Tag Archives: Featured

Featured, Industry News

Confessions of a cord cutter

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Dear Cable,

It’s been 3 1/2 years since we said farewell. I wish I could say I’ve missed you, but I have learned to live without you and be happily commitment-free (except for those three-year contracts for internet and cell phone service).

Why did I break up with you? I’m no gold digger but it just wasn’t worth it anymore.  This will seem strange coming from someone who covers TV and follows the industry but I don’t watch all that many shows regularly. I had the most basic cable package I could get — and I had to pry it out  of my cable provider’s hands; they didn’t want to tell me it was available over the phone — but even then I was paying a lot for a lot of channels I didn’t watch. To get all the specialty channels I did want, I’d have had to go up several price points and get astronomically more channels I didn’t want.

So I was already supplementing my cable back then in order to watch what I wanted to watch.  I wouldn’t even care if what I’m paying now is equal or greater to what I was paying then (it’s not), as long as I was happy with what I had access to (I am).

Cable, I thought I would return to you once I realized how much I missed my Emmy and Oscar viewing, or when it became apparent that I couldn’t access all the shows I want to watch. At the very least I thought I’d set up an over the air antenna. I went so far as to buy a defective one (well, I didn’t know it was defective when I bought it) and return it, then didn’t bother to get another one.

I was surprised how quickly my viewing habits changed.

I became content to watch the shows I could get access to. I arranged award show viewings at friends’ houses or found it wasn’t such a hardship to miss them occasionally. I bought a Breaking Bad season pass from iTunes because that would have been a hardship.

Immediately after the split I was primarily using network websites and apps (and oh how terrible some of those viewing experiences were), but after the post I wrote shortly after breaking up with you I added Netflix and iTunes to my viewing repertoire, gulping entire shows at a  time when I used to swear I wasn’t a binge watcher.

I’m fortunate I’m not a sports fan. I know there are ways to get live sports events without cable but I haven’t had to bother finding out how. I’m also in a fortunate position of getting access to screeners of some shows by some Canadian and US networks. I love you guys. Though you own the cable companies too so … I don’t know. Maybe you could make it easier on me to give you more of my money again.

With the CRTC Talk TV public hearing currently taking place, my head is swimming with all the efforts to woo me back. Not me or my fellow cord cutters specifically, but the CRTC seems very concerned that Canadians find value in our broadcasting system. At least they’re concerned until September 19 and then they don’t want to hear from us any more.

What would it take for me to come back to you, cable? A cheap basic plan with at least the major Canadian networks that I could supplement with only the specialty channels I want. I don’t even care if they’re bundled somewhat, as long as I don’t have to order a ridiculous amount of what I don’t want in order to get what I do want.

I’m considering my options now and I don’t like what I see. Maybe the CRTC can play matchmaker and help us get back together. But I wish you wanted me back without having your hand forced.

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Amazing Race Canada, Featured

Review: Racers flex their mussels in Charlottetown

Who else is amazed by the performance of Mickey and Pete on The Amazing Race? In a classic case of “never judge a book by its cover,” the duo from Muskoka, Ont., have not only made it to the semifinals but they could end up being the winners of Season 2.

Mickey in particular has excelled in several cases, mostly due to the fact that he successfully keeps his superpowers hidden behind a stoner, easygoing façade. Those skills were first unveiled in France, when his science background helped with the making of Calvados. During Tuesday’s Leg in Charlottetown, he showed off his running skills by pulling Pete around a racetrack. Every other team took turns running, but not Mickey. He pulled his brunette-maned bud around that course the whole time. At this point, it wouldn’t surprise me if Mickey was a surgeon or opera singer.

Meanwhile, Olympians Meaghan and Natalie are in disarray. Their calm, cool, demeanour has shown cracks, particularly with Meaghan, who is easily rattled when things don’t go her way immediately. Her struggles remembering the 10 men who helped shape Canada at the Charlottetown Conference left her shaken and upset; exactly the opposite formula for success on The Amazing Race Canada.

Sukhi and Jinder continue to surprise me; the kids that overlooked clue boxes right in front of them have been replaced by siblings who have found inner strength, able to muscle their way through what looked like a disgusting mussel harvesting challenge and outrunning Meaghan and Natalie to the mat for another first-place finish. The look on the mud-spattered face of Sukhi told it all last night: she wants to win this competition.

Alas, it won’t be Alain and Audrey cashing in the cheque at the end of the show. The pair from Quebec were eliminated during a close race between they and Ryan and Rob.

“I’m sad this experience is over,” Audrey told host Jon Montgomery on the mat. “But we’re gonna start our life together and that’s absolutely wonderful.”

Ryan and Rob were tasked with the most disgusting challenges of the Leg so far when they had to complete a Speed Bump that involved digging for three bottles of moonshine hidden in a massive, steaming pile of cow manure. Add to that they mussel harvesting challenge and I’m betting those boy were pretty darned ripe.

Next week the final four teams head to New Brunswick to decide who will be in season finale.

Here’s how the teams finished:

  • Sukhi and Jinder
  • Meaghan and Natalie
  • Mickey and Pete
  • Ryan and Rob
  • Alain and Audrey (eliminated)

The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Bachelor Canada, Featured, Package Deal, Podcast, Saving Hope

TV, eh? podcast episode 165 – What Does a Vagician Pull Out of a Hat?

Greg, Anthony and Diane talk and talk and laugh and talk about the CRTC public hearings, the premieres of Package Deal, Saving Hope, The Bachelor Canada, and the Netflixization of The Trailer Park Boys, plus the battle of the Canadian streaming services.

Listen or download below, or subscribe via iTunes or any other podcast catcher with the TV, eh? podcast feed.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Featured, Industry News

CBC hits TIFF in grand style

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Kudos to the folks over at the CBC for taking a crucial first step in the network’s reinvention by using the Toronto International Film Festival as a backdrop to let folks know about the upcoming television season and the brand overall.

Canada’s public broadcaster staked out the corner of King St. West and Blue Jays Way this past weekend, turning what used to be a condominium sales office into a welcome centre called Canada House stocked with snacks, virgin Caesars, phone recharging stations and cardboard fans emblazoned with the iconic network logo and the Twitter message “#FallForCBC.” The stars of CBC’s radio and TV shows rolled through as well, meeting fans, posing for pictures and promoting their projects all weekend long.

The network even had a cool little set-up where those featured folks held press conferences in front of groups of about 50 or so fans at a time. I sat in on the panel for Canada’s Smartest Person, and hosts Jessi Cruickshank and Jeff Douglas described how the interactive program will not only showcase the linguistic, physical, musical, visual, social and logical skills of selected finalists from across the country, but an app will challenge viewers at home.

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I also got the chance to interview Dragons’ Den David Chilton and newest panelist Michael Wekerle for an online bit for TV-Eh (I’ll post that when it’s all been edited) and the pair swear the show’s upcoming Season 9 is deserving of your investment of time. Also appearing over the weekend were the stars of Mr. D, Murdoch Mysteries‘ Jonny Harris, Adam Beach, the folks behind The Book of Negroes–which has been adapted into a miniseries—and that Mamma Yamma thing.

The CBC knows it has some catching up to do with regard to connecting with newer and younger viewers. No longer able to sit back and allow NHL hockey to draw in numbers, they’re experimenting with content very unlike CBC. Dark western drama Strange Empire has got great buzz (the rough poster I was shown has a Deadwood feel), co-production sci-fi offering Ascension is definitely not typical CBC fare and historical drama Camp X promises to be thrilling.

Sure the network acknowledges this is somewhat of a rebuilding year, but there was a palpable optimism on Saturday that they are moving in the right direction with content and, even more importantly, connecting with an audience.

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Featured

Tiny Talent Time dances back onto television

For 35 years, Tiny Talent Time shone a spotlight on kids who could sing, dance, juggle and play instruments. There was no cash prize for being the best, no panel of judges looking down their noses and sniffing in disdain, no voting someone off the stage. It was a gentler time, and one CHCH is getting back into this weekend.

Yes, Tiny Talent Time returns to CHCH on Saturday with the first of 12 new half-hour episodes (a second season has just been announced). And while the brand has been updated from the original that ran from 1957 to 1992–a stunning 35 years–the message remains the same: have fun without any judgment. The idea for bringing back the series–the original was hosted by CHCH legend Bill Lawrence–came up during planning for the channel’s 60th anniversary happening this year.

“One of the things they said was to bring back Tiny Talent Time,” remembers producer Jennifer Howe (Descending). “I think this is a very good homage to the past with a new, modern take on it.” Producers went with two hosts for this incarnation (“I joke to Bill that it took two people to replace him,” Howe laughs.) in Jason Agnew (Splatalot) and Jaclyn Colville (Morning Live), which affords them the opportunity to bounce things off each other while interacting with the kids. The set has been updated, social media implemented and a website boasting a Wish Wall, an online update to a Lawrence mainstay.

“Bill always said, ‘If I could snap my fingers and make a wish come true for you, what would it be?’ and not everyone was able to reveal their wish because they weren’t on the show,” Howe explains. “Now kids can go and upload their wishes and can see each other’s wishes and interact.” Each half-hour instalment spotlights five on-air acts–beginning with Saturday’s “An Amazing Premiere”–and an interview with a child whose performance can only be seen by visiting the Tiny Talent Time website.  Howe reveals over 500 kids auditioned to appear on the program from across Southern Ontario.

“There were a lot of viewers of the old show, a lot of people who had been on the old show and wanted their grandkids to be on, or their nieces and nephews,” she says. “That seemed to be the big connection for people auditioning.”

Tiny Talent Time airs Saturdays at 7 p.m. ET on CHCH.

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