Thursday, 29th October 2009

Let's talk about TV

Television vocabulary

Let's practise the TV vocabulary. Put each of the following words or phrases in the correct gap. *You will find the answers at the end of this entry.

program, channel, commercials, quiz shows, subjective, documentary, media, viewers, soap operas, watch, *couch potato, series, network, cable

TV is an incredibly varied 1.___________ which goes from awful to fantastic. Of course, what you consider worthwhile is a very 2.__________ matter.

Personally, I think that 3.________ such as The Bold and the Beautiful are the very worst! There is nothing worse than being a 4.________, sitting there surfing from one 5. __________to the another.

The major 6.____________ are having quite a lot of competition from the 7._____________ channels. I really like these channels as they often offer 8.___________ that I really enjoy.

Nature shows and other informational 9._________ are wonderful. One thing I like to watch during the evening, the so called primetime, are the question and answer shows called 10.__________ and a newscast. I also like a few of the 11._________ , such as Friends.

The worst thing about television are the 12.__________ . Even worse are the infomercials, which can last up to 30 minutes! I usually switch channels and 13.___________something else.

One of the strangest things about television are the talk shows. I don't really understand what 14. ___________ like about these shows. Oh well, what a world we live in!

*definition of couch potato: someone who spends most of their time watching television, and does not exercise or have any interesting hobby.

If you watch this video, you will listen to a very clear explanation of what a cough potato is. Later you can play the game that is below the video as a kind of listening comprehension exercise.

Let's practise the listening now.

Listen to an expert explaining what a drama is. Below I have included a link where you can read the text.



What is a TV 'drama'?

Another video where you are told about the different kinds of dramas. For the text, see the link below.


What are the various types of dramas?


This is the last video about dramas. Here the expert talks about how long a drama episode lasts. See the text below


How long is a TV drama episode?
Although it is considered an hour-long, a TV drama doesn't really run an hour. We've had a lot of change in that, so the answer I would have given you a little while ago is roughly 52 minutes or a 58 page script. This is no longer usual on TV networks which are now having more commercial interruptions than ever and breaking their shows into more act breaks. We now, I am sorry to say, have shows that are running for as little as 44 minutes of actual dramatic material out of a sixty minute hour.

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*ANSWERS (Tv vocabulary text)

1.media 2. subjective 3.soap operas 4. couch potato 5.channel 6.network 7.cable
8. programs 9. documentaries 10.quizshows 11. series 12.commercial 13. watch 14.viewers

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Let's go on practising the listening.

For an extra listening about TV (How good or bad TV is?) with multiple choice questions, click on the following link listening comprehension exercise Once you are in, click on each person to listen to their opinions about tv. You will find comprehension questions at the end of each listening.

Test yourself about your addiction to TV now.

Click on the following link: online survey, and you will find a questionnaire about this topic. Take the test and later check your score on the same page

Did you learn something new about YOU or the TV? Would you like to share it with your classmates?