10977 What's On TV?

I wouldn't reccommend programmes to you as I'm certain our tastes would differ.

Well, maybe just a couple... I enjoy Mela Verde on Sunday mornings, L'eredita (quiz show) on RAI1 every evening except Sunday, and Quark - when it's on. And I do enjoy the 'Carabinieri' Series on Canale 5. It is currently on 'series 8' - it's a bit like The Bill I guess.

But if you want to check on what is showing on the British channels on your satellite, try this site. If you register (free) you can set your own preferences/favourites or browse as you wish. It's quite comprehensive.
[URL="http://satellite-tv-on-computer.info"][B]>On The Box TV<[/B][/URL]

Sounds cool Carole. Presumably they all carry advertising though.

Don't know if you can get it Steve, but I'm an addict of "Affari Tuoi" - the Italian "Deal or No Deal"
It's twice as cheesy as the UK version, but carried off with greater panache. And instead of all the boxes containing variable amounts of money - some have a Zucchini or something else silly inside.
All rubbish I know, but actually quite good from a language improvement POV

I LIKE this show................and I agree good (for me) for the Italian skills!...

There was a show on last year we thought was a 'hoot' which basically was a contestant tried to guess the occupation of a group of some 10 'professionals',

The quiz master used to say to the 'professional'.........E LEI :wideeyed:???????????????? whatever.............

Sorry that I can't be more specific............is it still on ????

[quote=Sally Donaldson;103248]Sounds cool Carole. Presumably they all carry advertising though.[/quote]

No TV channels in Italy are free of advertising I'm afraid... and some programme breaks for ads can last [U]up to seven minutes[/U]. I think they get about 15 mins per hour here, as opposed to seven minutes (it used to be...) per hour in the UK!

[quote=Carole B;103253]No TV channels in Italy are free of advertising I'm afraid... and some programme breaks for ads can last [U]up to seven minutes[/U]. I think they get about 15 mins per hour here, as opposed to seven minutes (it used to be...) per hour in the UK![/quote]

I have to download the US version of dancing with the stars........we get it minus the advert breaks, running time 63 mins, with advert breaks 90 mins, ...........just how many Pile cream adverts are there :eeeek::eeeek:

[quote=deborahandricky;103259].........., running time 63 mins, with advert breaks 90 mins, ...........just how many Pile cream adverts are there........:[/quote]

Quite a bunch of them, apparently.

.

Actually, Carole, the bit about being in the Atlantic was a small joke. I get my British (and Irish) TV through a conventional aerial. And 15 minutes per hour is the standard Ofcom allowance for advertising, apart from ITV1, C4 & C5 for historical reasons. I assume they'll be out to increase their shorter allocation once analogue television is abolished and they can't be said to have any access advantage.

As far as what's available on satellite, the Internet "Bible" is [URL="http://www.lyngsat.com/"]LyngSat - Lyngemark Satellite[/URL]
Of roughly 180 channels listed under [URL="http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/Italy.html"]Free TV from Italy - LyngSat[/URL] I get all but a handful, and some of those might be appearing under different names. For example, [URL="http://www.redtv.it/"]RED[/URL] TV (which looks fairly promising) shows up on my screen as "Nessuno TV" (!)

You can check out the Rai schedules on [url=http://www.rai.it]Rai.it - Home Page[/url], and go to the guida tv bit. Some of their generalist programmes (for example Serena Variabile - Sunday late morning) which is basically a travelogue, are very easy to understand. If you can find something originated by Rai which describes istelf as a biopic that too will be very straightforward Italian, usually narrated so you only have to get your ear into one voice.

You might have the option of calling up the (very accurate) Italian 'subtitles for the deaf' (page 777 teletext), and these can help enormously with understanding. Not available on every transmission, but you can find out from the teletext on the Rai channels.

Teletext (which might sound like rather a tractor technology these days) is usually available on sat channels - assuming your TV has a text decoder - so going to a rai page 103 for 'headlines' at least will give you time to read the headlines so you have a notion about the stories being covered in the (admittedly rather garbed and ill-presented) tele-giornale.

I also recommend the use of a piece of masking tape to hide the 'ticker' if you do try to follow the TV News! Being distracted from the spoken Italian by a 'newsfeed' isn't helpful to comprehension (even for native Italian speakers).

What has been on TV is the first series of Blackadder with Italian subtitles, now that is funny, improved my Italian no end!!!, a cunning plan to watch afternoon TV when I should be doing something else.
A

To watch Italian TV and movies in their original version, even if you need the subtitles, is an excellent and pleasant way to improve your language skills.

I've just watched "Squadra Speciale Cobra 11" on Rai Due, dubbed into Italian with the teletext Italian subtitles, and understood almost everything. "L'autostoppista". A series of particularly nasty murders...

Oh dear, Squadra Speciale isn't the most intellectually challenging stuff (but pretty spectacular car chases - you'll learn to drive like an Italian!). Hope the teletext subtitles helped!!

One of the detectives drives the same model of car as I do...