American Television in Japan

Recently, several of Ted’s colleagues were talking about the television programs they watched when they were young.  Ted was surprised to find out that these men, who grew up in Japan and are 10-15 years younger than him, watched many of the same shows that he did. They all had watched The Rifleman, Combat, and Rawhide, all what I considered “boy shows” when I was young.  They also watched the same cartoon shows – Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, and Heckle and Jeckle.  One professor said his wife’s favorite program was Little House on the Prairie.  Another said his mother’s favorite was Columbo, which is Ted’s mom’s favorite. Amazing!

 

We don’t have a television here, but there is a well-stocked video rental place nearby, so we can watch DVD’s on the computer. The rental place has a lot of the TV shows I watched in the US - House, CSI, Law and Order, Bones, etc. (Some of these shows might be why I'm asked if all American homes have guns).  Ted brought back the first two seasons of Mad Men DVD’s from the US in September. I hadn’t watched this program in the US, but I really liked it. After watching all of the DVD’s he brought back, we rented seasons 3 and 4 and watched them.  Season 5 of Mad Men hasn’t been released in Japan yet, but Ted surprised me by ordering it from the US for my birthday!