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The critically acclaimed US television drama could not be made here. We have writing talent in abundance, but its output is controlled by a stifling monopoly—the BBC. Plus, an interview with The Wire's creator David Simon
Read Prospect's interview with The Wire's creator David Simon, in which he explains why writing is a team sport in the US
It's been a slow burning fuse. From its first broadcast on the US pay-TV channel HBO in 2002, it took seven years for The Wire to accumulate widespread critical recognition in Britain. And it has grown into something bigger than an artistic success. Like a great Victorian novel, David Simon's epic portrait of the policing, crime and politics of post-industrial Baltimore is now cited by politicians and leader writers. But the success of this show and a raft of other imports such as The West Wing and Mad Men begs a question about the state of one of our key cultural industries. How come US television drama has captured the high end of the market and we have abandoned it?
It wasn't always this way. Although America dominated postwar television drama from Bonanza to Dallas and Dynasty, Britain had a healthy export trade. Till Death us Do Part was transformed into All in the Family, and Monty Python changed US comedy. But our most important impact was not in quantity but quality. Epic historical series such as Jewel in the Crown or experimental melodramas such as Pennies from Heaven set a benchmark for US writers and producers.
But something has happened in the last ten to 15 years. In 1994, I wrote a tribute to Dennis Potter in the New Statesman about the decline of the single authored play on British television. The most obvious cause of this decline was the concentration of commissioning into a few hands. Despite the growth of the independent sector, just four men decided what millions would watch. The difference between 1994 and 2008 is startling. Instead of being the responsibility of four network controllers, most drama is now commissioned by one person.
That person is Ben Stephenson, BBC controller of drama commissioning. He has faced mounting criticism since last year, when he made ill-advised remarks about a "limited pool of talent" for television drama. First to speak out was the former head of drama in Northern Ireland, Robert Cooper, who said that the BBC's £228m drama budget constitutes a "near monopoly." A few months later producer Tony Garnett, whose 50-year track record includes launching the careers of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, accused the BBC of being a cause of its decline, having "hired McKinsey and ended up a McDonald's."
But everyone missed the glaring issue: why are these questions being addressed to only one person? In 1994, I worried about the cultural power of four network controllers. Now you can forget Channel 4 and BBC2: they can make decent one-offs, such as Red Riding and Freefall this year, but both have basically dropped out of adult dramas. ITV has fared no better. In the 1990s the powerful baronies of Granada, Yorkshire TV, LWT and Thames had some autonomy. But their amalgamation into one corporation, followed by a catastrophic fall in advertising revenue, has turned ITV drama into a shadow of its former self. Whatever your view of public service broadcasting (and I support it) the near-monopoly of the BBC in drama commissioning is disastrous.
One argument used to defend management from this drive to centralisation is, bizarrely, competition. We live in an increasingly competitive multi-channel, multi-platform world they say; the BBC must concentrate its power to survive. Yet across the Atlantic, we see a much more competitive market, with a move to "smarten up" rather than dumb down. The cliché about US television, "160 channels and nothing to watch," now looks snooty and out of date, at least with drama. Starting with HBO a decade ago, we've had The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Six Feet Under—ground-breaking dramas that explored the depths of character and the dynamics of group or family, against the larger context of a city, profession or social milieu.
Not only is the quality of the output high, but so is the diversity of style and genre. This has to be connected to the break-up of the old US network cartel. In the last decade the four major US broadcasters have had stiff competition from free and pay-per-view cable channels, turning US television into a seller's rather than a buyer's market. The creative people have more control and the commissioning process is more open. In 2002 an American producer, Anita Addison, saw some episodes of In Deep, a show I had devised for the BBC. She took it to Paramount and they flew me to Los Angeles during the "pitching season." I went to studios and spoke about my project for 20 minutes. I didn't need a track record—the presence of a producer, writer and a good idea was enough to have a pilot commissioned.
In Britain, however, the quality of an idea will have little to do with getting a green light. Internal politics and "who's up and who's down" will decide. The fate of independent producers is just as bad, turning domestic drama production into a court, with its favourites, intrigues, and sudden disgraces.
One reflex reaction to the decline of British television is to blame it on "chasing the ratings." But US drama proves that the descent to the lowest common denominator isn't the only way to get audiences. Nielsen ratings are still king on the major networks, but HBO nurtured The Wire through years of obscurity until it became a hit. With the rise of DVDs and the importance of foreign sales, channels are earning a large proportion of their income from the "long tail."
In Britain, The Wire was first shown on the FX cable channel in 2005, but BBC2 recently screened all 60 episodes. The fifth series got around 600,000 viewers per episode, 100,000 more than the sitcom that had previously occupied the slot. Total DVD sales for The Wire in Britain are forecast to go past the 1m mark by the end of the year. But to reap these rewards, shows must appeal to the highest common denominator.
The Americans excel at making shows which bear occasional watching, devoted following or repeat viewings. Think of an episode of ER, say, in its heyday. In those 46 minutes there will be teasers and hooks and a strong stand-alone story to keep you gripped through the adverts. But there will also be a syncopated beat of other B and C stories which unfold concurrently (see the diagram on p52), perhaps over several episodes, sometimes over a season or longer. At their best, especially in Mad Men and The Sopranos, US television dramas have evolved into an art form which explores both the inner psyche and the social world continuously but discretely, so that each fragment contains the fractal beauty of the whole.
Apart from a radical restructuring of our own broadcasting industry, what lessons can we take away? The most important, as David Simon points out in the interview (below), is that in US television drama "the writer is God." This is not because of literary cachet—it's arisen out of aesthetic, technical and commercial need. Drama is incredibly expensive to make and economies of scale kick in when stories are told over 13 or 24 episodes. They cannot be written by one person alone, nor can they be effectively controlled by studio executives, actors or directors, whose talents by definition lie elsewhere. It requires a team of writers willing to develop character and narrative over a long haul, keeping it focused and fresh. It's not the writer, singular, who is God in US television drama, but the role of the writer, generic, in the process.
This doesn't lead to "writing by committee." My experience is that four minds are four times more inventive in a team than if each works alone. But this requires a conductor to keep the voices to tempo and tune, and the key to this is the showrunner—the head producer who has creative control of the series. Showrunners like David Chase (Sopranos), Steven Bochco (Hill Street Blues) or John Wells (ER) helped carve out a space for collaboration. Time and money is also invested. In the US, beyond your individual scripts, you are paid a salary to come into a "writer's room" and help the work of others. The Wire is a good example of the result. Conceived by David Simon, a former journalist, and homicide detective Ed Burns, the collaborative ethic allowed them to bring in voices from film writing and crime fiction—such as Richard Price and George Pelecanos—without losing coherence.
This ethos has made US television the preferred destination for a generation of great writers. After winning an Oscar with American Beauty, Alan Ball eschewed the big screen and created Six Feet Under for HBO. In the DVD commentary to the pilot, he describes handing in the edgy first draft to the head of the channel. Having been through the Hollywood studio mill, Ball expected the worst, but the only note he had back read: "Can you make it more fucked up?"
Although we are blessed with a tradition of great television dramatists, there's no way that Alan Bleasdale, Dennis Potter or Jimmy McGovern could have written a dozen episodes of a show alone. We have recently imported the idea of showrunners for the resurrection of Dr Who and Survivors, but their power is limited, and the principle of collaboration doesn't penetrate the lower echelons. Script editors and producers take a dim view of you talking to another writer without tight supervision. There is no financial incentive either. Why make someone else'
s episode great when it might make yours look less good? Given that the running order can be changed at the last moment by management fiat, those collectively crafted character developments and story arcs will be binned anyway. Just write your own episode and cash that cheque.
And there is a bigger problem. How can you commission a show if you haven't defined the metrics of success? Should we be chasing audiences or pleasing regulators? When I started working in television an audience of 10m was deemed a success for BBC1 or ITV primetime drama. Now it's 5m. Thanks to the growth of DVDs, personal video recorders such as Sky Plus, satellite, digital, online and on-demand services, the broadcast network can no longer monopolise home entertainment and the audience are leaving en masse. The worst thing to do at such a moment is to play safe—yet that has been the tactic of British television drama. It's understandable that ITV cuts everything to the bone except Emmerdale and Coronation Street—they need the advertising revenue. After The X-Factor, these soaps are the channel's best performers, bringing in audiences of around 7m and 9m respectively. But why does the BBC devote most of its drama budget to three soaps: EastEnders, Casualty and Holby City?
Tony Garnett calls this a "dereliction" and the output "formulaic, repetitive, machine driven, emotionally dishonest junk." Having worked on that assembly line, I can only concur. I wrote a season opener to the hospital drama Holby City before it became a soap, to prove myself "by ordeal" as a BBC writer. For my sins, I got involved in two more episodes which count as the most dispiriting experiences in my 25 years as a dramatist. Soaps squeeze the creativity and innovation out of you. Your characters will be controlled by a remorseless weekly production machine, subject to the whims of its personnel, or the unavailability of an actor. Your dialogue, mainly confected out of procedural clichés anyway, will be rewritten in-house. A producer may send you a script the day before shooting begins with the instruction to turn it around overnight and "make it funnier" or "more in your voice." It's a paradox of our public service broadcasting that soaps are primetime viewing here, while on US television they are a daytime interest. Soaps lock us into 1960s kitchen-sink naturalism and outdated platitudes of class, character and aspiration. In comparison, the inventiveness of Potter or Bleasdale looks like it comes from a different age, and the hyper-realism of The Wire from another planet. Even a middlebrow US drama such as Damages, set in a law firm, takes risks with form: dream and fantasy sequences, montages, flashforwards, flashbacks. It plays with genre and expectation, and its anti-hero, played by Glenn Close, provides a compelling portrait of the contradictions of character.
One response to all this is to admit defeat. Why should we dream of competing with the US? We should accept that we no longer punch above our weight and resign ourselves to being a medium-sized country with limited aspirations.
But our dramatic talent is still flourishing elsewhere. Our reality television formats dominate (or is that tyrannise?) US primetime. In comedy, the US version of The Office is a success, and the edgy improvisational style of The Thick of It inspires envy. And our actors and directors pick up Oscars and Golden Globes, as do our screenwriters such as Ronald Harwood, Peter Morgan and Simon Beaufoy. All three were trained in television drama. Could they, like Alan Ball, be enticed back to the small screen in Britain? I doubt it.
Any sector that has lost both market share and talent at such a rapid rate as British television drama should start examining its practices. Drama is about dialogue, opposing points of view, clashing perspectives. Any structure that diminishes this diversity undermines the basis of the form.
Last year Ben Stephenson's predecessor Jane Tranter, who until recently was BBC controller of fiction (yes, all BBC fiction), gave a speech about drama at the Royal Television Society awards. She spoke of the role of the executive: "In the modern world of endless media possibilities we can help a drama to succeed by encouraging it to be succinct, to declare its intent, to make its premise clear… ensuring that the heart of the drama is not only true, but is not opaquely or perversely hidden." I came across her speech as I was reading Stephen Greenblatt's essay on Hamlet, which demonstrates how Shakespeare added a "wilful obscurity" to the original tragedy to increase its emotional power and depth. I couldn't help feeling Tranter's stand was a misunderstanding of what drama is, what a writer does, and what the audience wants.
If writers knew in advance, with no opacity or perversity, what the true heart of a drama was, they wouldn't bother to write it. If this principle of "making the premise clear" had been applied to The Singing Detective or Edge of Darkness, let alone Twin Peaks or Lost, none of them would have been made. More importantly, if the audience is held by the hand and told where they are going, they will go elsewhere, abandoning the programmatic and obvious for the unpredictable, dark hearts of Tony Soprano or David Simon's Baltimore.
October 29, 2009
Great article. I look at my DVD shelf and the TV is all American – 'Six Feet', 'Deadwood', 'The Shield' etc etc. The last mainstream BBC drama I watched was 'Cambridge Spies' and I thought it completely unbelievable and trite.
And its not even about budget – 'In treatment' is made for almost nothing yet grips like a vice.
The dissatisfaction with the BBC is growing to the point where it is endangering its survival in the future.
October 29, 2009
Totally agree. I had more freedom when writing 'The Bill' years ago than I have now as a much more experienced screenwriter. The trouble is the execs think they know everything, even the writer's craft, and insist on calling all the shots. Explaining to exec producers exactly why their barmy ideas/notes won't work increasingly makes me ask how in God's name they have reached their elevated status.
October 29, 2009
A good article on how writing for television works best, but setting the BBC up against series that clearly could only have happened in the more inventive culture of American cable television, rather than the hidebound major networks, is a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison. Just ask the creators of Southland, an excellent cop series recently canceled to shove middlebrow, middling funny Jay Leno down America's throat for one more prime time evening.
October 30, 2009
I hope you're not saying Murdoch should have a go, instead…
October 30, 2009
An inherently engaging, interesting piece, and quite a reversal of perspective for me here in Hollywood. I found it via a link tweeted by Shawn Ryan, creator of The Shield, The Unit, & etc who prefaced it appreciatively, "Nice defense of TV writers…" Pursuant to the point about the exporting of UK acting talent, it just occurred to me that Ryan's current series, Lie to Me, stars the brit Tim Roth.
Here in the U.S., some have begun predicting the extinction of scripted drama from the Big Four broadcast networks. I am not inclined to go that far, but such a pronouncement does indeed feel like much less of a stretch than it would have been even five years ago. Yes, there are many very good shows being produced on the cable outlets. However, big-network shows are (usually) bigger paychecks for writers, actors, directors, etc who work on them; with the ever-shrinking number of scripted dramas on the major networks comes a growing sense of cynicism and economic anxiety.
A good illustration of this was the recent "Emmy" Awards for Primetime Television. One of the more profound laughs of the evening was elicited by presenter Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who said that she was "honored to be presenting on the last official year of network broadcast television." Later, in a reference to NBC's decision to sacrifice the 10 o'clock hour on all five nights of the work week to the vanilla Jay Leno chat show, Tina Fey accepted the latest of a multi-year slew of awards for her comedy series 30 Rock by saying, "We want to thank our friends at NBC for keeping us on the air… even though we are so much more expensive than a talk show." On the other side of the coin, Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner expressed excitement over working during a time when so many new outlets and new media channels are coming into the mix, saying that he sees it all as a source of more quality TV for the viewer. He has a point — it would be a shame to be involved in a television renaissance and not realize it until afterward.
October 30, 2009
rich thrift
Great piece, thanks for writing it.
I am a promo maker who has cut trails for The Sopranos, CSI (in all its incarnations, more more dubious than others…), Lost, Fringe and Lie To Me to name a few. Aside from a few duds (NCIS L.A. my current dartboard drama) the U.S output can only be described as being in a different league to the U.K.'s output.
Exceptions to this have been Dead Set, The Take and Skins, again (and sorry if i sound like i'm name dropping, i'm not, just giving context to my comments) shows i have developed promo campaigns for.
Life On Mars / Ashes To Ashes were close contenders, they looked great but ultimatley they were built on the period without the drama to back that up. Their stories were not always predictable but it always felt that at their heart they were retreading paths already explored.
It was the BBC's Criminal Justice though that recently gave me hope that we would as a country be on our way to great drama again.
It looked fantastic again, and was full of good solid performances.
However, the ending was hurried and completely uninspired, betraying the graceful build of tension evident in the first 4 of its 5 episodes. I asked too much it seemed.
A sophisticated audience deserves and wants better, as the sale of U.S. box sets attests to. Does this not prick the ears of tv execs? Even amid the current lull?
October 30, 2009
Marcia Heargrave
Perhaps the author of this brilliant piece could head over to the BBC Mesageboard, where this subject (and his piece) is being discussed in a thread called BBC Drama Output: Why is it so rubbish.
October 31, 2009
michael woodhead
This is a brilliant analysis of the mediocrity that runs the BBC. Tranter was typical of the management style that has come to dominate the corporation. They make pretty speeches, declare their mission to nurture new talent, usually throwing in words like relevant and cutting edge, or challenging and investigative. Yet the end product is dire, dull and devastatingly dumb. I think there must be a booklet on management-speak among the many booklets the BBC produces as guidance for its senior managers. Because they all quote from the same vocabulary.
Even so why is Jukes complaining about something that by and large never existed except in notably few and individual cases, some of which he mentions.
The British can't do The Wire because Britain does not have as vibrant and diverse a culture as the USA. No matter how much lip service is paid to the notion that we can culturally match the USA stride for stride, we can't.
The Wire and the talent that writes it, springs from a society still in the making. Martin Amis made this point many years ago in relation to the novel. Just look at the sheer muscularity of American speech patterns for a start. British English sounds half-dead and effete in comparison. Only among the ethnic minorities does something similar to the USA exist.
The Thick of it sounds robust mostly because there is a lot of swearing and reliance on gimmicky speech metaphors and similies. It is bolted on to the characters whereas watch The Wire or even Boston Legal you know this is how such characters would speak even if you met the likes of them in real life.
So Jukes no amount of team writing is going to change things. No amount of double digit story lines can cover up the fact that Britain is culturally an old passe society.
November 1, 2009
And another – rather more interesting – discussion is at:
The Guardian thread contains a range of views rather than the homogenous knee-jerk opinions on here…
November 1, 2009
Peter Jukes
Thanks to everyone for their supportive and insightful comments on my piece. Happy to engage here further in any discussion – it might be a little easier to follow, and less filled with strawmen, than the Guardian thread.
Taking some points in reverse order:
1. Michael. In the fifth from last para I hoped to touch on the question whether this was inevitable cultural decline. We can't do The Wire, plainly, because we don't have Baltimore – but don't you think it's odd that the US (with British actors and directors) has so vividly depicted the decline of its inner cities?
Though I think the stories we have to tell the world are different, by necessity, there's no doubting the acting and directing talent we have because of their success in Hollywood. I'd also say we have the writing talent – or least we did have, at the quality end, a couple of decades ago.
Cultural decline and representations of it are interactive in my eyes. Because our media is in the state its in, we actually contribute our malaise by not being able to see ourselves clearly, and diagnose some of the problems. A healthy, sceptical and exciting national narrative is part of the solution
2. Rich Thrift. As is mostly the case, practitioners of TV storytelling are most acutely aware of the relative decline. You can see it in the edits and the mise en scene. I agree with you too about Criminal Justice being let down by the last episode (I would say the same about State of Play). These last minute breathless sequences of 'tying up story' suggest to me the heavy hand of the executive, who wants everything signposted and packed up. You see that much less in the enigmatic suspended discords that conclude the best USTV dramas. You do find it, however, in Hollywood – where once again the writer is low down in the pecking order.
3. Patrick. Of course I'm not saying Murdoch would be any better. A private monopolist would be worse than a public one, and it's unfortunate that, though I conceived and wrote the bulk of it before Murdoch Jnr's attack on BBC online news, it could be seen in that light.
To me, the key issue is the centralisation of power, and then the danger that a small clique of people pick their own winners. The output gets stale, self referential, and reflects too narrow tastes. Ownership is less important to me than the institutions are changed, as they have by competition in the US, into becoming gate openers rather than gate keepers.
November 2, 2009
Fred Hoyle
If only Shakespeare had attended a BBC Drama Executive training course. Think what he might have achieved!
November 2, 2009
I used to believe the myth that British TV was the best in the world. But having lived abroad for the last 3 years I can say it really isnt. HBO and a host of US channels are far superior. British TV is dross and the sooner the BBC is privatised the better – im so glad im not forced to pay a license fee for such televisual poverty.
November 3, 2009
The thing is Rob, doing away with the licence fee will only exacerbate the problems rather improving matters. You would simply turn the BBC into another ITV, and have you seen the quality of output from that shower?
November 3, 2009
Some interesting points, and I do agree with the sentiment calling for better quality UK output, but I do think you gloss over a couple of important issues:
1. HBO is a paid subscription niche broadcaster, which gives it more flexibility to invest in edgy, provocative drama. What constitutes a 'good' audience on the network is very different to a mainstream channel; they aren't reliant on either advertising revenue or public funding as UK channels are. 3-4 million viewers on HBO is a big success; not so for a BBC prime-time program – Emma scored 3.3m and was deemed a flop. The economics can't be ignored, and while yes, as a public service broadcaster, I would hope and expect the BBC to invest in great British drama, the HBO model isn't strictly applicable because it never claims to be a mainstream channel catering for majority interests.
2. The complexity, cliff-hangers and pace of US TV is a wonderful thing, but let's not forget that it's caused by writing the story structure to fit the ad breaks. They've taken the necessity of multiple story beats and used it to fuel great storytelling, but US writers are always operating inside that fixed framework, and while as a DVD viewer it's easy to forget the constant ad breaks, those moments of tension are there for a reason: to stop you switching the channel during the break. UK writers often don't have that same structure demand hanging over them, and it definitely has shaped the evolution and pace of episodic drama – whether for good or bad is a personal taste!
November 3, 2009
Anon Writer
A wee sofa monkey named Ben,
Sipped his latte, had a scratch, and right then,
Called his old friends at Shed,
Said the shite he'd just read,
Was ace, you're commissioned again!
November 3, 2009
Clive Davies-Frayne
I agree… the state of UK TV drama is dire.
A couple of months ago I wrote a piece about how the lessons writers and producers learn in UK TV are finishing off the British Film industry, where the trend is currently for making expensive looking British TV and then wondering why it looks so poor in the cinema environment.
It wouldn't be so bad if the only effect of the current set up was poor TV drama… but the knock-on effects in the industry are agents whose income depends on supporting writers who are lack luster and de-skilled and an infiltration of greyness into the British movie scene, where the cult of the mediocre and the small vision is played out again and again.
The irony of all this is that with the current digital revolution in production technology, this ought to be a time for a break out of new voices and innovative new drama. My sense is, however, that it isn't going to be the UK TV industry that champions that breakout.
November 3, 2009
John Ellis
I am a great defender of the BBC but the demise of the good dramas of some years back is noticeable, and regretted.
November 4, 2009
Frank Cottrell Boyce described British soaps as 'the narrative equivalent of morris dancing' in an interview with Alistair Owen (Story and Character; Interviews with British Screenwriters, Bloomsbury 2003).
November 5, 2009
Ian H
I am agree with much of what Peter Jukes has written. In our household (2 adults) I am sure that in the past couple of years the vast majority of "destination TV" has been US drama either broadcast or DVD box sets. I think the one area we can still stand toe-to-toe is "bitter-sweet" in which I include Love Soup, Sensitive Skin and probably Life Begins.
November 9, 2009
AM, while this is true for some shows, how come HBO's output is so good despite having no ad breaks? I don't think Showtime does either.
November 13, 2009
Mandy Mandrake
I don't get this obsession the chattering classes have with THE WIRE. It's good…. but it's not that good. Also, the American industry is structured so differently from ours. HBO, AMC et al are funded by subscribers, so they have neither a public broadcast function or a need for ratings.
THE WIRE has tiny audiences in the US. So to compare the two systems is naive and smacks of that ghastly ah-remember-yesterday when Play For Today was always brilliant and England were 303-3 at Lords.The Golden Age that never was.
November 18, 2009
It is perhaps somewhat naive to bemoan the demise of TV drama as it is a rule of thumb that more accessible something becomes the lower the quality it attains. Or rather the lower the common denominator it attains. Let us not forget that The Sun is the biggest selling newspaper in the UK, and those same readers, who are most representative of the largest part of the population, are who most execs are catering to, rather than those (such as most of this website's readers) who are sophisticated and educated in drama. In this age of increasing brand domination of world culture, viewing figures are all that essentially matters to channels fighting for a slice of steadily shrinking revenue. TV drama was at its most interesting when the number of TVs in existence was small. Now that it's a global phenomenon, it should only come as a surprise to the deluded that sophistication and innovation is less evident – those have always been the preserve of the minority. We shouldnt confuse our own desires for what we want to see with what a broadcaster is tasked with providing first and foremost – ratings. They would show a blank screen if it would get high figures, sorry, they already do – its called the X-Factor.
Also TV does not exist to keep drama writers employed. And for that drama has to take its chance with every other show vying for nation's attention. If drama cant stand the heat it had better get out of the kitchen.
Personally I'd much rather watch a film any day.
And I disagree that drama is dialogue. That's radio.
November 19, 2009
Barry Larking
Mandy Mandrake correctly points out that while 'hit shows' in the U.S.A. draw large audiences by British standards, they are a minority taste there. This phenomenon, successful American made serials which sweep all before them is a cultural manifestation of political realities. Their appeal is that sense one always has as British person viewing American life of something familiar but somehow very different. The American television drama series is also a ruthlessly defined product supported by advertisng. Ratings are crucial to finance. Shows which were still being shown worldwide had frequently been long since cancelled at home for failing to hold the audience.
Earlier British televison dramas such as Mandy Mandrake mentions above like the 'Wednesday Play' were extraordinary for airing stories and characters at once common to every day experience yet completely abscent on screen. The very first episode of 'Z Cars' introduced this teenager to domestic violence – and not a pair of French windows in sight. The writing talent was also supported by a new wave of British actors eager to drop their aitches. Television drama actually had rather good support for a while from filmakers. The shock of 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' made 'Look Back in Anger' seem very middle class when it slapped us in the face.
Partly the decline of home grown television drama is that politically no one wants to be confronted by pressing social issues for entertainment unless distanced by a discernable margin of reality ('Life on Mars' is a case in point – safely in the past). A British version of the 'The Wire' (which I know only by repute) would depress British audiences. We are a kind that can bare only so much reality.
I notice no one has mentioned comedy which replaced 'drama' on televison sometime ago as vehicle by which the British tell each other stories.
November 20, 2009
(n.b./disclaimer/fair warning: I am not only an American but also a Los Angeles resident. But not in The Industry, as it is called here.)
Boy, do I ever disagree. Let me count the ways:
* The idea that US networks are somehow more likely to stand by struggling shows is false on its face. At least in the UK, shows seem to be filmed in complete seasons well before airing–the BBC (or whomever) has no incentive not to show them. Our pay-as-you-go system means that shows are dependent on ratings. Pathologically so. Everyone knows Nielsen is flawed, but everyone uses it anyway, and the end result is that daring but underappreciated shows are constantly under the proverbial sword-hung-by-a-hair. Witness \Firefly\, \Pushing Daisies\, \Dollhouse\… even cult favorite \Dead Like Me\ (which was on cable, even) got axed. Occasionally, the system throws up something that's good AND popular, but that's rare: IMHO, American TV is either good OR popular.
* With respect to interconnecting storylines, you're comparing short stories to novels. \Life On Mars\ ran sixteen hours, beginning to end. \The Wire\ ran sixty. Of course it was able to fit in more storylines.
* The UK has been turning out some *phenomenal* TV recently. Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes are both *stunningly* good. In fact, it's so good that it sometimes seems like we've given up on new ideas ourselves, and just remake whatever you guys are doing: \The Office\, of course, but also \Blackpool\, \The IT Crowd\, \Life on Mars\, \Being Human\… We take the idea, suck out everything that makes it interesting, and make our own bastardized version. We've even remade \Little Britain\, for heaven's sake. (It's called \Little Britain USA\.) If anybody's falling down in the ideas department, it's us.
November 21, 2009
Thank you for this brilliant article. I've written telly drama in this country for twenty-odd years and now is the very worst of times.
In the past month I've heard from two old veterans, both of whom go back almost as far as I do. One is now re-training as a teacher (at 52) and the other as a nurse. I don't think I'm far behind. Bus driver?
I've spent the past 16 months being mucked around by one of the Big Two, on a (commissioned) script. When they finally passed on it their reasons were quite shameless: it wasn't a genre piece, nor did it echo any successes from the past. And this despite the fact that they knew it was good. Just not "guaranteed", whatever the hell that means.
A quick flick through the list of currently airing US dramas is enough to make a British writer's head spin, and his heart sink. There are so few opportunities for original work in this country that we writers may as well give up. The only chance at a decent living is the soaps, and (unless you're a hack with the hide of a rhino) that is a recipe for madness. I know, I've written for every single one except Hollyoaks – and I've done my time in a mental hospital to prove it. Truly.
My advice to any talented young writer reading this: save every penny and get your backside to LA. I wish I had.
November 26, 2009
Helen Archer
Superb article and absolutely spot on. There is an interview with Tranter on the BAFTA site and she is banging on about leading the viewer by the hand, on a journey. Is she for real? Surely, she will get found out now whe's in the real world over in the US. The new bloke Ben is just ou of nappies and hapy to continue with the half-wit approach to British drama. Tony Garnett is so right with his views and, along with your article, it should be essential reading for BBC execs.
They are so far off the mark that it might take a genearation to get back on the same page as the Yanks. Until the writer/creative is given the lead and the writing becomes KING, and the propect of potential failure banished from the decision to green light, then we are all doomed. Especially the viewing public in the UK which yearns for high end drama which is so fabulously devised and developed by the US networks
December 1, 2009
Kris Nelson
Numbers are one thing here in America, but it is also the idea of being marketed to in very specific areas. While there is a lot of cross over appeal and open minded people, there are many sci-fi fans who wouldn't be caught dead seeing the 500 CSI spinoffs in production. (Slight exaggeration.)
In my experience, Britain DOES have the edge because the idea is entertainment, and not just selling things. Numbers aside, things like Friends and Sex in the City seem to appeal to a large number of the terminally clueless whilst Britain's "Coupling" took the best parts of both of those shows and yet leaped beyond them making something with it's own unique identity.
Torchwood has recently shown that it can take an adult stance in the universe of Doctor Who and make it work. It's ratings for "Children of Earth" were the best ever for BBC America – not the timeslot or the show, but for THE ENTIRE life that the channel has been running. That's saying a lot.
Shows like the Sopranos use a hell of a lot of cliches and stereotypical characters, while Britain seems to have a handle on unique situations and characterisation. Shows like Twin Peaks or Lost seem to be the exception rather than the rule here. One tiny light of real non-formulaic brilliance shines through here, and suddenly the "boys in marketing" make sure a hundred clones follow in it's wake.
As for Britain's BBC controllers making good decisions, well, I can only cite Michael Grade's axing of Doctor Who – shrinking their budget until what came out was fairly laughable. All because he "wanted to put that money into developing other dramas, and no one really wanted to watch long running science-fiction". The next decade brought Babylon 5, 2 other Star Trek series set in the Next Generation universe (Star Trek was on the air in some form until 2004), Farscape, Stargate, Andromeda, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hercules and Xena, The X-Files, etc.
December 17, 2009
I am an antipodean lover of British TV – from Brideshead on (still the benchmark). Pennies, Glittering Prizes, Prime Suspect, Cracker, The Lakes the list goes on and on. No one quite does gritty innovative "real" drama like the Brits. Until Sopranos, Wire, Deadwood etc. Its HBO what's done it – the funding of the inspired artist – Hollywood did it in the '70s. Commercial (not government) funding od the idea is the key. The talent is in Britain – you have the essesntial element and that is the writer, it just not the inspired leader/funder – the UK needs an HBO.
February 2, 2011
karen elizabeth
I am British and have lived in the US for over 20 years. I am also a writer trying to get some of my work read. I had the bizarre idea that it might be easier to write for British TV, until I read this article! This is by far one of the most interesting pieces I have read in a long time – and so useful to me personally.
Thank you Peter Jukes!
March 29, 2011
Lots of people recently enjoyed watching The Killing – can you comment on why it was so compelling, how it stacks up against the wire and whether the system for producing Tv is better in Denmark?
March 30, 2011
Lance C.
I'm used to reading variations of this article here in the U.S., except with "U.S." in the place of "British" and "Britain" in the place of "America".
As some of the other American posters have mentioned, the U.S. TV you see is the best of what we produce, not the norm. Many of the critically-acclaimed American shows you mentioned also have or had tiny audiences (such as Mad Men, one of my favorites but a boutique show from a viewership standpoint). We judge each other's TV by the gems that get exported. American genre programming is more like CSI or JAG than The Wire; British crime shows are more like Murder City or Murder in Suburbia than Prime Suspect or The Bill.
Our four major broadcast networks and many of our basic cable networks are awash with reality shows (many cribbed from you lot) and formulaic genre comedies and dramas — just like your TV. As Nightsky mentioned, most shows that don't fit an easy mold get cancelled quickly before they can find an audience. Lost was an anomaly, not emblematic of how American TV has a better system. The pay-cable networks have more money to spend on fewer viewers, so they can afford to appeal to niche audiences. Our network execs are just as risk-averse as you say yours are. Just as you say that Britain couldn't make The Wire, I could argue that America couldn't make Prime Suspect or Torchwood.
I'm a great fan of British drama as shown on our Public Broadcasting System and BBC America. It occurred to me partway through Downton Abbey that no American broadcast network would ever consider making such a show, not because we don't have the history (we were around in the Edwardian era, after all) but because it wouldn't occur to them that anyone would be interested. The recent adaptation of Sherlock would probably have been cancelled after the first episode if it was on NBC or CBS. I've learned never to guess whether a lead character on a British series will survive any given episode, nor to expect the lead characters to be good or likeable or even honest; it's rare for American TV to take such liberties with main characters (except on HBO, which is its own little universe). We don't do political drama; British TV seems to excel at it. We don't do historical drama; you set the standard for that, too. Yes, I know you have X-Factor (I've also seen gardening shows and really tedious chat shows on the Beeb), but so do we, in spades.
April 15, 2011
For a drama that takes the 'hyper-reality' of the Wire, sets fire to it and drives it full speed toward the fractal characterisation of Mad Men watch the BBC's first series of Luther. I've watched the American dramas but nothing compares to this wildly unpredictable rehash of the 'bad-cop who breaks the rules' formula and Indris Elba is stunning as a strong man who makes mistakes and pays bitterly for them.
I agree that British drama is in the doldrums but thought I would take this opportunity to briefly rave about an underrated and overlooked British classic.
July 11, 2011
John Bull
However bad UK television may get, it will still be many times better than US efforts, which are all unwatchable because of the inability of yanks either to write or speak English.
It is extremely sad how the young and/or undiscerning fawn on anything American. This review is a perfect example.
November 4, 2012
Completely agree with the general thrust of this article – UK TV assumes that you're doing the ironing, (the best) US TV assumes that that you're paying attention.
It's not just HBO though, in fact in the last few years HBO have stepped back slightly into well made and entertaining but basically trashy shows like Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones while the real artistic cutting edge is with AMC (a less prosperous, advertising funded channel) shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad – why is that?
Jukes on why Britain can't make a show like The Wire10-30-09
047- Guy Fawkes Night Links « Delicious Abortions11-05-09
Writing for British vs US TV Drama at The Crafty Writer11-06-09
There's Bmore To Baltimore Than The Wire « Face Youth Lab11-27-09
The kids are alright ~ three recent British 'dramedies' « Couch Pumpkin: Sofa Adventures12-03-09
Week 11812-11-09
Qualität in Serie | Die Trendblogger02-28-13
About Writing: The Showrunner | simon dunn: scriptwriter & comedian04-29-13


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|15 November until 23 December
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Valkenburg will be turned into an unmatched Christmas Feast. The whole town will be beautifully decorated. Visit the unique Christmas Markets in the Velvet Cave and Municipal Cave and enjoy the Christmas spirit of Valkenburg!
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District Schools
District Office
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Moraga, CA 94556
(925) 376-5943
Tip Line: (925) 377-4106
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Click HERE to Subscribe to the MSD Newsltter
School Calendars
MSD Students Excel
The Moraga School District's API score of 961 places our district in the top 1% of school districts statewide. For more information related to the MSD district and school site API scores, please visit the CDE website.
Use the links below to access the new CDE School Quality Snapshot Reports
Rheem Elementary
School Gardens
The Moraga School District is proud to share the successes of our school gardens. Both Rheem Elementary and Joaquin Moraga Intermediate have established school gardens. These gardens have been planned and managed using site based resources -- both students, parents and MSD teachers and staff work throughout the year planting, watering, tending, and cultivating the plants in the gardens. The gardens also are used extensively for instructional lessons in many subject areas. Members of our School Community are welcome to visit our gardens and more importantly to volunteer in helping sustain and grow these precious resources.
Rheem Garden
Welcome New Staff
MSD to Host Child Prevention Event April 28, 2014
The Moraga School District will host a parent education event on Monday April 28, 2014 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM. This event will take place in the JM Library. The topic for this evening will be Child Sexual Abuse Prevention and the student educa... Continue
MSD to Host Parent Ed Event -- "Math Pathways for the Common Core"
The Moraga School District will host a parent education event on April 23, 2014 from 7 to 8:30 PM. This event will take place in the JM Library. The topic for this evening will be "Common Core Math Pathways". We invite all ... Continue
News, Announcements & Board Meeting Highlights
Moraga School District 1540 School Street, Moraga, CA 94556 News, Announcements & Board Meeting Highlights News and Announcements The Moraga School District hosted a parent education event "Common Core Standards: &nbs... Continue
MSD Students to Participate in Smarter Balanced Field Testing
Moraga School District students will participate in the Smarter Balanced Field Testing in April and May 2014. The testing window is below:
All testing will take place during regularly scheduled school time. Parents are asked to avoid scheduling doctor appointments during this time. For more information about the SBAC Field Test please speak with your child's teacher or visit the testing site here.
Top 10 Things Parents Should Know About the CCSS
News Advisory
The Moraga School District has launched a first-of-its-kind program to partner with neighboring districts and hire a child safety awareness coordinator to teach students throughout the Lamorinda region about child abuse, bullying and sexual harassment.
The program links the Moraga, Lafayette and Orinda school districts with the Child Abuse Prevention Council of Contra Costa County in creating the position. Under the plan, a coordinator employed by the CAPC will develop and teach a safety program to first, third, fifth and seventh graders in Lamorinda's three school districts. The coordinator also will meet with parents to educate them about the program.
"This is the first time all three districts have come together at this high level to work on a common goal," said Moraga Unified School District Superintendent Bruce Burns. "This issue is so critical to each of our districts, and so important to all of us as educators, that it seemed natural to unite our efforts."
The program grew out of discussions within the Moraga district's Student Safety Committee. As an initial committee discussed possible programs, members were joined by Susan Pak, a Lafayette district parent and board member of the Child Abuse Prevention Council of San Francisco.
The growing committee ultimately decided a new program was needed, tailored to the needs of the three communities. The committee began developing one in conjunction with local CAPC Executive Director Carol Carillo. Superintendents from the Orinda and Lafayette districts joined the effort and agreed to work on a region-wide approach.
A key aspect of the program involves having the coordinator be independent of the three districts, working instead for the CAPC. This, Burns said, provides an additional level of security and protection for students or others who may want to discuss sensitive issues.
"Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our children," Burns said. "This program is an important step for all three districts as we continue working to ensure our children receive an excellent education in a safe environment."
Contra Costa Times Reports on MSD Child Safety Awareness Coordinator - Click HERE
Moraga School District to Implement Common Core State Standards
Click here to view the PowerPoint presentation for the Common Core Parent Education event on May 2, 2013
Locate Our Schools
About Our School District
We are a public school district of four schools located in Moraga, California. Moraga is in Contra Costa County, beyond the Oakland hills, east of San Francisco. Our students consistently score advanced and proficient on the California standardized STAR test, and continue to master their grade level subject area content standards. Our teachers, staff and administrators are committed to delivering the best instructional program that challenges and supports all learners. The Moraga School District values the involvement of Moraga parents and families, our PTAs, the Moraga Education Foundation, and local businesses. Together we deliver to our students a first class education addressing the academic, social and emotional needs of our students to succeed in a diverse global world.


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I am developing an application for work that deals with sensor performance. I need to calculate the standard deviation of an entire color buffer (1-channel 16-bit floating point frame buffer object) in Opengl. For testing purposes, I am simply reading up the buffer into main memory and calculating the standard deviation on the CPU. Of-course, as you might expect, this is a killer on the FPS.
I have googled and googled, searched every where but I cannot find any references or leads to this. The only reference that was mentioned was some article by Horn that talks about calculating the sum of an entire buffer using shaders, but I could not find the article itself.
My first idea is to simply use the non-programmable pipeline and do additive blending onto another 16-bit f.p. surface drawing verticle lines ontop of each other over an over again with the texture coordinates referencing the buffer for each verticle line, once for the number of pixels in the x direction (I may skip pixels to just approximate the s.d.), and then draw single points ontop of each other referencing the horizontal sums. This would give me the mean value, then I would repeat the process somehow using the differences minus the mean squared. This doesn't seam terribly efficient but it would be better than reading it into the main memory. Also, I don't know how to do this without having to ping-pong between textures when it comes to the second pass using the mean.
Anybody have better (more efficient) ideas for this?
Thanks in advance,


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Prairie du Chien, WI
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The Upper Iowa Center in Prairie du Chien, WI, opened in 1988 and offers courses to nearly 200 students at centers in Prairie du Chien, Fennimore, and LaCrosse. Many of the courses are taught by full-time UIU faculty members and others are taught by adjunct faculty who draw on their practical experiences in the field. Courses are offered during six eight-week terms. Some shorter courses may be offered. Watch the Bulletin Board on this page for local postings.
Prairie du Chien Center
133 S. Michigan St.
Prairie du Chien, WI 53821
Phone: 608-326-4292
Fax: 608-326-6410
Office Hours
9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday-Thursday
8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Friday
Majors/Programs Offered
Although the list is always subject to change, these majors are currently offered at the Prairie du Chien center. Some majors may only be offered in combination with online courses or correspondence courses. (descriptions of the majors)
- Accounting
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- Human Services (students have the option of pursuing the Social Work Training Certificate)
- Management
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- Psychology
- Public Administration (with optional certifications in Fire Science or Law Enforcement)
Certificate programs are available in Human Resources Management, Organizational Communications and Organizational Leadership.
Associate degrees are offered in general business and liberal arts.
The UIU Online Program also offers master's degree programs and many of the courses for an undergraduate degree plan. All UIU courses, regardless of how you take them, count toward completion of your degree.
Although the schedule may be subject to change, currently the 2013-14 academic year includes the following terms:
- Term 6 (July 1 - August 25, 2013)
- Term 1 (August 26 - October 19, 2013)
- Term 2 (October 21 - December 14, 2013)
- Term 3 (January 6 - March 1, 2014)
- Term 4 (March 3 - May 3, 2014)
- Term 5 (May 5 - June 28, 2014)
- Term 6 (June 30 - August 23, 2014)
The Prairie du Chien Center provides a conference room with two general-use computers. The Center posts a list of organizations and available tutors in writing and math. Students have access to Smarthinking.com and general writing and math resources via the links below. Please contact the Prairie du Chien Director or Office Manager at 608-326-4292 for more information.
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Bojangles, Avalanche pick up Cal Ripken softball wins3:23 am | June 5, 2013
Cal Ripken League softball heavyweights Bojangles and the Lady Avalanche backed up that status on Tuesday night, although the Avalanche had to deal with a pesky Pizza Inn bunch at Lions Field.
After Bojangles hammered Britt Landscaping 17-2, the Avalanche held on for a 12-8 victory.
Bojangles 17
Britt 2
Sarah Hardin hurled a two-hitter, allowed one earned run, and struck out seven in a sharp performance from the circle.
Bojangles' Jessica Cunningham batted 3 for 3 with three runs and two RBIs. Shayla Price went 2 for 4 with five RBIs.
Avalanche 12
Pizza Inn 8
In a losing effort, Pizza Inn's Sarah Kyte batted 3 for 4 with four RBIs and two triples.
The Avalanche's Katie Crain hit 2 for 4 with three RBIs. Alana Peel and Mosley were each 2 for 4 with two RBIs.


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Tremaine Johnson, who raps under the name Tree and lives in Englewood, has a boyish face, broadening with age. He has a thick, distinctive growl. And Sunday, when he opens the final day of Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park, it will be because he has had two acclaimed mix tapes, "Sunday School" and "Sunday School II." He's blowing up, modestly.
He's also 29, and when we sat to talk about age and rap recently, he said, laughing: "Don't make me look like an old bastard, sitting in a rocking chair, hip screeching. This the beginning of my life. And I ain't old."
He's not.
He turns 30 in October, and 30 is not too old to rap.
Long after rap replaced rock as the voice of young America, its biggest acts are now entering their late 30s and 40s. Jay-Z, the biggest act in rap (appearing Monday at Soldier Field with Justin Timberlake) is 43. He's only two years younger than Mick Jagger was during the Rolling Stones' 1989 Steel Wheels tour. What does it mean that Harvard University just established a fellowship in the name of Nas, who is 39? Or that Kanye West, at 36, is still culturally viable enough to draw polarizing reactions to his new album, "Yeezus"?
Young Jeezy is 35.
Though hip-hop started in the 1970s as a youth-centric culture, "it's surprisingly remained young," said Andrew Barber, founder of the influential Chicago rap blog Fake Shore Drive. Like anything that gathers history, generational splits have sprung up: Last year, on a track for 26-year-old rapper Meek Mill, Drake, who is also 26, rapped that "talkin' bout these other rappers getting old is even getting old." Just as, a year before that, Tyler the Creator, 22, complained in a song about "40-year-old rappers talking about Gucci."
At 29, Tree is a decade older than many of the hottest rappers from Chicago, a number of whom have established themselves as popular national acts: Chance the Rapper (20), Lil Durk (20), Chief Keef (17).
But here's the thing.
Where a less experienced voice might reach for bravado and cliche — say, "What doesn't kill me/ makes me stronger" — Tree gives it the poignancy of tough lessons, rapping "What doesn't kill me, hurts …" He didn't just pick up a microphone as a high school student then start releasing music. He went to work; indeed, until two years ago he was working on commission at Nordstrom on Michigan Avenue selling women's shoes.
Adam Bradley, who edited the encyclopedic "Anthology of Rap" and co-authored Chicago rapper Common's 2011 memoir, said: "KRS-One (of Boogie Down Productions) once told me that it can be a good thing for a rapper to have a day job. Overnight celebrity doesn't necessarily make great art. That comes from the crucible of everyday life. Even the mundaneness of everyday life. And he's right: A rapper needs a day job."
I met up with Tree last week at the Logan Square house where he was rehearsing for Pitchfork. As I pulled up he stepped out onto the porch wearing long denim shorts, a white T-shirt and a baseball cap. Around him swirled guys with tattoos and cans of PBR, filmmakers and rappers and friends. He was smoking a crumbling, yellowing joint, and was friendly, beaming. "You don't mind weed, do you?" he asked me.
Then added, "I am, after all, a rapper."
Don't want to disappoint.
And yet, his music is poised so solidly between Chicago drill — a moody nihilistic rap — and an older, soulful, underground sophistication, there was something discordant to this: Even if "rap still revels in being young and at the party," as Bradley put it, the guys in this house were leaving their youth. On the other hand, perhaps it was a reminder that rap is just becoming more like rock, a lifestyle no longer committed to youth, "a fairly new development," said Shawn Setaro, editor of the blog Rap Genius, "where rappers are allowed to remain contemporary into their 30s and 40s and not seem like an oldies act. Because rap has a history now."
Tree moved through the apartment, which had the chaotic, unkempt appearance of an off-campus apartment, only post-apocalyptic. We found a pair of chairs in the basement amid drums and microphones.
Thought about age, I asked.
"Nah," he said.
Really, I said.


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Photo Of The Day: Lonely, Brave Kansas Fan Keeps The Faith
Solitary Jayhawks supporter is an army of one in Stillwater
The fan in blue may have been the minority leader when Kansas visited Oklahoma on Wednesday night, but he ended up getting the last laugh as the No. 9 Jayhawks eked out a 68-67 win over the No. 14 Cowboys in double overtime. (via @TaylorLagorin)


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The University of Arizona — College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
- Program Type:
- Coverdell Fellows
- Department:
- College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
- Degrees Awarded:
- Agricultural Education (MAE or MS), Agricultural and Resource Economics (MS)
- Admissions Deadlines:
- February 1 (Fall) - Agricultural and Resource Economics
February 1 (Fall) - Natural Resource Studies (option of Natural Resources)
June 1 (Fall) - Agricultural Education
- Program Start:
- August, January for some departments.
- Program Founded:
- April, 2001
Up to $20,000 in tuition support, need-based scholarship, Work Study, AmeriCorps opportunities, and paid internships at government and nonprofit organizations in southern Arizona and Mexico border area. Fellows participate in professional development and community service activities.
The University of Arizona College of Agricultural and Life Sciences addresses grand challenges in the environmental sciences, addressing complex issues in the environment with interdisciplinary science strategies linked to real world solutions. Fellows are involved in applied research and outreach with internship options in a wide range of environmentally based organizations in the region.
The Master of Science degree with a major in agricultural and resource economics addresses a broad spectrum of agricultural economics subject matter, with emphasis in natural resources, international business, and agribusiness.
Students can earn pursue a master's or doctorate degree by majoring in Natural Resources, and choosing one of the following options: Natural Resources Studies, Rangeland Ecology and Management, Watershed Management and Ecohydrology, or Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation and Management. This single major highlights core concepts and skills all students learn, and the options highlight specialties within which you can achieve depth through graduate study.
Graduate studies in Water, Society, and Policy provide opportunities in quantitative and qualitative techniques for observation, monitoring, and modeling of processes relevant to the management of water from regional to global scales.
The field of Agricultural Education prepares students to teach in secondary agriculture classrooms, serve as extension educators, and work in agricultural business. A Master's degree in Agricultural Education will also prepare students who wish to pursue higher education as a career.
Apply online to the academic program, as well as to the Fellows program. Applicants must be admitted by The University of Arizona Graduate College and selected for admission to the Fellows program. Fellows carry out a 450 hour internship each year, and participate in community service projects and professional development opportunities. Renewal of funding depends on academic progress and meeting service obligations.
For inquiries about Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program, call 855.855.1961 x1440.
Program Contacts
Graduate College
P.O. Box 210066
Tucson, Arizona 85721-0066
- Telephone
- (520) 626-2292
- Fax
- (520) 621-4101
- firstname.lastname@example.com
If you have questions, please contact:
Georgia Ehlers
Find Local Events
Peace Corps recruiters appear at information sessions, campus and community events, and career fairs. Pick a state and find a Peace Corps event near you.


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Contact Us2225 CanterburyHays, KS 67601Phone: firstname.lastname@example.com
Contact Via Christi Villages
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Firefighters face impossible task as flames devour family's home
By Nathan Baker
As her family's worldly possessions turned to ash, Michelle Nickles hugged her knees in the dirt of her burning home's driveway and wept.
Her West Carter County family of four lost a home, two pets and everything they owned in a devastating Wednesday morning blaze that drew firefighters from across the county.
Shortly before 9 a.m., firefighters arriving at 108 Bailey Lane found heavy smoke billowing from the eaves of the mobile home.
Unsure if any residents were inside, the small group of first responders from the West Carter Volunteer Fire Department donned oxygen masks and attempted to make entry, but were turned back by impenetrable smoke pouring from the interior.
As arriving fire crews — first Central, then Stoney Creek and Hampton — attacked the blaze from outside the home, the licking flames severed a live electric wire, sending sparks shooting across the ground at their feet.
Central Volunteer Fire Department Chief Neil Miller said the fire appeared to have started in a back bedroom.
The exact cause is still under investigation, but he said it did not appear to be suspicious in nature.
"It was too late to save it when we got there," Miller said. "It had already spread to most of the structure and was starting to come through the walls."


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Posted Date: Aug 31, 2013
Expert-reviewed information summary about the treatment of various childhood brain tumors.
There are many types of childhood brain and spinal cord tumors. The tumors are formed by the abnormal growth of cells and may begin in different areas of the brain or spinal cord.
The tumors may be benign (not cancer) or malignant (cancer). Benign brain tumors grow and press on nearby areas of the brain. They rarely spread into other tissues. Malignant brain tumors are likely to grow quickly and spread into other brain tissue. When a tumor grows into or presses on an area of the brain, it may stop that part of the brain from working the way it should. Both benign and malignant brain tumors can cause symptoms and need treatment.
Together, the brain and spinal cord make up the central nervous system (CNS).
The brain has three major parts:
The spinal cord is a column of nerve tissue that runs from the brain stem down the center of the back. It is covered by three thin layers of tissue called membranes. These membranes are surrounded by the vertebrae (back bones). Spinal cord nerves carry messages between the brain and the rest of the body. For example, a signal from the brain causes muscles to move or the skin sends a signal to the brain when touched.
Although cancer is rare in children, brain and spinal cord tumors are the third most common type of childhood cancer, after leukemia and lymphoma. Brain tumors can occur in both children and adults. Treatment for children is usually different than treatment for adults. (See the PDQ summary on Adult Brain Tumors Treatment for more information about the treatment of adults.)
This summary describes the treatment of primary brain and spinal cord tumors (tumors that begin in the brain and spinal cord). Treatment of metastatic brain and spinal cord tumors is not covered in this summary. Metastatic tumors are formed by cancer cells that begin in other parts of the body and spread to the brain or spinal cord.
Headaches and other symptoms may be caused by childhood brain and spinal cord tumors. Other conditions may cause the same symptoms. Check with a doctor if your child has any of the following problems:
In addition to these symptoms of brain and spinal cord tumors, some children are unable to reach certain growth and development milestones such as sitting up, walking, and talking in sentences.
The following tests and procedures may be used:
If doctors think there might be a brain tumor, a biopsy may be done to remove a sample of tissue. For tumors in the brain, the biopsy is done by removing part of the skull and using a needle to remove a sample of tissue. A pathologist views the tissue under a microscope to look for cancer cells. If cancer cells are found, the doctor may remove as much tumor as safely possible during the same surgery. The pathologist checks the cancer cells to find out the type and grade of brain tumor. The grade of the tumor is based on how abnormal the cancer cells look under a microscope and how quickly the tumor is likely to grow and spread.
Craniotomy: An opening is made in the skull and a piece of the skull is removed to show part of the brain.
The following tests may be done on the sample of tissue that is removed:
Sometimes a biopsy or surgery cannot be done safely because of where the tumor formed in the brain or spinal cord. These tumors are diagnosed based on the results of imaging tests and other procedures.
The prognosis (chance of recovery) depends on the following:
Staging is the process used to find how much cancer there is and if cancer has spread within the brain, spinal cord, or to other parts of the body. It is important to know the stage in order to plan cancer treatment.
In childhood brain and spinal cord tumors, there is no standard staging system. Instead, the plan for cancer treatment depends on several factors:
After the tumor is removed in surgery, some of the tests used to detect childhood brain and spinal cord tumors are repeated to help determine the tumor risk group (see the General Information section). This is to find out how much tumor remains after surgery. Other tests and procedures may be done to find out if cancer has spread:
A recurrent childhood brain or spinal cord tumor is one that has recurred (come back) after it has been treated. Childhood brain and spinal cord tumors may come back in the same place or in another part of the brain. Sometimes they come back in another part of the body. The tumor may come back many years after first being treated. Diagnostic and staging tests and procedures, including biopsy, may be done to make sure that the tumor has recurred.
Different types of treatment are available for children with brain and spinal cord tumors. Some treatments are standard (the currently used treatment), and some are being tested in clinical trials. A treatment clinical trial is a research study meant to help improve current treatments or obtain information on new treatments for patients with cancer. When clinical trials show that a new treatment is better than the standard treatment, the new treatment may become the standard treatment.
Because cancer in children is rare, taking part in a clinical trial should be considered. Clinical trials are taking place in many parts of the country. Some clinical trials are open only to patients who have not started treatment.
Treatment will be overseen by a pediatric oncologist, a doctor who specializes in treating children with cancer. The pediatric oncologist works with other health care providers who are experts in treating children with brain tumors and who specialize in certain areas of medicine. These may include the following specialists:
Childhood brain and spinal cord tumors may cause symptoms that continue for months or years. Symptoms caused by the tumor may begin before diagnosis. Symptoms caused by treatment may begin during or right after treatment.
These are called late effects. Late effects of cancer treatment may include the following:
Some late effects may be treated or controlled. It is important to talk with your child's doctors about the effects cancer treatment can have on your child. (See the PDQ summary on Late Effects of Treatment for Childhood Cancer for more information).
Surgery may be used to diagnose and treat childhood brain and spinal cord tumors. See the General Information section of this summary.
Radiation therapy is a cancer treatment that uses high-energy x-rays or other types of radiation to kill cancer cells or keep them from growing. There are two types of radiation therapy. External radiation therapy uses a machine outside the body to send radiation toward the cancer. Internal radiation therapy uses a radioactive substance sealed in needles, seeds, wires, or catheters that are placed directly into or near the cancer. The way the radiation therapy is given depends on the type and stage of the cancer being treated.
Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. When chemotherapy is taken by mouth or injected into a vein or muscle, the drugs enter the bloodstream and can reach cancer cells throughout the body ( systemic chemotherapy). When chemotherapy is placed directly in the cerebrospinal fluid, an organ, or a body cavity such as the abdomen, the drugs mainly affect cancer cells in those areas ( regional chemotherapy). The way the chemotherapy is given depends on the type and stage of the cancer being treated.
Anticancer drugs given by mouth or vein to treat brain and spinal cord tumors cannot cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. Instead, an anticancer drug is injected into the fluid-filled space to kill cancer cells there. This is called intrathecal chemotherapy.
This summary section describes treatments that are being studied in clinical trials. It may not mention every new treatment being studied. Information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.
High-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant is a way of giving high doses of chemotherapy and replacing blood-forming cells destroyed by the cancer treatment. Stem cells (immature blood cells) are removed from the blood or bone marrow of the patient or a donor and are frozen and stored. After the chemotherapy is completed, the stored stem cells are thawed and given back to the patient through an infusion. These reinfused stem cells grow into (and restore) the bodyâs blood cells.
For some patients, taking part in a clinical trial may be the best treatment choice. Clinical trials are part of the cancer research process. Clinical trials are done to find out if new cancer treatments are safe and effective or better than the standard treatment.
Many of today's standard treatments for cancer are based on earlier clinical trials. Patients who take part in a clinical trial may receive the standard treatment or be among the first to receive a new treatment.
Patients who take part in clinical trials also help improve the way cancer will be treated in the future. Even when clinical trials do not lead to effective new treatments, they often answer important questions and help move research forward.
Some clinical trials only include patients who have not yet received treatment. Other trials test treatments for patients whose cancer has not gotten better. There are also clinical trials that test new ways to stop cancer from recurring (coming back) or reduce the side effects of cancer treatment.
Clinical trials are taking place in many parts of the country. See the Treatment Options section that follows for links to current treatment clinical trials. These have been retrieved from NCI's listing of clinical trials.
Some of the tests that were done to diagnose the cancer or to find out the stage of the cancer may be repeated. Some tests will be repeated in order to see how well the treatment is working. Decisions about whether to continue, change, or stop treatment may be based on the results of these tests. This is sometimes called re-staging.
Some of the tests will continue to be done from time to time after treatment has ended. The results of these tests can show if your child's condition has changed or if the cancer has recurred (come back). These tests are sometimes called follow-up tests or check-ups.
The brain is made of different kinds of cells. Childhood brain tumors are grouped and treated based on the type of cell the cancer formed in and where the tumor began growing in the CNS. Some types of tumors are divided into subtypes based on how the tumor looks under a microscope. See Table 1 for a list of tumor types and staging and treatment information for newly diagnosed and recurrent childhood brain tumors.
Tumors of many different cell types may form in the spinal cord. Low-grade spinal cord tumors usually do not spread. High-grade spinal cord tumors may spread to other places in the spinal cord or to the brain. See the following PDQ summaries for more information on staging and treatment of newly diagnosed and recurrent childhood spinal cord tumors:
For more information about childhood brain and spinal cord tumors, see the following:
For more childhood cancer information and other general cancer resources, see the following:
The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.
Editorial changes were made to this summary.
For more information, U.S. residents may call the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Cancer Information Service toll-free at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Eastern Time. A trained Cancer Information Specialist is available to answer your questions.
The NCI's LiveHelp® online chat service provides Internet users with the ability to chat online with an Information Specialist. The service is available from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday. Information Specialists can help Internet users find information on NCI Web sites and answer questions about cancer.
For more information from the NCI, please write to this address:
The NCI Web site provides online access to information on cancer, clinical trials, and other Web sites and organizations that offer support and resources for cancer patients and their families. For a quick search, use the search box in the upper right corner of each Web page. The results for a wide range of search terms will include a list of "Best Bets," editorially chosen Web pages that are most closely related to the search term entered.
There are also many other places to get materials and information about cancer treatment and services. Hospitals in your area may have information about local and regional agencies that have information on finances, getting to and from treatment, receiving care at home, and dealing with problems related to cancer treatment.
The NCI has booklets and other materials for patients, health professionals, and the public. These publications discuss types of cancer, methods of cancer treatment, coping with cancer, and clinical trials. Some publications provide information on tests for cancer, cancer causes and prevention, cancer statistics, and NCI research activities. NCI materials on these and other topics may be ordered online or printed directly from the NCI Publications Locator. These materials can also be ordered by telephone from the Cancer Information Service toll-free at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).
PDQ is the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) comprehensive cancer information database. Most of the information contained in PDQ is available online at NCI's Web site. PDQ is provided as a service of the NCI. The NCI is part of the National Institutes of Health, the federal government's focal point for biomedical research.
The PDQ database contains summaries of the latest published information on cancer prevention, detection, genetics, treatment, supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine. Most summaries are available in two versions. The health professional versions provide detailed information written in technical language. The patient versions are written in easy-to-understand, nontechnical language. Both versions provide current and accurate cancer information.
Images in the PDQ summaries are used with permission of the author(s), artist, and/or publisher for use within the PDQ summaries only. Permission to use images outside the context of PDQ information must be obtained from the owner(s) and cannot be granted by the National Cancer Institute. Information about using the illustrations in the PDQ summaries, along with many other cancer-related images, are available in Visuals Online, a collection of over 2,000 scientific images.
Editorial Boards made up of experts in oncology and related specialties are responsible for writing and maintaining the cancer information summaries. The summaries are reviewed regularly and changes are made as new information becomes available. The date on each summary ("Date Last Modified") indicates the time of the most recent change.
A clinical trial is a study to answer a scientific question, such as whether one treatment is better than another. Trials are based on past studies and what has been learned in the laboratory. Each trial answers certain scientific questions in order to find new and better ways to help cancer patients. During treatment clinical trials, information is collected about the effects of a new treatment and how well it works. If a clinical trial shows that a new treatment is better than one currently being used, the new treatment may become "standard." In the United States, about two-thirds of children with cancer are treated in a clinical trial at some point in their illness.
Listings of clinical trials are included in PDQ and are available online at NCI's Web site. Descriptions of the trials are available in health professional and patient versions. For additional help in locating a childhood cancer clinical trial, call the Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).
The Children's Oncology Group (COG) is the major group that organizes clinical trials for childhood cancers in the United States. Information about contacting COG is available on the NCI Web site or from the Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).
{ts '2013-08-31 08:02:56'}
Jan 31, 2013 - Early palliative care clinic visits, integrated with standard oncologic care for patients with metastatic lung cancer, emphasize symptom management, coping, and psychosocial aspects of illness, according to research published online Jan. 28 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Apr 23, 2014
Apr 30, 2012


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May 18, 2013 08:03 PM »
The nights of 'Kandil'
Regaip Kandili, which is one of five holy nights in Islam, celebrating special occasions and events in the life of the Prophet Muhammad
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The word kandil - from the Arabic, 'kindil' - means candle in Turkish. Some trace the application of this word to the five holy nights back to the reign of Ottoman Sultan Selim II (1566-1574), who thought that it was appropriate to light up the minarets on mosques for these occasions.
The word kandil - from the Arabic, 'kindil' - means candle in Turkish. Some trace the application of this word to the five holy nights back to the reign of Ottoman Sultan Selim II (1566-1574), who thought that it was appropriate to light up the minarets on mosques for these occasions.
Last Thursday (16-17 May) was Regaip Kandili among the Turks. It is a holy night in Islam that commemorates the night that the Prophet Mohammed was conceived and signifies the start of three moons or three holy months that culminate in the Eid al-Fitr or Seker Bayram at the end of Ramadan. The Prophet's father never saw his son because he went on a trading caravan to Damascus and died before he could return. The boy's mother was to die when he was only six.
Regaip Kandili is one of five "kandil" nights in Islam that have meaning in the life of the Prophet. These are Mevlid Kandili (the birth of Prophet Mohammad), Regaip Kandili (the beginning of the pregnancy of Prophet Mohammad's mother), Miraç Kandili (Prophet Mohammad's ascension into heaven and the presence of God), Berat Kandili (when the Qur'an was made available to the Muslims in its entirety) and Kadir Gecesi (the Qur'an's first appearance to Prophet Mohammad). The word kandil [from the Arabic, kindil] means candle in Turkish and there are those who trace the application of this word to the five holy nights back to the reign of the Ottoman sultan, Selim II (1566-1574) who thought that it was appropriate to light up the minarets on mosques for these occasions. One can easily associate this tradition with the start of the mahya tradition in which special oil lamps were strung between the tallest minarets in mosques at religious holiday times and spelled out words related to them. The sixteenth century historian and geographer Katib Celebi writes that Pargali Ibrahim Pasa who was Kanuni Sultan Suleyman's grand vizier in 1523 ordered the mosques in Istanbul to be illuminated. Yet a third source gives 1617 that mahya was first used at Sultan Ahmet Mosque.
Celebrations in the past
In the Ottoman period, the kandil nights seem to have been celebrated especially by the Turks although they were known among other Muslim communities as days on which the devout Muslim would fast. The birth of the Prophet is supposed to have been started by the brother-in-law of Saladin, al-Malik Muzaffer al-Din Kokburi in 1208 at Arbela. Then the celebrations involved parades, torch-light processions and feasts. They also included reciting poems in commemoration of the Prophet. More orthodox Muslims rejected these events and criticized them for their resemblance to festivals celebrated by Christians for Jesus Christ. However, there is nothing in the Qur'an about them and some of the hadith or traditions for them are suspect according to scholars.
We are fortunate to have a description of one of the early Ottoman celebrations of the Mevlid Kandili in the memoirs of Ignatius Mouradgea d'Ohsson (1740-1807) who served in various positions in the Swedish embassy in Istanbul in the second half of the eighteenth century. "The Mevlid is a festival which Murad III instituted in A.H. 996 (1589) in honor of the birthday of the Prophet. This solemnity is celebrated on the 12th of Rebi-ul-evel by a sermon, or rather a panegyric, on the life of the Prophet, on his miracles and on his death. This celebration is for the court only, not for the people. The ceremonies observed there, a mixture of religious practices and political display are far the spirit of t Islam.
Mevlidi Sherif
"This Mevlid always takes place, as do the two Bayram feasts, in the mosque of Sultan Ahmed, owing to the convenience for the great retinue of the Sultan offered by the spaciousness of the Hippodrome just opposite. The service takes place at about ten o'clock, between the morning and midday Namaz. The various orders of state go to the mosque separately, each lord followed by the officers of his household or department. All wear semi-gala apparel…" (From The Mevlidi Sherif). All of the officers of state are arranged in a particular way on the basis of a special etiquette. "It is in the midst of these [arrangements] that the Sultan appears at the mosque with his usual retinue, composed only of the officers of his household, all in semi-gala dress. At the moment when His Majesty enters the loge, which he always does by a hidden doorway, one of the first gentlemen of his chamber announces his arrival by drawing aside the curtains. At this all the assembly stands, the Grand Vizier and Mufti take several steps towards the loge, and at the moment when the Sultan allows a portion of his head, or rather of his turban, to appear, these two make him a deep obeisance, and as the curtains close at the same instant, they resume their seats, as does everyone else." (From The Mevlidi Sherif). Over the Ottoman centuries, the celebration grew to include people in general. They might fast and go to prayer services where the Mevlid would be sung. This is a poem written at the beginning of the fifteenth century in Bursa by the poet, Suleyman Celebi, in honor of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed. It's possible that it was written so that there would be a poem in Turkish similar to those written in Arabic for the same occasion. The text, originally dated to 1409, contains anywhere from 360 and 630 couplets and is divided into three sections – the birth of the Prophet, the death of the Prophet and the death of his daughter Fatima.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Allah ! This name invoke we in beginning, / For this is ever due from us, his servants.
Allah ! The name which brings to all who call it, / God's present aid, the weight of labour light'ning.
Did Allah's name begin each fresh endeavor, / The end would ne'er fall short of full attainment.
With every breath repeat that name, unceasing; / In Allah's name see every task completed.
[Transl. F. Lyman MacCallum]
Not only is the Mevlid sung on the night of Mevlid Kandili, it is also sung on the other Kandil nights, on the 40th day after a death and on other occasions. In modern times, some of the older traditions such as fasting have been lost. People no longer go to kiss the hands of elder members of their family or exchange visits. The baking of a special kind of simit, however, still happens. It is a small version of the famous simit and may or may not have sesame seeds on it. Usually the simit street sellers carry it or one can find it in bakery shops. Special dishes include helva which is made of semolina and lokma tatlisi if you like pastries dripping in honey.
Some people celebrate and some don't but you shouldn't be surprised if those who don't celebrate do still abstain from alcohol on Kandil nights.
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