I would argue that throughout "upper" Northern Europe, Britain and Ireland in partcular, but also Scandinavia and Holland (and probably Flander as well), the knowledge among regular people about the American society is fairly high. One of the best examples is the ongoing success of the longstanding satirical cartoon, "The Simpsons." As I see it, the audience of those countries are able to catch and understand the widespread satire in "The Simpsons" and other TV-shows as well, due to their knowledge about the American society. If some French or Italian satire program was aired, none would really get unless it was very stereotype/cut out in cartbox. This tendency is becomming more and more widespread. There close to zero American media products that aren't available and succesful in my country (Sweden). So my question is about the other way around. How much shit/good do you get from Europe. For example, many European state-owned television channels make awesome documentaries, are they shown in the US? Or do Americans only watch US made documentaries, read only US magazines etc.? From where do people usually get their info about Europe?

I get BBC on the sattelite dish. The only thing I ever watch on there, and I don't do so very often, is BBC Worldnews. Also, thanks to the wonders of the internet I've been able to watch a couple BBC made documentaries. About the only other European programming I recieve is on a local PBS tv station. They have Irish programming every now and then, which I find pretty interesting. However, my main source of European news comes from the Economist, which I've subscribed to it for the last couple of years. I can't really think of any other available sources of European info that aren't out of the UK or Ireland. I suppose that makes though sense because of the common language.

When you watch The Simpsons, do you watch the original English language version? How's that work with American television when it is shown in parts of Europe?

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I get BBC Worldnews on regular cable TV and sometimes CSpan shows the British Parliament. I get Netflix and watch foreign movies with English subtitles sometimes.

Yes, in my current location Netflix is my only source for foreign films. I forgot to mention that. I've gotten into a pretty good routine lately with my Netflix where I have one documentary, one foreign film, and one other usually modern or classic American movie. Oh, and have I mentioned I think Netflix is awesome?

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I love it so much. I have V is for Vendetta right now. I should go watch that now! It just came out.

We do not - and thank God for that - dub foreign programs in Scandinavia. Instead we use subtitles, which is nice. That is also why I cannot watch, for example, "The Simpsons" on German TV. Why ruin something that is perfect? I guess it also works the other way around (Hollywood remakes of foreign films or Tom Cruise playing Samurai).

As a side-comment... the Germans are really horrible (or good, depending on your outlook) at dubbing their imported movies and shows. If you haven't seen Dirty Harry (or rather, Schmutziger Harald... jeez) featuring Clint Eastwood with a voice, as if someone kicked him repeatedly in the groin, then you don't know what you're missing. Great entertainment value!

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The Germans are unfunny in a funny way. I just recalled the title melody to that stupid sitcom called "The Nanny" ("blahablah... und sie war die Nanniiiiie"). Dubbing is a crime in my world. How can you exclude the vocal component of the Simpsons!? Or for that matter, let Hitler speak English (as in that movie with Robert Carlysle).

BBC is available.

If you go on the internet or buy certain magazines you can get views from around the world.

However, be advised with Americans working long (nearly longest work-week in our history- it peaked in 2000, but is again on the rise via multiple jobs) hours, most only watch cable/local/ network news, which is highly slanted.

Anyone with a satellite dish has unlimited opportunities to watch tv from damn near any country on this planet. The sky is full of satellites beaming down broadcasts. All that is needed is an aftermarket receiver and a motor to rotate your satellite dish. The problem I have is deciding what to watch.
I have a 33" dish and I would hazard a guess that I can receive strong signals from well over 15 satellites, which means about 3000 channels.

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