*waves* 'Nother one from NZ...Hi!

Is it wierd to get so many US shows elsewhere in the world? I mean, I love Big Love and The Sopranos (GREAT shows), but I think they are really US-centric. Do you agree?

What do you think about this, Pukeko?

rhymenocerous wrote:Is it wierd to get so many US shows elsewhere in the world? I mean, I love Big Love and The Sopranos (GREAT shows), but I think they are really US-centric. Do you agree?

That's exactly what concerns me.

shianne517 wrote:

rhymenocerous wrote:Is it wierd to get so many US shows elsewhere in the world? I mean, I love Big Love and The Sopranos (GREAT shows), but I think they are really US-centric. Do you agree?

That's exactly what concerns me.

Wait, you mean we're NOT the center of the universe?? HAHA! Kidding, of course.

Here's an idea: Should I start a new thread somewhere, say general, for kiwi stuff? Let me know what you think.

I see John Key wants to keep the policy, but I know that's not the only issue.

Yeah, he says that, I don't really trust him as far as I can kick him on that one. On one hand the US thing isn't so much an issue anymore, due both to the backlash over the last election and their acceptance that we're not budging. On the other hand, National have made a lot of noise about nuclear power in the past. Sure we need to up the energy production, but a nuclear power plant in a country sometimes referred to as "
the shaky isles"
? Probably not the brightest idea. I do like that most of our energy production is hydro (80% or so) but the controversy of creating new ones is really not worth it. I can't wait to see how wave and tidal power generation technology develops. Until then a couple of new wind farms have been approved, but I think that was jumping the gun a bit- they're not very efficient. My nana suggested an excellent solution to the problem- dig a large ditch across the top of the noth island, therefore leaving Auckland to fend for itself (largest city in NZ, only second to Australia in being despised). Actually, the rest of the country has a nickname for Aucklanders- JAFAs ( as in "
Just Another ....ing Aucklander"
).

Now I get the kebab ref!!! We could never get away with the kebab sketch here in the US, surprisingly enough with all the paranoia we have here, which is thankfully waning.

He does like to shock where possible. He did this genius thing one time where over three shows he showed deliberatly offensive content. I think the first was Shrek the sheep being slaughtered (was supposed to be the worlds wooliest sheep, the country briefly fell in love with it. Included a live shearing.), the second was...I can't remember, and the last was an Iraqi man being shot. Then in the fourth episode it turned out he'd deliberatly aired them to see what got the most complaints to the Broadcasting Standards Authority. And shamed the nation when it showed that we were more offended by the shrek slaughter than the murder of another human being.

Eating Media Lunch reminds me of The Daily Show. I looked through your television lineup (on your 3 or 4 channels) and it's not bad. You have a lot of shows that I love. Big Love, Sopranos, Tudors Lost, Nip/Tuck, Seinfeld, The First 48, The L Word. I can't believe you get Days of Our Lives. That's just tragic. I used to love that show but it's just gone into another dimension of weirdness in the last couple years.

I LOVE the Daily Show, we get it on C4. Kind of like MTV, but with brain cells to rub together (we get MTV here on subscription. Unfortunatly). When I bemoaned the state of NZ TV I was mainly referring to local content which is in a sad state. Can't say I'm a fan of any of those mentiond, but it seemed I was the only one I knew who didn't watch the Sopranos. As for Days of Our Lives...well, the oldies have to watch something during the day I guess.

Ugh, I have to go help my daughter dye her hair blue. It's semipermanent. Hey, do you get Family Guy there?

Yup, also on C4. I used to love it, but its kinda gotten a bit past its used-by date for me. Much prefer South Park. Blue aye? Could do worse. My little sister recently went fluorescent pink. I can't believe mum thought that was a good idea....

There are a lot of countries that use a similar parliamentary system to NZ, but it seems that in NZ people are so independent in their thought that the minority parties may get to play a larger part in the process, which I find intriguing.

Funny you say that, apparently NZers have "
a natural distrust of authority"
. Can't be a bad thing. Keeps those pesky polititians honest ;
)

Is it wierd to get so many US shows elsewhere in the world? I mean, I love Big Love and The Sopranos (GREAT shows), but I think they are really US-centric. Do you agree?

It's pretty much considered the norm just about anywhere you go I think, at least in the western world. Its just accepted that a large proportion of television will be American content. It's not really too surprising, I mean nowhere else seems to have such a large entertainment industry. In a funny way America seems to have made this place in our psyche which makes America seem like a made-up land where all this crazy stuff happens. We know thats not the case, but it just seems a little unreal microcosm...Really hard to explain, actually...US centric? Definately but American media dominates, so its something we're very used to. Same with British content (Life on Mars is another favourite of mine) but on a smaller scale. But overall I guess there are always common themes that are always going to transgress any cultural boundries anyway.

So yeah...Just used to it I guess. Man, no-one does cheese like America though. And oddly when producers here try to emulate it it just doesn't work.

More from NZ tv: More Jeremy Wells (I love him, so shoot me ). This is the Unauthorised History of New Zealand (off tv til after the olympics " title=">
" border="0"/> ). But beware, most of it's genuine but sometimes he makes stuff up just for good measure. See if you can figure out which ;
) . He talks funny because he's emulating an old historian from years back. Like it or not, you're getting it anyway

[flash=350,287:6kyv10re]https://www.youtube.com/v/YDeKQdWc73k&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:6kyv10re]

I think it's a great idea to start a general NZ thread. I've been learning so much from this one! You can add it to the "
General"
section of the board:

Pukeko, your insight and perspective is really appreciated.
See you guys over there!

pukeko wrote:
More from NZ tv: More Jeremy Wells (I love him, so shoot me ). This is the Unauthorised History of New Zealand (off tv til after the olympics " title=">
" border="0"/> ). But beware, most of it's genuine but sometimes he makes stuff up just for good measure. See if you can figure out which ;
) . He talks funny because he's emulating an old historian from years back. Like it or not, you're getting it anyway

Testing alcohol on Maori children- made up? (God, I hope so!)
Bullshii Bourbon- true? Wonder what that would taste like?
A pill to make one sound more English- hilarious, but made up.
I want to see this whole series! I'm off to youtube to find more...

Started new thread here:

ok i know im really late in this convo so sorry
anyway welcome pukeko im from nz too!!

pukeko wrote:Congratulations shianne517- the south (and some would say best) Island is correct! I take my hat off to you

um what? lol no way north island is best!!! ok ive never even been to the south!
lol we can like talk in maori and no one would know what we're saying, well we could if could speak maori....lol

wow, this has to be the most interesting welcome thread i've ever seen! i didn't know what i was in for when i clicked on it, and i feel a little overwhelmed in trying to remember all the things i wanted to respond to. i think the main thing that i noticed was that you mentioned that in nz the feeling is that america's image will be improved if obama is elected....i realized this phenomenon when i was in barbados last month, and i saw "
obama '08"
merchandise alongside the shell necklaces and carved pipes and lacquered blowfish at several of the souvenir stands. i think that's a really interesting phenomenon, and i cross my fingers that we can live up to the hopes the rest of the world has for us. as for the nz politics, i knew very little before this thread, and i'm intrigued!

i have one more question....is pukeko your name, or a screenname? i like to try to learn people's names here (i'm caitlin, btw) can't wait to chat with you more, pukeko!

Hi Caitlin!

My real name is Hilary (add clinton and you die). I kid you not, I was named after Sir Edmund Hillary, except them femine version is only one "
L"
. Though everyone instantaneously wants to give me two.

We have a new thread over in general "
NZ-Land of the Sexy"
that I think Katie started. Some have found the title a little misleading tho.

A pukeko is one of my favourite animals, something about them just cracks me up.

Heres some starring in an energy company ad:

[flash=350,287:1dvum796]https://www.youtube.com/v/ghGPbuqj2As&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:1dvum796]