Have Any TV Progs From Years Ago Had A Lasting Impression On You?

@Janey1966 (24170)
Carlisle, England
January 8, 2010 8:53am CST
Channel 4 started in 1982 here in the UK and it was rather momentous due to there being only 3 channels up to then..hence the name! Now we have Five and all the other satellite channels but Channel 4 was at the forefront of making "hard-hitting" programmes that other networks are not brave enough to do (they are still like that today). Anyway, there was a programme they made a few years ago and it concerned groups of people from different nationalities. There were groups from America, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. The idea was that each group were invited (via an ad in a newspaper) to come on the show and be filmed on a Greek island, not realising that the stunts each day were stage-managed to see how each group would react. The groups didn't mix. It was the Americans one week, the UK lot the next...and so on. One of the stunts (done by a staff member of the hotel) involved burning their respective flags above the bar, so residents would see it when coming down for breakfast the following morning. Out of all the nationalities the Yanks were VERY upset about this, the Germans and Japanese weren't too happy either but the Brits just laughed it off...or didn't even notice! Another stunt involved a Greek chap coming out into the dining room with a sheep's head saying that there was some tradition involved (lie) about eating such a delicacy. Well, you should have seen this British woman looking at the sheep's eyes staring up at her. Not many of the Brits would even touch the head although the Japanese (eating during another week you understand) ate every last bit, which says a lot about their dietary habits! I would say the most compassionate out of all 4 nationalities were the Germans! One stunt was for a staff member out on a walk to "lose" her engagement ring and it took the Germans about 4 hours to find it in undergrowth. The other 3 nationalities did look for it but for nowhere near as long. Germans were also compassionate about a "drunk driver" (stage-managed, he was drinking water) on a coach back to their hotel as they were saying to the camera that they were really frightened he was going to lose his job and "something should be done to help him." Other nationalities refused to get on the coach during their weeks on it. It was all fascinating, psychological stuff and I wish they would do another one, it was great. Needless to say, when they were all told about the stage-managed "stunts" some were very unhappy...oh, and it turned out the Brits drank more beer than the other 3 nationalities put together, with the USA second! One 4-part series about Dartmooor upset me though because when it showed Autumn there were about 100 Dartmoor ponies being rounded up, placed in a field for their last "meal" then were shown being shoved into a transporter lorry to be slaughtered "because there were too many of them." Most were healthy animals, all different ages and the image has stayed with me to this day. Fluffy, yellow chicks on a conveyor-belt ready to be crushed for Chicken McNuggets caught me out once as well.
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@eyebee (13)
• United States
9 Jan 10
If I remember correctly the first programme that was transmitted on Channel 4 was Countdown with the late Richard Whiteley. That itself was from a French TV programme from the 1960's.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
9 Jan 10
Aah, the late, great Richard Whiteley, bless 'im. I've not watched 'Countdown' for years but Richard Whiteley was a great host, he is sadly missed...and Carol Vordermann has left now of course so I've never watched the newbies in it. 'Brookside' was probably one of the best soaps ever to be aired on British television but that got axed from Channel 4 a few years ago. Many of the stars from the show have been in other things since its demisel.