American TV in Sweden - The Good, The Bad, and The Downright Ugly

Being an American ex-pat living in Sweden I tend to like that we get a lot of American TV shows. It is nice to hear my native language once in awhile. I have also found that I watch these shows with a new perspective. We do get entire US channels like Animal Planet and Discovery, but I want to concentrate on the network shows in this article, and how they effect Swedish perceptions about the US.

Gilmore Girls has long been a favorite program of mine so I was delighted when it started running over here in Sweden. This show centers around a mother and daughter who have a very similar relationship to my own daughter and I. Witty repartee is predominant, which is one of the things I value about my own daughter. She can keep up with the best of them... she had a good teacher. heh. Gilmore Girls is a good one to be showing to Sweden as it shows quite well that all Americans are not dim bulbs. The bad is the multiple foibles of their various relationships, making Americans look a bit unstable.

Bones is another good one for many of the same reasons as the Gilmore girls. Bones shows intelligent Americans in the form of Bones herself, who is of course a prominent expert for the Smithsonian who aids the FBI in crime solving through forensic examination of the body. The show is both smart and fun, with the tension between Bones and her partner lending quite a few grin moments. Relationships are a little more stable with the lab assistants, and for the most part show happy people, although very workaholic people.

Desperate Housewives is one of my personal favorites as well, but is the worst possible one to be showing other countries. I mean I laugh til my sides hurt at the goings on at the households of Wisteria Lane, but this show is responsible for the Swedish perception that Americans are disloyal fruitcakes when it comes to relationships and marriage. While there is some truth to that, it is not the best face to be putting out there. The populace of Sweden has quickly become addicted to this show, but for different reasons than Americans. To Americans, we are laughing because we know people like these. To the Swedish, they are just plain laughing at Americans.