Television

I spend a fair amount of time watching TV here.

Syrian soap operas, al-Jazeera, and Arab Pop Music Video Clips dominate the scene, however there are a whopping four stations on our cable in English. Well, six if you count Al-Jazeera English and BBC-World, but honestly, who wants to spend the whole time watching kids with bloody faces be pulled onto stretchers hour after hour right after getting home from school, to relax? Not I.

I really would like to meet the person who decides what to put on these 4 American stations. I would give them a word or two of advice.

MBC Action is one of the stations. It is a constant stream of Action-movies, cop shows, reality TV, and shows like "Pimp my Ride". My biggest complaint is that they only show good stuff really late at night - 24 and Law and Order come on around 11 pm, while they put 80's kung-foo murder-mystery dramas set in NYC earthquakes with robot protagonists between 6-11. What??!?!

MBC 1 is about half in Arabic, half in English. It usually shows documentaries or reality TV. I guess there's not much difference, if you think about it.

MBC 2 shows a lot of made-for-TV movies, and reruns of Power Rangers. There's also a British soap opera set in a restaurant that comes on sometimes. I don't really like it at all. The best made-for-TV movie that I saw was called, "Shallow Hal." It starred Jack Black, and it actually made me cry at one point - cheesy plot, cheesy characters, stupid story, but the it's-not-what's-outside-but-what's-inside-that-counts storyline is touching. Tonight I watched a made-for-TV movie about a bunch of kids that lock their parents in the basement until they can sort out their marital problems. It was hilarious. The "inconceivable" guy from 'Princess Bride' was in it, as well as that one actress...

MBC 3 shows movies sometimes, but just like MBC Action, it only shows good ones late at night. One time I watched an episode of 24 between 'The Stepford Wives'.

MBC 4 is the preferred station right after school, because "Dr. Phil" comes on. It's fun to watch it with my Arab family. But even more fun is watching ridiculous shows like "Insider" - where they show celebrities doing wacko things, or the 1200 lb man with his 100 lb girlfriend...yeah, that definitely caused a lot of conversation. Sometimes, there are reruns of 'Friends', which I crave. I don't know why - maybe it's just the situational humor. Maybe there's something intrinsically vulgar/foul about my sense of humor; people here don't joke like people back home (and this is remembering nearly all of my friends are good Mormon kids with high moral standards!). I miss sitting with my friends, joking about making out. Maybe it's part of my American identity?

When I watch TV here, it's a very inclusive thing. I don't watch it by myself very much. We sit around, eat, talk, and do other things.

Maybe I should be grateful for the TV here being so crappy. It gives me extra chances to bond with my family.