Join Greg and Diane every Monday as we debate what’s on our minds. This week: We’ve got the Canadian Screen Awards, Canadian Comedy Awards, the various guild awards (writers, directors, actors, etc.), regional awards like the Rosies, Leos and Screen Nova Scotia Awards, and should we include the TV Ehwards? Probably not. But where is the saturation point for Canadian TV awards?

She Said:

I don’t question that awards are meaningful for those who receive them, or that the guilds would want to reward their members, or that we need one showcase awards ceremony to be televised for the public, but for such a small industry how can we possibly justify the number of awards handed out in a given year?

When we have a handful of TV comedies on the air in a year — not even my hand, but my favourite seven-year-old’s — how is it possible they need categories in more than a handful of award shows?

For me, the final straw was the Golden Maple Awards. These are a little different in that they aren’t for Canadian TV, they’re mostly for people who have fled Canadian TV. But I don’t have to take them seriously because they don’t take themselves seriously. Not only do they only have acting categories — and Tatiana Maslany wasn’t nominated, though cast members from other co-ventures were — their eligibility year runs until July 1 and the awards are handed out July 1. Someone failed logistics class.

The second final straw was the Canadian Screen Awards adding a fan favourite category called the Golden Screen Award. That’s called ratings. No really, they had “nominees” that were the top five rated shows in two categories and we had to wait with bated breath — or look at the Numeris weekly top 30 — to find out the winners.

Enough already. Don’t make us bring back the TV Ehwards and add a category of “Most ludicrous awards that aren’t the TV Ehwards.”

He Said:

OK, firstly, I think we should totally add that category to the TV Ehwards, along with a “Cheesiest headline written by a PR team for a ratings release.” We spare you readers the most egregious of the dreck we get … and you really should thank us.

Unlike past weeks where Diane and I have disagreed, I’m totally on board with her thoughts this time around in that there are trending towards too many. The Golden Maple Awards are truly laughable—if they had made the announcement on April 1, I would have been convinced it was an April Fool’s gag—focusing on a small group of Canadians in a city full of them.

I simmered in the media room at the Canadian Screen Awards because the Golden Screen Award was no more than a lame attempt to reach fans. In creating a category awarding a show for ratings, the CSAs took a big step back on the road to its legitimacy. The CSAs are supposed to be critical kudos, not a fan zone; that took place the day before at the Eaton Centre for thousands of Canadian TV fans.

Perhaps we should devote a night where the fans can vote on their favourite programs and actors and actresses from them. We could call them the Canadian People’s Choice Awards and have the winners come up on stage and … oh, wait … another awards show.