Catherine Harty’s   VOICE FROM ABROAD   North American Fans Compute

The easiest thing to do in our culture is to have a conversation about
television.  At school, at work, at parties the talk often turns to what you
saw last night.

It isn’t so simple for North American fans of British television.

Look at the Neilsen ratings, which poll U.S. viewers’ TV choices.  There
aren’t any British shows in the top 100 for any given week.  Hundreds of
thousands of people are watching, but who and where?  Chances are no one else
you know watches your favorite British TV show.  Trying to find another U.S.
fan to discuss EastEnders is like trying to find a 'All My Children' fan in Manchester.

And good luck trying to find out information about the goings on behind the
scenes.  If you want to learn more about someone like Patsy Palmer, you won’t
be able to learn about her from any American newsstand.  There has never been
any tiny bit of gossip about her, or any other EastEnder in my daily paper and
I have yet to read an American magazine article about any of the soap’s stars.

So how do North American fans make the connection?  With a computer modem.

Reading London papers like The Mirror, or magazines like Radio Times and
Inside Soap (available through AOL by typing KEYWORD:  INSIDE SOAP) are all
possible through  internet access. 

Finding a knowledgeable fan is as easy as typing
http://www.xcelco.on.ca/~walford/ 

That’s where you’ll find James Hockley and the snazzy web pages he calls
Walford Station.  This web site is a one-stop treasure trove of trivia and fun
tidbits, and cool links.  Each week somewhere between 900 to 1200 hits are
made on his site and 250 people are on his mailing list.  This 39 year old
store manager/owner and father of eleven ekes out an hour or two every day to
update the information.  He says that “keeping up with the news” is the
hardest part of maintaining the site.  But there's no sign of him stopping.

This consuming passion all began one night when James was having trouble
getting good reception for MASH and ended up watching the very first episode
of EastEnders on PBS.  He was, “hooked right from the start” and even took
three trips to the UK  “just to get the EE feeling.”  Now his area no longer
receives EastEnders and he relies on mailed video tapes to watch the show. 

He talks of beginning Walford Station.

“When it started, I just wanted to bring EE to the net because, there was
mainly just Emmett's EastEnders Trivia as a source of information.  Although
there were a few EE sites on the net, they weren't updated regularly.  There
was no "Official" EE site at that time & I wanted to fill the void.”

James is one of the first people to catapult  Patsy into cyberspace.  Even now
that she has her own web site, it’s important that fans continue to have many
voices in the computer community.  Thank you, James for all you do. 

James’ smiling face is coming to you from Ontario, Canada. 
  His inclusion is a good reminder to me that The United States of America shares a
continent with two countries (the other being Mexico).  My title as “US Correspondent,”
has thus officially changed to “North American Correspondent”. 
Kind of sounds like a promotion, doesn’t it?  

Another way to find a fan is through internet chats.  Weekly EastEnder chats
are held Tuesdays nights at 10:00 p.m. EST on America Online (AOL).  People
from all over the U.S. who have never met feel like they have when typing in
their comments about EastEnders.  The woman in charge of the proceedings is
Judy Hirsch.

Judy lives in Philadelphia with her two cats, Nicky and Alex. 

“When I adopted them, EastEnders fans tried to encourage me to name them Grant
and Phil.  However, I was afraid their hair would fall out!  Instead, I kept
the names they were given by their former owner... and coincidentally, there
is a Nicky and an Alex who are on the show in the UK now.”

She is a 42 year old Affirmative Action Officer whose daily job it is to see
that everyone who applies at her company is treated legally and fairly in the
selection process.  She brings that same spirit to the chats.  It’s her job to
welcome one and all, to keep the conversation flowing (but not off topic), and
to maintain a feeling of community in the group. 

It is Judy who organizes a weekly digest to members, now numbering over 600.
When she took over, the membership list had only 20 names, but has grown
exponentially as AOL has grown.  The digest is part information and part
gossip all seasoned with a lot of personal opinion.  Though the chats are only
accessible to AOL members, the digest can be sent to anyone with an email
address.  Contact Judy if you want to get the latest at  WLVjudy@aol.com

Thanks, Judy, we're grateful for all you do.

“It's nice to have people say how grateful they are that I do this, etc.  But
the times I really feel good about my volunteer hosting is like when a member
told me that his partner is dying of AIDS and he is certain his partner is
living longer because of the spoilers [plot lines from the UK that are being
shown around 2 years ahead of what is being shown in the U.S.] he reads to him
each week from my e-mails.  It's been a couple of years since he joined and he
is now viewing the episodes he first read about in my spoilers mail. It's also nice whenever
someone says they didn't know anyone that watched the show before joining our
group.  I enjoy creating that sense of community, whatever that means for each
person.”

“As for where my interest in EastEnders rose from.... I was always a Monty
Python fan as well as a fan of other British comedies such as Butterflies, The
Two Ronnies, etc.  I saw that EastEnders was coming to my home town while
reading the local newspaper.  I figured since I enjoyed other British shows, I
would give it a chance.  And if I didn't like it, I just wouldn't continue
watching it.  That was in 1986 and I haven't stopped yet!”

____________________________________________________________________
  DCHarty@aol.com
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