masterwordsmith-unplugged

I used to be a TV addict until I discovered the Internet and the many avenues I could explore in cyberspace. Back in the good old days, I was glued to the television, spending more time studying the tv programing schedule than my homework schedules. I grew up on The Flintstones, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, and other cowboy series such as Bonanza, Little House on the Prairies or crime drama series such as Hawaii Five-O, Starsky and Hutch, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. etc.

By the 1970's, a very popular sitcom was Mind Your Language - the famous British comedy television series, that premiered on ITV in late 1977. It is set in a school for adult students in London, focusing on the English as a Foreign Language class taught by Mr. Jeremy Brown, portrayed by Barry Evans, who had to deal with a motley crew of foreigners. Three series were made by LWT between 1977–79, and the show was briefly revived in 1986 with some of the original cast. You can watch SEASON 1 of Mind Your Language at THIS LINK.

On a local level, we had our own Kopitiam series - a sitcom series shown on ntv7 in 1998 that ran for 7 seasons. Its cast members were Joanna Bessey, Lina Teoh, Douglas Lim and Mano Maniam. The show was the runner up for Best Sitcom at the 1998 Asian Television Awards. It was given the title Highly Commended for Best Comedy Program at the Asian Television Awards in 2000. Kopitiam was produced by Double Vision with creator Ng Ping Ho. You can watch the whole series AT THIS LINK.



Of course, there was the innocuous Phua Chu Kang that my whole family never missed.
Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd, also known as PCK Pte Ltd or Phua Chu Kang was a Singaporean sitcom on MediaCorp TV Channel 5. The show debuted in Singapore in 1997. Basically, the sitcom centers around an eccentric contractor with his trademark yellow boots and large facial mole. While it carries the traditions of a sitcom, many unusual elements were used such as flashbacks, quick gags and celebrity cameo appearances. You can enjoy Season 1 of Phua Chu Kang AT THIS LINK.

Sadly, they don't make good sitcoms like they used to and I was actually donating money to ASTRO for years before I finally terminated my subscription. I did not even know that they had changed the channel numbers and had not switched on the tv until some international sporting event. It was then that I realized that I had not updated my unit for ages and ages. :-)

Well, with the advent of the Internet, we do not need to pay for cable tv like in the past. Allow me to introduce you to the following links where you might enjoy free tv programs:

a) Viewmy.tv Ltd which was started by one of my former students and his partner. You can organize your own channels AT THIS LINK.

b) Justin.tv which offers more than 1, 700 live channels

Have a lovely evening, everyone! Next post will be up later in the evening on the democratization of cyberspace - have been working on that post for three days already :-( and have yet to reach a conclusion because it is such a dynamic topic! Do swing by later.

In the mean time, I would love to hear your views about some of the tv series I mentioned in this post. Thanks and cheers!