We had Romanian Television 1 and 2, and Romanian Television 2 only broadcast Saturdays and Sundays, and then there were also the Bulgarian channels 1 and 2, plus the Russian ones. I knew people who spent a lot of time in front of the TV, there was this mate I had back in high-school who even managed to pick up a few words in Bulgarian.  I know that Studio X was on top of all favorites because they showed thrillers and detective films. We would meet at school and speak with national pride about what we had seen the night before on TV: ?Did you watch that, they showed Nicolaesu?s ?Mercenary Trap?, we?re such a fabulous nation, aren?t we. I guess there was the ?Indian Guide? on TV at the others last night.?

People used to watch lots of football, and the Bulgarians broadcast lots of that, including the World Cups. I guess that was why they put in place a special aerial for the reception of Bulgarians channels; the Bulgarians covered the whole of the World Cup in Spain in 1982.

There was this interesting thing that happened about the films they showed on TV. I think in the last couple of years before the Revolution they had to pay copyrights and license and the rest. So in the newspapers they advertised the films with a changed title; what was supposed to be ?Zorro? was advertised as ?The Justice Maker?. (A.V., 97)

The people in Bucharest used to watch the Bulgarian channels quite a lot back then, and they were particularly keen on the programs on the New Year?s Eve. I can still remember the Bulgarian phrase for ?Happy New Year? ? it was something like ?Cestita Nova Godina? (160).

We used to have the TV newsreel ? it was all a transcript of Ceausescu?s words. Sundays were cool! There was this ?Sunday magazine?, hopelessly short and fraught with flatulent speeches. We would skip Saturday classes to catch the Cartoon Gala that lasted 5 minutes and not one second more, of course including the promo and the credits at the end. We would switch on to the Bulgarians or the Russians for a change. I had this desk mate who had a satellite dish and watched Cartoon Network and MTV, as early as in those years. (114)