It’s back – the Canadian TV Person of the Week recognizes Globe & Mail journalist Kate Taylor for digging deeper on the Bomb Girls cancellation and writing a great article about why Canadian networks treat Canadian shows like afterthoughts.
Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story, CBC
The inspirational TV movie tells the tale of hockey legend Gordie Howe’s epic return to the ice to play with his sons, depicting the Howe family as they prepare for a comeback that has been labeled “the biggest publicity stunt in hockey history.â€
Vikings, History – “All Change” season finale
Directed by Canadian Ken Girotti, “All Change†sees Ragnar travel to Gotaland (modern day Sweden) to resolve a land dispute with the area’s leader, Jarl Borg. Ragnar’s renown precedes him and Jarl Borg is intrigued – has he found a new ally, or is Ragnar just a puppet of the king? Meanwhile in Kattegat, with a plague taking its toll on the village, the people look to Lagertha to help appease the gods.
Continuum, Showcase – “Split Second”
Kiera and Carlos’s reunion is a bumpy one as they attempt to thwart Liber8’s brazen hijacking of a prison transfer. Meanwhile, Kellog approaches Alec with an enticing partnership proposition. The young genius is tempted, but will it lead him down a dark path?
From Linda Stasi of the New York Post:
Astounding ‘Orphan Black’ star plays 6 people at once
Maybe we should start calling her “Orphan Multicolor.†I’m talking about Tatiana Maslany, the break-out star of BBC America’s break-out series, “Orphan Black.†Who? Tatiana Maslany, that’s who — and she might be the best actress you never heard of, but the one who is burning up TV by playing (so far) six different characters who don’t sound alike or dress alike. They also do not share the same hairstyles, lifestyles, personalities or foreign accents. Read more.
From Kelly Lynne Ashton of Butter Tarts and Brown Drinks:
Does Canadian TV need an overhaul? Maybe. Probably.
Does the Canadian broadcasting system need improvement? I think we can all agree to that, including the CRTC. Without the CRTC how do we do that? Do we advocate scrapping the Broadcasting Act and the CRTC with it and let the free market dictate what gets made and who airs it? I seriously do not think that any of us want the broadcasting system that we’d end up with then, it as it would likely be nothing but retransmission of US signals. Continue reading.
In ancient Twitter times, maybe a year ago, a discussion popped up: where’s Canada’s Mad Men? Why can’t we produce something so excellent, so embraced by critics and audience?
My answer: we have. We had it before Mad Men. But we have to scale down our thinking from Hollywood levels.
Slings & Arrows was an intelligent, fun, carefully crafted series, and a critical favourite. I posit there is no show better, Canadian or American or Mexican. Girls is no cleverer or funnier or well-loved than Michael: Tuesdays & Thursdays. Durham County, Intelligence, Call Me Fitz, Less Than Kind – we have shows that in another country, with a larger population base, and not as overshadowed by the Hollywood machine — in a country with a healthy TV industry and more diverse media — these shows might have received the same kind of attention as a Homeland in the US or a Luther in the UK.
A crucial element to sustain these critical darlings, however, is buzz. Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Girls, all have tiny audiences compared to a network hit — even an NBC hit — yet command a much greater percentage of critical and social media attention than an NCIS.
The problem: Canada’s population base is 10 times less than the US. Canada’s TV critic community is even tinier per capita. Canadians consume American media, including television criticism, while our critics are time-sharing their attention with American shows. Homegrown TV is crowded out of every thought-space.
It’s easy to say Canadian media should write more about Canadian shows, but it starts to become a no-profit endeavor very quickly, and the Canadian media are struggling with that well enough now. They check in with the hits, and their favourites, but there’s little checking in beyond once a season, never mind the kind of obsessive episodic analysis that’s become a staple for American critics.
My direct comparative experience is out of date now, but when you get over a thousand people clicking on an article about House and over a dozen clicking on an article about Intelligence, you have to have a certain will – one not driven by chasing ads – to persist in writing about a low-rated but thoughtful Canadian series.
Audiences aren’t talking much either, because a cult audience in Canada is a microcult spread over 10,000,000 km2. There are pockets of chatter on social media, and if a particular show is in your bubble you’re bound to see talk of it, but there’s little spreading to the greater water cooler out in the wild.
We notice loudly when the Canadian TV industry produces more mediocrity. Let’s listen for the excellence falling among us too. Because in Canada, we have to listen very carefully to hear it.
