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Dramas and Comedies, Featured

TV, eh? Rewind: SCTV

By Dexter Brown

What look back at Canadian TV would be complete without SCTV? So grab your Shower In A Briefcase and fling your TV out the window, we’re taking a trip to Melonville.

SCTV (Global 1976-1979, CBC 1980-1983, Superchannel 1983-1984) played out like a warped funhouse mirror to the television landscape of its day. Satirizing everything from Hollywood blockbusters, campy B-movies, network news, overly dramatic soap operas, idiotic children’s programming, bland talk shows to commercials and network bumpers, SCTV is probably one of the most versatile TV shows to hit the airwaves. Each episode consisted of sketches intended to mimic programming from a typical broadcast day from a low-budget station in a town called Melonville.

Characters from the show have turned into Canadian icons; Bob and Doug McKenzie are perhaps the most popular, spawning a movie and an animated sitcom long after SCTV bit the dust. Guy Caballero, the president of SCTV, local celebrity Johnny La Rue, and news anchor Floyd Robertson (yes, named after CBC/CTV news anchor Lloyd Robertson) all could be characterized as jerks with short fuses. These characters are in addition to a wide array of impersonations, including Bob Hope, Tammy Faye Bakker and Divine.

With a host of characters striking a chord with the public, it would only be logical to think that SCTV would’ve launched its stars into the mainstream, and it did. Many of the stars went on to bigger and better things on television and the big screen. John Candy appeared in Home Alone, Cool Runnings and JFK. Eugene Levy has appeared in the American Pie film series as well as A Mighty Wind and more recently Goon. And Martin Short went on to become a cast member on Saturday Night Live (as did fellow cast members Tony Rosato and Robin Duke), starred in Primetime Glick and was a judge on Canada’s Got Talent.

Memorable episodes of SCTV include The Battle of the Networks Stars parody “The Battle of the PBS Stars,” where Julia Child and Mr. Rogers, for example, competed in athletic events. Another episode consisted of a spoof simulcast of the CBC due to a writer’s strike at SCTV. Also memorable was the show’s Towering Inferno parody, “Top of the Reactor,” where the SCTV studios were moved into the world’s tallest and thinnest building and a nuclear reactor was placed on top.

With its brilliant satire of late ’70s and early ’80s TV, you can’t help but imagine what SCTV would be like in today’s world of 500+ channels, the majority owned by three or four large corporations. The essence of SCTV did carry over to the YTV series That’s So Weird. Both SCTV and That’s So Weird consist of a series of sketches meant to be taken as television shows or commercials airing on a fictional low budget television network. Sadly however, That’s So Weird’s writing feels lazy compared to SCTV, the actors don’t seem nearly as versatile, and overall it feels less inspired. Still, those are points that could be made when comparing many of the shows today to ones from yesteryear and you have to take into consideration That’s So Weird is a kids’ series airing on basic cable in Canada.

CBC’s long-running series This Hour Has 22 Minutes also shares a bit in common with SCTV. Although 22 Minutes is largely a satirical news show (SCTV did have fake news sketches but they were not as prominent as the news bits of 22 Minutes), it did have television and ad parody sketches that are very SCTV-esque. CTV’s Canada AM was regularly satirized as “Canada in the Morning” and Nancy Grace as “Panic Room with Betty Hope” for example. The television show and ad parody sketches are brief and typically appear as bumpers to commercial breaks leaving their presence limited.

Perhaps there won’t ever be a show quite like SCTV again. Catch reruns on The Comedy Network and Comedy Gold.

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Featured

TV, eh? Rewind: Twitch City

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twitch

By Dexter Brown

For our first look back at TV, it only makes sense to look at a TV show about TV. So grab a box of Frooty O’s, turn off Rex Reilly and snuggle up with your favourite cat as we present Twitch City in the first of our Rewind series.

Twitch City (CBC 1998-2000) may have been off the air for just about 12 years now, but already it feels like a relic of television’s past. While the satirical sitcom’s sharp writing, quick wit and laugh track-free scenes are commonplace for most modern-day network sitcoms, Twitch City does feel ancient in some regards. The show’s numerous references to some long-forgotten television shows, along with the old-school graphics for the opening title sequence, do more than enough to prevent Twitch City from holding as much of a timeless quality as much of the other memorable shows from the same era.

Twitch City nearly instantly comes across to viewers as the anti-Friends, anti-Seinfeld and anti-Caroline in the City, a play off of the single young friends in the city type sitcoms that were popular throughout the 90s. Gone are the bright apartments in a sprawling metropolis and the carefree 20- or 30-somethings. They are replaced by a grungy, dark dwelling somewhere in Toronto and a television-obsessed slacker.

Choosing to make television a centrepiece of the show, it only seems fitting that it is portrayed as an insipid wasteland. Surprisingly, some real-life television personalities make cameos in the show. They seem to unwittingly allow Twitch City to poke fun at them as vapid and vacant, like noise lost among itself.

One of the more memorable episode of Twitch City, the particularly surreal “The Planet of the Cats” — a spoof of Planet of the Apes — consisted of making light of the sci-fi genre, choosing to satirize the over-the-top acting and dialog and the tense drama by merely replacing the invading life forms with cats.

Strangely enough some of the scenes in “The Planet of the Cats” are eerily reminiscent of ABC’s remake of NBC’s 80s sci-fi show V. So strange in fact, it almost felt as if Twitch City got ahold of the scripts of ABC’s V some ten years before it aired, replaced the alien overlords with cats and filmed it in a townhouse in downtown Toronto.

The show, and particularly “The Planet of the Cats,” could be argued to share the humour of the recently canceled surreal sketch show Picnicface from The Comedy Network. Both built their foundation on low-budget absurdist humour but being developed several years later, Picnicface was willing to take absurdist humour to a whole other level.

With only a dozen or so episodes aired, you can’t help but wonder if Twitch City was on the wrong network at the wrong time as the show’s dark, surreal and absurdist humour seems to fit much of what aired on The Comedy Network in the past decade. Perhaps it may have lived a longer life there in the 2000s, as opposed to sharing time on the same schedule with shows such as The Fifth Estate and The Nature of Things.

Today, the CBC has decided to move away from more niche programs such as Twitch City despite a recent shot at a cable-like program, Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays. While that show was critically acclaimed, it suffered greatly in the ratings. More mainstream shows such as Mr. D proved popular with the public and the network has since come off of one of its highest rated seasons ever.

Want to relive Twitch City or try it out for the first time yourself? Check out Twitch City episode “The Planet of the Cats” on YouTube right now.

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Dramas and Comedies, Featured, Flashpoint, Industry News, Saving Hope

Industry Update – Bell Media/CTV 2012 Upfronts

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This is the first year I attend CTV/Bell Media’s upfronts. Press conferences are held at Bell Media Queen Street. The upfront presentation is held at The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, for the second straight year.

The fall 2012 slate for both CTV and CTV Two is about what one expects from the channel. Aside from Flashpoint, American shows are the order of the day. CTV Two airs Saturday reruns – it doesn’t use the term “encore presentations,” which is to its credit. CTV Two’s Saturday schedule features The Listener, The LA Complex, Saving Hope, and The Borgias. Midseason introduces a show called Motive (working title), a crime procedural.

Catherine MacLeod is the Vice-President, Specialty Channels at Bell Media. The most interesting thing she says to me is that The LA Complex will undergo a “retool” for its second season, possibly including a castmember shuffle. MacLeod is aware of the show’s poor performance, yet reasons that its poor showing on The CW is the result of everything doing poorly on The CW, and young people not watching as much television. MacLeod notes The LA Complex‘s positive critical reception.

As for Todd and the Book of Pure Evil and Picnicface‘s cancellations, MacLeod gives me a flat “they just weren’t performing.” The Borealis pilot is completed, but not yet scheduled. Four of the shows on The Comedy Network’s 2011-12 development slate – Hotz D.V.M., Spun Out, The Tim Steeves Project and Satisfaction – are still in development. No new channels, or rebrands of existing channels, are on the horizon for Bell Media.

The six press conferences take three hours total. For the most part, they’re breezy – light on detail, aside from the Flashpoint conference. Of note, Flashpoint will have a two-hour finale. CTV has no reason to screw with Flashpoint – it’s the rare case of a Canadian show ending on its own terms. At seventy-five episodes, it will live on in reruns for years to come.

The afternoon presentation formally announces Astral’s introduction into the Bell Media family, barring “little things” like CRTC regulations. That’s actually how Bell Media President Kevin Crull sells a $3.38 billion acquisition to advertisers.

The upfront presentation is strangely formatted. Stars enter, stand for five seconds, and leave. CTV Programming & Sports President Phil King says he won’t run down the schedule, then does so later in the presentation. I don’t understand why he teases the advertisers, and other attendees, like that.

Odd things in the base schedules stand out for me, like SportsCentre airing on CTV three times a week, on weekend afternoons. CTV allows Juicebox a two-hour, early-Saturday-morning block, while CTV Two gives Juicebox two hours of time early on Sundays. TSN’s documentary series, Engraved on a Nation: Stories of the Grey Cup, the CFL and Canada, follows CTV’s 4:00 PM ET Sunday edition of SportsCentre.

For the 2012-13 season, CTV still gives The Littlest Hobo ninety minutes of weekend, early-morning time. I’m surprised that dog isn’t the mascot for CTV’s 2012 London Olympics coverage.

Overall, I’m disappointed by Bell Media’s upfront. Upfronts should be a time to introduce new acquisitions and launches, but Bell Media is more interested this year in which companies it buys, instead of which shows it develops. Maybe the not-yet-completed Astral deal prevents Bell Media from showing its full hand, as Bell Media assumes Astral’s development properties. I don’t know. TSN’s Engraved on a Nation remains the most ambitious thing announced for Bell Media’s 2012-13 production slate, and that was revealed earlier in May.

This year’s upfronts have been, as a whole, underwhelming. Maybe a whole whack of shows will be ordered by the end of 2012. In a year where the Canadian television world threatens contraction, I doubt it.

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Dramas and Comedies, Featured, Industry News, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Industry Update – Shaw Media/Global 2012 Upfronts

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This is my third year at the Shaw Media upfronts. If you don’t believe me, here are the scalps from 2010 and 2011. This year, as in 2010, there are two parts to Shaw Media’s upfront. The executive and talent sessions take place in the morning, at the Trump International Hotel and Tower. The presentation is held in the Elgin Theatre. Both the sessions and presentation are held in Toronto.

Shaw Media goes into 2012-13 with a few high-performing Canadian scripted shows. Rookie Blue is in its third season, while Bomb Girls is set for a second season. Lost Girl does well in its natural habitat, Showcase.

Among other Showcase shows, King struggles in its second season. It’s too early to tell what happens to Continuum, but its first-episode ratings hit with the force of at least two Lost Girls. Endgame is a dark-horse candidate to return, thanks to Hulu. Given Shaw Media’s string of homegrown successes, I go into Shaw Media’s 2012 upfronts with a positive outlook.

A big announcement for Shaw Media is the addition of two new channels, H2 and Lifetime. These are part of the A+E Networks stable of channels. The morning press releases reveal the return of Global Toronto’s News at Noon, more news overall, and new Canadian dramas…on Showcase and other specialties. Also, History Television will assume its distaff American cousin’s branding.

The Cave, Showcase Diva, and Global Reality Channel aren’t mentioned in the upfront press materials. Showcase Diva slips on the Lifetime branding this fall. Global Reality Channel was heavily featured in the 2010 upfronts, and doesn’t even have its own catered cookie this year. As for The Cave, it exists, but for how much longer?

Canadian content on Global this fall includes newsmagazine 16X9, POV documentary newcomer Close Up, something called “Canadian Documentary,” and Recipe to Riches. Aside from 16X9, which airs Friday at 10:00 PM ET/PT, every Canadian show on Global’s fall schedule airs Saturday night.

Crimetime Saturday is the only non-Canadian primetime Saturday offering, and it’s…reruns of crime dramas. Is Global introducing its version of the CBS block? If so, why?

During the executive and talent sessions, my mind tunes out around the time Ricki Lake sells her new talk show as the “old Oprah,” which could mean anything – even the old Ricki Lake. At the time LL Cool J sells the media on NCIS: Los Angeles, I’m busy trying out Google Voice for the first time.

In the afternoon, the Elgin Theatre plays host to the presentation itself. The presentation is more ornate than usual, but when the big reveal is Big Brother Canada, it’s a bit underwhelming.

Reality programming is Shaw Media’s format of choice, and is well-represented on Slice, History, HGTV and Food Network. Shaw Media favours this format – it’s cheap, can air across multiple channels, and allows Shaw Media to claim a large amount of Canadian content. At the same time, Showcase has a couple of hit originals (Lost Girl, Haven.) A few of Global’s originals (Rookie Blue, Combat Hospital, Bomb Girls) regularly earned at least one million viewers in 2011-12. Does a higher number of returning shows mean a reduction in new ones?

Shaw Media is involved with Showcase/BBC America’s Copper, and Showcase/ReelzChannel’s World Without End. Copper is from Canadian companies, yet is American in scope. World Without End is a sequel to Starz/The Movie Network/Movie Central’s The Pillars of the Earth, and is a Germany/Canada co-production. The two new major Canadian dramas, and they’re co-productions on a specialty channel. Weird.

Shaw Media’s overall strategy is the same as it ever is, aside from the heavier focus on news and documentary programming. Shaw Media also takes a page from Corus Entertainment, slapping American trademarks on existing Canadian channels. I don’t have a problem with Canadian program services airing American shows, but one of Shaw Media’s main priorities is Ricki Lake. There’s something disconcerting about that.

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Dramas and Comedies, Featured, Industry News, Less Than Kind, Murdoch Mysteries, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Industry Update – Rogers/Citytv 2012 Upfronts

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This is my first time at the Rogers Media/Citytv 2012 upfronts. This year, they are held at Toronto’s Massey Hall. Historically, the Rogers upfronts don’t provide much in the way of Canadian scripted fare, or Canadian content. In fact, Murdoch Mysteries‘ Citytv run ends this summer. If viewers miss the fifth season, they can watch it on CBC this fall…or watch Citytv’s reruns of the fifth season, if they air as “encore presentations” this fall. Try to wrap your head around that one.

I go into the Rogers upfronts not expecting much – maybe a low-rated documentary series for Citytv, foreign reality-show formats with the word “Canada” flour-pasted onto the side, and American programming – the usual.

Citytv’s fall schedule is its usual heady mix of American shows, and “encore presentations” of Rogers “original series.” Saturday, by now, is Citytv’s Canadian cultural ghetto. Less Than Kind will even air 9:30 PM ET on Saturdays this fall, and it better not be four-year-old reruns of the first season.

More encouragingly, Citytv has two original comedies up for 2013, Seed and Package Deal. Seed is about a sperm bank donor, and how he deals with the byproducts of his white gold. Package Deal is “about three overly close brothers and the woman who comes between them,” which reads as generic. So did Shaw Media’s Continuum, when it was announced.

The Citytv press conferences are basic. There are the usual American stars to sell their wares – Katie Couric promoting her new talk show, Brandon Routh and Michael Urie promoting Partners, and Max Greenfield shilling New Girl. Dominic Monaghan beats the drum on Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan, an OLN/Channel 5/BBC America nature show, while Tyler Harcott sells viewers on the merits of The Bachelor Canada.

Andrew Orenstein and Joseph Raso promote their respective shows, Package Deal and Seed. Citytv sells Package Deal as the first Canadian multi-camera sitcom in decades, which ignores YTV’s Mr. Young. Perhaps youth sitcoms aren’t as glamorous as adult sitcoms. Package Deal shoots in Vancouver, and has Mr. Young‘s production company, Thunderbird Films, behind it.

An interesting announcement concerns Citytv and Sportsnet sewing up rights to HBO’s 24/7 Maple Leafs/Red Wings: Road to the NHL Winter Classic. This isn’t a Canadian series, but the Toronto Maple Leafs are the first Canadian team with a 24/7 profile. Given that Rogers is set to own 37.5% of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, this is Canadian content, in a way. Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment owns quite a few sports channels, so Rogers wants to feature a prospective acquisition.

Hopefully, Rogers and Citytv build on their commitments to homegrown programming. It’s nice to see Rogers and Citytv muster a little more effort than usual, even if the overall strategy is “let’s buy a lot of American programming, and here’s our version of a popular reality show format.” I didn’t expect Citytv to announce any new shows, beyond The Bachelor Canada.

One niggling issue: no announcements regarding G4 Canada, or bio? What did they do, break Rogers Media’s priceless Ming vase, or something?

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