Daily Archives: January 9, 2010

TV heros

I am fully engrossed in the wonders of Birtish TV. I think that the BBC and others are amazing. Huge fan of Channel 4.

As a nation they write great period dramas and excellent series like Silent Witness, comedy excellence such as My Family.

This is not to say that I don’t think other nations can write a cracking thriller, or a laugh out loud-ha-ha comedy.

However there is one major difference between the American and Brits when they are producing these things. It is the casting. The Americans cast well built and slightly tanned leading men. Aching well proportioned women. The Brits are not so perfect – pasty white leading men (sort of ruins the top less scenes), women with in-perfect hair and flat chests.

A great example of this difference is the wonderful office. Where the overweight Ricky Gervais is completely horrible – not so in the US series. There is the Australian Series of Kath and Kim – which slimmed down the Kim character where half the jokes were ruined, because she just was not horrible enough.

So what I am wondering is does this choice of the leading characters reflect the nations view of itself?