, half the ad is just mentioning the side effects, and that always strikes me-I know that many people take a lot of the meds advertised and are fine, and I know they have to list all the warnings and side effects for safety reasons, I get that. But at the same time I hear them listing half the risks and I can't help thinking, "Geez, maybe I'll just stick with whatever illness/ailment I currently have, it seems those side effects would be worse than what I've got now!" It just seems to me that if you have THAT many things that you need to warn for, maybe the drug should be tested a little more or something before being put on the market. I'm not a pharmaceutical expert, though, so...*Shrugs*. But yeah, there's another thing with the ads I wish we had here, too.

    ReplyDelete
  43. I think Missions meant "shows" in terms of "series".

    ReplyDelete
  44. Helena is up against Buffy. Another one where I need to think.


    Jamie Fraser, Reid (default - don't watch Shameless), Tyrion, and.....Buffy (loyalty)

    ReplyDelete
  45. Yeah, Comedy Central here airs a lot of shows that are on different channels in the US. It's a lot of reruns of That 70s Show, Scrubs, Friends, Seinfeld and also Family Guy, South Park, Louie, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, etc. On another channel we get some late night shows, but they are not recent shows, so sometimes it's really useless and also for example Ellen in the afternoon.
    I watch a lot of late night shows on Youtube/the internet when there are intersting guests for example and there's plenty to find!
    And you're right about the ads during other shows, it makes me not want to watch the show that they advertise for...


    And for us, medication ads is just telling the good stuff and then in the last second they say: Read the instructions before use. And these instructions include for example the side effects.
    It's weird that they talk about all these side effects cause I wouldn't want to buy the product after hearing all the crap that can happen haha!

    ReplyDelete
  46. I actually agree about Wetten Dass and Verstehen Sie Spaß (which used to be good back in the day but only got worse over the years), I just thought that this might be something you have watched since the shows are still pretty popular.
    You know, when everyone started to rave about "Orange is the new Black", "Hinter Gittern" was the first thing which came to my mind.
    Oh, there have been some nice movies in the last years, too. Have you seen "Fack ju Göhte"? I rarely like Comedies, but I had so much fun with this one. I also really, really enjoyed "Das Wunder von Bern". It is good to see that the German movie industry has started to grew again. It was dead for way too long. And "Pina"? The best use of 3D I have ever seen. But I guess that's not mainstream enough....

    ReplyDelete
  47. Just to clarify, I'm from the US. Growing up I'm not sure I even realized there was TV from elsewhere. I mean I knew intellectually that but I never thought about it. Now because I try to watch as many pilots as I can for my column, I watch more BBC than ever and some Canadian shows but I rarely hear about other countries. Currently my favorite non-US shows are Motive, The Musketeers, and Poldark. I'm just starting Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell too. I have a lot more on my to-watch list as well.


    For me there are a lot of differences between US and other TV. I still remember when I went to France after high school and turned on the TV to catch the weather. It was the middle of the day and there was a guy's naked butt on my screen. I was flabbergasted and utterly shocked. This was back in 1990 and I don't think I had ever seen someone naked on any show before. That was strictly R-rated movies in my time. It was the first major culture shock I ever had. I also think the format of TV is completely different. For me it is ridiculous to consider Sherlock a TV show instead of a group of TV movies. The idea of a 3-episode season still throws me. I even have trouble with 10-episodes being a season but it is becoming more common these days. The final big difference for me is how long the episodes are. Sherlock is definitely more movie length than TV show and even The Musketeers I have to remember is longer than the traditional American's 42-minutes so I have to budget my time accordingly. Other than that, I think the contest and genres are fairly the same.


    The #1 change I would make regarding international TV is to make it so all countries have access to shows at about the same time. I remember going to Australia to find they were years behindon Supernatural. That seems completely idiotic to me on the part of TV distributors. All it does is guarantee a rise in illegal viewing because who wants to wait for years if you know the show is available somewhere else. It seems like in this day and age if a show is valuable enough to show in another country, they should be able to see the current season. It just seems like a no-brainer to me.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Tyrion is one of the best written, acted and overall developed characters around. I totally think he is a worthy contender. I just think Peggy fits all those bills as well and I personally prefer her (it helps that I have such a major crush on Hayley).

    ReplyDelete
  49. Buffy and Jaimie please!

    ReplyDelete
  50. 1. Jamie: He's amazing and Emma is not my favorite in OUAT.

    2. Mickey: I'M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW! GO MICKEY!!!!! He truly deserves it, his evolution was amazing and he's been through so much. I found this video, it's a bit strong and there are spoilers from S1 to S4.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbTEgSEu_gU

    3. Helena: I'm voting for the underdog here (I think). She's not my favorite character in Orphan Black, but I love her and Tatiana Maslany is perfect in each role.

    4. Another hard poll...I'm sorry Peggy, but I love Tyrion more. T:T

    TV Talk Topic:

    What is the biggest challenge to watching shows from other countries?

    Finding the episodes, sometimes I watch them live during holidays (I can't when there's school because I would have to go to bed at 5am), otherwise I watch them in streaming. There are shows I can watch in english, but for some of them I need italian subtitles (Mr. Robot for example). Spoilers are a big issue, I get to see the episode the day after it airs (if everything goes well) and I have to avoid the internet completely (especially in May)

    Which non-US shows do you watch?

    Currently airing: Lost Girl, Orphan Black, Killjoys, Bitten, Continuum, Humans, Sherlock
    Ended/Cancelled: In The Flesh <3, Being Erica, Skins, Merlin, Atlantis, Misfits, Ángel o demonio.

    What are your favorite non-US shows?

    Top 3: In The Flesh, Being Erica, Orphan Black.

    In The Flesh: It blew my mind, it's fantastic and I'm so sad it was cancelled T.T


    Being Erica: I hold this one close to my heart, it's very insightful. The only decent promo I could find is this, but it's not from its channel (it aired on CBC)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PS22_-p5g8

    Orphan Black: I've never seen anything like it and Tatiana Maslany is phenomenal.


    What are the biggest similarities and differences between US and non-US TV?

    UK and Canadian shows usually have fewer episodes. Italian series have different image resolution (I hate that), longer episodes and they usually suck.

    If you are not from the US, which shows are most popular in your country?

    Italians love reality shows (unfortunately) and our tv series are terrible, they're always the same and I don't get how people like them, as a matter of fact everytime I accidentally get a glimpse of the television I facepalm. There are also some Spanish shows (not the good ones) and a lot of people are obsessed with them. I think Game of Thrones is the most popular american show here.

    Does your country primarily air American TV or shows created in your own country?

    I rarely see any american show here (not on the main channels). They usually air on cable first and then on broadcast channels, but not the main ones. Old shows like Supernatural used to air on the main channels, but not anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  51. *Jamie, of course. I mean, Emma? Gimme a break. Nothing beats Jamie. ♥

    *Reid because I really like the show and his character.

    *Buffy. That Zombielike looking chick next to her just throws me off, LOL. I've never seen that show anyway. Not interested, sorry. ☺

    *Peggy. I really like Tyrion, but wanted to bring in some girl power. ☺

    ReplyDelete
  52. We're behind on Supernatural as well, S9 started airing a few weeks ago.

    ReplyDelete
  53. That would be Jamie, not Jaimie. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  54. Completely agreed on making it so people worldwide had access to new episodes at the same time. It might be a tough thing to wrangle sometimes, but with the way TV is nowadays and the fact that, like you said, people from other countries go to any lengths possible to watch new episodes, it just makes sense that people in the TV business would want to fix and stop those problems and just save everyone the headache and trouble.
    I imagine there's probably some money/lame corporate reason behind why they "can't" do that, though. TV executives often seem really behind the times about a lot of things.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Disqus just got creepy...It's showing that someone else is typing a response right now. :-D


    I started watching non-US programming with Doctor Who and Blakes 7 back when you could only get it on PBS. Contract negotiations would invariably break down and the show would disappear.


    Before BBCAmerica made the genius decision to air their big hits in the US closer the time they are broadcast in England I resorted to alternative methods of watching the show.


    The biggest difference between British programming and American programming is the fact that the BBC doesn't consider the cast as primary to a series as we do in America. They seem to have no problem completely recasting a series. And from my perspective as a viewer...a lot of the time it's survivable....the only times it hasn't been has been when the writers weren't able to maintain the magic. Bedlam is one show that was unwatchable in its second season because the writers couldn't find a way to continue that story successfully.


    Let's see...what have been my favorites. Doctor Who, Torchwood, Bedlam, MI-5 (2 seasons), Hex, Being Human, Prime Suspect, Whitechapel


    And there are a couple that I don't think are British.. Crossing Lines, The Transporter


    You know what I think would be cool...if there were a non-blocked streaming service. Or perhaps a site or app that would allow you to purchase a season of a show no matter what country its out of, where you could purchase a season of a show...like iTunes.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Yeah, I mean not only is Peggy great, the actress is just awesome, too. She really enjoys the role and it shows.

    ReplyDelete
  57. I wish I could figure out who to write to to protest that chyrons (lower-third) ads from television forever.

    ReplyDelete
  58. I think the lack of worldwide releases it a major issue. I know that copyright and the stupid region system is largely responsible for it, but man, they really should try to go with the time. The only good thing is that so far, the ruling in Germany is that it is illegal to upload copyrighted content or to download it, but it is not illegal to watch a stream. Naturally there are some people who want to close this little loophole instead of thinking of ways to solve the issue.

    ReplyDelete
  59. In Germany, there are actually rules how much advertising you are allowed to show per hour (not that the networks don't try to stretch the rule as far as possible). And on the main channels (the ones which are financed by the fees every owner of a TV has to pay), there is no advertising whatsoever after 20:00 o'clock. It's nice to be able to watch movies without any commercial breaks at all.
    And, to be honest: I think the US could use some foreign media. Not only in terms of movies and TV shows, but also in terms of books.

    ReplyDelete
  60. The first time I was in the US I was watching some sort of Baseball movie which ended with a homerun. This homerun scene had two advertising breaks. It was unbelievable.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Only Jamie today, one of the last two characters for me in this race.


    I live in Germany, and I have to admit I can't remember a time I watched a german produced series. I think it's been a "Tatort Münster" a few years ago. Those are the most watchable of all Tatort series IMO.


    We're getting a lot of foreign shows, mostly from the US. The most popular might be The Bg Bang Theory. The worst thing about them all (besides the wait up to a year or even longer for them to premier) is the dubbing. And because every show gets dubbed it takes longer to premier. ;) But sometimes there is something good even about that: In the US Outlander had this horrible long break after its midseason finale. In Germany we "only" had a five or six weeks break.


    I already mentioned it, I'm really curious how (if at all) they will translate this The 100 quote: "Camp YOU is that way!" I really have no idea, but the German premier of The 100 is on Wednesday this week (and since two seasons already aired the premiere of S2 hopefully won't take too long) so I'll know in the foreseeable future. Sometimes it's a shame how many puns get lost in translation, literally.


    So I prefer to watch my shows online in English, or on DVD/Blu-ray in English, even if there's also a German version.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Peggy Carter and Buffy forever. (Even if I slightly favor Jarvis and Spike but they're not in this, so it doesn't matter.)

    The vehicle question was hard. I was torn between Lola and the bus. However, I went with the bus because I actually started to cry during the dirty half-dozen when the bus was killed. Then I tried to convince myself that it really wasn't the bus, but just another mobile command unit until I saw all the empty space in the next episode.

    ReplyDelete
  63. That would be a simple grammatical error.

    ReplyDelete
  64. I would love a non-blocked streaming service that works as well for recapping as illegally downloading stuff. My biggest problem with iTunes is its generally annoying user interface. I haven't seen a British show recast, except Doctor Who of course, but that might drive me nuts. I've heard of most of the shows you've listed except Bedlam and Hex. What are they about?

    ReplyDelete
  65. Does anyone know why there are different regions? That seems so out of date. Is it just differences in the players themselves? I know nothing about DVD production. They wouldn't have to worry abut loopholes if they would just make distribution more even throughout and make their stuff reasonable.

    ReplyDelete
  66. TV execs are currently pacing themselves out of profits. I mean look at how long it took CBS to offer streaming for their shows and if I'm right, you still have commercials in them even after you pay for the privilege to watch it. That makes zero sense to me too. Sometimes I would like for common sense to be a little more common because there has to be a better way to do this.

    ReplyDelete
  67. How frustrating for people. These days it is even worse because you can't go on social media to discuss it with teh rest of the world if you can't even see it. Communication has gone global and TV needs to catch up to that,

    ReplyDelete
  68. The Bus bit it? Argh! That's harsh.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Now dubbing is an excuse to delay a show for a few weeks or months. I'm not sure why it should take years though. I am glad Germany is getting The 100 soon. The idea of shorter breaks between is appealing but I wonder how many people do NOT watch a show when it finally airs on their TV simply because they've already seen it. I would think foreign networks would want shows to air as soon as possible too just to stop the bleed.


    By the way, I think it is fabulous that you can watch a TV show in another language plus get the puns. That's fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  70. So what is it that you like about Jamie?

    ReplyDelete
  71. Seriously? Why does it matter? I am very happy that Debbie shared her choices with us and it doesn't help to correct someone on a simple mistake. This does not make you or your fandom look good when you could be using this forum to entice others to check out Outlander.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Thanks so much for voting and sharing your choices. Buffy is one of my favorite characters of all time and what I've seen of Jamie, he's pretty awesome too.

    ReplyDelete
  73. I have managed to make peace with The bus' sacrificial death. It happened to set up AOU and the episode did get an Emmy nomination because of the special effects involved. It really was movie quality.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Your excitement over Mickey makes me smile every time. I have learned not to underestimate the Shameless fandom in this contest ever again. I think that not being able to communicate wth other fans in real time would be very frustrating. Waiting a day is manageable sometimes but weeks and years would not be for me. Also if there was something major that happened, avoiding spoilers would be frustrating for me too. It's hard to block out everything and the only other choice is to just not go on social media until you've seen it.


    I didn't realize Atlantis was cancelled. I had that on the watchlsit towards the top to catch up in time for the next season. Won't need that now. I heard about Being Erica a couple of years ago I think but never checked it out. Totally agree about Tatiana though. I never knew that different countries have difference image resolution. Thanks for sharing as always,.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Awesome that it was nominated. Generally nothing I watch is.

    ReplyDelete
  76. I'm not sure I saw enough of her in House to make a decision that way. Was she the character House refered to as a number that people hated?

    ReplyDelete
  77. For me it was the sense of entitlement she had over Henry that drove me nuts and the idea that they were trying to paint Regina in a bad light with how she dealt with Henry when she was simply being a parent. That brat needed to be spanked. I realize that Regina was the bad guy but at least in the beginning she wasn't a bad parent. I have no idea where it went from the sinkhole episode but I was largely sympathetic to Regina and wanted Emma off my screen.

    ReplyDelete
  78. I had no question on how you were going to vote today. :-P

    ReplyDelete
  79. I really need to get caught up on Orphan Black. Everyone has been talking about hwo awesome Allison was and I want to see why.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Sorry the brackets were not your friend today. We are almost where I have no issues with voting. Tomorrow will be the last one if Peggy and Buffy both win. Other than that, I'm coasting with voting.

    ReplyDelete
  81. You have me rooting for her. Until (if) she comes up agaisnt Buffy and then I can't make any promises.

    ReplyDelete
  82. I think anyone willing to watch a show in the wee hours of the night just to see it live is definitely a hardcore fan. I'm not sure I would. At least Big Bang Theory is in the realm of acceptable as a time delay. I cannot imagine waiting for years for a show. I definitely prefer the way you do commercials. It makes it easier to do something during them without worrying about missing something and you aren't always stopping the show to go to ads.

    ReplyDelete
  83. Ugh! Movies on TV are the absolute worse here with commercials. Some of them take 90 minutes to watch in the theater and yet take 3 hours on TV. It's ridiculous.

    ReplyDelete
  84. Seconded. Plus then you've got those times when you think the show is coming back on but no, still more commercial.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Bwah! That's hilarious. You guys really are right back.

    ReplyDelete
  86. That is an excellent question. I wish I had thought to put it in the topic. I really, really hate those ads during the show. Once it actually cut off a portion of the screen that had vital information on it. I was ticked to no end. I love hearing about how different countries approach different shows too. It's hard to get ratings or stats on international views so hearing what's popular helps. Plus sometimes it is drastically different and that's always fun.

    ReplyDelete
  87. If you do, hand me the petition too. That's one I wouldn't mind signing and promoting. I think someone in power should take it up with the FCC.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Ha! Those medical commercials are obnoxious. If people would stop suing because they were too stupid to read and follow the directions, we wouldn't have the whole litany of side effects. Sorry to hear you have the annoying ads within the show too.

    ReplyDelete
  89. My least favorite ones are the ones that flash or move. Those are a guaranteed no from me. If they are going to be that obnoxious during my show time then i have no desire to buy their product, watch their show, or go see their movie.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Bedlam - is a former mental hospital turned condo/apartment building. A psychic moves in and deals with the ghosts on the property. It was a good ghost story show. (the second season stepped away form that formula and wasn't as good)


    Hex - was set at a boarding school. A young woman, who learns she's a witch with great powers.

    ReplyDelete
  91. Thanks for staying up and sharing with us. It was very interesting to hearr how TV works in The Netherlands.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Tatiana is amazing. I am glad to see that she finally is getting recognized by the Emmys. I've only seen a dubbed show once and it was very distracting. I can understand why you would choose streaming instead.

    ReplyDelete
  93. Jamie! Can't say enough good things about him, and especially against OuaT, the opposite gets my vote.
    Nobody. Don't know either show!
    Buffy. Never got into OB, and Buffy is just too badass not to vote for.
    Peggy. Tyrion is an amazing character, but Peggy will always get my vote!

    Some of my past and present fav shows are from the UK, mainly the BBC. Merlin, Doctor Who, Robin Hood, The Musketeers, Spooks, etc. I've always loved British shows. The biggest challenge with watching series from other countries is the access to it - some sources not being entirely legal. It's unfortunate that some channels are just not available to everyone; I, for one, would pay to watch BBC live but it's not even an option in Canada, and BBC Canada's content mostly sucks and is very far behind with its airings.

    ReplyDelete
  94. The best thing about TV from other countries? The language! My mother tongue is German. I learned Englisch, French and Italian at school. And I hated it. I sucked at it... my family send me to a lot of study abroad programs but what really did the trick, was my Italian teacher. She made us watch Italian soap operas every day for homework. It was so much fun. And you get the hang of a language pretty quick and it never feels like work. (Later I started to watch Englisch/American TV and French... French is still the hardest... those people speak so god damn fast and it also does not help that they only speak like half of the letters in a word... ;-))


    I don´t know if you know this, but in Germany every movie, tv show, book... is translated into German. They do it well. So, for example, when you go to the movies in Germany, you watch an German speaking Captain America kill a bunch of German speaking Nazis. (Btw: What is up with you Americans and your TERRIBLE interpretation of the German pronunciation? I thought 46 million Americans claim German ancestry... and you can´t find ONE actor who actually speaks the language? Most of the time, I have to read the English subtitles to know, what the German speaking guy is saying.)

    A lot of Scandinavian people speak perfect, flawless Englisch... A Swedish guy I met in Australia told me, that the reason for that is, that American TV/movies... do not get translated into swedish, norwegian ect.



    Thanks to Netflix and Amazon ect it got a lot easier to watch American TV. For example The 100 (translated into German ;-)) will start in German TV this week... but you can already watch the entire first and second season on amazon (but only in Englisch)... Not long ago you had to import the DVDs from GB.


    Personally I do not watch a lot of German movies/Tv shows... Because the Americans just to it better, than anybody else in the world ;-) And German audience is obsessed with thrillers. There is that TV-drama called "Tatort" and every Sunday at exactly 8.15pm half of the entire nation gathers in their living rooms to watch it... since 1970!!!


    Tatort = "Tatort (German police jargon meaning the scene of a crime) is a German language police procedural television series developed by the German television channel ARD. It is unique in its approach, in that it is jointly produced by all of the station's regional public-service broadcasters whereby every regional station contributes a number of episodes to a common pool. Therefore the series is a collection of different police stories where different police teams each solve crimes in their respective city. Uniqueness in architecture, customs and dialects of the cities is therefore a distinctive part of the series and often the city, not the police force is the real main character of an episode. The concept of local stations only producing a couple of shows per year has also enabled the shows to be longer (90 minutes) and more fleshed out psychologically than other weekly TV dramas. The first episode was broadcast on November 29, 1970 and the series has been continuously on the air ever since. This makes it the longest-running TV-drama of Germany."

    ReplyDelete
  95. I have seen more Canadian shows lately. I love Motive and I was a huge fan of Primeval: New World. I really wanted to watch the new one about women in World War 2 but I could never seem to find it. I hope it comes to a streaming site someday because it sounded really interesting. I like that there are more Canada/US crossproductions too these days. Oh and I thought Flashpoint was Canadian too. Is it? I thought that was pretty entertaining as well. We in the Midwest occasionally get older Canadian programming on Ion but mostly I find it harder to find than say BBC productions.

    ReplyDelete
  96. So many more shows are now crossproducing in both the US and Canada so I hope more Canadian shows start airing here. I am sure there are also some shows that I watch that I didn't know were Canadian. For example I didn't realize Orphan Black was Canadian for half of the first season. Generally it's not until I hear something called something different or see a sign that I am clued in.

    ReplyDelete
  97. I never even thought about finding cable shows. Urgh! It must take a lot of effort to watch what you want to see.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Everyone's tastes are different. People like what they like.

    ReplyDelete
  99. Actually I do too even if I know zero German.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Broadchurch has risen on my to-watch list mostly because I watched Gracepoint and I want to see how they compare. I curently don't get BBC America in my cable package which really irks me but I do like how America now has more access to BBC and other shows.

    ReplyDelete
  101. I loved Masterpiece Theatre too. It was my first introduction to British shows, minus Doctor Who which a friend told me about. I agree that it is difficult to know when interesting things are airing because PBS doesn't have a lot of advertising. I also don't get BBC.

    ReplyDelete
  102. I nominated her too. She's an integral part of the show and I think that makes a difference. For better or for worse, she is home.

    ReplyDelete
  103. I love the idea of having a news broadcast specifically geared to children. That's the kind of thing I would love to use as a teacher. The closest thing we get is Nick News and that is less current events and more topic related, We have some educational shows like "Die Sendung mit der Maus" but again they tend to be more adult-oriented. I wish Netflix would add a Hulu- like component where they can show episodes that have recently aired instead of waiting until the whole season is completed. I would add to my subscription if they did.


    I also am interested in a Peggy-Buffy showdown if it happens.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Eight episodes is a little hard to compete. I am hoping with the added exposure more peopel will check out Agent Carter and if so, there is a great chance she will be in the contest next year too.

    ReplyDelete
  105. So why is he so phenomenal? What do you like about him?

    ReplyDelete
  106. I'm sorry the brackets were unkind to you today. That will likely be me tomorrow. I'm a huge fan of The Musketeers and Poldark myself. Ripper Street is on the ever present to-watch list.

    ReplyDelete
  107. That's pretty cool that you can find most of your shows on Netflix. I know that it only shows certain shows in certain countries and thatcan get frustrating. I'm impressed by the variety of shows you watch. That's awesome. Killjoys is on my list but i haven't had time to check it out yet.


    You are so lucky not to have those annoying pop-up ads. I wish they would ban them here. The series lengths I go back and forth on a lot. Some shows I think are improved by them but others it frustrates me. I'm not sure I could take the long hiatus either. I have a hard enough time waiting for some shows to come back over the summer. I completely agree that the use of sex, language, violence, and nudity is totally different. It's something I always have to remind myself of when I watch foreign shows. It's also why I drop a lot of them. I love that the weekend are prime TV viewing for you. It makes a lot of sense.


    It sounds like soaps are pretty popular in a lot of countries. That kind of surprises me because they are considered almost second class here, for better or for worse.

    ReplyDelete
  108. I went to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden last summer and it surprised me how well everyone spoke English. I was trying to bumble around in the native language because I think it's rude not to even try but they were so gracious and so fluent that I was impressed by your education system that masters languages so well.


    I can see how finding shows with subtitles would be hard. I've heard of Please Like Me, but never got a chance to see it. Same with Les Revenants, although I did see part of the Americanized version. I just realized that Black Mirror is a UK show because every time some one referenced it here I confused it with the hideous American show called Black Box and I was wondering why people were so into it. Being Human is the only one I've seen although I hear that Forbrydelsen is awesome so I want to check it out.

    ReplyDelete
  109. I love that at least the TV companies have gotten things together for the UK. It seriously boggles my mind that anyone would think fans would wait a year jsut to see something legally. Now TV sounds like Hulu Plus for us but I refuse to pay for a site where I have to watch the same ad over and over again. It annoys me. I'm a slowly getting caught up on Merlin and I watched some of Primeval because I loved the Canadian sequel. Is A Town Called Eureka like our Eureka - town where weird scientific things happen on a regular basis?

    ReplyDelete
  110. Buffy is one of my favorites too, partly because she shaped how American girls were viewed on TV and I really appreciate that. I love that sometimes Canada shows episodes before the US does. I know that Forever was always avaible early because of that, Online is the best thing that has happened to TV since color.

    ReplyDelete
  111. YOu should go back and vote for Reid

    ReplyDelete
  112. I am really enjoying Merlin, much in the same way I did Legend of the Seeker. Robin Hood is also on my to-watch list and is often recommended to me by Netflix. I haven't heard of Sppoks though. I would pay to watch much of the stuff live that I'm interested in too, but only without commercials. I really think that pay as you go is going to be the future of TV.

    ReplyDelete
  113. I think TV is an excellent way to learn a language. Much better than how I learned French. I did have one teacher that had us watch French news but that doesn't sound near as much fun as what your assignment was. Americans are definitely behind when it comes to languages. First off we don't usually even start learning until teens so that hinders a lot. I think it's funny that you need subtitles to interpret the American version of German. That sounds typical. I was in Sweden last summer and I was amazed by how well the people there spoke English. I wish America would take world languages a little more seriously.


    I did not know that everything is translated into English in Germany. I went to a French version of an American film once but it was only subtitled. The actors were still speaking English. I've only seen something dubbed once but it actually made things harder for me instead of easier. I am glad that you get both Netflix and Amazon access. Between the two I can usually find what I need but not always. I am impressed by Tatort's longevity. The pnly thing we have on air thatlong are daytime soaps and even they are dying out. To have so many people watching one thing is an age where so much is available is amazing. Is Tartort a reality show meaning that there are no actors? Is there no standing cast since it rotates? That's a fascinating approach to TV. I can't imagien a show being on for the entire duration of my life and still being so popular.

    ReplyDelete
  114. Or not. Everyone is entitled to vote for whatever they want and to skip whatever they want too. It's rule #2 of the contest.

    ReplyDelete
  115. I have seen an episode of Hex then. It was too bawdy for me but I think Bedlam sounds really cool. I'll have to add it to the list.

    ReplyDelete
  116. I only got Netflix last Christmas but it's great. I kept forgetting to check it at first though to see if it had a show I was looking for. It's kind of hard to believe just a few years ago Stargate was the only show on my list.


    I think the short seasons and long breaks helps a lot of shows over here. Like Love/Hate and Sherlock I think would really suffer if they were dragged out.


    I know I said I don't like shows with excessive violence, language and nudity but a lot of U.S. shows leave it out in scenes that are just better with it. It often makes it difficult to grasp the severity of what's happening. Like Love/Hate is a show about gangs, taking the violence and language out of that would just make it a soap lol.


    I don't know about other countries but over here we don't have the 18-49 thing at all, so the old skewing shows, which are the soaps and documentaries, stay on air and as CBS has proven the old people love their TV! There's plenty for kids, teens and young to middle aged adults as well though.

    ReplyDelete
  117. your list is starting to sound like my best friends To Be Read Pile. Every time she pulls a book off she adds two more. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  118. Different situation, but I read the book "War on Late Night" a number of years back about the Conan/Leno debacle at NBC, and the whole time, all I kept thinking was, "Okay, I have NO executive experience of any sort, I've never run a network, no media studies classes, I have one year of community college to my name and that's it for post-high school education, etc...and I probably could've handled this whole mess better!" Like you said, for people who claim to care about profits and being economically successful, they sure seem to do a lot of things that don't exactly help them in that regard. It's crazy.
    And yeah, for CBS that really doesn't make any sense-people may like to mock the type of programming they often carry, but fact remains their shows ARE popular and have done quite well for the network over the years, so indeed, you would think they would've capitalized on that fact somehow in terms of widespread distribution. I know the joke is that old people watch CBS, so maybe the executives there figure that older people won't be as interested in that stuff.
    Except the fact is that there's many older people who do have strong tech skills, or at the very least show interest in improving those skills (if the amount of older people coming into where I work asking for books on learning how to handle technological devices is anything to go by). And there's also plenty of young, tech-savvy people who love the shows that air on there as well. CBS needs to learn how to get in touch with its viewer base, basically, it seems.

    ReplyDelete
  119. I've always wondered about that as well. I'm always hesitant about ordering things from other countries even if I really want them for that very reason. It's so frustrating.

    ReplyDelete
  120. I'm predictable, I know :p.
    But looks like it'll be a tough race this time-I didn't realize "Shameless", or that character, at least, had such a strong fanbase on here! It's always interesting to see what fans will come out strong and when in these competitions.

    ReplyDelete
  121. Emma- sadly she won't make it past this round since she is up against an outlander character and that show is huge on here
    Reid
    Buffy
    Peggy- this ones going to be close!

    ReplyDelete
  122. Damn since season 3B OUAT has been very good and I've started to like Emma more since this past season. Never really was a fan till season 4 but now I like her but Henry on other hand can leave at anytime

    ReplyDelete
  123. If they both win they wil go up against each other? I don't know if I'll be able to pick one. That would be the hardest poll thus far imo

    ReplyDelete
  124. Not a bad variety of shows there! I'm glad that at least you guys get most of the good stuff from our country (though I apologize on behalf of the U.S. for any crap programming of ours that gets sent your way-like anything from E! outside of "The Soup", for instance :p).
    LOL, I did wonder that about how the late night shows work when it comes to being current or when they air-does kind of take away from the whole concept a bit, yeah :D. But thank goodness for YouTube, is all I can say.
    Yeah, I get people need to promote and ad companies need to their thing and all, but the more intrusive and pushy you are, the less interested people become. That's just a fact no matter what the thing in question being recommended is. At where I work, I ask people if they need help, or are interested in any of our special offers, only once. If they say no, I drop it and leave them alone. I don't want to be that annoying salesperson (though some days if we're really busy, I might accidentally ask someone twice only because I can't remember if I already asked them if they needed something :p).
    It'd be so much easier and save so much time if ads went that way! I don't know if you guys have an equivalent to our FDA (Food and Drug Administration) here in the States, if that affects how medications are sold elsewhere or not, but I'm guessing each country's take on health care and medication-related issues has a lot to do with what they do and don't put in their ads for that stuff.
    Thanks, and same to you! Sleep well, fellow night owl :p!

    ReplyDelete
  125. Ugh. Yes. Agreed. It's so distracting and irritating. There's plenty of ways to make what you're advertising stick out without having to resort to those tactics.

    ReplyDelete
  126. I'd happily sign that petition.

    ReplyDelete
  127. Yep. If both Buffy and Peggy win, they will meet each other tomorrow, making it the last hard decision for me.

    ReplyDelete
  128. Kid characters can be very, very hard to take sometimes. I've heard plenty of non-love for Henry.

    ReplyDelete
  129. I thought Barry would win that first race hands-down so everything here is surprising. I like the uncertainty of it all because it lends the race a less "been there-done that" feeling.

    ReplyDelete
  130. Thanks! I imagine many people share our sentiments about the inserted ads.
    And the vital information thing is especially annoying. I absolutely LOVE that the MeTV channel allows credits to roll without any intrusive, irritating ads. Some people like reading that stuff, or maybe there's a neat song that plays in an end credits sequence or a funny "post show/movie scene", and we want to watch that instead of the ad for whatever's next. We know what's next. We have guides on our TVs to tell us that.
    I know advertisers have to come up with new ways to try and promote new series in the age of DVRs, since people always fast-forward through commercial breaks. But first off, there's usually a reason why we do that-most commercials are annoying for a whole variety of reasons nowadays, which should be a sign to advertisers to find less annoying ad campaigns. Second, there's so many of them and we're here for the show, not the ads, so yeah, we're not going to wait nearly five minutes to get back to the show.
    Third, either some shows get promoted too much to the point where nobody watches them because the promotion was so constant and annoying, or they don't get promoted nearly enough to where the show can't succeed, so advertisers need to figure out a balance between the two extremes. And fourth, as noted above, cutting into shows people are already watching just to advertise something else is NOT a good ad strategy. Nobody likes that. No viewers want that. It turns them off from even caring about what's being advertised. I don't get how ad execs don't understand that.
    Obviously ad space and time is much more expensive than it used to be, and I know the hope to go back to the days of short, simple ad breaks in the early era of television are pretty idealistic. But maybe advertisers should take cues from how other countries handle their commercial breaks. They're operating in a modern, technological era, too, and yet they don't seem to be as obnoxious with their promotions as we are. So perhaps there could be some lessons to take from there. But we seem to have a real resistance to the idea of learning anything from other countries, no matter the issue, so...:/. Again, idealistic hope.

    ReplyDelete
  131. Spooks is a great thriller/drama about spies (a personal favorite genre). It was more widely known as MI-5 outside the UK - for some strange reason it was renamed.

    ReplyDelete
  132. I didn't know that about "Orphan Black" being Canadian, either. It airs on BBC America, right? I think I always thought it was British for that reason alone :p.
    I'd be interested in getting a little more Canadian programming down here, little more variety of stuff. I remember back in the late 90s, our local cable company used to carry MuchMusic (now Fuse), and that was Canadian-based. I loved that channel-I heard a lot of good music from many countries that way, as well as some lesser-known U.S. stuff that didn't get a lot of airplay.

    ReplyDelete
  133. I know maybe a small handful of German words, and that's it :p. Which is especially funny considering the vast majority of my ancestry IS German.

    ReplyDelete
  134. I LOVED "Nick News" when I was a kid. I watched that constantly. I'd be all for more programs of that sort or regular news broadcasts geared to kids. When I was in middle school, I remember we used to watch Channel 1 news. I always liked Lisa Ling on there, and it's been neat to see her career taking off from there. She's a good journalist.

    ReplyDelete
  135. Agreed. And hey, I'm up for a good challenge, so I wish the "Shameless" fans luck :).

    ReplyDelete
  136. I have no idea what I will do if that happens. That would be like impossible because they IMO are one of the 2 best female leads in any tv show if not the best 2. I think Buffy will move on but the battle between Tyrion & Peggy will be very close I think

    ReplyDelete
  137. Sorry, I just couldn't help myself bc I've seen his name misspelled so many times. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  138. No, I don't think so.

    ReplyDelete
  139. Phew, that is a question. I don't know where to start. Unfortunately, I'm in a hurry right now so I can't name all thet hings that come to mind and that you probably know if you have watched the series AND read the books. ☺

    ReplyDelete
  140. Haha wow, that's insane! I can't imagine that

    ReplyDelete
  141. Haha, yeah hardcore fan. But sometimes it's just impossible. It's 2am here when it's 8pm EST, so when I watch it live, I make sure that I sleep early and wake up again haha.
    Some shows just don't even come out here because they think it's not a show people would watch. Really annoying.
    And yeah, commercials are always good to grab a snack or get something to drink because you know you have enough time for that!

    ReplyDelete
  142. Yeah exactly. He says: We'll be right back then we see the camera zoom out and then one second later it's: welcome back! haha

    ReplyDelete
  143. No problem :) I'm tired now, but I'm used to that LOL

    ReplyDelete
  144. Yeah I'm happy we get some good stuff too! Although I hardly watch any TV anymore, but that's where it first started for me with TV shows and now I'm hooked haha.


    Exactly, you shouldn't be too intrusive with ads. Although like I said it's not that bad here, during a show, but it happens sometimes.


    Yeah we have something similar, but since we only can advertise for the meds you can get without a perscription, most companies don't really do any advertising.


    I'm awake, but tired now haha ;)

    ReplyDelete
  145. Jamie,Helena & Tyrion for me.

    ReplyDelete
  146. It is basically a rights issue, too. I am not really that well versed in this, but if I understand it correctly, it works basically that way: Let's say the rights for a show belong to the company which produces it. This company gets money for each region in which the show is shown or sold. There is actually no difference in the DVD players whatsoever, but if you don't buy a region-free one, there is some sort of coding in them which prevents you from watching DVD's from a different Region. The Regions are not the same as countries, though. For example Germany and the UK belong to the same region.
    Either way, this is most likely the reason why the industry drags their feet when it comes to accepting the internet age. They see it as loss of revenue when they get rid of the regions or give out rights internationally.

    ReplyDelete
  147. I know that. I just noticed that a lot of people only think of the Crime shows and low budget productions (which really are awful...think of the worst American TV has to offer...currently fake reality shows are very popular...urgh) when they think of German TV and therefore overlook the children's programming, the documentary and some other gems.
    Tatort for example is a show which has been on air for decades. The concept is simply. You have a police detective in a German town who solves cases (sometimes the stories are even loosely based on true cases which happened in said town). The town and the detective changes from time to time (currently the "Münsteraner Tatort" is very popular), as does the tone. For example you had for ages really serious detectives which were all depressed when they found a body. And then suddenly you got one which discussed the last football game with his partner while looking over the body (and that was before House hit the TV). So if you don't like a style or a Detective, you don't have to watch it - well, unless you are in the mood of watching some German city and learning a little bit about how the people live there. And it is always a safe bet that you can watch a rerun of old Tatort episodes somewhere if you are in the mood.
    "Drei Nüsse für Aschenbrödel" is a FairyTale movie and a true Christmas classic. It is shown every year and there are even some people who marry in the style of the movie.
    I am also ready to bet that there is no woman in Germany who doesn't at least know what "Shopping Queen" is.

    ReplyDelete
  148. Tatort is not a reality show. It usually has some of the best actors Germany has to offer (meaning those which you will also see in movies). The cast stays on for a while and then Tatort goes to another city (though there are often Tatorts in different cities produced at the same time). The show is as much about the crime as about showing the different German cities from a non-touristic perspective. (Honestly, I suspect that Americans would enjoy that aspect, too. With a proper dubbing the show might reach an audience over there.)
    We have one long-running soap, Die Lindenstraße. Has been on since 1985, but I guess the audience is slowly dying. The rating are falling, but they will keep showing episodes at least until 2016. There are currently more than 1.500 episodes of the series. (What is really interesting is that while American Soaps usually show the life of the rich and powerful, German ones tend to show the life of "normal" people living in a street or a house and how the neighbourhood interacts).

    ReplyDelete
  149. The episode was awesome! The Bus certainly went down in a blast. And May was absolutely badass in the scene.

    ReplyDelete
  150. It depends on the show for me. I usually prefer English, but there are exceptions. For example NCIS...I don't know why, but I prefer to watch that in German. And for non-English productions I tend to prefer dubbing over subtitles. I usually watch both at one point (to compare), but I am rather able to watch what is going on on the screen than having to read all the time.

    ReplyDelete
  151. We actually have a couple of educational shows for children. "Die Sendung mit der Maus" is only the most well-known one. Another one is "Löwenzahn". We also have a couple of Quiz shows for children which are educational. For example in 1,2 oder 3 there are children from three different school from different countries (used to be different towns, but we are now European) competing against each other. Each episode has a topic (for example "The North sea") and the children have to answer multiple-choice questions relating to the topic. And after the answer is revealed, it is explained why this is the right answer.

    Though for teacher, this French series is actually ideal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time...

    ReplyDelete
  152. Yep, it's gotten much better. I have seen Hulu before, but I too wouldn't pay money to sit through ads every 10 or so minutes, it would drive me crazy.


    I actually didn't know where Monk, Diagnosis Murder and Eureka came from originally - so I just assumed they'd come from the UK originally seeing as all three had aired for years upon years in the UK. All three shows are exactly as you describe, so it is the same show with the same people just brought over to the UK.


    Nonetheless I loved Diagnosis Murder with Dick Van Dyke, I used to catch an episode nearly once a day. It would air continuously for about 4hrs straight a day in the evening so you could just watch an episode whenever.

    ReplyDelete
  153. It is frustrating and that's one of the reasons why I watch tv series in english. The other one is that I can't stand how they translate dialogues (sometimes they completely upset the meaning) and the voices they give to the characters. They always use the same voices, for example, the same guy gives his voice to Dean (Supernatural), Stefan (TVD), Jamie (Outlander), Schmidt (New Girl), Arthur (Merlin), Logan (Veronica Mars) and many others. Another example, Stiles' voice is kind of squeaky, that kind of hurts my ears and my heart since I'm used to Dylan's voice.

    ReplyDelete
  154. So thanks Dahne and Omabin for Agent Carter, I watched the pilot and it was AMAZING, I am in love with Peggy!
    1. Emma by default, she will lose, but dont watch Outlander
    2. Reid by default, dont watch Shameless
    3. Buffy by default, dont watch Orphan Black
    4. NA- If you 2 didnt recommend me AC, I would vote for Tyrion by default, but now.... just the toughest poll EVER, I have to abstain here... I MUST

    ReplyDelete
  155. Movies here are great, expecially on the public channels. There won't be any commercials during the movie. The problem is that they usually don't really show a lot of movies.
    And for movies on the public channels they take a 7-10min break every 25 or 30 minutes. So that's not too bad.

    ReplyDelete
  156. Consider this: Buffy has her abilities because she is "the chosen one". Peggy is badass in her own right. (yes, I am campaigning hard for Peggy to make it as far as possible).
    But I honestly think that Peggy is one of the most rounded female characters we currently get, and a perfect blend between butt-kicking and feminity.

    ReplyDelete
  157. I loved Diagnosis Murder with Dick Van Dyke, I used to catch an episode nearly once a day. It would air continuously for about 4hrs straight a day in the evening so you could just watch an episode whenever.home security system in jaipur I don't really like any crime shows/mysteries anymore

    ReplyDelete
  158. Why? I haven't watched the show he is on

    ReplyDelete
  159. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0pV2faxne4
    This might give you a feel for the it...fun fact: The guy shown in this is the only actor who was in all episodes, but he never had a role aside from running through the intro.

    ReplyDelete
  160. She played Cameron. I wasn't a huge fan of her on House, either. I always thought she thought she was better than Chase and Foreman.


    Olive Wilde played "Thirteen." I loved her.

    ReplyDelete
  161. 1.Emma, but I think Jamie is a wonderful character too!
    2.Don't watch neither :-/
    3.Helena. Hope to catch up on Buffy soon!
    4.Tyrion, but AC is almost next on my watchlist :)


    As for the TV talk, I'm from Italy and well, I don't watch anything here. The shows are overall bad, with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions. The quality of American and British shows (which I watch a lot) is insuperable. I watch them online because with the majority I would have to wait months or even a year to watch the new seasons, and also because I prefer hearing the actors' voices and not the dubbing. Also, watching them in English helped me sooo much with the language.

    ReplyDelete
  162. Jamie, Helena and Tyrion.


    I´m from Denmark and watch mainly danish and american shows. It is two very different things and I like getting the best of both worlds. It is not ever a problem watching an american show here (online), but I travel to the states once in a while and must say that it is much nicer watching it "live".
    In Denmark the shows aren´t translated and I like it best that way. I prefer to read in english as well.


    Danish shows are good most of the time, though I can get a bit tired of seeing the same actors again and again (small country). The humor is more like the english humor, a little darker than the american and we use more sarcasm. I miss that in the american shows and rarely like the american comedies.

    ReplyDelete
  163. You CANT...Peggy needs every vote she can get.....

    ReplyDelete
  164. The Big Bang Theory has a lot of viewers in my country and maybe NCIS too. But shows like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead are also popular. At least when I talk to my friends, who only watch the dubbed version.
    To be honest I don't watch any non-US shows, which are actual series. I tried Orphan Black once. I watched the first season, if I remember exactly, but I dropped it. I liked it, but I don't know.. I wasn't THAT interested to binge watch the next two seasons.

    My country primarily airs American TV with dubbing. I watch most of the shows dubbed, because I'm not the best in understanding everything. But I watch my favorite shows in the original version (english) with subtitles (german or english, depends on which is available). I am also planning to start watching more shows in original version, because it would improve my English and I really like tv shows haha

    ReplyDelete
  165. Yes flashpoint was a Canadian show. Motive was on NBC for awhile so I did not count that. Another international series is Crossing Lines. If you have not seen it you should. I like a few Australian shows too like Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries too.

    ReplyDelete
  166. I think it's kind of funny that the same voice is used for such very different characters. It would bug me too, especially since I like a lot of those actors' voices.

    ReplyDelete
  167. I know many younger viewers who watch CBS shows so I think they get the same kind of raw deal as far as reputation goes as The CW does. It makes little sense to not tap into that and expand that viewer base. Still I am not paying to watch commercials. For me it's like a toll road. If I'm paying to drive on it, I ought to be able to go as fast as I want, no police for speeding.

    ReplyDelete
  168. I think they would actually lose money with this system because by the time things comes out in some regions, people have already found alternative ways in which to see them.

    ReplyDelete
  169. Peggy vs. Tyrion is shaping up to be quite the race. I like that we've had a close one in almost every set of polls.

    ReplyDelete
  170. Yeah but Buffy helped pave the way for kick butt women on TV as a whole. That's an awful lot of kick butt women in her debt.

    ReplyDelete
  171. Most of the stuff you see advertised on TV is prescrption only so you have to have a doctor say you need it and pick it up at a pharmacy (our version of an apothecary). Even some of the stuff you don't need a prescription for is only available at pharmacies now. For example, I take Sudafed for allergies and it's almost impossible to find now and locked down more than most prescription drugs. Very annoying.

    ReplyDelete
  172. We have some advertising rules too but they mostly benefit the advertiser instead of the public. Part of that is because we do not have the basic fee for having a TV that you have. That would actually make things simpler and if it meant we could have ad-free times, I would gladly pay that. I agree that the US could do with more foreign content, although I do think it is getting better with the introduction of networks like BBC America, IFC, and Sundance. I think we could do with a worldwide news system that shows things from other perspectives too. That why I liked watching BBC news for America because it had a different spin and often included more international news instead of just what was happening in our borders.

    ReplyDelete
  173. I'm all for more product placement to cover costs, even is I make fun of the most blatant ones. We all use stuff so if you want to show me the characters fauning over the special features of their new car, go for it. Just don't flash your freaking car sale on the bottom of my screen in neon colors. I'm also very good with paying a no-commercial fee and having that sucked right out. Skip the middle man. I'm fine with helping to support my favorite shows.

    ReplyDelete
  174. That's actually excellent. I love that plan.

    ReplyDelete
  175. I'm not sure I would be that dedicated. Plus my work would frown upon that.

    ReplyDelete
  176. I think most people who saw Broadchurch first think it was better than Gracepoint (that includes me). I've seen both seasons. I pay a bit more for the BBCAmerica inclusion (but not much), and for me it is worth it, mostly because I'm such a Doctor Who fan.

    ReplyDelete
  177. I thought it was British as well. Ha! I remember Fuse. It came on in the wee hours of Saturday here and it ws only for a couple of hours. It was back when MTV started its trend to stop playing musci videos so sometimes it was the best way to see them.

    ReplyDelete
  178. I heard about Crossing Lines in Pitch Your Show and it sounded very interesting too.

    ReplyDelete
  179. That's awesome that there is a German Christmas classic. Ours are Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life, both of which I cannot stand.

    ReplyDelete
  180. So is mine but only my great-grandfather spoke any German and he died when I was young. I always wanted to learn but never made the time.

    ReplyDelete
  181. Generally the originals of anything is better than the copy so that doesn't surprise me.

    ReplyDelete
  182. The ads are a particular pain when the characters are speaking another language and the translations are dubbed at the bottom.


    Another time one big one at the top was cutting off some heads. Since I sometimes like to get screen grabs for fanart I definitely hate those.

    ReplyDelete
  183. There's a lot of great stuff for kids out there but nothing that is professionally done like Nick News or Channel 1. I'd like to see that return. At least though Reading Rainbow is coming back. It's a start.

    ReplyDelete
  184. Who knew there were soooo many things named Once Upon a Time? I'm actually at the lower grades now where they don't offer French or any other language, but thanks for the resource.

    ReplyDelete
  185. I'm Canadian so I get all the U.S. shows. We even have a few earlier than the u.S. networks.


    I also watch Canadian shows and British mysteries and some Aussie drama.

    ReplyDelete
  186. I don't use Netflix as often as I should but when I want to marathon an older shows, it is the best thing ever. I like the idea of not using 18-49 ratings and I wish advertisers would look more to the future instead of staying in same old patterns over here

    ReplyDelete
  187. Those shows used to air in marathon during the day here too and they were always fun to watch an episode or two of. I did find Murder She Wrote on a few months ago so it might be back here. I tend to like murder mysteries but they are not something I have to see every week. I too think the best ones have ended though. I used to love Quincy MD way back in the day.

    ReplyDelete
  188. I mostly had classes in the afternoon so my schedule allowed it :) Plus I don't need a lot of sleep, although I'm happy that I don't have to watch any shows live in the summer!

    ReplyDelete
  189. I can see why dubbed would be preferable to subtitles sometimes. I would imagine any show that has a lot of technical jargon like medical shows and forensics would be very hard to watch in another language.

    ReplyDelete
  190. May is my absolute favorite thing about SHIELD.

    ReplyDelete
  191. That sounds great! I love spy dramas. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  192. Thanks for the clarification. I love the idea of them being in different cities because it does allow for different flavors. Interesting that your soaps focus on the working class instead. I have a feeling I would like that better,

    ReplyDelete
  193. This actually reminds me of the title sequences of crime shows in the 70's here. Very classic.

    ReplyDelete
  194. I am so glad that you liked it. I hope you can see all 8 episodes before season 2 starts. Sorry to have made the brackets tougher on you though. I understand not being able to choose between two characters.

    ReplyDelete
  195. If you do try Buffy, let us know. I'd love to hear what you think. Just a warning though, the second season is much better than the first one so give it a little time.


    I don't blame you for not wanting to wait. Having to go a year before being able to see something that's already out somewhere else is ridiculous. I love that people are using TV to help them learn languages. That's fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  196. Ha! I never thought about having the same actors in everything. That would be interesting, especially because I tend to associate actors with one or two main parts. I think comedies are the biggest difference between British and American TV as far as content goes too. I think it's whatever you are most used to.

    ReplyDelete
  197. I am sooo glad you enjoyed it. It really is a must watch and Peggy is indeed awesome, I totally understand being in love with her because I am as well myself ahah. I am actually nervous about this poll, I have been checking it out regularly, I hope she can pull it off. Let me know how the rest of Agent Carter (the show) goes for you but I think you will enjoy it much because most of the consensus is that it gets better throughout the season, even if started already from a pretty strong place. I am really happy we got the show one more fan ;)

    ReplyDelete

NOTE: Name-calling, personal attacks, spamming, excessive self-promotion, condescending pomposity, general assiness, racism, sexism, any-other-ism, homophobia, acrophobia, and destructive (versus constructive) criticism will get you BANNED from the party.