August 14, 2008 11:47 AM
What's on CCTV
One point of conversation with the Nigerian contingent yesterday: how
is it possible that CCTV could have so many channels but so few good
events?A random sampling from 8:08 pm Beijing time. USA basketball is playing Greece. Blake is playing Federer. Serena Williams is playing Dementieva. In the pool, there's the men's 100m butterfly. So what's on CCTV instead?
CCTV 1: China-Austria men's ping pong doubles.
CCTV 2: Women's judo, 78kg group.
CCTV 3: Taiwan-Japan men's baseball.
CCTV 4: Chinese-language news.
CCTV Olympics: Men's badminton, featuring Super Dan of China. (Note: this channel was formerly CCTV 5.)
CCTV 6: Dubbed over Bollywood movie.
CCTV 7: Replay of China-Angola men's basketball.
CCTV 8: Chinese soap opera.
CCTV 9: English-language news.
CCTV 10: A documentary on ancient statues.
CCTV 11: Chinese opera (see photo, above right, and yes, that's a real person, not a cartoon).
CCTV 12: Equestrian events from Hong Kong.
CCTV Beijing: An orchestral concert.
CCTV with Indecipherable Chinese Title: The Opening Ceremonies, specifically the part where the girl is lip-syncing because the real singer wasn't attractive enough for TV.
CCTV that, if it was in English, would probably have a title like "Live Look In": An endless reel of other CCTV channels, with the TV guide scrolling along the bottom line and no Greg Gumbel to take me to the next game.
Can't I get one CCTV channel devoted to America? I'd even let them put pro-communist announcers on, and allow them to rant about the evils of democracy. They can play the Hamster Dance music in the background during games. Or "It's a Small World" on a never-ending loop. Just let me watch the damn basketball game, please.
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