The Canadian TV Thread

[esquire]

^ It's PBS and CBC fare for my kids. I have done my level best to keep them away from Sponge Bob or the YTV-style crap.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Berklon

I watched The Trouble With Tracy when I was a kid, and I liked it.
However, a few years ago I watched some episodes for nostalgic reasons - and I was cringing left, right and centre. Not sure about it being the worst Canadian TV show of all time - but I can see why people thought it was bad.

Totally agree, but some things just get a reputation as a whipping boy, Rod Black on TSN for example, but often it is by people just parroting what others are saying or having no knowledge.

Yeah, Trouble with Tracy wasn't Monday at the Opera but it was far from the worst thing I've ever seen. And it was a farce so it was bound to be goofy. Having said all that, I am looking at this through a different lens than most because of my background and experience, basically a lifetime of this stuff.

I guess we also have to define what is bad, it's really hard to compare something from yesteryear to today, especially where technology is involved ie sets etc.

[Berklon]

Of course, we shouldn't forget one of the greatest shows ever, Canadian or otherwise, SCTV. It still holds up well today. The comedy was classic and the cast was stacked with so much talent.

Getting more local with filmed in Hamilton productions.. anyone remember The Hilarious House of Frightenstein? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poW0OJGT9C4

Or Boogies Diner, with a post-Too Close for Comfort Jim J Bullock and James Marsden before he made it big: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boogies_Diner

And of course, "In Session" was one of my favorites. A weekly show with musicians jamming at the CHCH studio in downtown Hamilton. They had artists jamming together like Rik Emmett/Bruce Cockburn, Dr. John/Johnny Winter, and the infamous Stevie Ray Vaughan/Albert King session - shortly after SRV released his first album and was just starting to break out.

That SRV/AK session was so good they actually released it on CD, Vinyl and even SACD (which I bought on SACD). I watched it when it first aired in 1983.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Ses...Vaughan_album)

Here's the whole session:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPcGJahjsHY

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by elly63

I've talked about this many times with people and I've always found myself alone on this. I hated that f'n Roadrunner He frustrated me. He was always taunting Wile Coyote who always seemed to try so hard and fail. To me Wile was the better character to emulate (aside from the wanting to kill the Roadrunner part)

They made him cute and funny but that Roadrunner character was an asshole. Really.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Acajack

They made him cute and funny but that Roadrunner character was an asshole. Really.

Wow, someone who finally agrees with me. Thank you!

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Berklon

Of course, we shouldn't forget one of the greatest shows ever, Canadian or otherwise, SCTV. It still holds up well today. The comedy was classic and the cast was stacked with so much talent

My favourite show as a kid going back to the Global days. In my circle of folk, I was the first to latch on to it, I loved all the early characters. I had been familiar with the actors as they apprenticed on Coming Up Rosie and The David Steinberg Show.

Who can forget PowerPlay the infamous takeoff of Face-Off (which I have to find for my collection) I have Face-Off on VHS (I think) but not mp4

[kwoldtimer]

The Great Canadian Baking Show is insipid compared to the British original.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

The Great Canadian Baking Show is insipid compared to the British original.

That just seems to be a thing nowadays, global TV franchising: Got Talent, The Voice, Idol, Amazing Race, Survivor. What was it they said in Slings & Arrows, "Art as a commodity"

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by elly63

That just seems to be a thing nowadays, global TV franchising: Got Talent, The Voice, Idol, Amazing Race, Survivor. What was it they said in Slings & Arrows, "Art as a commodity"

That's nothing new. This is an interesting example, however - the Canadian version has contestants with a lower skill levels, istm, and the judges are not "baking celebrities". Basically, however, baking doesn't have the cultural importance in Canada that it does in the UK.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by elly63

Wow, someone who finally agrees with me. Thank you!

Can't think of any examples other than the Roadrunner right now, but I do recall from my youth instances where I was watching other cartoons and thinking "wait a minute - why is this character the hero again?"

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Can't think of any examples other than the Roadrunner right now, but I do recall from my youth instances where I was watching other cartoons and thinking "wait a minute - why is this character the hero again?"

Fred Flintstone wasn't particularly likeable, he treated Barney like shit. I was probably one of the few who didn't like Gilligan's Island, that was another exercise in frustration. I just wished that the Skipper who wasn't too likeable either would really kick Gilligan's ass for being such a f'up. I wasn't a big Gilligan fan.

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

The Great Canadian Baking Show is insipid compared to the British original.

I hate reality TV with a passion. It's the worst thing ever invented.

However, I actually watch both the Canadian and British Baking shows.
I do a tiny bit of baking myself and want to do more and get better at it - and I don't care about the "drama" and who'll win... I just watch to get ideas on what I can bake myself.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

That's nothing new. This is an interesting example, however - the Canadian version has contestants with a lower skill levels, istm, and the judges are not "baking celebrities". Basically, however, baking doesn't have the cultural importance in Canada that it does in the UK.

Well, I guess we can't expect it to be the same. Speaking of franchiing/licensing, there was time that almost every new sitcom in the US was a licensed version of a British show. Sanford and Son wasn't originally meant to be a black show, this licensed version of Steptoe and Son was originally meant to be Irish and Italian (Barnard Hughes and Paul Sorvino) then Cleavon Little (later Demond Wilson) as the son who mentioned Redd Foxx and the rest is history as I digress.

[rousseau]

Somewhat apropos, the Guardian has a list of what it considers the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-r...e-21st-century

No Canadian shows, unsurprisingly. I'm not a big TV watcher myself, but it turns out I've actually seen and greatly enjoyed a fair number of them:

Fresh Meat
Gavin and Stacey
The Inbetweeners
Flight of the Conchords
Black Books
Nathan Barley
The Great British Bakeoff
Black Mirror
Nighty Night
Peep Show
Fleabag
The Office

I'd be interested to know if there are any Canadian shows that are anywhere in the ballpark of the quality of these.

Nice to see the SCTV love, I was a big fan. I don't think they've aged well, but then, it's the rare comedy that does, given that they tend to be topical and lampooning the times.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Berklon

I hate reality TV with a passion. It's the worst thing ever invented.

I watched the first year of Big Brother in the US in 2000? where it was an actual interesting study of human behaviour and it ended exactly as it should have. After that, I suppose the controllers and producers thought it wasn't provocative enough and started involving themselves more in the process, I have never watched another reality show, aside from Britain's Got Talent. I have never seen American Idol, Amazing Race or Survivor, no interest at all.

I think we're getting away from the topic of this thread, Canadian TV. Back to our regularly scheduled thread.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by rousseau

No Canadian shows, unsurprisingly. I'm not a big TV watcher myself, but it turns out I've actually seen and greatly enjoyed a fair number of them:

I'd be interested to know if there are any Canadian shows that are anywhere in the ballpark of the quality of these.

Just wondering why you felt the need to say the quoted and then the line following it. That's the whole thing some of us are going on about. Criticism without knowing the subject. We've named plenty of good quality Canadian shows here and the thread has barely started.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I'd be interested to know if there are any Canadian shows that are anywhere in the ballpark of the quality of these.

Not really a big TV series fan, but one Canadian show I really enjoyed watching at the time was Ken Finkleman's "The Newsroom".

[elly63]

A couple of good shows that come to mind are North of 60 and the Anne of Green Gables stable of shows.

I thought North of 60 was just another in the line of agenda based shows that CBC so desperately wanted to put on the air. I hate that kind of thought, but this show had a real quality about it and pretty good story arcs. There didn't seem to be the stereotypical minority could do no wrong schlock to it either. Many of the characters, white and native were flawed.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by elly63

Just wondering why you felt the need to say the quoted and then the line following it. That's the whole thing some of us are going on about. Criticism without knowing the subject. We've named plenty of good quality Canadian shows here and the thread has barely started.

You think it's surprising that there are no Canadian TV shows on a list of the best shows of the 21st century? You think it's some kind of grand conspiracy, or that the world's cultural mavens have simply overlooked us out of parochial arrogance?

[esquire]

I think North of 60 is still aired regularly on APTN. I never watched it, but hearing a few bars of the theme song transports me right back to the 90s.