Yikes - 29 comments on the "Canadians don't watch Canadian TV" article. Some of them don't even make me roll my eyes. And for more weirdness, I was a guest on CBC radio in Saskatchewan today, chatting about the same topic. I go into autopilot when I'm nervous, so it's all a blur, but we chatted about the same kinds of things as in the article, plus the stigma thing, and the few callers they had time for were all very supportive of Canadian TV and agreed with pretty much everything the host and I said. I guess - duh - CBC radio listeners are less likely to be CBC TV bashers.
But ... I kind of like being challenged, so it wasn't quite as interesting as the discussion on TV, Eh? And I got asked things like "did Brian get his just desserts on Da Vinci's Inquest?" (There was a Brian?) I guess I did get across that I'm a TV fan, not an industry expert, then.
I got to plug Intelligence quite a bit, since it's my current example of a great CBC show, the pilot/movie is one of my examples of a show I heard about after it originally aired, and it's an example of what I think is poor scheduling (up against House, a Law and Order, and The Unit). Plus the Da Vinci questioner asked what happened to that show, so I mentioned the creator and one of the actors went on to do Intelligence.
We also mentioned the usual suspects, Corner Gas, Trailer Park Boys, Degrassi - none of which I actually watch, but respect as popular, well-done shows that have managed to capture an audience.
A caller lamented the loss of This is Wonderland, and pointed to the Gemini nominations as proof that it shouldn't have been cancelled. Awards don't mean ratings though. And even the kazillionaire American networks can't figure out the formula to make quality=ratings.
If the problems with the Canadian TV industry are basically quality, promotion, and stigma ... well, I can't help with quality, but the TV, Eh? site is trying to help with promotion and stigma. It's just overwhelming, the size of the task versus the limits of my ability to help. Because if I'm the grassroots movement to support the industry? God help Canadian TV. I need to start working on a posse.
