Contrary to Mark Schwed’s Viewpoint (Aug. 17),...

Contrary to Mark Schwed’s Viewpoint (Aug. 17), British television is far superior to American fare. If educational or documentary programs are a turnoff to Schwed’s shoot-’em-up, corny sitcom taste, that’s his weakness; and if he resents having to pay an annual license in England, he can simply choose not to own a television set. Schwed’s supposedly humorous assertion that British television commercials use naked women to grab the snoring viewer’s attention is of course not so. It is simply because European television, unlike American TV, has no hang-ups about nudity. And Schwed might do well to remember how many successful American programs were copied from British programs.

Peter Matthews, Los Angeles