the happy bride in paris: What's on TV?

Since we arrived in France, we don't watch as much TV as we used to. Actually, I should say that Gaius doesn't watch as much TV as he used to. I am managing to stay up-to-date with Dexter, Survivor, Amazing Race, Top Chef Just Desserts and the Next Iron Chef. Sad, I know. What can I say? I'm addicted to Reality TV.

I only watch one French show. It's called Un Dîner Presque Parfait (almost perfect dinner). It's the French version of a show I used to watch back home called Dinner Takes All, which was actually the American version of an original British show called Come Dine With Me. I just found out from Magda that there is one more show I might like called "Master Chef France." I think it might be like a French Top Chef, which would be really, really great!

In addition to these shows, we have the DVDs that we brought with us. DVDs are great because since I hooked up Gaius' DVD player we can watch our DVDs on the BIG TV. I love the TV that came with our house. It's HUGE. We have to buy one of these when we get home. It's a wide screen and really fancy and mounted on the wall.

Gaius watching Dora

Because the DVDs in France are coded as Region 2, we cannot play them on our DVD player or on our computers. It's not as though we can walk into our local store and buy a DVD and watch it (because of the zoning issues). And, I don't really feel my luck will hold out if I try to de-zone our player as has been suggested by those braver and more savvy than me. Luckily, I found Zone 1 DVDs (coded for USA and Canada) available online at Amazon.uk and Amazon.fr. I bought Deadwood (season one) and Firefly (the entire series.) What a luxury it has been to watch TV programs on the big screen!

Since we arrived here, Gaius watches an average of 2 hours of TV per week. This is a drastic reduction from what he was watching back home. He watches mostly cartoons here, all in French. Right now, he's watching DORA THE EXPLORER, which is very helpful for learning French. His favorite show here is actually Woody Woodpecker. Isn't that funny? I guess you can't beat the classics!

Instead of watching TV, he spends most of his time drawing. When he isn't drawing, he's playing with the iPad. Mostly, he looks up images of his favorite characters on Google and then draws them. His drawing skills are just amazing. I wonder if his drawing would have improved so much had we stayed at home in Virginia where he watches so much TV. When we get back, we are definitely putting some limits on his viewing habits.