Why is American television so bad in compared to British television. They also have adverts every 2 mins.?

Answer 1

They do have a lot of good shows, though, like CSI etc. It's not all bad!

Answer 2

Bit hard on the Americans to say this. There is some absolute c**p on British tv at the moment, not least of which is Big Brother! It's all a matter of taste. You just have to be a bit more selective about the programs you watch, although I agree about the adverts if they didn't have them we'd have to pay a lot more to watch tv good or bad.

Answer 3

British TV has less ads than US shows (e.g. 1 ad break in a 30 min show). The main reason for better quality is that the BBC, the main channel, is not an advertising driven vehicle (instead all viewers pay a licence fee to support it). Therefore, content is driven more by quality and breadth of interest rather than by the lobbying of interest groups. Also, in defence of one of the other answers, yes the UK has a lot of the same shows because we came up with them first!! (e.g. The Office etc)

Answer 4

lol well british television has alot of the same shows as american....like The Office and Big Brother, The Footballers wives. But yes, I agree some american tv shows are pretty idiotic.

Answer 5

I think this can be a culture difference also.
I watch Sky one usually, as Stargate and Battlestar Galactica is on them.
I never watch RTE in Ireland.
Yout think American tv is bad, at least it is not boring like RTE.
Politics, repeats and sports = RTE and the TV licence is over €150 for the year! And if you have no TV in the house, you are still caught for a licence if you have a radio.. Pricey and crazy..
I know Sky can have alot of Ads also, but at least you have something decent to watch.

Answer 6

Hmmm. The impression I get is that America has more channels filmed with more crap, but they do overall produce more episodes of better quality (and in particular exciting) TV than in the UK.

Watch and Episode of Firefly and compare it to an episode of Doctor Who. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy both, but the quality of effects, acting, and writing is higher in Firefly.

Compare ER to casaulty?

Spooks to 24.

Robin Hood to Deadwood.

I think we do very well though considering we are a much smaller country with budgets to match, and my favourite comedy is certainly British, but I also think it's easier to produce 7 funny episodes of a comedy a year than 20, which is why some American comedy can seem inconsistent.

Agree with the advertising bit though, that would do my head in.

Answer 7

British TV is good because the BBC is funded through a TV licence and not through adverts. Because of this the BBC can make the best shows and we can enjoy them.
Comedy like The Office and Fawlty Towers, documentaries like Planet Earth, drama like Doctor Who... the BBC makes some great shows.
Other channels in the UK have to put on good shows to compete with the BBC.

Answer 8

Well, it's not fair to generalise like that, there are some dire American programmes alright, but there are also some dire UK ones. Plus, there are some good American programmes as well as good UK ones. As for the ads, as far as I know, there are EU regulations limiting the amount of ad breaks allowed, based on the length of the programme.

Answer 9

You're right, British tv is far better than American but also British newspapers are far better than American newspapers, purely because of far more talented journalists.

Answer 10

I know, a 1/2 horu show in america is down to only 19 minutes of show time and 11 minutes of commercials!!! Its so annoying! In London, we have so much more show time and it keeps the viewers interest so much longer!

Answer 11

Well too many USA shows are based on propaganda for the war We don't have any similiar shows in the UK.We prefer light entertaining comedy.To patriotic drivel
Oh we support our troops,we just don't need constant reminders of thier sacrifice