"The article indicates that its author has joined the ever-growing ranks of intellectual fashion victims who, upon reading one or two newspaper articles about Asperger Syndrome, feel moved to offer an AS diagnosis to anyone they despise."
I don't even mind Benny Hill in small doses, but twice a day in access was beyond the pale.
Now they seem to have started some sort of round-robin comedy block featuring random Britcom epis.
I join you in wishing they would just get back to their original brief and run unedited programming from the Beeb and the commercial UK networks—however, consider the source. BBCA is operated as a subsidiary of Discovery Communications. Any mode of presentation you don't like on Discovery, TLC, etc. is going to eventually show up on BBCA.
The only program I currently rate as appointment viewing on BBCA is the delightfully dreadful Footballers Wives, and I think entire subplots have been edited out to make room for more spots.
Anonymous
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hey there. Oxygen aired Nighty Night, it might still be doing so.
And I was really surprised that BBCA does not appear to have cut anything from Footballers Wives, which I actually really enjoy. I was actually shocked because there are a lot of shots of naked behinds on that show... plus rampant drug use and lots of thick accents.
I just wish they'd bring back Waking the Dead. Have you seen State of Play, btw? They're doing a marathon of the first series Oct. 30, and the second series is coming in November. Best show they've ever aired, imho.
anyhow, I liked your piece. Good food for thought.
Mo
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Another problem with The Benny Hill Show (or at least the version that BBC America is airing) is that it isn't a BBC production—this was the crappy Thames Television (i.e. ITV) version of his show that started airing in the late 1960's, after Hill and the BBC parted ways, and he started writing the show alone—well, cobbling sketches together from the six jokes that he could remember. There is a BBC show that Hill did, with a full staff of writers, and from what I've seen of it, it was an absolute howl.
Matthew
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To be fair to BBC America, one of the criticisms levelled at which in your interesting article is that they haven't bought the new "Doctor Who", the inside word on this is that they want to buy the show, but BBC Worldwide Americas is still holding out for a bigger cable network to make them an offer, and unwilling to take the price cut for the show selling to a smaller channel like BBC America would entail.
Paul
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Patrick Gorman is dead right! BBC America is a joke - what a lost opportunity. I've forwarded the article to BBC America... it can't hurt.
Juliet Eastland's article, "Grand Old Problem: Biology, Boorishness and Bush" can hardly be categorized as "sophisticated political commentary" lacking in "glibness and cute sarcasm." In fact, the article indicates that its author has joined the ever-growing ranks of intellectual fashion victims who, upon reading one or two newspaper articles about Asperger Syndrome, feel moved to offer an AS diagnosis to anyone they despise. W's life story provides enough evidence of verifiable pathology to give any amateur psychoanalyst plenty of material for thoughtful consideration; Ms. Eastland need venture no further than the subject of addiction to gain insight into his attitudes and policies. At least she acknowledges the possibility that her "medical suppositions may be inaccurate." Indeed they are, and they also display an insensitivity to the challenges faced by those citizens who really do qualify for an AS diagnosis, who have a hard enough time of it without having to endure the incessant use of their disability label as a political insult. It's a cheap shot, it's been done before, and it's too bad that Ms. Eastland had to do it again.
See my articles, "Autism as Metaphor and Insult" (http://www.neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/27/autism-as-metaphor) and "Autopsy of a Violent Diagnosis" (http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/archives/54/autopsy-full-text) for more discussion of this unfortunate trend.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Seidel neurodiversity.com
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As the mother of a son who suffers from Asperger's, I found your article deeply offensive. You obviously do not know enough to write on the subject. The purpose of your column was clearly and simply meant to slam Bush. You owe a heartfelt apology to Asperger's sufferers and their families for your ignorant attempt to create what doesn't exist to demonstrate your personal bias.
Lisa
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Does Bush have Asperger's?
No, but/ I/ do and I am mightily insulted by your insinuation that Mr. Bush is autistic.
Asperger syndrome is associated with many strengths — none of which Mr. Bush displays. There is often a strong attention to detail, unfailing honesty and dedication to tasks, and special interests and skills. Malapropisms and dysfluencies of speech are not unique to autistic spectrum disorders. Many of us do not have these symptoms.
Adults with autism spectrum disorders almost always have very difficult lives marked by pain, isolation, un- or underemployment, and ill health. To compare us to a man who has led a life of privilege and moral compromise is at best unfair and, at worst, cruel.
While I realize that your article was meant to be ironic, comparing Bush to a developmentally disabled and autistic person is invidious and demeaning to those of us who would consider it an accomplishment to do one important thing a day such as going to the bank or grocery shopping — things that other people take for granted. "Invade Iraq" or "Fire Brownie" will never be on our to do lists.
In response to your trite article mentioned above, first and foremost I would like to say, No Kidding. That's what makes a brilliant actor, which Philip Seymour Hoffman undoubtedly is. I had the pleasure and honour of meeting and chatting with Mr. Hoffman twice in the past week, and he is hardly unattractive. But that's just the point that he is not Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise, whose acting abilities are far beneath, and in fact in another, banal, league from that of Mr. Hoffman's. Not only do you not know much about Truman Capote, but you clearly know very little about Mr. Hoffman's acting and directorial prowess, not only on the screen, but more specifically on the stage. Anyone who knows the work of Eugene O'Neill, the great playwright, may surely consider Jamie Tyrone, the elder son in Long Day's Journey into Night, the role which Mr. Hoffman stunningly and skillfully played 2 years ago on Broadway, may indeed consider this character a "loser." However, it is one of the most searing roles created for the stage, and Mr. Hoffman played in brilliantly. Unfortunately I did not see him in the Broadway run of Sam Sheppard's "True West," with John C. Reilly, but I understand that in this stage role, again, his acting was superb. He also happens to be an accomplished stage director and is co-Artistic director of a theater company in New York City. He is not a "Hollywood" actor per se, and I would argue that he is not intrerested in the "stardom" of the "pretty-boy" and untalented actors you mention in your article. The guy is a real, brilliant actor, not an attention-grabbing celebrity. Your astonishment by Mr. Hoffman's acting genius makes me wonder what qualifies you to even comment on acting in a public forum. Here's a tip: go rent "Owning Mahowny" - not only is P.S. Hoffman brilliant in the film, but it also exhibits his ability to play real-life people, many of whom are in fact "losers," and are not just pretty faces with an athletic build.
I'm sure this has just skimmed the surface of what really goes on in Iraq. These guys must seriously think they can do virtually what they want.
Talking of outrageous interventions, the war some years ago in Serbia must go down as one of the most blatant examples of 'doublespeak' in our times.
Having been literally threatened by NATO of imminent war if the government of Serbia did not sign the 'Rambouillet Agreement' (whose Appendix 'B' reads like something out of a Kafka novel and consisted of the total surrender to occupation from day 1 ) we had a 'refugee crisis' in Yugoslavia being entirely manufactured by the USA, NATO and the western media as a direct result of their very own hostilities. Needless to say, Appendix 'B' was not published in the UK media before the UK compliantly went to war. Nor was it publicised that many Serbian police had been victims of terrorists for months prior to this, aided and abetted by none other than the good old Allies themselves. And so a country the size of Devonshire in England had to withstand the military might of NATO on completely fraudulent grounds, the lust for action newscasts reminding us of John Wayne, and this farce ending only when Russian tanks suddenly intervened to stop CNN's propaganda about 'liberating the world for freedom's sake'. What a stink !
And who bravely resisted the Fascists in that part of the world during WW2 during the papally blessed reign of terror of the Ustashi ? Right ! Little Serbia.
