Wow, I didn’t think I was going to have any more comments to make after I gave up Cable (to save money after I moved) but I was wrong.
First of all: is anyone else having problems with their fancy new digital TV broadcasts? The local channels seem to go off the air every few days!! I can understand that they might have some kinks to work out of the new system at first, but it’s been what, a MONTH since the switch? Not to mention, they had at least a YEAR to get the thing ready. This is completely unacceptable, it never happened during the analog broadcasting days. If I were not downloading shows via the internet I’d be pretty pissed about it. I suspect that this may be a local problem, since I haven’t seen any big outcry about it elsewhere. Is it?
Second, the local programming (which I hadn’t seen in years) is pitiful. Our channels are full of fake “shock” talk shows ala Jerry Springer in the afternoons, and of Telenovelas (soap operas) at night. Where are the cartoons, the comedies, the action shows, etc? I remember the days we used to have Anime series before the USA did! Sigh. There’s exactly ONE local channel that still offers movies and series, and they’re pretty lame, things like “The Mentalist” and “House” (I can’t stand either.)
What’s worse, most of these shows are “canned”- that is, imported, mostly from Mexico. There are very few local productions left. I hear that this is because the local networks have been taken over by international corporations. Which is a real pity, because we have a lot of talented actors and comedians here. 
In fact, I’ve ended up mostly watching… PBS. STOP LAUGHING. No one is more surprised than I am, but they seem to have expanded their programming since last I looked. There’s some good documentaries, book adaptations (like “Treasure Island”), and even the “edutainment” cartoons are good. I find that I like Word Girl (superhero parody, yes it’s for teaching better English, but whoever does it knows his comics cliches and how to send them up well), Lunar Jim (a little too “safe” but hey, it’s Sci Fi) and Cyberchase (hey, it has the voices of Christopher Lloyd and Gilbert Gottfried!) Maya and Miguel is also funny, and thankfully not hit-you-over-the-head-with-the-message-of-the-day like many other cartoons of its kind (though it does annoy me the way kids who supposedly grew up somewhere in the USA speak random Spanish words, even when talking to their English-speaking friends- and I’m Hispanic!) In general, they are not as annoying as I expected them to be… well, some are (I can’t stand Arthur or The Electric Company- the new, “Wizards of Beverly Place, only less funny” version.) Oh, in case you’re wondering, some of these shows are translated to Spanish, but others are not. I don’t mind, but considering how little English people speak here, I imagine some kids will not be able to enjoy all of them. But then again, maybe that will motivate them to learn it. I remember preferring the English version of Sesame Street to the Spanish one as a kid, too.
As for which shows I’ve been downloading- there’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold, pretty much the only good American cartoon this season- well, that and Wolverine & The X-Men. In fact, I’ve found episodes of B&TB in Youtube that apparently have not yet aired in the USA (but have in Australia??) because Cartoon Network put the show on hold so it could show (lame) movies in its time slot. Boo!
And of course, I’m catching up on America’s Got Talent- as they themselves point out, there seems to be more talented performers this year. And some truly inventive acts… I like Acrodunk, the acrobatic basketball team, and Paradiso Dance, the husband/wife team that dances and weight-lifts each other- specially impressive since the wife is small yet can lift her obese husband over her back!! I have a few problems with the selection process this year, though. First, they allowed an unusual amount of acts -over a hundred!- to pass to the Vegas quarter-finals- only to then dismiss WHOLE groups of them without giving them the chance to act again!! And then, they decide to bring back eight of the rejected acts as “wild cards” for the semi-finals. I don’t recall allowing the public to vote on the candidates so early, either. And THEN, when they announced which ones would go on to the finals- they PAIRED the acts to tell them “You go on but you don’t” ala American Idol? This is bad because it made it look like they were comparing those particular people’s talents, when in truth the fan voting doesn’t work that way. In particular, the fact that the singing pianist was eliminated while the guy with the trained dog passed, made it look like the poor guy was not as good as a Frisbee-catching dog!! I feel sorry for him. Also, I think the Asian singer deserved to go to the finals, she had all the marks of a star. I cannot help but think that some of the acts only made it as far as they did because they were “cute” -like the singing 9-year-old or the 80-year-old comedian- and not because they were really that talented. Oh well, let’s see who wins; this year I don’t have a specific favorite like I did on earlier seasons.
Finally, I want to point out that, for some reason, the Live Streaming of the show (from NBC.com) is not very good, it tends to slow down in spots- I thought it was the fault of my crappy PC, yet, when I looked up the same acts on Youtube, they worked perfectly. WTF? Is Youtube better than NBC’s official online broadcast? Whoops!
CORRECTION: I watched again, and the part where the dog beat the pianist was NOT due to fan votes, but was decided BY THE JUDGES, for some reason. This means that, in their case, they DID judge the jumping-dog act to be better than the guy who could sing as well as Stevie Wonder. Good Lord! I can only imagine that was done for “shock value”. Even the dog’s handler looked stunned. Bleh!
