Tele

Australia has five television networks (and I'm not just talking about Melbourne, I'm talking about Australia, as a country, all of it): two public (SBS and 10) and three private commercial stations (7, 8, and 9). If you lack cable, this will be the extent of your television viewing options throughout the country. If you have cable, then you of course get a bunch of other cable channels, most of which seem affiliated with Fox (well, Rupert Murdoch is Australian after all). Interestingly, my five stations are more than ample. SBS and 10 give me a great international news coverage as well as international film (so far I've identified foreign films from Spain, Germany, France, China, Italy, Greece, and Russia as well as few in languages that I can't figure out). The dorky nerd shows that you have to have cable to see in the U.S. (like your history documentaries or your pseudo-science shows like Mythbusters) are broadcast as well. And if you really need to watch crap reality television like American Idol - yes we've got that too (but it's delayed by a few weeks, so you can't call in and vote for your favorite). In any case, other than the Nat Geo channel which features lots of shows involving natural disasters and freak accidents, I can't see why anyone would bother to pay for cable down here.

SBS is great because on Wednesday nights there are always several documentaries, most of which target U.S. domestic and foreign policy (and the sleeping U.S. media). I've learned much more about 9/11, the Patriot Act (I'm sorry, the USA Patriot Act), and the Iraq war here than I ever could in the U.S. - and it's all given to me in a nice liberal slant. Plus this past Wednesday there was a macabre doco about the Japanese woman who appeared in Fargo, ND back in 2001, only to be found dead a few days later. The urban legend is that she thought the movie Fargo was a true story and came looking for the money buried at the movie's end, but it seems she was just plain suicidal (who else shows up in ND in winter wearing a miniskirt?). [http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/fargo.htm ]