USTVNOW Schedule

How to watch live American TV abroad

Given that there’s a big American TV event coming up, now seems as good a time as any to share this fun little morsel. Last Thanksgiving Julie was hoping to watch the Macy’s parade, but we were surprised at how difficult it was to find it live online. I did some poking around and came … Read more

Munich: my own private Tatort

If you find yourself sitting in awkward silence with a German, try breaking the ice by asking him about ‘Tatort.’  The mere mention of the show makes 9 out of 10 Germans’ eyes light up as their tongues trip over their lips in a rush to push out the words to describe how they have been watching it since before they were born and they never do anything else on a Sunday night ever.

From discussions such as these I had gleaned that ‘Tatort’ is a detective series kind of like ‘Law and Order.’ It has been on since the dawn of time (1970). Each episode takes place in one of a handful of cities, each city having its own recurring cast of local detectives. Germans will be happy to tell you which cities produce the best episodes, and some even schedule their TV viewing in advance based on the location of the episode on any particular Sunday evening. This show is loved.

So when we received a note in our mailbox explaining that they would be filming an episode of ‘Tatort’ Munich on the street in front of our building, we immediately understood the importance of the occasion.

Read moreMunich: my own private Tatort

Laughing out loud for fake news

After weeks of religiously checking The Daily Show’s website, I was able to score tickets for one of the days I was in New York. The email from the show recommended arriving between 3:30 and 4:00. I got there around 3:45, and there was already quite a long line. A little after 4:30, they came … Read more

Eurovision mania

It’s like the World Cup, except that it involves only Europe (and Israel and a bunch of former Soviet Republics) and instead of a soccer team, each country fields a singer or a band. And the winner is determined by voting. And there’s no off sides. The Eurovision Song Contest was ABBA’s big international break, … Read more