BBC

Our television viewing choices are much more limited here in Belgium, particularly since we wish to hear English and not French, Dutch or Flemish.

We receive AFN (Armed Forces Network) and Skynet which is British.  AFN will be a separate post at some point in the future.  Skynet brings us British cable with a few lesser American cable channels, like Food Network.

All of us are growing in our appreciation for BBC.  Allen was already a fan, as BBC is the home of one of his favorite shows - Top Gear.

One of the things I appreciate about BBC is that their shows consistently cast real people.  In America to be on TV, one must be very thin or very fat and in both cases one must have a pleasant face, decently styled hair and straight teeth.  There are no such requirements on BBC.   Regular looking people are actors in comedy series, regular people host shows, average people are cast on reality series, etc.  The only people who are thin are the spokes model hostesses of which there are very few - the British version of Deal or No  Deal doesn't use models to open briefcases, they use the studio audience members.

It is refreshing to see average people on TV instead of idealized versions of what a person should look like - maybe because what counts on BBC is who the person is rather than what they look like.  One could hope.