Murder in the Mountains

 

Since the government cut off funding for PBS, I've noticed more documentaries and fund raising on the tv stations. I've been watching fewer foreign police procedurals there too, except for Friday and Sunday nights. However, I've discovered there are lots of foreign police procedurals on Passport, the streaming service open to paying subscribers only. Many of these shows are offered by British Channel 4's Walter Presents. 

My personal favorites are the old standby, Murdoch and the Austrian series, Murder in the Mountains. M in the M beautifully captures the Alps and features a decent story line. Granted the characters in the cast are rather prosaic. There is the on again off again romance of the leads, the doofus assistant, the tetchy coroner. 

For some reason, Countess and the Chef turn up on every show. Since they have no official position in the police force their constant presence is a mystery to me. 

Editor's note: Maybe PBS is trying to get money out of the freeloader's love of the genre. They now have to pay for their police procedurals. 

Social Media vs. Transistor Radios

 Internationally, there have been attempts to limit younger teens from exposure to the evils of social media. Europe is also now considering legislation to limit access for the pre and early teens. The usual suspects are Tik Tok, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and others. Australia is implementing a program to limit users by age but the kids are getting around it. 

The only equivalent media product that I can think of was the teenager of the late fifties and mid sixties was the addiction of the young to AM radio. I can remember adults complaining, "No wonder the kids can't learn anything when they have those transistor radios glued to their ears eyeryday.