Canadian TV: Doing better than we think?

From DK Latta of Huffington Post Canada:

Is Canadian TV Better Than We Admit?
Detractors (and villifiers) of Canadian TV programs are often quick to point out that usually only one or two (scripted) Canadian TV series make it into the weekly top 20 or 30 (more if you count news, specials, and hockey). That’s the glass half empty. Glass half full? An astonishing number of Canadian series are doing OK. Read more.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

7 thoughts on “Canadian TV: Doing better than we think?”

  1. Wow. All this yack without mentioning Murdoch mysteries a show that draws more viewers than any of the ones mentioned. Guess it’s not cool enuff for school

  2. It’s really not about crabs. I’m a writer for hire. I say more crabs the better and i wish my fellow crab wranglers all the best at almost every opportunity.

    I’m just saying that IF this is an article about the actual success (from a numbers POV) of Canadian TV versus the perception that no one watches is is strange to exclude a show that sits at the top of the heap (well at least until Rookie Blue shows up – damn you Cameron ; ) ).

    And the story is actually quite interesting. Cancelled by one network, MM becomes another network (and Canada’s) number one scripted show. Spurred by this larger audience the re-runs on the originating network get more viewers as well to make this cancelled show the originating network’s number one scripted drama as well.

    That”s not bad. Maybe good enough to be mentioned in the same bucket

    pm

    1. What surprised me about Murdoch Mysteries was how well the fifth season performed on CBC, despite it airing on City first. Theoretically, the CBC second run should have performed worse than the City first run. It makes me wonder if the same thing would happen to Seed, if it moves to the CBC.

  3. In the blogger’s defence, I know from sad experience that any time you do a list like that you always miss one obvious show. And get called on it.

  4. I agree 100 percent with this article. Just think back to the low ratings Canadian shows were getting ten years ago. Who’d have thought we’d have so many shows hovering around a million now? This is especially significant if you compare it to an American network like the CW for example, which has similar ratings to the CBC yet the U.S. has over 300 million people compared to our over 30 million.

    1. It’s not necessarily that easy. The argument can be made that The CW is a niche market, since their shows are all targeted to a younger audience.

Comments are closed.