America’s Finest
This week saw the return to terrestrial TV of two of one of America’s highest-rated shows and the start of a new “must-see” American drama. I’m talking about CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Boomtown. Because both are on Channel 5 (which is Britain’s sort of low-budget, soft-core porn channel) neither will get massive ratings, though I’m sure they’ll both do well respectively for Channel 5. I’d never watched CSI before and I have to say I really enjoyed it. As you’d expect from America, very slick, well-written, well-acted and just generally of a high standard. Boomtown too was very interesting, it takes a crime each week and sees it from 7 different perspectives so you get the full picture. I guess the closest you thing you could compare it to would be… er, Memento? I don’t know, but it works.

Land of Hope and Glory
Just like most other American shows (e.g. Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, 24), they’re all of a really high standard. Now I appreciate that we tend to get only the best stuff from America, but the point I want to make is that America’s best is by far superior to Britain’s best. The closest thing Britain has to 24 is probably Spooks, which I thought was alright but nothing compared to its American counterparts. Again, something like Ultimate Force with Ross “Grant Mitchell” Kemp and Red Cap with Tamzin Outhwaite are, frankly, poor.