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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 296136" data-attributes="member: 23">Last night I watched the first episode of Miriam's Big American Adventure and absolutely loved it. <img src="https://docuwiki.net/images/c/c4/Miriams-Big-American-Adventure-Series-1-Cover.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />As always, Miriam made me laugh a great deal, but it was also informative and sweet. It's wonderful to see how her forthright outspokenness allowed her to connect so quickly and so completely across the board, from staff in upmarket stores to her AirBnB hosts to an immigrant from the Congo to gang members in Chicago. She seems so genuinely interested in people. All people. I did admire her fearlessness. The cynic in me did question if Miriam was ever really in that much danger of being caught in the literal crossfire of rival gangs and wondered if the filmmakers were playing it up a bit. Surely the BBC wouldn't allow a septuagenarian actress to risk their life in this way. But even if this were true (and it may not be), there's no doubting she willingly went to the wrong side of the tracks to get her story.The culture clash was fascinating as well. She was clearly thrown by her AirBnB host hugging her as soon as they met (as would I be), and in turn they giggled nervously when she announced she wanted a wee instead of using an American euphemism.Her shopping trip was also a riot to watch for her refusal to dress things up in any sense of the word: [MEDIA=youtube]ZuflgbPzAJ0[/MEDIA]On culture, Miriam and I share many of the same bugbears. I too don't like flags and I agree with her that they divide people, and I usually feel uneasy when I see a house with a flag of any kind outside. I also appreciated her refusal to tolerate inbuilt jingoism and wanted to cheer when she challenged someone (who'd probably never left the US) for parroting that America is the greatest country in the world and American people the kindest. As she reminded him, "You don't know that" and told him that his comments were coming from a place of arrogance and conceit, which rubs people up the wrong way. It was a delight to watch the gapes and discomfiture around the now-silent table when she'd finished.Her little sneer - almost a non-comment - when she passed Trump Tower was telling as well. And she was coming into a place divided by its then-leadership.I also loved her open-mindedness. Despite her questions about why anyone would want to become an American citizen at that time, she was openly moved by watching her newfound friend doing just that at a ceremony, along with 96 others. And she admitted to a shift in her perception.I was intrigued that she was using a wheelchair at times and a walking stick at others and mentioned (I think) bladder problems, and wondered if she'd had some kind of surgery shortly before it was made.A little premature, perhaps, since I have two episodes still to watch, but here's what Miriam had to say about the series at the time it aired: [MEDIA=youtube]Czoklzj97Hw[/MEDIA] Thanks again, [USER=2]@Ome[/USER], for reminding me of this series. I've been meaning to watch it for a while and had quite forgotten. I'll also be diving into her three other documentary adventure series after I finish this one.</blockquote>

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