Dubbed American TV shows.

In the not so distant past, I've tended not to watch TV over here because it's considered "work" and there's usually nothing good on...in English. As a way to try and improve my oral comprehension, I've recently started watching dubbed American crap television. So...in the late afternoons, before Darin comes home from work and before I start to make le dîner, I patiently sit through "One Tree Hill" (or what the French call "The Scott Brothers"), then "Bold and the Beautiful", and then sometimes "Will and Grace". We recently discovered that "Will and Grace" is off the air for good? Huh? Where've I been?

Never watched "One Tree Hill" before. It's like my new "90210" and I'm hooked. The dialogue is not too difficult to understand. I sit there with my 50 kilo dictionary on my lap. I'm still trying to figure out who's dating who, who broke up with who, and who exactly are the Scott brothers. It's great watching TV shows sans commercials. And they usually have 2 episodes back to back.

The dialogue on "Bold and the Beautiful" is a joke. A 3-year-old could understand that crap. I've noticed that the characters speak incredibly slow and say the simplest things and only speak a few words at a time. The fill up the remainder of their camera time trying to show emotions among all that Botox. When watching a soap opera dubbed in another language, one tends to pay attention to other things on the show like: who got a face lift, how bad the actors really are, their incredibly cheesy facial expressions, and the infamous soap opera lighting! And the show is only on for less than 30 minutes. That's plenty enough for moi.

By the time "Will and Grace" is on, I'm done. My brain is worked.