I love that line from Agatha Christie, in which Miss Marple says that "America has a lot to answer for" because they call tea biscuits with raisins in them "muffins."  But the BBC should be penalized for re-making the Miss Marple series with that actress McEwan.  No one will ever  play that part better than Joan Hickson, and no one should even try.

Sorry about "Big Brother."  I never saw it, but I understand it is pretty awful..

Reality TVis hopefully dying out in the States.  Perhaps we will get some programming on national TV that actually requires writers and actors.  That would we novel!  The networks have been making a fortune with the format because it costs them so little to produce the crap.

Even PBS has gotten into the act with imports from Britain and their own productions, in which they take people and make them live in a "!900 House," the old prarie in the 1800s, and 17th Century New England.  At least those are educational, as they give little history lessons in the process.  But those shows where they make people eat bugs and do relay races in the tropics befor stabbing their fellow "survivors" in the back, seem to be just indicative of how low the viewing public has sunk.

But I must defend Jerry Springer.  Now, I know his show was in bad taste (according to my secretary, in the US all the women on the show weigh 300 lbs and the more they wear, the shorter the dress, and a couple of them fight over a scawny man who has impregnated both of them.  She discovered this while at home mending from carpul tunnel surgery.)  But I have heard Springer speak and he is pretty cogent politically and may run for the Senate in Ohio.  So, he's a mixed bag.

If it weren't for HBO it would truly be a wasteland as far as TV is concerned.  But I understand "Six Feet Under" is in its last season, which is too bad. 

I'm actually surprised that Dr. Phil isn't syndicated in the UK.  But I guess he would actually have to go there and do the show, as audience participation is a must.