(Cereal)

Dude, Caleb Nichol (Alan Dale) was on Neighbours?

(Part of the reason why the slap in the face argument fails to work with me--especially for male actors--is that many, many of the actors in US shows and movies, playing US characters, aren't USians. The character of Caleb Nichol is quintessentially American. The actor, OTOH, is not.)

Yep, Alan Dale was on Neighbours for a long time.

The argument is still valid though. Dale, like so many of his fellow actors, had to leave Australia for the simple reason that there still isn't enough work over here. If American cinema chains and tv stations gave foreign products the same chances they give local products, we'd have a much healthier TV and film industry and there wouldn't be any reason for them to leave their friends and families and seek work overseas.

If American cinema chains and tv stations gave foreign products the same chances they give local products, we'd have a much healthier TV and film industry and there wouldn't be any reason for them to leave their friends and families and seek work overseas.

Large portions of our local products (local should almost get scare quotes, though with the sinking dollar, IIRC, more stuff's getting made here instead of in Canada now) get shit for chances, and most of our TV stations (the stations themselves, not the networks, and not the cable channels) have trouble making a profit. (Hell, most of our movie theatres have a hard time of it, at least around Seattle.)

Risks and chances aren't taken--regardless of the country of origin of the product--because they can't be afforded. It's annoying as a consumer when there's little to nothing on TV you want to watch because none of the shows you liked drew high enough ratings to stick around, or to not be able to see a certain movie that got rave reviews and sounds right up your alley because your local theatre can't afford to pander to the small audience it might get, when the latest movie by big name X will draw more of a crowd and sell more popcorn.

I don't think there's anything that can be done about that, short of completely changing the way the economy works.

The thing is, US dominance in the movie industry goes back at least to WW1, which is a heck of a long time. Perhaps it's not right, but that's the way it goes.

It's nice if casting can be nationality-blind, though; whoever is best for the part, provided they pull off the accent. Which, incidentally, is working to the advantage of a lot of Aussie actors in Hollywood nowadays (Russell, Nicole, Cate, Guy, Geoffry et al, I'm looking at you).

jimi, I do understand where you're coming from (Disney's cultural imperialism with regard to stories drives me up the wall, for instance), but I think you're barking up the wrong tree.

Okay, now this is driving me nuts. I could have sworn I'd seen another failed tv series (not Forever Knight)...maybe it was a mini or a movie...very similar to the Kindred but more 80s. Where the cute lead guy came over all fangy whenever he got grindy with the girl. I've been all over netflix and imdb.

If it was a dream, I ought to get someone to produce it because I remember it being campy fun. And kinda hot.

Damn.

Ring any bells?

Beej, the only thing I can think of is the Cliffhangers anthology TV series from 1979 with Michael Nouri as Dracula. Could that be it?

I think it's great that a black actor who's never opened a movie is considered a flagship of the American attack on world culture. If I halfway believed it, I'd be tickled...well, not pink.

Definition question: What's the sensation generated by the scene in The Incredibles when the family reunites in the forest and strikes that pose? It was mentioned in a USA Today article as a crypoint, and just the mention of it gave me resonant shivers. But I don't have a word for the emotion it called up.

Certainly not a cry point for me. I think an equivalent moment might be the climax of "Into the Fire" in OMWF, where Buffy kicks in the door to the Bronze, sort of a pump-your-fist-in-the-air-YEAH! moment. I dunno, is that exultation?

I was thinking exultation. Kind of a "HELL yeah!" moment.

I don't think Renee Zellweger "stole" Bridget Jones any more than Hugh Jackman "stole" Wolverine. Film is an international medium and films are cast with an eye to pulling in audiences with as wide a net as possible. In terms of looking abroad, it partially has to do with where the product is. My Brother lives in Holland, and they have a lot of British shows on there--although I know British TV has no Dutch television shows. Is that a slap in the face to Dutch culture or does it have to do with the relative size of the telvision industry in both cultures? I don't think England is engaging in cultural imperialism when they regularly take Dutch game shows (and so do we here in America, for that matter) and remake them in English. Do you?