Does anyone NOT watch UK TV?

[Tay]

We bought a tv after being here for 6 months, and only have French tv.  The reception here is appalling, so we can't get 5/Arte or M6, and Fr2 is pretty bad too.

We didn't watch much tv in the UK, but do here.  We didn't want to get a digibox and have English tv as this wouldn't help our French at all.  I think that now, we understand virtually all of what is said, and have learnt a lot of slang and everyday phrases which you don't get taught at school.

TF1 evening news is dreadful; but I agree with the comment about the lunchtime programme.  Plus belle la vie is a typical soap, but we watch it (for educational purposes!), A prendre ou a laisser (deal or no deal), Millionaire, Le maillon faible, Inspecteur Barnaby (although never watched it in the UK), Urgences, La Methode Cauet, Questions pour un champion, Des chiffres et des lettres, Thalassa, Des racines et des ailes, NYPD Bleu and the Friday night Julian Corbet programme (forgotten the name), are the main programmes viewed.  I think that the game shows are very useful when trying to learn/improve French as well as Des chiffres et des lettres.

I do miss some British comedy (CH4), documentaries and nature programmes; here, they revolve around killing creatures, not preserving them. I'm also pleased that so little sport is shown, as football often dominated UK tv.

[Will]

[quote user="catalpa"]
Arte is the one other channel I’d like to have – I sometimes read about programs that appeal to me and they are invariably on Arte. We researched it a couple of years ago and didn’t find a cheap subscription package that included Arte, they were all more than I wanted to pay. Maybe I should look again.
[/quote]

Catalpa, We get Arte and several other interesting channels via TNT (we have a French digital TV with built-in decoder, though it's the same as the British Freeview). Ours comes from Caen - we could have had TNT from Rennes a lot sooner, but that would have meant another aerial. As I think you are nearer Caen, and probably higher up, your signal should be OK too. TNT boxes are pretty cheap now.

There - that's the English TV fan owning up to being a closet watcher of French programmes. [:D]

I find 'Qui veut ganger les millions' rather surreal. I haven't a clue about the first few, silly, questions, but seem to be able to answer a lot of the later ones. I do quite like le maillon faible, for similar reasons but that woman is nowhere near as scary as the real Anne Robinson. And the deal or no deal is mindless c##p in any language - but annoyingly addictive.

[Catalpa]

Thanks for that Will. [:D] I will investigate next week.

[5-element]

Catalpa (sorry I messed up with using the quote button!):

"Re-Genesis – is that the scifi-y biological research thing – an organisation called Norbac (or similar)? If so, I’ve read about it and I’d definitely watch that. Is that Arte too? BTW, I assume the name 5-Element refers to the ether as opposed to the movie of the same name?? Lost is impenetrable in any language!"

Yes, that's Re-Genesis. Really riveting, and it is on Arte (5), on Monday evenings.

My name does not refer  to the ether, or to the movie. Keep guessing[:)]

[Blanche Neige]

Me!

 we haven't got a T.V. but don't live there full time.

Summer months and I am not bothered about TV and don't miss it.

Winter months perhaps I would want it (French or English) but when we visit we either see / invite friends or go to the cinema.

We watch TV sometimes when we overnight on the way back to the U.K. and if we are at our local Les Routiers restaurant where the TV is on all night we are always keen to see the news and weather.

I love to watch TV in the U.K. but then like Will, I had a deprived childhood,[blink] no TV in the home until after I had left. We didn't even get one until long after we were married and I was 40 (of course we only got it for the benefit of the children!)[:)]

[Catalpa]

[quote user="5-element"]

Keep guessing [:)]

[/quote]

Girl power? [geek]

[Dick Smith]

[quote user="5-element"]

My name does not refer  to the ether, or to the movie. Keep guessing[:)]

[/quote]

Electric fire?

[Tresco]

[quote user="catalpa"]
Girl power? [geek]
[/quote]

Classic Catalpa.[:D]

Only French TV here. Watching French TV has been very good for keeping up with what's going on in France, and it's also helped a good deal with the rythym of the language, and vocabulary. I would really recommend it if your French isn't good and/or you are going to be living here.

I'm on the verge of considering the possiblity of maybe getting a freeview type set up now, though. [:D]

 

 

 

[Mikew]

Go on, freeview (TNT) won't spoil you, it is all in french, and you can look at the parliament channel to find out what happens 'up at the top'!

[Tresco]

Thanks Mike.[:)]

What you need to know is that I'm like an ex smoker begging for 'just one puff'.

I was thinking more on the lines of getting a few BBC channels and ITV.

There's danger in them there channels for people like me.

[Teamedup]

Catalpa, I 'm talking about when I first came that I 'liked' american stuff in french. So it has been since I have lived here no matter how good my french has been.  I can just about watch any old rubbish in french, where as I just can't do that in english.

Someone analyse that.

 

[Christine Animal]

"Keep guessing" ...

Five element acupuncture ?

 

[Dick Smith]

Line, shape, mass, texture and colour?

[Mistral]

[quote user="Mikew"]Go on, freeview (TNT) won't spoil you, it is all in french, [/quote]

Not necessarily so [:)] We've had TNT for a couple of weeks now and I've just discovered that certain programmes are shown in VM (version multilangue) which means you can chose between the VO or VF version (or even German for Arte- Lucky Luke in German was interesting) I haven't looked at which channels offer this .Canal plus (on TNT) does, and of course Arte. You've even got Dr Who in VOST on france 4.

I'm in the same sort of situation as Cat. My husband is French and although he speaks good enough English to get by in the UK and follow a television programme, it is more of an effort for him. For the first 13 years I lived in France, we only had French TV. (with canal plus) If we  wanted to watch a film or programme that was available in (English) VOST on canal plus, then we would watch the original version but most of our television watching was in French.

Then a couple of years ago, we got ourselves a satellite (with loads of help from the people here) and we now have the UK FTA programmes. It hasn't actually changed our habits much. We check the radio times online every week to see if there's anything on we want to watch and note it down. But our first reaction is French TV. plus with the hour change, it' s going to be programmes we record not ones we watch directly. The things I've noted down to record next week are a couple of films and the Swan lake this afternoon. Plus a lot of class TV that I'll use in school (animated shakespeare for example) The children automatically try the French channels before looking at the British ones too, but having the satellite has been good for their English and they've become hooked on Jackanory, Raven, Dr who, Robin Hood (depending on the child)

We don't generally tend to watch either reality shows or soaps in either language, so it's more series like 24, desperate housewives, NYPD blue, CSI, cold case..... (we're following Re-Genesis too)

For me, having UK television was as much about having a wider selection of programmes available  (just like getting TNT) as it was about having them in English.

 

 

[5-element]

[quote user="Christine Animal"]

"Keep guessing" ...

Five element acupuncture ?

 

[/quote]

Bingo, Christine, 5 stars to you!

[Will]

[quote user="Mistral"]

For me, having UK television was as much about having a wider selection of programmes available  (just like getting TNT) as it was about having them in English.

[/quote]

So, it seems to be governed by which language is spoken most frequently in the household - which, with one French partner and children being educated in French schools, will probably be French. That is, except for the few British who feel completely comfortable with listening to and speaking French.

That begs a 'chicken and egg' question, in that did they speak French before choosing TV solely in French, or was TV a major factor in getting competent in French? From previous posts, it looks like the latter.

I can't help thinking of Mrs Will, who speaks pretty fluently, but the French channels never seem to have held any attraction (not even 30 millions d'amis), and as far as I know she never watches them when there on her own - whereas I have been known to look at the odd thing in French, and, as we know, some are very odd indeed.

[RumziGal]

We have only terrestrial French TV, but after 6 years of that we're thinking of getting British TV.

Watching French TV doesn't necessarily help you integrate, because there's so little to discuss!   At the beginning it can help you with language, that's all.

I did try with the classics like Thalassa, but got fed up watching footage of poor coloured people diving for pearls with dangerous diving gear (if they have any at all).    Maybe I was unlucky, but that seemed to be a recurring theme whenever I watched it, and after 3 or 4 times you've kind of got the message!

Les Racines et les Ailes is just so dull and pompous.  Promising subjects, but full of men in suits and earnest people discussing dull things round tables.  

There is good information to be had, but why do they ahve to do everything in that dreadful panel format, with "celebrities" and a brainless studio audience?

So if we ever get round to installing a dish for Brit TV, I'll be sending Mr rumziboy out in the evenings so that I can watch East Enders in peace!   [:D]

[Teamedup]

Interesting about what kids watch.

Once ours were into the school system they would have had more 'french' in their lives than english. In some ways we were lucky that they continued to speak english at home all and most of the time, many do not and it does affect their spoken english. Ours were quite old when we got the satellite, but for the first few years we had the choice, but they always watched english tv.

[Catalpa]

[quote user="Teamedup"]

Catalpa, I 'm talking about when I first came that I 'liked' american stuff in french. So it has been since I have lived here no matter how good my french has been.  I can just about watch any old rubbish in french, where as I just can't do that in english.

Someone analyse that.

 [/quote]

Okay.

Hmmm. [geek] [Much careful thought...] [I]

You're weird, TeamedUp! [:D]

[Will]

I'm weird as well then (but I knew that), cos I find the same.

My analysis, probably way off the mark, is that because mindless drivel in English is in my mother tiongue, I don't have to think about it at all. But if the same mindless drivel is in French, at least I have to think a little, even if only to determine that it is mindless drivel. So it becomes ever so slightly less mindless [blink]

[Teamedup]

I think you are right Catalpa. The good thing is that I am pretty good at knowing who else is weird too.

LOL Will I used to find that the difficult thing when I watched american stuff in french are those 'dubbers'. As they tend to use the same cast, if I was say in the kitchen and couldn't see the tv, it used to be hard to work out 'which' program was on.