Jonathan Franzen

[Kumabjorn]

I've just spent an hour of my Swedish morning watching a German produced documentary (biography) about Jonathan Franzen while simultaneously enjoying some breakfast cereals.

There was some German narrator, but that could easily be replaced by an English speaker. Franzen, his entourage, friends, family etc all spoke English. Hence it would be no problem broadcasting this in the English speaking world. And this is where my curiosity comes in. Would a program like this be broadcast in your country? Let's face it, it's not like it will take viewers away from Modern Family or Breaking Bad, but is a program about literature and an author something that would be watched where you live?

[davidfor]

Yes, shows like that do get broadcast in Australia. We have two channels that are government owned and part of their mandate is to show documentaries. One of them will broadcast non-English shows with subtitles. Plus, the pay TV service has some channels that it would be a good fit for. And I've definitely watched documentaries like this with an English voice over, but the credits make it obvious it was made in another language.

[gmw]

I'm not certain if you wanted to talk about Jonathan Franzen, the subject, or shows about literature (the question in your post). Assuming the latter.

On the ABC here in Australia there is a regular show now called The Book Club (previously called "First Tuseday Book Club). Related to that is a series of special episodes called "Jennifer Byrne Presents", interviews with authors (etc.). It's a late timeslot (10pm), so I guess it's not hugely popular, but it's now in its seventh season so it must be doing okay.

So, in Australia, the answer to your question is a pretty definite yes. (I am very pleased to report. )

[Kumabjorn]

My primary interest was the availability of TV shows related to literature and authors. Seems there is enough of an interest in Australia, including importing foreign language shows and adapt them to local needs. Interesting.

[melmac]

The Book Club and Jennifer Byrne presents are available online for streaming but I'm not sure weather they would be accessible from an overseas IP

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/jbp/
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesda...t.htm?tab=2013

[HarryT]

Definitely yes in the UK. We get lots of documentaries on TV.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

My primary interest was the availability of TV shows related to literature and authors. Seems there is enough of an interest in Australia, including importing foreign language shows and adapt them to local needs. Interesting.

Nothing to do with literature ... but everything to do with the variety of documentaries and ordinary tv shows that we get from Scandinavia and everywhere else in the world for that matter (our SBS Channels) ...

Last night I saw the final episode of the Danish thriller The Killing .... oh my, I'm going to re-watch it via SBS on Demand because I just can't believe the ending.

Oh my, Sarah, I'm still in shock, lol

Whilst I've seen each of the 3 tv series I haven't read David Hewson's book devised from series 1.

(By the way, when a show is imported from O/S we hear it in the original language and read the English sub titles)

[Kumabjorn]

Så din dansk blir bare bedre og bedre?
Chew on that for a while my dear Lynx-lynx

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Så din dansk blir bare bedre og bedre?
Chew on that for a while my dear Lynx-lynx

Lol

det skulle vara ett mirakel! Men jag försöker!

[Kumabjorn]

Excellent Swedish, kudos!

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

...is a program about literature and an author something that would be watched where you live?

Pretty much all cable and sat-casting systems in the US carry the C-SPAN channels as a public service:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-SPAN

C-SPAN2 has long carried a series called BOOKTV that takes over the channel on weekends (15 years and counting):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_TV

Here's their schedule for this upcoming weekend. It is typical of their fare:
http://www.booktv.org/schedule.aspx

Canada has a subscription channel call Book Television that devotes some of its time to books and some to book-inspired shows.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTelevision

With 500+ channels available on most systems there was no reason not to carve up a corner for litfic and other book genres.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Excellent Swedish, kudos!

What can i say ..... Kudos to Google translate

But hey, I can often distinguish between Danish and Swedish and Norwegian now - so that's encouraging!

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Pretty much all cable and sat-casting systems in the US carry the C-SPAN channels as a public service:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-SPAN

C-SPAN2 has long carried a series called BOOKTV that takes over the channel on weekends (15 years and counting):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_TV

Here's their schedule for this upcoming weekend. It is typical of their fare:
http://www.booktv.org/schedule.aspx

Canada has a subscription channel call Book Television that devotes some of its time to books and some to book-inspired shows.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookTelevision

With 500+ channels available on most systems there was no reason not to carve up a corner for litfic and other book genres.

Hah, I see. I was always under the impression that C-SPAN was broadcasting from Congress, perhaps State Houses locally. Didn't know they were into literature. Would they broadcast something foreign produced, not counting BBC?

[BenG]

BOOKTV is on during the weekends when Congress isn't usually in session.

The Public TV channel PBS and its local affiliates run documentaries all the time like Bill Moyers' Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Hah, I see. I was always under the impression that C-SPAN was broadcasting from Congress, perhaps State Houses locally. Didn't know they were into literature. Would they broadcast something foreign produced, not counting BBC?

I doubt they have the budget for that kind of stuff.
They *are* a non-profit.
As the schedule shows, they do mostly author sit-down chats. Very cozy stuff.
For documentaries, the place to go was the Documentary Channel which... well, they're trying to be more "hip" to attract younger viewers. They still do documentaries, though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documen...el_(TV_channel)

The best place for that kind of material isn't a channel, though.
Netflix has a ton of them on demand.
Hulu and Amazon, a bit less.

For those willing to pay per view, itunes, XBOX video, Vudu, CinemaNow, etc all carry documentaries.
Much like e-books, if you know it exists, you can probably get it one way or another.