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"Bad Girls" is bad for my healthI had one of the worst TV show experiences of my adult life a couple of months back. I’m just now calm enough and sane enough to comment on it. I think. It’s about the British TV series Bad Girls.
Season one of Bad Girls was very entertaining, even though I had to read recaps to figure out what the heck was being said. Its story arc was logical and easy to follow. It had interwoven drama and characters that made it quite compelling. Basically, there was nothing bad about Bad Girls. Well, except maybe the clothes. But Bad Girls has also been bad for my health. No, it’s wrong of me to blame the show for my damaged psyche. Actually, what has been bad for my well-being is learning the truth about the different regional zones for DVDs and players — oh, and Dish Network. My Bad Girls experience started off innocently enough when I rented season one of the series through an online DVD rental company. I would get a disc in the mail, watch it in two days and send it back for the next disc. It was addicting! Then, at long last, something of real import happened between Nikki and Helen. Of course, that’s when season one of the series ended.
I immediately logged on to my DVD rental queue to move up the season two discs so I wouldn’t have to wait more than 3 or 4 days to continue my journey of the Warden and the Inmate’s forbidden love. And that’s when the road to Bad Girls hell began. There was no season 2 available through any U.S. DVD rental company. After I wrapped my thick skull around that inconvenience, I moved on to plan B. I figured I would just buy the series myself and watch it. That’s when the stark reality of differing DVD regional zones hit me square in my lesbian, aching heart. Why did I not know that there are different regional zones for DVD players? My only response is "Why would I?!" See, I am a victim of the American consumer mindset: I think that if something exists in the world, I can have it. Not a problem. I know that there are those who will read this and say, “roc, this is all you have to do.” Well, let me thank you in advance for caring enough to make suggestions. Really. But if “this is all you have to do” is followed by anything more than “put the DVD into your current region 1 disc–playing DVD player and hit play,” then it is too much for me to follow.
Then a miracle happened. I discovered that the series was being run on Logo. Yay to that news! Well, yay, except I don’t get Logo. I am one of those unfortunate few who subscribe to Dish Network. It's so typical of Dish not to offer Logo. There's a reason why they're second-tier to Direct TV, and it has nothing to do with NFL football packages. It has to do with providing channels. For the last two years, Dish Network has reportedly been in “negotiations” to add Logo to its lineup, but as of now it still doesn’t carry Logo. That is a tough pill to swallow for this American consumer. As a Dish subscriber, I have a zillion shopping channels, religious channels, international channels in a variety of non-English-speaking programming, sports channels — the list goes on for programs that I either have no interest in watching or no ability to understand. Yet the commercial “gay” channel is not an option? Dish Network did the same thing with the Oxygen channel, and certainly the Dish executives were not suggesting that women are a niche market. Were they? Well, maybe they were.
In review, my Bad Girls experience went something like this:
OK, I'm done with my rant, but be very careful when you mention Bad Girls around me. I do not respond well. How can a show I enjoyed so much now be a bad word when I hear it? Ugh. Submitted by on July 23, 2007 - 12:53pm. |
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This problem is SO easy to solve!
Just buy a region-free dvd player for $30. Or, go here and see if your current dvd player can be set to be region free. Then buy S2 and beyond from Amazon UK and watch to your heart's content. See, it's not that your American consumer mindset was wrong, it was just that you didn't take it far enough--in this case, the problem truly can be solved by throwing money at it. :)
--abzug
Visit http://www.badgirlsannex.com!
Hell, yeah!
Bad Girls....Region 2 dvd
Just have to say that I just recently discovered Bad Girls, and I'm compleletly obsessed with Simone. I also purchased the Region 2 dvd (UK version) and a region free player. I wanted to see all the extras not included on the U.S. version. I also realized that I didn't need the player because I have a program called DVD Fab Decrypter. It's a free download on the internet. If you have this program open when you insert the dvd, it will remove the code so that you will be able to watch it on your computer. I've tried it on my laptop as well, and it works just fine.
Brilliant! Where can you buy a region-free dvd player?
where to find multi-region DVD players
I bought a Toshiba SD-290 multi-region DVD player at Abt Electronics in Illinois. They have a website: www.abtelectronics.com but I didn't see that particular model listed. You could probably call them to ask about it. They're a very good company. Otherwise, just google multi-region DVD player and you should be able to find something.
Good luck!
Well, it isn't quite the same
Not so sure about that re. PC (Windows)
In fact, the DVD drive may be region free (hardware-wise) but the operating system will be coded. There are tools, however, that would read the DVD into a separate "virtual" drive and it could be read / played from there. These tools are not allowed everywhere, it´s a matter of national laws, to which you should comply.
The other thing besides the region code is the format. Most DVD-player programs are able to recognize a PAL or NTSC format and play accordingly. If not, again, some software is required to reformat.
Trust me, being in Germany and waiting for US-shows like forever I know the hard way: either, hope for a German edition or buy the expensive UK-import (no problem with region or format).
Roc: I very much liked how you put the "American mentality" of excepting to have goods promtly available at all times into words. I believed this, too. But besides copyright, legal, international trade issues, there is also a tax issue: whenever I order something from the US or Canada I gulp heavily on the import tax. I am not necessarily a huge fan of globalisation (don´t start anything with me on that subject, please) but this is one of the cases where I think "how stupid and nasty is this ?"
A general note on imported US-shows in Europe: Many of my favourite shows will not be released (at least not in Germany) because of copyright issue re. the music in the shows. Prominent victims are Northern Exposure, LA Law and Cagney & Lacey.
And most built-in PC DVD
You are right
It isn't the same but you can watch them on the computer. I have to do that with my Eddie Izzard DVDs but is very much worth it. I went a different route with Bad Girls, footballers wives, sugar rush, and Hex, I use download torrents. I don't know why I love British TV so much, maybe it is the accents. Oh, the countless fun words I have picked up.
The joy of torrents is that you only have to wait for them to download and not have to wait for the DVDs to be released. I do wish they would release bad girls over here though.
I am not 100% sure but I think having a region free DVD player is illegal in the USA. Not that stops people...
Torrents
Yeah, I live by torrents, especially since even in Canada there are so many shows...
ie:
- L word S4 won't air here til September
- South of Nowhere is nowhere to be found on Canadian television
- a plethora of other quality (mainly British) shows aren't aired here...
Torrents are definately the easiest and fastest way to get high quality TV shows that are otherwise unavailable. I have s1-4 of Bad Girls myself :)
Agreed!
Ah, I so agree on this! I really live by torrents. I live in Holland so this means that any series is aired in america (or england for that matter) has to air it's full season before the dutch networks even think of buying it, leaving me always at least a year behind. They still don't air bad girls here. They just started Heroes though, which is pretty amazing but which I'd already seen through downloads.
Anyways, a region free dvd is probably your best bet :D
Who you gonna be if you can't be yourself,
you can't get it from t.v., you can't force it on
anybody else.-- Ani Difranco
So far as I know, the only
So far as I know, the only Eddie Izzard dvd that isn't available in Region 1 is Sexie. I have all 5 of his other ones (Circle, Dress to Kill, Definite Article, Glorious, and Unrepeatable) on region 1 dvd. But Sexie? Who knows when that's going to come out - it's been YEARS now, and I'm still waiting.
Torrents are great. That's how I'm watching Bad Girls right now.
YouTube the answer to all your problems!
You Tube works, too.
Some kind soul uploaded pretty much all of the seasons there.
"There is no formula. You learn to love by loving. "
Aldous Huxley
YouTube
advice?
If you are gonna go for illegal why go for crappy quality?;)
"call me old fashioned but I prefer feminism that leaves a little something to the imagination!"
Region DVD incompatibility isn't the only problem
torrents!
and all of that is illegal
Let's keep the discussion to BG rather than circumvention of region codes, OK?
hmm...
Does that mean I shouldn’t post about getting
stolendvd players that fall from the backs of trucks?nah, that's fine.
not just American
...but entrepreneurial.
Bushisms
Oh how I love his many gaffes. Hahahahahaha.
(At least, that was the link I made from your comment ...)
whoops!
fair compensation
I can honestly say, without exaggeration, that Bad Girls has sucked MONTHS of my life from me. Hours, days, weeks that I’ll never get back.
Now I’m not complaining about most of that time, as I enjoyed every enthralling, engrossing, emotional and wholly absorbing minute that Nikki & Helen wrenched from my life.
Rather, I blame the rest of the BG series, specifically seasons 5-8, for my damaged psyche – a psyche which, btw, was in perfect working order before I began watching this accursed show.
So, I figure Shed owes me approximately 3 weeks of my life for the horror of those last 4 seasons, and I demand those days/weeks back. Since I’m not unreasonable, I’m amenable to a monetary settlement to make up for my pain and suffering.
Or, they can just start a new season and bring back Helen & Nikki - I would consider that fair compensation.
As I suggested in the blog,
Capital Entertainment
Legal and FUN solution
Ok so here is a legal and fun solution....
Win the lottery.... buy a flat in the UK.... Buy the UK DVD's for your UK flat and fly over and invite some new friends over for a Bad Girls fest. But if you are going to solve your region problems this way and you find yourself expanding your likes to other "regions" you are going to aquire some nifty new real estate and some serious jet lag as this isn't the only "region" to conquer.
I would NEVER think of recommending any other solution, since to do so would be in complete violation of this fine governments laws.
****cough***cough***sputter****sputter****
Wow!...
...what an amazing coincidence. That's what I did! Does anyone know someone who wants to timeshare on my nifty UK flat? You gotta supply your own DVDs though.
The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole - is quit diggin'.
Software
If you do have a DVD player on your computer, there is affordable software to purchase that allows you to choose alternate region DVDs. There is even a free trial to see if you like it. http://www.dvdregionmaster.com/multi-region-dvd.htm. Have not tried it myself, just heard about it. More software can be found here as well http://www.dvdidle.com/ (DVD Region-free).
And who can resist a name like DVD Region Master. Best of luck.
US distributor is out of business
The US distributor of BG S1 is no longer in business. The real question is why hasn't someone like Wolfe picked up S2-8 for distribution? I mean, if we have our niche channels and our niche dvd distributors, they should be doing their job and satisfying the niche!
--abzug
Visit http://www.badgirlsannex.com!
Yes, when your niche...
That's for sure
And done a pretty good job of it, too. But still, to your point, the problem with niches is that they aren't widely available. So when gay content is relegated to the niche, it's not accessible to everyone. That's the problem with ghettoization. Only Logo will broadcast gay stuff, and not everyone gets Logo. Is this an improvement over back when we only had a few gay characters, but at least they were on network tv and everyone watched them? I mean, the way we have to watch Bad Girls in the US (illegal dvd hacks, illegal downloads, or highly edited on a not-widely-distributed cable channel) is the polar opposite from how folks in the UK watched Bad Girls (on a major television network in prime time). I'm all for The L Word and shows like Bad Girls being on tv, but it's not doing much to improve the broader public's views on gay people (and when I refer to the "broader public" I include closeted gay folk as well, who aren't hooked in to the gay niche).
--abzug
Visit http://www.badgirlsannex.com!
Why does Logo...
..censor their stuff so much? Does anyone know? I have to pay extra for the channel and it is cable for God's sake, which as far as I know is NOT regulated for content in the US. I can see all the T&A I don't want to see on HBO - thinking Deadwood here - so why can't Logo show it's stuff?
I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw a showing of - I think it was Deepa Mehta's Fire, which was plenty mild to begin with - and they cut the good bits. I wouldn't have known it except that I had rented that DVD online a year or so age - and a lesbian doesn't forget the good bits (especially when we see so very little of them).
The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole - is quit diggin'.
VLC & Your Computer
No more comments about torrents, software, etc.
Prison = Regions in a modern tech world
Does anybody else see the irony in that Bad Girls is a show about prison and this topic expanded into the loss of the ability to watch whatever we want in the age of such modern technology where at the blink of an eye wherever you are (supposedly) you should be able to download and view whatever the heck you want via cell phone or computer or damn near beaming it directly to the back of my retnia. But alas......NO!!!
A small technical glitch like "region code" and slam go the bar doors.
Sorry I just thought it was interesting since this topic could have come up so many times before over so many other shows......but alas it coincides with a prison show.
******smirking*****
To me it's the age of
To me it's the age of consumerism and not being able to consume or purchase what one wishes due to social constructs that still actively determine what is worthy. Dish Network apparently does not consider its gay and lesbian customers worthy of a channel designed specifically to meet some of that client population's interest. It's annoying. They are making the assumption that only gays and lesbians may watch. Even if that's the case, so what? Plus, I don't believe that to be the case. The comments here immediately went to "solution" rather than focusing on the frustration of the "process" by which we are often force fed by general media and by money what we should or should not find of value.
Abzug, point taken in your last comment. That's a blog rant for another day:)
The broader issues...
> Abzug, point taken in your last comment. That's a blog rant for another day:)
I can't wait to read it. :)
One other thought related to region-free dvd players, torrents, YouTube, and other not-quite-legal means of watching television that The Man has decided we aren't going to get to see: in my mind, being gay has always involved a fair amount of "screw the rules/laws" mentality. Until very very recently, it was illegal in many states for gay people to have sex. There are still many areas where we gay folk have to create alternative institutions (commitment ceremonies) or actually break the law (Don't Ask Don't Tell) in order to live our lives the way we want, or have the careers we want.
The fact that we have to do the same thing in order to watch great television (Bad Girls, Sugar Rush, etc) is a sad statement about how far we still have to go. But it is also a statement about our resourcefulness and our willingness to bend or break rules or norms (and sometimes laws) that exist solely for those in power to preserve their power/wealth/etc.
Which is, as Uneek pointed out, the PERFECT thing to be discussing in a thread about Bad Girls!
--abzug
Visit http://www.badgirlsannex.com!
Hmmmmm.
Are non-U.S. region DVD players really outlawed in the U.S.? This is the first I've heard of it.
And, Roc, honey, why do you stay with Dish Network even though you acknowledge the superiority of DircTV? DirecTV will wire every room in your house, give you a dish and a hi-def dvr receiver, and three months of premium cable for next to nothing, just to get your bidness.
re: Hmmmmm
????
I find this difficult to believe...since I bought my region-free player at Circuit City here (expressly for the purpose of watching my BG dvds series 2 & 3 ordered from the UK) in the USA, advertised as such, and listed among its attributes on the box.
My Bad Girls music vids on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrLGd5c6QXM
BAM for Beginners http://bamforbeginners.com/
I'm a dolt too!!
1000's of US now own region free dvd players
Simone Lahbib
Hi LuLover,
I checked Netflix for "Wire in the Blood" which I found, but Simone's name wasn't even mentioned as one of the stars, can you tell me if her name is listed on the DVD?.
I also want to get "Monarch of the Glen" and I don't see her name listed on this...bugger:-).
Like you, I bought a region free DVD player so I could watch Bad Girls season 1 thru 7 I got my DVD's via eBay and I made sure they said "uncut".
It's great because I can now buy British or Australian DVD's and watch them on my new DVD player.....yoohoo.
Have a good day...
SIMONE IN WIRE IN THE BLOOD
check this out...
this is how i got my fix http://void.printf.net/~morag/random/bad_girls/bad_girls.html
Consciousness-raising
Looks like this has been a bit of a consciousness-raising exercise for lots of USians. I have to say, it's infuriating when movies are only released for the US market - or take a long time to trickle over the other side of the world - and of course indie/queer movies are about the last to be released in non-Region 1 formats. I would say that I much prefer PAL over fuzzy NTSC, though. Oh, and forget about getting decent movies on cable. It doesn't exist. Australia has Foxtel and Sky... and that is all.
I really don't understand the stupidity of region-encoding. Surely DVDs can be distributed for release on the same day world-wide? (Like certain books these days). Region-encoding like a great way to promote ripping and bittorrenting, as is amply proven in the comments here. I even had to rip a copy of Cherry2000 myself yesterday, since I can't hack my laptop DVD player to play a Region 1 disk. Well, I can watch it as much as I like now.
Surely having a region free DVD player isn't illegal?
Admittedly I am in the UK, but I have a region free DVD player, they are sold everywhere here now. I am an addict of The Wire - it takes long enough to come out in the States, it takes an age here. But I don't see how there can be anything illegal about importing DVDs, so long as you go through a reputable company and you pay all import duties required of you. Amazon US have a whole set up designed for buying stuff from the US and importing into the UK. Why would it be different the other way round? (importing from UK to US): Copyright owners get paid because they you are buying a legitimate copy, and US taxes are getting paid because you are paying them on import.
I concede I could be completely wrong about this, I am not a US copyright lawyer, and laws have been known to be illogical before.
Just a thought and some more BG health issues.
As for BG and health issues, I totally get it, after going through hell and back to be able to watch it, once I had it, I couldn't stop. It got to the point where I was watching a full season per night. A nd then came the BG hangover, that moment when you realize it's over, it was all just "a tv show,and nothing else" and you have to go back to your life, which is never quite as exciting.
Point is, do not promote illegal downloading by doing it yourself! But just in case you want to know where to get BG without region issues and for free, let me know...lol, just kidding.
http://iwoulddosupermanifhewouldletme.blogspot.com project/art blog (english)
http://comadotcom.blogspot.com