Bushmills for Saint Paddy's?

 "McNulty: Can I get a Jameson?
Bartender: Bushmills OK?
McNulty: That’s Protestant whiskey.
Bartender: Price is right, ain’t it?
McNulty: Make it neat."

Well, first thing first: happy Saint Patrick's Day to you all. I will make time to drink today and, at some point, I might even accompany my usual pint with a shot of some Irish spirit. It might be Bushmills, even though it would be ironic to drink a Protestant whiskey on the day of a Catholic saint. But when we went to Belfast, we visited their distillery briefly. Could be a nice way to remember the trip. Oh and for those who don't know where the exchange above is from, it's from The Wire. You can watch the scene here. I've been wanting to say the reply next time they offer me some in a pub. Haven't had the chance since the local Irish pub shut down, but maybe today is my lucky day. Luck of the Irish, as they say.

That's Protestant Whiskey

"McNulty: Can I get a Jameson?
Bartender: Bushmills OK?
McNulty: That’s Protestant whiskey.
Bartender: Price is right, ain’t it?
McNulty: Make it neat."

I blogged before about the urban legend regarding Bushmills. I learned about it because of this scene in The Wire. This anecdotal exchange between McNulty and the barman is one of many scenes in the series, scenes that are seemingly unimportant, but give character to the show. One of many reasons why I love it so much. I took this picture in the duty free boutiques of Southampton Airport. Looking at the bottles, I could only think of the scene in my favorite TV drama. Next time I go out for a drink, I want to order a whiskey just for the sake of being offered Bushmills. So I can say the immortal line. Not that I know much about whiskey, to be honest. I enjoy it from time to time, but cannot make the difference between a decent one and a great one. Or even a bad one, come to think of it. But I do want to say this once in my lifetime.

The Bushmills controversy

I blogged about it before. I discovered this controversy in The Wire. My favorite TV series. Apparently, Bushmills is Protestant whiskey, according to Jimmy McNulty. Who, as a good Irish-American Catholic, has Jameson as his poison of choice. Apparently, the association between Jameson and Catholics and Bushmills and Protestants is more or less a urban legend. You can find out more about it here. For all its urbane legendary nature, it still makes for a great scene that reveals a lot about McNulty. He is outside his element, he stands out in this crowd, even when it comes to drinks.

British actors and American screens

My wife found on BBC News an interesting article about British actors making it big on US TV. It is something I have noticed before, as most of my favourite TV dramas recently discovered (say The Wire or Rome) are produced by US money and US scriptwriters, but the casts are often heavy on British actors. The article mentions many reasons for this: British actors are competent but cheap, they can easily pass as American, they are also unknown in the American market, which is an asset when one wants viewers to see the character and not the actor, the US have of course more money, a bigger market, etc.

All of this is true, but there is also another element that is not mentioned in this article, but which Dominic West hinted at in another interview: US dramas are sadly now more creative than British ones, or at least they encourage more creativity. I deeply love a number of British dramas, but they go from fairly old to very old. The last British TV drama that I genuinly loved to bits was Sorted (I mentioned it here and you can find here its imdb page), which got stupidly axed by the BBC after its first season. The worst thing is that Americans have probably in proportions just as many poor and unimaginative shows as here, but they do get it right more often and there are people ready to back up good projects. Of course, they have the money to do it, but surely a good drama is no more expensive than a bad one. What I am worried about is that now that it has absorbed many British talents, and not only for the roles of badguys, one day they might also take British writers. It would be more difficult of course, as there is a cultural gap that cannot be filled as easily when writing about a different nation, but I can see a slippery slope. In any case, it is frustrating that British actors triumph in The Wire, while nothing of this caliber and of this particular genre has been made here in recent television history.