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Italian TV, yet again

Good news. Apparently I’m not alone in thinking Italian TV stinks. Indeed the TV news carried a story about the introduction of a new code of practice designed to raise and maintain the quality of TV programming. I do hope it all works out and there’s a reduction in the amount of trashy TV. I’ll […]

Some suggestions for Italian TV programmes

How about: Licencing the Antiques Roadshow from the BBC? Doing a series on Italians living abroad. An Italian version of Top Gear (a whole hour!!)- Italians love cars and motorbikes. Finding and doing up your ideal summer house. Italian design – Italians do great furniture and fantastic kitchens. The Agri-turismo show – where to go […]

Montalbano is back!

OK, so I have not been blogging for a while.  Too much to do and other stuff too boring to go into here. Now, what (or maybe who) is Montalbano?  Good question.  The answer is that ‘Montalbano’ is the fictional head of a police station in a small Sicilian town and ‘Montalbano’ is also the […]

Of mini things

Nope, I'm not going to waffle on about small English cars, but about the proliferation of TV ads for a varied assortment of mini items, aimed at 'collectors'. I've put the word 'collectors' in quotation marks to highlight the fact that I don't really believe that the people who collect these things are real collectors, […]

Three interesting facts about Italian TV

Fact 1. The main broadcasters RAI and Mediaset were fined for showing too many commercials. Fact 2. Fewer people are watching television in Italy. (This fact is related to fact 1., most probably.) Fact 3. 90% of television in Italy is utter rubbish. ( OK, so it’s not an ‘interesting’ fact, but it’s true – […]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

If you happen to be a Martian or other alien being and you happen to want to check out earth babes, and coincidentally you tune into Italian TV, you could be forgiven for coming away with the distinct impression that Italian women are just about all stunningly beautiful. The media in Italy loves good looking […]

Italian humour

Yes, Italians do have a sense of humour, as you might expect. But, it’s a little different from English humour, which is generally a mix of sharp wit tainted with acerbic sarcasm.