Geordie Shore

This past weekend I and two other PCV friends had the rare opportunity to watch a little South African television (no reason to go into the details of how or where, let’s just say it was a “first world” weekend). The main event was a Six Nations rugby match (a sport that I know absolutely nothing about) but when it was over, we had a chance to do a little channel surfing. Now, to be honest, I was too cheap to pay for cable in the States, so suddenly being able to choose from about 100 channels when I haven’t had access to TV in about 8 months was more or less sensory overload. I only managed to watch one or two extra shows and the beginning of the most recent Mission Impossible movie before realizing that I just couldn’t watch anymore. But it did remind me that I have not actually given any info on the little bit I know about television here.

South Africa has four major channels that broadcast to televisions for free: SABC 1, SABC 2, SABC 3, and eTV. One of them, (I think SABC 3) broadcasts only programs in English, whereas the other three mix programs in nearly all of South Africa’s 11 official languages. On these channels is where you can watch the some of the most popular evening “soapies” “Generations,” “Rhythm City,” and “Scandal,” as well as the news, game shows, documentaries, national sports events, and a variety of other programs that wouldn’t look that unusual to an American viewer. Should you be willing to pay for satellite TV, just like in the US, a whole new world of programming is available: channels exclusively in certain languages, sports channels, movie channels, cooking channels, etc. And as it turns out, South Africans enjoy quite a few programs from both the US and the UK. Tragically, among these is the MTV reality show “Jersey Shore.” Even more tragic is that MTV decided to make a UK version of this show called “Geordie Shore” and as unbelievable as this may seem, it is even more ridiculous than the original. The nine cast members are all from the Newcastle area and live at a house on the beach. I happened to watch an episode where they were sent to Cancun to enjoy Spring Break (with a mostly American college crowd) and then maybe stay the rest of the season – I don’t know, as I was too distracted at all the British slang that I could not understand. Anyway, I’m sure it’s possible to find this show on the internet, so if you want to see the Jersey Shore get out-“Shored,” give it a look. You won’t be disappointed. Otherwise, I was hoping to see an episode or two of “The Daily Show” or “The Colbert Report” but unfortunately, the owner of the television did not happen to be a fan of either, so there were no episodes recorded on his DVR. He did, however, say those shows are in fact broadcast in SA on a comedy channel, which is good to know for my next trip to the “first world.” Until then, I can rest assured that while I am without TV for these two years, I’m really not missing a thing.