TV

Television in Norway is interesting. We do not have cable yet, however, we still get about 14 channels including; the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel and Animal Planet and the BBC? They play tons of American television over here. It is played in English and has Norwegian subtitles at the bottom. Shows they get include; the Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist, Cougar Town, Two and a Half Men, That 70s Show, Criminal Minds and the list goes on. Most shows are a couple of months or even a year behind and they don't seem to go in any chronological order? But hey at least it's American TV! What I have noticed about television over here is that swearing is totally ok (Gordon Ramsay actually says the F word on his show) and nudity is fine. I've seen more boobs and butts since I got here than all my years in the states. It seems that sexuality and the human body are viewed as natural things and thus not taboo. Things that would never get by the censors in the States are no problem over here. Kind of refreshing. Another thing I have noticed is that violence is not tolerated as much. If a show has violence it is showed after 10 pm. In a way it makes more sense to me to not make such a big deal out of nudity and make more of a deal out of violence but apparently in the States we'd rather have our children embarrassed of their bodies but ok with seeing murder and violence. Kind of skewed views if you ask me. Oh and something I love at TV over here is that they have soooo many fewer commercials. We get to watch The Daily Show with no commercials and many of the programs will have about one commercial break. TV seems to run in 20 minute increments instead of half hour. So I have been pleasantly surprised by my TV viewing experience thus far. Norwegian shows, however, are still odd. Not just they fact that they speak a foreign language, they just seem odd to me, humor I don't get I guess?