Television

I'm not the biggest TV watcher in the world, but everyone tells me that TV is very useful in learning a language, and I am a big fan of productivity, so I suppose I can make the sacrifice. I still don't watch any vast amount, but I've watched enough to realize that TV is pretty much the same everywhere. At home, I think people are fairly aware that we stole shows like The Office and Big Brother from our buddies across the pond, but I was definitely not aware about how much it goes the other way as well. For example:

• Survivor --> Supervivientes
  
• America's Got Talent --> Tu sí que vales
• American Gladiatos --> Gladiators (in Britain)
• Don't Forget the Lyrics --> Al pie de la letra
  
• Ven a cenar conmigo --> Come dine with me (Britain)
  (Actually, I don't know who copied who there)
• America's Next Top Model --> Supermodelo 2008 (way cooler, there are men, good looking men)

Isn't it comforting to know that they've copied some of the best shows from the US? They also have an American Idol equivalent, complete with two male judges and one female, although there isn't quite a Simon. The one that really gets me though, is that tonight, Ugly Betty (simply called Betty, here) premieres in Spain. In case you didn't know, Ugly Betty is actually based off of a Colombian TV series called Yo Soy Betty, La Fea (I am Betty, the ugly one). Yeah, so Spain is going to dub an American TV series that is based off of a TV series made in a Spanish-speaking country. But that's not all. Making things even more ridiculous, Spain already has a TV show, filmed in Spanish, produced by Spanish producers, that is based on the same Colombian TV show! Yeah! It's called Bea, with the same premise as the other two. Isn't that crazy? I think so. Well, anyway, back to some TV watching. Sevilla and Córdoba are still on deck, I promise. They're gonna be good ones, too.