The British Hits

The British Hits was Originally Posted on December 21, 2011 by lavarock

Having been a radio DJ for many years, oftentimes my blog entries have titles associated with music. That is not to say that the blog entries themselves are about music though. I write the blog because I’m a frustrated writer (a frustrated writer, not a good writer by the way). I’m not even good at spell checking, getting tired by the end of the thought process and hoping that readers will also be tired reading and forgive me my foibles. Yes, I looked that up as I don’t often say foibles let alone have to spell it.

I have a number of cheap reading glasses but rarely wear them when I blog. The keyboard is quite different from the one I am used to, and I hunt and peck using about three or four fingers. So I often have the letters “to” in a sentence misspelled. I hit the “t” with my left forefinger and the o with the right one. I use the left thumb for the space bar and the thumb hits the space a millisecond before I get to the “o”. Thus causing a “t” then a space then the “o” rather than the space coming after causing the word “to “. I try to correct that but often fail to find them all.

Speaking of never learning to type, yet having even less to do with the music theme of the blog, I must explain the British Hits. It involves TV shows from the far east (well further east from Hawaii than the mainland!)

I think one of the best comedy shows ever was Fawlty Towers, starring John Cleese. He plays an inn owner who has many problems, often created by his own hand. I have seen the 12 episodes perhaps 30 or more times each and still laugh. If I were stuck on a desert island (not necessarily Hawaii), I would hope that I would have a way to watch these shows, if nothing else.

Fawlty Towers is one of the series being offered now by Netflix U.K. (the UK version of our U.S. version).

I am not a member of Netflix here in the U.S. however I did take advantage of Amazons streaming video service for a month’s free trial. If you signup for Amazon Prime you get special shipping service AND access to free TV and movies. The shipping service is not available to us in Hawaii but streaming does work for us. At something like $80 a year it is cheaper than Netflix.

A year ago I bought a box through Woot (now owned by Amazon by the way). That box is a Roku unit which allows me to watch TV shows and movies from a variety of sources which also include Amazon and Netflix. It attaches to my router (by using by LAN cable or wifi) and the output is RCA jacks or HDMI cable. The RCA jack model lets me connect to a VCR or DVD recorder or to an old TV. The HDMI cable hooks to newer TVs. Not all Roku models have both sets of input (LAN and wifi) or both sets of outputs. This box was something like $50 refurbished, is one of the early models and has all the connectors I need and want. The newer model comes with Angry Birds by the way.

Using this small Roku box, I can get video and audio from the internet and send it to my big screen TV. Much of that content is free however I can pay for Amazon, Netflix and other services to get extra programming. Some of the free content includes radio stations through a number of sources, old TV show, movies, the Supreme Court audio recordings, BBC news, weather graphics, NASA TV and much more. Add to that the paid movies and paid TV shows and you have a mini cable company. The box can be tucked in an overcoat pocket and is quite light. Thus I could take it with me while traveling.

I have been watching a number of channels, which most others in America may not be familiar with. For example, I watch a TV gardening show out of Australia. I enjoy the Supreme Court feeds and Tunein radio stations. You can add hidden channels like Justin TV and watch people who are broadcasting their Xbox and PC games.

Through Amazon I have seen some movies for free that I have not seen in decades, like The Hustler with Jackie Gleason. I also watched parts of some British TV series.

Now I am caught up in a series called “Downton Abbey”. It is a series which can best be described as a cross between “To The Manor Born” and “Remains Of The Day”. For those not up on British shows, here is a brief explanation.

“Beginning in the years leading up to World War I, the drama centers on the Crawley family and their servants.”

The Crawley family owns a large manor, which is due to pass to a family member. However, that member dies on the Titanic at the beginning of the series. Back then, land was passed to males via British law and the show involves the family realizing that they may lose their claim to the estate.

There is somewhat of a parallel to the real property law in Britain and leasehold here in Hawaii.

As the series is fairly recent, imagine my surprise when a line used was taken almost exactly out of the Fawlty Towers series and this new series is not meant to be a comedy.

Since the series takes place prior to WW I, you are reminded of the situation of servants in Britain. In one scene, the nephew (a lawyer and not accustomed to manor life) tells his butler that he does not want to be buttled. He is used to dressing himself and has no need for someone to dress him. He suggests that the butler go do something else. This off-hand comment is an affront to the butler who has no other job. It IS his job to dress his charge. That is his only job; one he has a great honor of performing; one he was groomed for.

The great thing about the series is watching to see how each character changes/grows as the episodes go on. A character you like, you may soon dislike and vice-versa. It is well written and as I say, bears a similarity to two or three other shows you may be familiar with.

So these are the things I am watching while the rest of you are watching Friends reruns or involving yourselves in the political banter.

Yes, I also could be watching the British Parlement instead of the U.S. Senate. The difference in the conduct of the two bodies is like the difference between a Court TV and Saturday Night Live. Where our politicians try to be reserved and ask the “gentleman to relinquish time”, the Brits may very well use a phrase similar to “Jane you ignorent slut!”.

Sometimes these differences make for very interesting viewing of British hits!