British Tv Documentary

[bendix]

Wow . . . . there are some really touchy and overly-sensitive people here.

Stop being so defensive. Not everyone is out there to make people who build lives and relationships in Thailand look dodgy.

I thought the OP's request was very well worded and sensitive.

[astral]

Not everyone is out there to make people who build lives and relationships in Thailand look dodgy.

You think so????

Good news is never really NEWS.

Just watch the way the media milk the BAD stories for all they are worth, to get the rating.

eg The Bird Flu panic in Europe.

Old news to Thai expats............

[samran]

"Betty tv is an independant television company committed to making high quality,

challenging, engaging and popular documentaries mainly for Channel 4"

I think there is a typo on their website. It think it should read: "committed to making high quality,

challenged, engaging and popular documentaries mainly for Channel 4"

[Noel]

"Betty tv is an independant television company committed to making high quality,

challenging, engaging and popular documentaries mainly for Channel 4"

I think there is a typo on their website. It think it should read: "committed to making high quality,

challenged, engaging and popular documentaries mainly for Channel 4"

No typo's on Betty's own website though, yet...

Source

[game4shame]

It will be an insightful and thoughtful observational documentary

thats what the makers of 'there's something about Miriam' said.

Edited March 1, 2006 by game4shame

[hopeless]

Hey, what was the prgramme when the UK woman married the Egyption guy, she had to pay him loadsa cash in dowry or something then they had a really tacky wedding. He was like half her age. I got the impression a passport was of more intrest tio him than his wife!

[TAWP]

To Mods>> When you edit OPs post and remove the email-adress, don't forget all the full quote-replies that still contains it.

[Uma~~]

I don't think the guys here are being over sensitive, they do actually have a point. I am not proud to admit it but as a younger woman in England before ever coming to Thailand I did see guys who married Thai girls as a bit sad and I also assumed they were mail order brides.

Having spent some time in Thailand and known some western males with Thai wives and girlfriends I can now say that the reason for my negative and nieve assumptions as a teenager was THE BRITISH MEDIA.

I have been a member of this forum nearly three months and do not know of anybody on here or in the real world who has found their wife on the internet, not that they don't exist and not that there is anything wrong with a lonely guy looking for love, and if there is a negative vibe here it's for a very good reason. I know guys married to Thai's who have to put up with the sneers and side glances when they go back to the U.K. and the jokes in the pub, "How much did you pay for her?" etc... I am ashamed that I once had the same blinkered attitude that was forced fed to me by (to be fair) mainly the tabloid press but also television, and I am less of a judgemental, know-it-all bitch having come here and seen for myself.

I am not saying you are out to do harm but I suggest you spend some time here and really do your homework first if you want any willing subjects. Thailand has a negative enough image already and you would only gain respect and credit from decent people as well as the population of Thailand if you made an effort to portray the truth and change some of the wests childish and downright cruel and unfair stereotypes. The western men in Thailand are not all 'rejects' from back home, in fact most of those are only here for two weeks.

Edited March 2, 2006 by Uma~~

[game4shame]

well said Uma!!

especially this bit:

I can now say that the reason for my negative and nieve assumptions as a teenager was THE BRITISH MEDIA.

if its in the tabloids, it must be true!!!

Edited March 2, 2006 by game4shame

[mraitchison]

what about the weak and unhappy onions?

He could go to Big C or Carre Fourre for that easily enough couldn't he.

[malw71]

It will be interesting to see how Betty responds to this! Do you think she has been sufficiently scared orf?

[bettytv]

Because until today I have yet to see one "fair and balanced" report about farangs marrying Thais. They always have a negative slant. ALWAYS!

To be fair, I have seen one and it was recently. The programme dealt with three British women (white) who married a Thai, a Nepalese and a Zanzibarian; each example was fascinating and took a serious look at how the mixed couples got on; had to smile when the Thai husband said that he had decided he wouldn't marry at all in the next life!

Trouble is, that's one decent non-exploitative programme out of a dozen or more. Not great odds are they?

I think the programme you are referring to is called Love in a Foreign Climate and it was made by betty tv.

The whole point of the documentary which I am currently working on is to challenge the streotypes which you all seem to be very aware of. We are looking to talk to couples who have met both through introduction agencies and also through the internet. Even though a couple may have been introduced though these agencies I do realise that at some point they would meet face to face and spend some time together to see if they are right for each other. Many people are now meeting their partners over the internet so the notion of an internet/mail order bride is thoroughly outdated.

Although the programme will be following couples who originally met via the internet or through agencies I don't think this is being streotypical. Some couples do still get in touch with each other using these options and then they choose to travel to meet each other.

I do understand why people are sensitive about this subject but as I said in my original post there is not a lot I can do about this. This programme will be an observational documentary and we want to follow the couples on their journey as they get married. It would be interesting to talk to the men to see why they have chosen to marry someone from abroad. Quite a few of the men I have spoken with already have said that they feel asian women have better family values. It would be interesting to discuss these issues with others who have been in a similar position.

Very importantly we want this documentary to also be from the women's perspective, whether they are from Thailand or another country. The old belief is that women from abroad marry UK men for passports but in reality getting a British passport is a lengthy process and these women have other genuine reasons for wanting to marry a western man.

And lastly we are also interested in finding out about the experiences of those couples who have already married and are now living in the UK.

I hope that this answers at least a few of your questions.

Hedieh

[email protected]

[britmaveric]

Hi Betty

Have a look at our little Poll.

You will see that dating agencies are not very popular out here.

Uh if you look at our lil poll, seems that only 8% met via internet/dating service.

[Morden]

Hi Betty

Have a look at our little Poll.

You will see that dating agencies are not very popular out here.

Uh if you look at our lil poll, seems that only 8% met via internet/dating service.

Sure, but given the pasting that internet and agency couples have had here. I expect that they are all lying low.

[lovethailandlongtime]

I still think she's (bettytv women) out to make a fool of any farang silly enough to go along with this...

Im sure the final outcome is going to make me cringe..

Edited March 6, 2006 by lovethailandlongtime

[Guest endure]

I still think she's (bettytv women) out to make a fool of any farang silly enough to go along with this...

Im sure the final outcome is going to make me cringe..

'Love in a Foreign Climate' (made by betty) was pretty good TV - not judgmental at all.

[daleyboy]

The old belief is that women from abroad marry UK men for passports but in reality getting a British passport is a lengthy process and these women have other genuine reasons for wanting to marry a western man.

I would agree with you on that point, when i asked my wife if she wanted to apply for a British passport, she said why? to her it is far too much like hard work, going to college to reach the required levels to complete all the tests you now have to take, she says she has no need for a British passport as she has a visa which entitles her to live and work in the U.K indefinately and we only ever holiday in Thailand or around the U.K so need to change passports

[game4shame]

I still think she's (bettytv women) out to make a fool of any farang silly enough to go along with this...

Im sure the final outcome is going to make me cringe..

mmm, I want to give them a chance but I agree with you - cringetastic!!!

''meet 23 year old 'Noi'. It was love at first sight when she first met terminally ill, 97-year-old, multi-millionaire British tourist 'Mike', in this Pattaya bar.........''

[Egon]

Hedieh,

You should join this website and ask for these members' input:

Thailand-UK.com

This is a website for successful Thai-UK couples

[1Lucky]

BettyTV - would appreciate it if, once completed, you could post the time at which this programme will be shown and on which channel on Thaivisa.com. If BettyTV does indeed stay true to the proclamined aims of this programme I do think it would be very worthwhile and hopefully a bit of a tonic for the thinly disguised rascism that often emerges in this area. I'm a little surprised that the programme is being limiited to internet/introduction agency origins however (and it didn't entirely appear to be in your original posting).

I can understand the scepticism expressed by quite a few posters (though cynicism is not unusual on these boards) - but I'm sure BettyTV is aware of the legal implications that attach to their representations and assurances that they have already set out in their postings on this site.

Lucky

[CuriousKitten]

I shall definitely be keeping an eye out for this documentary Of course it will just depress me as I see handsome, intelligent, well educated middle class white finding true love with young dark-skinned beauties.

I think http://www.asianeuro.com has done Betty's job for her, just read their success stories page, such beautiful pictures and happy people *sigh*

Of course, I always worry about non-scientific portraits of society trying to tell people's stories. People willing to step into the machine of a film-making trying to put a creative vision across through using people do not represent the best society has to offer.

It has already worried me the men Betty has spoken to speak of 'family oriented' women in the East. Are we going to see the 30s/40s professional European guys marrying beautiful, highly intelligent, educated East Asian women in their 20s/30s? There are a hel_l of a lot of them happily married with children living middle class lives in UK or East Asia! Or, as I suspect, are we going to see working class or lower middle class balding, obese men seeking barely speaks English poor Asian women, both who often already have children. I have no doubt that both couples share true love that non-Asian women can only dream of in today's society, but the latter type are the type much more likely to step forward to be narrated over in Betty's machine and they are not the whole picture.

Curious Kitten.

[phibunmike]

I still think she's (bettytv women) out to make a fool of any farang silly enough to go along with this...

Im sure the final outcome is going to make me cringe..

mmm, I want to give them a chance but I agree with you - cringetastic!!!

''meet 23 year old 'Noi'. It was love at first sight when she first met terminally ill, 97-year-old, multi-millionaire British tourist 'Mike', in this Pattaya bar.........''

Actually I am not a MULTI-millionaire....

[mikeybee]

hey betty & co

why not get on a plane come to thialand have a holiday then rewrite the question......?????

do a little ground work yourself.

simple.

[britmaveric]

hey betty & co

why not get on a plane come to thialand have a holiday then rewrite the question......?????

do a little ground work yourself.

simple.

Ala Bridget Jones?

[game4shame]

I still think she's (bettytv women) out to make a fool of any farang silly enough to go along with this...

Im sure the final outcome is going to make me cringe..

mmm, I want to give them a chance but I agree with you - cringetastic!!!

''meet 23 year old 'Noi'. It was love at first sight when she first met terminally ill, 97-year-old, multi-millionaire British tourist 'Mike', in this Pattaya bar.........''

Actually I am not a MULTI-millionaire....

.....that post wasnt directed at anyone.....honest!!

Edited March 15, 2006 by game4shame

[wolf5370]

From CouriousKitten's posted link: http://www.asianeuro.com

Member 74474

"I met a beautiful Chinese lady through your service"

I met a beautiful Chinese lady through your service. She doesn't speak english but we understand each other very well. We clicked the moment we met. We have fallen in love with each other and plan to marry in Jan 2006. Prior to this I met several ladies on your site who were not honest. So men, be aware that all women here are not honest. I finally found one that is and we are very happy.

...See next post too for the opposite 'story' (wasn't allowed to post them all together!

...continued from last post...

...of course I've been completely discriminatary for the sake of being inflamatory

I could just have easily used these pictures from the same site...

Its easy to skew anything really. Just show the right set of people for your slant - reinforce or destroy steriotypes. I hope Betty TV is true to its word and they are objective and fair - of course narrowing it down to agency brides will give them a lean towards the section of society that, for one reason or another, finds it harder to attract the opposite sex in the first place. Make of that what you will.

Edited March 15, 2006 by wolf5370

[Egon]

I hope Betty TV is true to its word and they are objective and fair - of course narrowing it down to agency brides will give them a lean towards the section of society that, for one reason or another, finds it harder to attract the opposite sex in the first place. Make of that what you will.

From what I have heard the producers of the programme only really want to get in touch with people who met their partner via the internet - ie. internet dating. They want to follow the fortunes of a couple from their initial meeting, through their wedding and to their final visa application. So the programme will probably not be broadcast for some time yet.

Edited March 15, 2006 by Egon

[Tolley]

Instead of everyone jumping the gun here and decrying lack of objectivity and bias and stereotyping before anything has even been done why not wait and see what is produced and then make appropriate comments or criticisms.

What the show will hopefully produce is some interesting insights into the relationships that are studied. Hopefully that will stimulate ideas and opinions and give some people are greater insight into how some people meet their partners and how they interact with their partners.

[game4shame]

why not wait and see what is produced and then make appropriate comments or criticisms.

if there's a clause in the contract to pull the series if the people involved aren't entirely happy, then lets roll with it!!

but, 'thoughtful, insightful' documentaries dont usually sell in the UK

unfortunately, where the British media are involved, its usually a case of the shits stirred first and the apologies come when it's too late!!

Edited March 16, 2006 by game4shame

[1Lucky]

A programme was shown in the UK on channel Four the other week on 'internet marriages' and was a 'Betty' programme so I believe that this was the programme that was eventually produced following Betty's original request for volunteers of from the Thai-expat population.

The programme itself focused on Russian internet match-making so I guess there were no takers from Thailand. It was a thought-provoking documentary but I didn't see any examples of the 'strong and happy unions' that Betty suggested they were looking to portray. There was an extremely sad rich American guy unsuccessfully trying to speed buy his way to a new wife, an English bouncer who married a pleasant Russian lady after only meeting her a few times briefly (they both seemed nice but we didn't find out what happened in the months after the wedding), and a British slob who was surprised when the Russian lady he had been funding through college wasn't impressed with his amazingly dirty place in the UK and returned to Russia (where it later turned out he wasn't the only one that had been funding her tuition).

Lucky