As much as I detest almost all US TV programmes that get shown in the UK (and that's a lot), it must be noted that there are some good shows amongst them -
The Wire is great, though massively over-praised, and does feature a reesty smackhead who is a dead ringer for Hailie Selassie in a ripped cagoule
.
Monk is also good fun,
Deadwood isn't bad for all that it is an artful self-serious swearathon featuring Lovejoy after some serious Just For Men treatment.
Sadly, there are no more series like
X-Files (best show of the 90s),
Homicide,
NYPD Blue (cue shaky-cam), new
Outer Limits,
Star Trek: TNG,
Babylon 5,
My So-Called Life, and so on. I have also been banging on for years that TV, film and music took a serious wrong turn around 2000/2001, and that we've nothing to show for this rotten decade. It says a lot about our cultural bankruptcy that we've fallen back so heavily on crappy, threadbare tropes such as vampires, werewolves and zombies these last five years or so.
The BBC is still a "national treasure" [vomits at the phrase] and is at its best when it isn't trying to ape US shows (see
Spooks as an example of this horrible practice). Even the new
Doctor Who is a bag of balls. I wish someone would tell Russell T. Davies that crap CGI isn't camp.
The BBC was at its best during the 80s. If you want to see an example of the best it can do, download or buy a mini-series called
Edge Of Darkness. Best thing the corporation has ever done
