What lives on my TV

Propaganda

In the US, people often said that the media was guilty of propaganda, either for the right or the left. What I see on the TV in Hong Kong, however, hasn't been found on US TV sets for some time. Take for example the commercial celebrating the extraterrestrial exploits of China's astronauts - they did the first Chinese space walk in a Chinese-made space suit (full disclosure: there was a guy in a Russian-made suit waiting in the airlock if things went bad). The commercial shows four kids in mock space suits inviting the public to come see the spacemen at a gala event. Tragic though it may be, the only way to get Americans to pay attention to an astronaut is to strap an adult diaper to them.

Synchronized Dancing

Before I moved here, I thought the modern viewing public was sufficiently protected from synchronized dancing, which had been relegated to musicals and Bollywood. Much to my chagrin, I find myself regularly subject to synchronized dancing in a variety of contexts. One of the major networks publicly celebrated their 40th anniversary by making all of their talent sing and dance on stage. Can you imagine House, Jack Bauer and Gordon Ramsey all singing and dancing on stage together? Even the commercial for the home wares store has "shoppers" dancing through the aisles. No one dances at Wal-Mart.

The other place you're bound to see synchronized dancing is the beauty pageants. You see, in the first five weeks I lived here, I witnessed three beauty pageants, none of which even acknowledge the existence of the others. The funniest part to me is that the contestants use the shows to either be scouted by the networks as new talent or to marry a wealthy tycoon serving as a ‘guest judge.’ So you know I ‘m not lying.

Lots of Public Service Announcements

The Hong Kong government is very concerned about the behavior of its citizens: and attitude I suspect is common across Asian nations. The really noticeable part is not that they have public service messages but that Hong Kong has so many and that they are quite blunt. One of the least subtle examples is the ad condemning drugs, where you see a man have an emotional breakdown at his wedding, run out it into the street, and collapse laughing on the median as blood begins to flow from his nose. Who needs an egg and a frying pan? Skip the allusions and show them a gross overdose. My personal favorite, however, is the one with Jackie Chan trying to convince truck and bus drivers to not drive recklessly. Apparently, this is a real need as I read in paper that a bus driver over our northern border crashed his double-decker bus with 80 passengers because he was doing about 80mph.

TV may seem boring to a lot of US viewers, judging by the fact that the networks are scrambling to keep up with streaming video and similar internet based tech, but take heart. There is a simple remedy for this. You can either buy and expensive plane ticket to some pleasant Asian city and sit in your hotel room watching TV all day or take the less expensive (albeit less glamorous) route and pay the extra $45 a month to get cable channels filled with languages, customs and commercials that are brand new to you.