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He Said/She Said: What channels will you select for Pick & Pay?

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Join Greg and Diane on Mondays as we debate a TV-related issue that’s on our minds. This week: What channels will you select for Pick & Pay?

The CRTC announced what everyone in the Canadian TV industry suspected was coming: a pick and pay model of television. As Kelly Lynn Ashton outlined in her latest Wonk Report, starting in March 2016 cable and satellite companies must implement a skinny basic at $25 that includes local channels, mandatory carriage channels, educational channels and provincial legislature channels. They must also offer either the opportunity to pick and pay for individual channels or small packages that they either build or are themed.

By December 2016, cable and satellite companies must offer both individual and small package choices on top of skinny basic.

So, what pick and pay channels would we choose to be part of our cable lineups in addition to the basic cable package we’ll already have? Below are Diane’s and my picks; let us know yours in the Comments section or via @tv_eh.

He Said:

  • History: I need my fix of Vikings, Gangland Undercover and the infuriating Oak Island Mysteries
  • Showcase: So that I can see the last season of Haven and more Outlander
  • Food Network Canada: For Chopped Canada, You Gotta Eat Here and repeats of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
  • Sportsnet: As long as they air Blue Jays games, I’ll pay for Sportsnet
  • HBO Canada: I need this for U.S. programming like The Jinx, The Knick, Ray Donovan, Vice, True Detective and Last Week Tonight
  • HGTV: I don’t tune in often, but when I do it’s to watch Mike Holmes, Scott McGillivray, Timber Kings and anything starring Bryan Baeumler or Paul Lafrance
  • Space: Orphan Black, Bitten and Doctor Who
  • W Network: So my couchmate can grab her fix of Hugh Grant movies

She Said:

Ooh, Hugh Grant movies. But I have DVDs, Netflix and Xbox Video to cover me on that. Sorry, W Network.

I have a whole other decision to make before I get to picking channels: do I even want to go back to cable? I’ll have to look at the options when skinny basic and pick and pay is available, including whatever package deal I might be able to get with internet, before seeing if I’m even moderately tempted. It’s really, really nice not to have that cable bill. Between an over the air antenna, Netflix, and Chromecast to see online shows on my TV set, I don’t feel I’m missing anything right now.

The one thing that might tip the balance is if I could get a cheap skinny basic package that included the US channels (which I can’t pick up where I live on OTA) from a provider that offers a discount with internet and also offers CraveTV. And a pony? As long as Crave still has the HBO library that might be enough to tempt me back.

Even then, I’m skeptical. I’m looking at the channel listing right now thinking … hello old friends. I don’t really miss you.

That said, if I did decide to go back, and I did decide to supplement skinny basic, here’s what I’d want:

  • Fluidity. No, that’s not a channel, that’s my way of saying I’d want to subscribe and unsubscribe to channels regularly as TV series I want to watch come and go. If AMC had another Breaking Bad, I’d be there. But right now … meh. I can wait for Better Call Saul to pop up elsewhere.
  • HBO Canada: This channel is home to many series I can’t easily get another way and suspect (or know, from the ones I have seen) I would like. The Comeback, Hello Girls, The Knick, Olive Kitteridge, Togetherness, Silicon Valley, Veep, Sensitive Skin. I think I could have just HBO Canada and be happy.
  • Movie Central: If I could have HBO Canada and Movie Central I’d be happier. Episodes, Nurse Jackie, Masters of Sex, House of Lies, plus movies, of course. Also HBO Canada/Movie Central used to have some of the best Canadian series on the air — Call Me Fitz and Less Than Kind, to name two — and I’d love to see what else they come up with.

Hmm, listing all those great series makes me think going back to cable might not be such a long shot after all. Still, no cable bill is awfully nice, and I suspect my picks would have my skinny basic getting fat very quickly.

So your turn … what channels would you stick with?

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Featured, Motive

Review: Motive scores stellar guest stars

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I feel like guest casting is a science. Score the right person in a role and you get gold. Nab the wrong person and it can ruin a storyline or episode. Motive has always been great at finding the right people to come and play; last season’s standouts for me were Brooke Nevin (Cracked) and Jason Dohring (Veronica Mars) both playing against type. This season Motive has been firing on all cylinders and Sunday’s newest episode was no exception.

“Oblivion” featured two veteran actors portraying characters opposite from what we’ve traditionally seen from them to great effect. Stephen Lobo, who often plays jerks—most recently as Kellog on Continuum—was the good guy this time around. His Isaac was fiancé/developer Isaac, who had his life turned upside down when Robin dumped him and disappeared. By the time Angie and Vega showed up at his office Isaac was beside himself with grief, wondering what had happened to the woman he’d loved so much. Shockingly, Isaac had nothing to do with the murder of Jeff Armstrong, a city planner who stood in the way of Isaac’s next project getting off the ground.

Instead, it was Robin herself who murdered Jeff by swapping out his scuba tank of oxygen for one filled with nitrous oxide. Former Gilmore Girls lead Alexis Bledel was simply stunning as Robin. She was cold and calculated in her dispatching of Jeff and at first I’d assumed she’d done it—and made like she’d been murdered to throw off the police—because she was so devoted to Isaac that she’d do anything for him.

But in a great twist, Robin and Jeff had once been together and a car accident had killed their unborn baby and rendered Robin sterile. Furious that he had moved on with his life—and that he was in the way of Isaac’s project going forward—she killed him. I was totally sympathetic to Robin and her feelings, and understood her rage at Jeff’s insensitive comment that she move on. It was easy for him to say—he had a baby on the way with his new gal pal while Robin could never conceive—and for once I cheered for Motive‘s murderer of the week.

Well done, Motive, well done.

Notes and quotes

  • “I keep expecting original recipe Cross.”
  • I like Vega’s new glasses. And though he passed the shooting test, I worry he’s got an eye issue that may jeopardize his career or put someone in danger.
  • The slamming of that door into Angie’s desk cracks me up every time.
  • “Helping a murderer. That’s love.” — Vega
  • This Montgomery fellow seems like a bad dude.

Motive airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.

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Featured, Masterchef Canada

Review: Tumble from the top on MasterChef Canada

You’re only as good as your last dish. Michael Bonacini’s point was certainly driven home on Sunday when David found himself in the bottom two next to Kwasi. It was a pretty stunning fall for David, who has up until this point wowed the judges with his creative take on several recipes, earning him challenge wins and spots as team captain.

And yet it almost ended during “One Potato, Two Potato,” first when his red team and Sabrina’s blue team lost the Team Challenge to Line’s ragtag group of misfits on the green squad. I was sure that David’s bacon-topped poutine would win him votes from hungry University of Guelph students, and they very well might have if the contest had taken place right after the campus pub closed for the night. Instead, the kids—seemingly sober after a day full of classes—opted for Line’s butter chicken on fries and she walked away with the win and safety for her team.

That meant strong chefs like Michael, Christopher, Sabrina and Cody battled it out in the Elimination Challenge re-creating tortellini for the judges. And though Cody, Sabrina and David were confident their flavours would triumph, all three were criticized for lacklustre attempts. Luckily for them, Kwasi’s African and Italian-inspired pasta filling confused the judges, leaving them the easy task of sending him home.

Notes and quotes

  • I had no clue the University of Guelph had that agricultural program. Is it too late for me to enrol as a mature student?
  • Michael Bonacini can talk about “perfectly seasoned gravy” all he wants. University kids aren’t picky when it comes to scarfing down poutine after a night at the campus pub.
  • “Grab your potatoes!” Alvin makes everything sound dirty.
  • Alvin is the huggiest judge of Season 2.
  • As a judge, I’d be worried there was finalist sweat in my food.

MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Uncategorized

Link: Canadian Actress Alberta Watson Passes Away At 60

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From Brent Furdyk of ET Canada:

Canadian Actress Alberta Watson Passes Away At 60
Toronto-born actress Alberta Watson has passed away. She was 60.

Watson’s passing was confirmed by her agent Pam Winter, who told ET Canada, “It is the case, sadly. Alberta passed away on Saturday evening at Kensington Hospice in Toronto. Her husband Ken was by her side. We await details of a memorial service for her.” Continue reading.

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Featured, Industry News

You say quality, I say qualit … eh?

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When the CRTC talks about creating more quality TV, when John Doyle talks about a golden age of TV, when Jesse Brown says Canadian TV has a quality problem, when I say there are quality Canadian shows no one talks about … are we all talking about the same thing? The short answer is no. The long answer is noooooooo, so be skeptical about all discussions on quality in Canadian TV.

With recent changes designed to focus broadcasters on bigger budget and less obviously Canadian primetime drama at the expense of other types of Canadian programming, it seems the CRTC is defining quality as big budget dramas that will sell to the international market — while also name-checking shows such as Reign and Beauty and the Beast which do have US broadcasters and have no visible Canadianness, but which are neither ratings behemoths nor critically acclaimed.

You know what doesn’t guarantee quality? A bigger budget. You know who buys international shows? Netflix. You know what buyer of international shows the Canadian TV industry thinks is the devil, and which buyer of international shows’ testimony the CRTC struck entirely from the TalkTV record ? Netflix.

John Doyle is looking for shows critics and a cult audience can salivate over, such as Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Yet in a country where we have less than a handful of professional critics, 1/10 the population of the US and non-existent marketing budgets, our critical acclaim can often be distilled to “John Doyle likes it” and our audience buzz to “no one’s heard of it because it’s on a pay cable channel 10 people subscribe to.”

I think we’ve had shows that stand up as golden: Slings and Arrows, to go further back in time than I’d like, but also Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays, Strange Empire, Less Than Kind, Intelligence, Blackstone, Hard Rock Medical, Call Me Fitz, 19-2. But all those choices are subjective, as in “Diane thinks they’re good.”

If we’re talking about what the Canadian TV industry should aspire to, the only way I can define quality  is “shows Canadians want to watch.” What US, UK or Norwegian show has become popular with international audiences without being successful at home?

So by the “good ratings for that particular network” metric, the only quality metric that matters, Canadian TV is doing well lately. In the last few months, the top 30 has included Murdoch Mysteries, The Book of Negroes, Rick Mercer Report, Motive, Saving Hope, Masterchef Canada, not to mention all the hockey and news I don’t care about. Bitten is among Space’s most popular shows — more so than critical darling Orphan Black, in fact. 19-2 is doing well for Bravo. Trailer Park Boys is getting its second Netflix-only season.

Few of those popular shows are personal favourites, but I’m not advocating for DianeTV: I’m advocating for a strong Canadian TV industry.

The industry needs to take more risks, to aspire to better, to have original content as a business imperative. There is much, much room for improvement. I’m just not sure the CRTC’s definition of quality — or any other definition that isn’t about what audiences actually watch — is useful.

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