Michelle's independent resources for ESL Students at Vancouver Community College

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Television

Today you do not need a television to watch television shows. 

Instead, you can watch TV on the internet. Here, you can can watch with fewer commercials . You can also stop and start the video as many times as you  want. 

Another advantage of watching Tv on the internet is that instead of having to wait for a week for the next episode of a favourite series, you can watch  several episodes in a row. You can also catch up with episodes of a show you have ws they have missed, or watch more than one episode at a time. 

All television networks on have their own websites that include specific links to each TV show on the network.

Each specific show page usually includes many details about the TV show itself, the cast (actors) who play the roles, the the story lines, the characters in the show and other kinds of updates.

TV.com :   This is a website that lists and gives summaries as well as links for all popular TV shows in North America. You can see the shows by degree or popuylarity, by decade ( when they were made) The links will send you to the specific web page for the program itself. 

If the site is on an American network, you will not be able to watch episodes on the Internet.  However, these shows are often shown on Canadian networks, where you can watch them online.

      Television and Movie Vocabulary:



English TV Networks:
AUSTRALIA: 



CANADA 

  • CBC ( below )
  • CTV (below)
  • Global TV (below) 
  • TV Ontario 
BBC Canada

GREAT BRITAIN  
See results about


































  • NEW ZEALAND 


    The U.S. (United States)  
    Fox TV




    CBC.ca ( the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

    CBC ( the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) is Canada's public television network. It has both a radio and television network as well as a 24 hour news networks, and an international radio  network. 

    CBC is funded by the Canadian government. However,  the government has NO control over the contents.  If you want to learn information about Canada, its culture, its people and its issues, this is the network to watch.

    CBC Main TV Show Page 
    This is the page where you can see all the regular programs (not news) shown on CBC. 

    CBC Player (Another Page with Many Shows)  

    One of the great features of CBC TV is that it is one of the few networks where you can watch ALL of the shows of a specific program you like. This means that if the show is now in its 4th season, you can go back and watch right from episode 1 season 1. This is a wonderful feature if you are trying to get to know what the show is about,  who and what the characters are like etc.

    Some popular CBC shows include:

    • Little Mosque on the Prairie  This hit  sit come is an internationally-acclaimed comedy about Muslims and Christians attempting to live in harmony with each other in the small town of Mercy. And they are about to learn that it isn't as easy as they thought.
    • Heartland is  hour long drama about a large family who live in the country in Alberta getting through happy and difficult times.
    • Mr. D  Gerry Duncan has finally gotten a full time teaching position at the prestigious Xavier academy after years of substituting. Unfortunately he'll be teaching social studies, which he knows nothing about, instead of his dream Phys. Ed. job.
    • Arctic Air is a one-hour adventure series set in the booming Arctic, about a maverick airline and the unusual family family who runs it.
    • Cracked CRACKED is a unique blend of a police and medical drama inspired by the real-life experiences of police officers and mental-health professionals. The hour-long series shows the the psychological side of policing and the emotional impact on front-line workers. It's a fascinating yet affectionate exploration of all dimensions of human behavior. 


    CTV 

    CTV is Canada's main commercial network and has both Canadian made programs as well as popular  American TV shows.




          1)  Go to the main show page. (above) 
         
           2)   Click on a program (show) you want to watch. 
                  You will get the show's main page.
        3) Here you can watch i or more videos of the of most recent shows.    
    3) You can also get information about the show, the cast, characters, previous episodes and more. 

    Some popular shows on CTV 

    Situation Comedies  
    The Big Bang Theory
















    Reality Shows 

    Crime and Law
    Medical and Hospital
    Talk Shows




     Global TV Main Program Page

     Global TV is a  Canadian network. It has many programs you can watch on the internet. Each program has its own page.

    Some of the most popular programs include: 


    Glee 

    Glee is a one hour musical comedy program about a group of ambitious and talented kids who escape the harsh realities of high school by joining a glee club (singing club) where they find strength, acceptance and, ultimately, their voice. This is the fourth season for the show.

    TV.com shows  all TV series from the 1950s to today grouped by decades. You can  find series based on popularity, genre ( i.e. drama, comedy, etc) or by name. 

    TV Scripts and Teleplays (simplyscripts.com) ( includes Missing / Angel / Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Friends / Lost / Without a Trace / etc...)

    English Language TV and Radio Broadcast Signals (learnenglish.de)
    Satellite (Analogue/Digital)
    Radio - AM/FM


    Free on line TV from around the World


    Day Time Soap Operas ( Canada and the U.S.) 
    • Soap Opera News ( Soap.com)  : All the information about ALL the daytime soap operas. It includes daily summaries of all the story lines and updates on the characters. Very helpful if you want to get some background, or if you want to catch up. 


    Other TV Shows 



    Desperate Housewives ( 2004-2012)
    This was a very popular prime time drama ( some might call it a night time soap opera about the lives of five women living in a suburban neighbourhood . The show ran for 9 seasons and ended in 2012. 


         Friends:
         One of the most famous series of all time "Friends" lasted 10 years and         went off the air in 2004. It is now impossible to get entire episodes on You Tube or almost anywhere else for free.

    The following episode is the only comp


    FAMILY FRIENDLY TV SHOWs on YOU TUBE 

    This  list has something for everyone with a family friendly theme. Classic episodes as well as more recent programs are available on you tube. 

    Think of a show you'd like to watch or choose one from my list. Just go to the website and type it in. Many of these choices are no longer on television. For those selections which remain on t.v. today, You Tube is still the perfect option, because you can pick the episode you want to view at any given time.



    The Golden Girls (7 complete seasons) 

    This is an excellent TV series to practice watching a regular TV situation comedy. The series  was one of the top ten highest rated programs for six out of the seven seasons it was on TV.  .

    Now, you can watch every episode of all seven seasons on You Tube.  After you have watched it without captions, you can turn on the captions to see how well you understood. 

    What It's About: 
    The Golden Girls is an American Situation Comedy about four reviously married women who ive together in Miami, sharing their various experiences together and enjoying themselves despite hard times.

    Created by Susan Harris, the series originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. It starred Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty
    The Golden Girls received critical acclaim throughout most of its run and won several awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series twice. It also won three Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy.[1] All four stars each received an Emmy Award throughout the series, making it one of only three sitcoms in the award's history to achieve this feat. The actresses also had multiple nominations.[2][3] The series also ranked among the top ten highest-rated programs for six out of its seven seasons.[4]






    The Bill Cosby Show ( 2 seasons) 
     (Seasons 1 and 2) total of 48 episodes

    The Bill Cosby show is based on Bill Cosby's own family of five children, four girls and a boy, and perhaps its success was due to the characters’ close proximity to real people, or the skill with which Cosby (himself a doctor of education) was able to mix big laughs with real truth and subtle life lessons. Whatever the reason, people identified with the Huxtables, loved them, wanted to be like them, and the humor is both timeless and explosively funny. (User TheCOMDYSHOWS has uploaded the entire first season and is well into year two.)

    Corner Gas is a Canadian television sitcom created by Brent)  Butt. The series ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. Re-runs still air on CTV, CTV Two and The Comedy Network in Canada. 
    The show got its  name from the roadside gas station in the fictional town of Dog River, Saskatchewan, Corner Gas is the only gas station for 60 kilometres (37 mi) in any direction. Brent Leroy (Brent Butt) is the proprietor of the station and Wanda Dollard (Nancy Robertson) works at the station's convenience store as a retail assistant. An adjoining coffee shop, The Ruby, is owned by Lacey Burrows (Gabrielle Miller), who inherited it from her Aunt Ruby.
    The series completed its run following broadcast of its sixth season on April 13, 2009, with a total of 107 episodes.[1]
    The show became an instant hit, averaging a million viewers per episode.[2] Corner Gas has been the recipient of six Gemini Awards, and has been nominated almost 70 times for various awards.[3]
    On April 6, 2009, Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall signed a proclamation that declared April 13, 2009 (and the same day every year after), "Corner Gas Day" in Saskatchewan.[4]




    That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom thatwas on television from 1998, to May 18,  to 2006. The series focused on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin,


    The 1970s[edit]

    The show addressed social issues of the 1970s such as feminismsexual attitudes, generational conflict, the economic hardships of the 1970s recession, mistrust of the American government by blue-collar workers, and teenage drug use. The series also highlighted developments in the entertainment industry, including the television remote ("the clicker"), the video game PongMAD magazine, and Eric's obsession with Star Wars.
    Beginning with the second season, the show focused less on the socio-political aspects of the story. For example, the dynamic of the relationship between Eric and Donna was altered in later seasons to more closely resemble the relationships of other "power couples" on teen dramas. Likewise, the first season of the show featured a recurring, more dramatic storyline in which the Formans were in danger of losing their home due to Red's hours being cut back at the auto parts plant where he worked. Storylines in later seasons were generally presented more comically and less dramatically.
    Beginning with season 5, each episode in the season is named after a song by a rock band that was famous in the '70s: Led Zeppelin (season 5), The Who (Season 6), The Rolling Stones (season 7), and Queen (season 8).

    Newhart ( 178 episodes)
    ewhart is an American television situation comedy starring comedian Bob Newhart and actress Mary Frann as an author and wife who owned and operated an inn located in a small, rural Vermont town that was home to many eccentric characters. The show aired on theCBS network from October 25, 1982 to May 21, 1990. TV GuideTV Land, and A&E named its series finale as one of the most memorable in television history.
    Premise ( What6 the show is generally about) 
    Bob Newhart plays Dick Loudon, an author of do-it-yourself books. He and his wife Joanna move from New York City to a small, unnamed town in rural Vermont, (most likely Norwich[1]), to operate the 200-year-old Stratford Inn.[2] Dick is a sane, mild-mannered everyman surrounded by a community of oddballs in a town which exists in an illogical world run by rules that elude him.
    Near the end of the second season, Newhart was re-tooled and Dick began hosting a low-rated talk show on the town's local television station. As the series progressed, episodes focused increasingly on Dick's TV career and the quirky townsfolk, to the point where it seems the Loudons hardly ever have any guests at their inn. As the years went by, some characters were dropped and others were added.

    Cast




    Home Improvement  ( 8 seasons) 
    Seasons 1 to Season 8)
    Home Improvement is an American Situation Comedy that lasted fdor eight seasons, from 1991=1998. Based on the stand-up comedy of Tim AllenHome Improvement  was on the air imade its debut on ABC on September 17, 1991,[2] and was one of the highest-rated sitcoms for almost the entire decade. It went to No. 1 in the ratings during the 1993–1994 season; the same year Allen had the No. 1 book (Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man) and movie (The Santa Clause).[3] The series regularly won its time slot against Seinfeldin its second season, which prompted NBC to move that show to Thursday nights (where it was much more successful). NBC's placement ofFrasier opposite Home Improvement in 1994 was effective enough to do some damage to the show's ratings (although how much was attributable to Frasier and how much was attributable to the life cycle of an aging TV series is unclear), but it remained a Top 10 show for its entire original run. The final episode aired on May 25, 1999 with a 90-minute finale, which was the fourth highest rated comedy series finale of the 1990s, behind CheersThe Cosby Show and Seinfeld.[4]


    aylor family[edit source]

    The series centers on the Taylor family, which consists of Tim (Tim Allen), his wife Jill (Patricia Richardson) and their three children: the oldest, Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), the middle child Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and youngest, Mark (Taran Noah Smith). The Taylors live in suburban Detroit, Michigan and have a neighbor named Wilson (Earl Hindman) who is often the go-to guy for solving Tim and Jill's problems.
    Tim is a stereotypical American male, who loves power tools, cars and sports (especially the local Detroit teams). He is a former salesman for the fictional Binford Tool company, and is very much a cocky, accident-prone know-it-all. Witty but flippant, Tim jokes around a lot, even at inappropriate times. Family life is boisterous, with the two oldest children, Brad and Randy, tormenting the much younger Mark, while continually testing and pestering each other. This rough by-play happened especially throughout the first three seasons, and was revisited only occasionally until Jonathan Taylor Thomas left at the beginning of the eighth season. During the show's final season, Brad and Mark became much closer due to Randy's absence.
    Brad, popular and athletic, was often the moving factor, who engaged before thinking, a tendency which regularly landed him in trouble. Randy, a year younger, was the comedian of the pack, known for his quick-thinking, wisecracks, and smart mouth. He had more common sense than Brad but was not immune to trouble. Mark was somewhat of a mama's boy, though later in the series (in the seventh season) he grew into a teenage outcast who dressed in black clothing (a goth). Meanwhile, Brad became interested in cars like his father and took up soccer. Randy joined the school drama club, and later the school newspaper; in the eighth season, he left for Costa Rica.

     Characters in the show   ( Background to help you understand their roles in their personality and roles in the show

    Roseanne
    Rseanne is an American sitcom that was broadcast on ABC from October 18, 1988, to May 20, 1997.[1] Starring Roseanne Barr, the show revolved around the Conners, an Illinois working-class family struggling to get vby on a limited household income in the fictional town of Lanford Illinois

     The series reached #1 in the Nielsen ratings becoming the most watched television show in the United States from 1989 to 1990, and remained in the top four for six of its nine seasons, and in the top twenty for eight seasons.


    Many critics considered the show notable as one of the first sitcoms to portray a blue-collar American family with two parents working outside the home, as well as lead characters who were noticeably overweight without their weight being the target of jokes.[4][5] 


    For many years, Roseanne tackled cocntroversial subjects and issues such as poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse, menstruation, birth control, teenage pregnancy  masturbation, obesity, abortion, race, social class, domestic violence, infidelity, and gay rights. .[citation needed]

     The show was also significant for its portrayal of feminist ideals including a female-dominated household, a female lead whose likability did not rely on her appearance, relationships between female characters that were cooperative rather than competitive, and females openly expressing themselves without negative consequences.[citation needed]



    List of charactrers in the show ( Background on their personality, general behavior and anything esle you need to know to understand their role in the serires and story line 

























    Castle ( Seasons 1, 2.3 )



    The Newheart Show (Season 1 18 episodes)



    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_'70s_Show

    King of Kensington ( Season 1) 

    Sesame Street


    Highway to Heavewn (Season 1)

    Highway to Heaven and Brids of a Feather




    ER ( One episode)


    Mr. Bean Channel



    Everybody Loves Raymond


    Everybody Loves Raymond (2)


    Miami Vice ( One episode)



    You Belong to the City Miami Vice


    I Can Feel it in t he Air Tonight ( miami Vice scene)


    cold case ( 6-7 episodes)


















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