America/Americans I just don't get it!
 

Some months ago I was treated to a Discovery Channel series called Everest Beyond The Limit. It was fantastic. Subtlely and thoughtfully edited and the commentary was UK English with only the minimum of comment. Lets face it climbing Everest doesn't need 'a story' it is a story in it's self.
I noticed that it was to be repeated and tuned in to the first episode tonight.
Well bu66er me! It was the US version and completely spoiled by 1. Poor rock music (ala American Chopper) and 2. A fussy and dumbed down commentary by a guy in need of a pack of cough sweets who would normally be doing 'at a cinema near you soon' voice-overs. Never has a fantastic piece of work been so let down. If that had been the original I'd have watched the first 30 mins and nothing more as I did tonight. God help us all :freak3:

I do hate it when they Americanise any show. The silly low down deep voice over, the endless repetition, and always massive exaggeration, especially when any danger is involved.

There was a tank building one on UK TV History recently. One of the shows is great, and is about some brits building a tank. You actually get to learn something. Then another episode has some yanks building a tank. The narrator "bigs up" the Americans in a major way. Talking about the amazing skill and dedication, and the fact they are the finest experts in their field etc.

Then the scene cuts as there has been a major incident. One of these so called experts (aka numbskull) had just decided to use a cutting torch in the ammo hold of the old tank. Well blow me, what do you think happened next? :rolleyes: Oh yes, an old bullet was there which the heat set off :lol1: You don't need an expert to have worked that one out.

Like the London cabbie taking some American tourists around London to see the sights.

As the cabbie pointed out London's landmarks all the American's could do was say how much better, larger, built more quickly or whatever, was something similar "back home".

As they were finishing the trip they drove past St Paul's Cathedral and, as ever, one of the tourists asked what it was.

The cabbie, fed up with these boastful yanks, simply replied...... "Dunno mate - it wasn't there yesterday" :D

Or

"Call that a car......in the US we have cars that are twice the size!" Yank

" We build ours to fit us not Yanks!" Brit

"What are these weedy thins strips of potato? God in the US when have one thre times the size! Goddamit". Septic

"We only grown spuds to fit our mouths!" Brit

:lol1: @ Davids post :D

I love America.. except the TV.
Its TERRIBLE

Constant adverts with a few mins of show inbetween.
Cheesy voiceovers, crap music, and VERY censored -watch a film that you know on US TV and you will see what I mean.. its so edited..even late nite. The most minor words, used everyday on both sides of the atlantic, edited out :cuckoo:
Love the way the presenters piss their pants on stuff like police chase shows, when the guy is doing something like 80 or 90mph on a freeway :lol1: .....

Got to the point where I cant stand it now. Soon to be investing in a slingbox so I can continue to watch Uk cable when Im over there. :norty:

Stereotypes exist for a reason, doubly so when it comes to Americans. Not all of them fit the stereotype though, I know many world wise, well cultured, friendly americans, oh, they also "get" irony, which the majority seem not to. That's also a big tell if you're trying to find out if a person is Canadian or American, 99% of the time the yank won't understand irony, but the Canucks will.

I've also met a lot of loud, brash, obnoxious yanks, ie; your stereotypical yank, who thinks the US is the center of the world, bigger and better than anywhere else, and that nothing worthwhile exists outside of the US, thus they have no reason to leave their great country.
I'm usually a good sort and hold my tongue, but now and then I've been known to retaliate when they are going on about Football, (I point out we have a game called Rugby, where we don't need to dress up with shoulder pads), Baseball (we have a game called rounders, it's played by schoolgirls), and basketball (we have a came called netball, it's also played by schoolgirls). As for NASCAR, well, it's not really fair to poke fun at them for that, you really have to feel sorry for them when it comes to NASCAR.

When it comes to TV, well if you love reality tv, then you have to love the yanks, and alas, more RTV is what we'll be getting due to the writers strike. I'm still wondering how/why survivor is, well, still surviving, it lost it's appeal, if it ever had any, many seasons ago. Now, if you could kill and eat your competitors then perhaps it would be more entertaining and a show worthy of the survivor name, but prancing around in some exotic location isn't what I'd call surviving.
They do like taking a concept from elsewhere and making it their own, and perhaps overcooking it. The Office is a good example. The UK version lasted two seasons and a special, perfect length, the US one is still going. It's ok, but it simply does not make my flesh creep in the way the UK one does.

Having said that, they do have some fantastic shows. Mythbusters being one of them, House being another (ok, ok, Hugh's accent does make me cringe every time he opens his mouth), and there are more.

CNN aka Comedy News Network. My word, what a terrible "news" outlet that is. I remember being over in the US when the Iraq thing kicked off again. We had two TV's where we were staying and kept one on CNN and the other on BBC World News, as we were curious to see if there was that much difference in reporting. Talk about black and white! The Beeb, obviously, giving decent news coverage, CNN doing the whole "big up america! we're kicking their asses!" thing. A few of the locals popped round and thought that the BBC coverage was from a film or something as they simply could not comprehend that it wasn't the completely truthful and totally unbiased news they saw on the bestest news channel in the world (CNN)

try working on an international class golf course when the open is in town,you want obnoxious stereotypes,they are everywhere

10yrs ago I was tasked with meeting 4 Americans at Heathrow and taking them to Guinness Brewery in Park Royal for a tour.
Although they were really nice guys one comment sticks in my head.
One of the guys sat in the back of the car said "I can't believe how you guys over here drive on the wrong side of the road"...
:lol1:

Nick

I think there is a great deal of exaggeration about Americans in general. I have spent quite a lot of time on the other side of the "pond" and find that the average bloke is at least as sharp as anyone over here and usually far more friendly and pleasant for that matter. Of course there are the less intelligent ones just as we have over here of course. People are people the world over. The generosity of Americans is also to be noted, they are well known for it.

Les

I've always enjoyed the company of Americans too. I met bullish gung-ho new Marines in San Diego all set to "kill Iraqis", but warm and welcoming folks in South Carolina, where I have family. I like our own folks too, but would say as a whole that the yanks are more friendly than the Brits.

They are generous, but is that not more a matter of their culture ie tipping ?

Andy mc