And to think that most of the posters would have had a higher opinion of the original poster if he/she was a troll!

HAS to be a troll - no one in their right mind would have done that, let alone say they were taking a bus to another town to watch television. Oh yes, and I am sure the bartender will pursue getting a satellite feed for someone who can't leave home without their TV - very believable. Nice story.

Don't forget to request some squirt cheese in a can, although you might have to travel to another town to get that too. Why don't you call the American embassy and see if they can set you up?

Babelfish is an amazing invention.

Cheese in a can? Excuse me. I have more class than asking Italian restaurants for cheesewhiz.

I bring my own squirt can from the good ole U.S. of A. !

Anyway, thank you all for your nice suggestions. Harleyverditzy, everbody.

They actually issued you a passport??

yawning:

When in Rome (or Florence)...

Europe's newsstands groan with copies of La Gazzetta dello Sport - kept for Italians who can't go a day away from home without keeping up with the latest gossip about their football teams.

Would an Italian abroad ask to look at pictures of David? Of course not. Italians are unlikely to travel abroad, less likely to speak a foreign language, and downright certain to have no interest in any cultural event since the birth of Raffaella Carra (though that IS quite a while ago).

By watching American Idol, whatever that is, you're avoiding the worst TV on the planet. And, given that - restaurants aside - provincial Italy has just about the dullest nightlife in Europe, unless you really love sitting in a square being deafened by motor scooters, you're really not missing much.

Spend your holidays the way you want to, not the way the Culture Police want you to. Just as Italians would.

One small point though. Do you really think Italian bars stay open till peak viewing hours in the US? Or is this programme on at a time Italians are likely to awake?

Troll or not (looking at the other lone thread in which you've participated, my mind is made up), there will be no AI to be found in Florence. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Satellites simply cannot patch into CBS, NBC or CBS broadcasting in Europe. For some reason, either technical or legal, it can't be done. I spent countless hours trying to figure out a way to get US network TV in Germany, now that we live here, but learned it is impossible.

We settled for second best--Sky TV Digital from the UK. There, you get Fox News Network, but everything else is from Europe--even CNN, Bloomberg and MSNBC. And, FYI, the US version of American Idol is not broadcast on Sky TV

Whether you want to realize it or not, it's a sad day when your life revolves around a television show. Like so many others, you've been sucked in by the marketing machine.

Actually Riffic, we do, unfortunate;ly, get American Idol in the UK. It's shown on one of the satellite channels - probably ITV2, as ITV is the British TV Co. that sold the show to the US. The original is called Pop Idol, hence the reason you get Simon Cowell in the US (he styarted as Mr Nasty in the UK version, and still does Pop Idol here). And yes, Pop Idol is just as rubbish and addictive as the US spin-off.

dcespedes: I almost agree with you. One question. How difficult is your experience going cold turkey on The Amazing Race so far ?

I will be in Italy during the final Friends episode and the final Survivor episode and who knows what else. My mom will be taping like crazy while I'm gone. I agree with yawning that seeing the tape isn't as good as the real thing but it'll have to do. I am an admitted fan of reality and crap tv...can't help it. Yawning...I feel your pain and glad you may have found a solution.

Now if you could just get the racers to sing some mediocre cover toons during down times on the train... maybe while locals offered up a few barbed critiques...

Actually, I like the Amazing Race... it is a race and through interesting places, at that. American Idol seemed better when it was Star Search.

Hi Yawning...glad you asked. I was in Europe for five weeks this past summer and during that time missed the finale, as well as or or two of the shows leading up to it. I taped them...and watched them about 3 weeks after our return.