The French Way

So I’m here in France visiting my sister, her husband, and my little niece Juliette. It has been a lovely trip so far. We’ve helped with various projects around the apartment (a tile backsplash, an Ikea work table for the kitchen).

So in the spirit of this silly blog, I’ll mention French TV. They do get a lot of American shows here, but they tend to show them in blocks - like three hours of CSI on one night with limited commercials. And sometimes it’s dubbed, or sometimes they just put French subtitles. And they may have to change the opening music if there are copyright issues. But the music will sound very similar. And I see commercials for Glee coming soon to Orange… but Orange is not my sister’s provider. So although France will be getting Glee, only some people have access. Interesting.

And then there are the commercials themselves. Of course Europe is more open - they show things here you’d never get away with in America, but they are also more open in terms of social politics. McDonalds has a series of spots with a “Come as you are” tagline. They depict a father acknowledging that his son is gay and letting him know he’s okay with that. Or two elderly people exploring the world of online dating and false claims, then meeting each other in line. Come as you are. Ooh; that reminds me of a party my college dorm once held called “Come as you aren’t” - that spawned some philosophical questions (my lovely nerdy dorm :) ).

There are a ton of French game shows – they seem to last forever. I don’t know what they’re saying and it’s hard for me to play along when I have to wait for my brother-in-law’s translation.

But I really haven’t been watching too much TV. Too busy running after bebe and working on anti-tantrum techniques. No, she really is quite good and smart.

I did get quite a lashing from my brother-in-law when he spoke of Jean Reno and Godiya. Which we figured out was him saying Godzilla. So he proceeds to tell me of the French classic and the storyline of atomic experiments causing the monster. Uh, actually that would be the original Japanese storyline I’m thinking. And when I said I didn’t realize Reno was in Godzilla (as I have not seen the Broderick version as it was not that good), he told me I should be ashamed to work in the field of TV and not know such a thing. Ooh, excuse me!

I just hope my DVR is doing its job back home. Although I do get frustrated with summer programming on cable channels and the DVR being unable to figure out that the 9, 11, and 1am shows aren’t all new, but duplicates of the new episode. Argg.

Later, or Au revoir!