At home, I watch less than an hour of TV per week.  In Italy, I couldn't resist the temptation to surf the waves. Home shopping channels are BIG BIZ, plus there's a heaping portion of American programming dubbed into Italian.  Would you believe Mister Ed the talking horse?  At the end of the show, Wilbur Post was scamming with yet another poor-excuse-for-a story.  His neighbor could only shake his head and say, "che strano uomo," what a strange man!

The Flintstones translated well into "eye-talian," as did an Abbot and Costello cartoon although with renamed characters.  I saw bits of The Cosby Show, The Nanny and the X-Files. Commercials are an odd mix of Italian and English.   In one case, an add for a lady's razor featured music with the simple phrase, "Are You Ready?" (Answer: "Yes I am!")  At the close, the question was posed in Italian as text on the screen. "Sono Presto?"

But the biggest surprise was seeing my olde rodent pal, a frequent visitor on the Ed Sullivan Show.  That's him at the top of the screen, Topo Gigio!