From the CBC:
Where are the Canadian TV shows in this golden age?
In this so-called golden age of television, Canadians are often seen as minor players. Many ask where’s our Breaking Bad or Downton Abbey? Today, we’ve got the debate over the vision in Canadian television. Listen here.
From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail:
The difference between good, great and magnificent TV
The response was interesting and intense. A reader suggested that CBC’s cancellation of Intelligence was the cultural equivalent of killing the Avro Arrow program in 1958. A fair point. It underlines that CBC’s dereliction of duty in airing quality, challenging TV had changed the landscape here, for worse and possibly forever. In other responses, blame was laid at the feet of Canadian TV execs, a point already made in the column. Continue reading.
From Bill Brioux of TV Feeds My Family:
John Doyle demands a Canadian TV Inquest
Even when our cable or specialty channels invest in Canadian content, the result is “deflating and inadequate,” he finds. Hard to argue with that, although I’d say Slings & Arrows was a brilliant Canadian specialty show, and Less Than Kind punched above its weight. These shows, however, rarely earn their keep in Canada. If CBC managed its appropriation right, it could indulge in a loss leader or two to distinguish its brand. A Haddock hour, drawing 300,000 a week, would give a CBC schedule a golden sheen you could not find on the private channels. Continue reading.
From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail:
Where is Canada in the golden age of TV?
There’s a prevailing sentiment in the culture that we’re more than a decade into a new Golden Age of television. The starting point was the arrival of The Sopranos in 1999 and the most recent marker in the ongoing evolution of excellent TV was the series finale of Breaking Bad. What has Canada contributed to this? Pretty much nothing. Look at the last 14 years of Canadian TV and what you see is almost complete creative failure. Continue reading.
From Scott Stinson of the National Post:
Everything you need to know about the upcoming fall TV schedule
Scripted Canadian comedies have been rare in recent years. No longer. Continue reading.
