In the land of the blind….

Great Moments In Socialism 33 Comments

I agree with General Brock.
It is too bad Lindsay Blackett felt the need to apologize for his comments in Banff.
Canadian television is, for the most part, crap. The Canadian stuff that isn’t? Why that would be the the stuff made for America.
After Blackett’s humiliation last year at the hands of the Progressive Conservative caucus and Stelmach’s slapdown regarding the Alberta HRC, I wonder why he bothers. Why not cross the floor to the real conservatives? He does represent Calgary North West, after all.

33 Replies to “In the land of the blind….”

  1. I’m always glad to get a reference from the Conservative homeland of smalldeadanimals.
    But I can’t think of a single pure Canadian television show that I’ve enjoyed in the past 20 years. We’ve had a few that have bordered on good television shows. Shows like Due South and Flashpoint tended to be quite watchable. Unfortunately, these were also joint American ventures though.
    Corner gas was the closest that I’ve come to truly enjoying a Canadian show. And that’s only because I was a prairie dweller for a few years get many of the lifestyle jokes.
    It’s too bad that Lindsay Blackett didn’t single out CBC. Now that would be first example of a government minister speaking the truth.

  2. Defending Canadian tv is like a parent sitting in the audience of his kid’s drama play at the school. You’re rooting for junior, but he’s falling on his face. You’re torn between your pride for the fruit of your loins and someone in the crowd yelling ‘get the hook’.
    And yes, I was at my son’s school play last night and it was that BAD!

  4. The writing was on the wall in 1968, when the CBC cancelled Don Messer’s Jubilee. It was the highest rated show, at the time, but wasn’t cool enough for those who decide what the real Canadian identity is.
    It’s funny the general mentioned “Flashpoint” as a standout of Canadian shows. I watched it once, and it’s actually the ultimate example of everything wrong with Toronto based programs. It’s not watchable. Corner gas was another dog. A bunch of Toronto actors making fun of rural Saskatchewan. Not the least bit funny.
    Ironically, some of the better Canadian stuff has been made possible by government grants(Trailer Park Boys, for example).

  5. “due SOUTH” was campy, awesome fun. Not the last two seasons, though.
    “Flashpoint” is okay.
    “Corner Gas” was filmed in Saskatchewan and created by a comedian from Saskatchewan.
    I would like to know when “The Listener” will return.
    These are the exceptions to Blackett’s rule. Much of what is produced here IS crap. We can do it but not always well.

  6. Well other than Red Green the best recent Canadian TV I can remember is Traders. Undoubtedly one of the worst was Excuse My French. Well I guess EMF wasn’t that recent.

  7. Where’s Lindsay Blackett BEEN?
    His comments are refreshing, observant, trenchant, honest, not the usual “official” BS.
    Lindsay for Mayor! Or, how about Lindsay for Premier! That sounds better!
    One of the ABSOLUTE WORST shows on TV is the CBC’s “Little Mosque on the Prairie.”

  8. Rather then grants and ‘funding’ why not have the province issue loans against the producers homes/assests.
    Surely if only problem is ‘funding’ why not put your home on the line rather then my tax dollars?

  9. Corner Gas has two Saskatchewanians starring in it, one of them from my home town. Doesn’t mean I ever watched it though.
    And batb is right. Little Mosque epitomizes CBC hitting the bottom. Thirty minutes of stereotypes, cliches and “reverse” bigotry repeated week after week after week.
    I don’t want Lindsay Blackett for Alberta Premier. I want him for Canadian PM.

  10. Don Messer’s Jubilee went coast to coast on the CBC only after Minister George Nowlan from Nova Scotia in the Diefenbaker gov made it so hot for CBC Headquarters they had to give in. Just because the show was a great hit year after year cut no ice with the elitist scum***s in charge.
    Lindsay Blackett made his valid point and that is what counts.

  11. Newsroom in its first season was the only show that reached appointment status for me. That and SCTV which, as has been pointed out, was aimed at the american market.
    As for the mInister of culture (?!) , if he doesn’t cross (and pronto because a candidate will be nominated fairly soon) he will be voted out in the next election. IOW he has nothing to loose and everything to gain by crossing.

  12. duffman- The problem with self-funding is, most people with the imagination required to dream these ideas up, aren’t usually financially mature. They have two choices, sell it to a big network, or sell it to a friendly government. As long as someone in government uses some common sense, these productions are potentially profitable for local economies. Little Mosque on the Prairie is a loser for all involved.

  13. Gord Tulk at 11:48 PM: “As for the mInister of culture (?!) , if he doesn’t cross (and pronto because a candidate will be nominated fairly soon) he will be voted out in the next election. IOW he has nothing to loose and everything to gain by crossing.”
    ==============
    And if he is voted out, there should be a job offer from Sun TV News.

  14. Finally someone tells it like it is. Haven’t watched CTV NewsNet for about 3 years and when I did it was watching paint dry. The same humdrum zombie like news repeating every 10 minutes.
    CBC still has TV stations? Man, I just have to try and keep up.

  15. When playing channel roulette, and stopping on a movie in progress, it’s always easy to spot a Kanukistani production. It’s always “preachy”. There’s always some hammy characterization and hackneyed screenplay surrounding some preachy progressive ideological theme – oh, and dump in lots of cussing and homosexual couples – that makes it Canuk Chique.
    I we were judged by our cinematic content, anyone’d get the idea we were a nation of contrarian puritans.

  17. Da’vinci’s inquest is good. Too late in the evening however….
    Most stuff set in TO is garbage though.
    The Dog River Comedy is a hoot, but I don’t watch it.
    CODCO, now THERE was a risk taking series that I LIKED.
    Cutting edge…Real Canadian I think.

  18. The movie Bon Cop, Bad Cop pretty much sums up Canadian TV and film mediocrity for me. I remember when I first read about the film…I honestly thought it was a joke of some kind.
    Nope.
    Typical Canucky fare trying to look edgy. It’s a standard buddy cop deal, but they felt compelled to work in the English-french angle (you know, one cop is English, the other french, and hilarity ensues from the cross-cultural tension).
    And the plot. Oh my, the plot. Bad enough the buddy-cop theme has to bash us over the head with the multi-cult, bilingual PC bullsh*t, but get this…..the bad guy in the movie is a serial killer targeting members of Montreal’s “hockey community”. Oh, it gets better….as the plot unfolds, it becomes clear the murders are somehow related to the sale of Canadian NHL franchises to American cities.
    I thought it was a joke when I first read about it. Nope. Somebody actually read the script and said, “What a great idea! Let’s produce this!”
    Thing is, it actually was one of those rare, well-made, high-quality Canadian productions (script aside). It was just impossible to enjoy because the story was based around Canadian cliches. French guy. English guy. Hockey. NHL teams moving south. Oh, and the commissioner of the fictional hockey league in the movie is Harry Buttman. Get it?
    *sigh*

  19. Wojek (sp?) was good. (Wow, that dates me!) On the liberal side but very well produced and acted and based on actual coroner’s files.

  20. CJOH (CTV Ottawa)used to run a half-hour of nonsense once a week called The Willy and Floyd show (Les Lye and Bill Luxton). It was pretty corny, but it stands out as high comedy compared to today’s fare. So condescending and predictable…enough to gag a maggot.

  23. Canadian style tv cheesiness was showcased to the world recently during the Whistler Olympics closing ceremonies. It was a 3 hour trainwreck.

  25. At one time, at least Canadian children’s programs excelled. Not since The Friendly Giant, Rusty and Gerome kicked Captain Kangroo’s & Mr. Green Jean’s ass has there been anything worth watching.

  26. I have to disagree with dp about “Corner Gas”. Most of “Corner Gas” was written by Saskatchewanian Brent Butt and pokes gentle fun at many things easily recognizable about “small town life”. The writing is great and the pacing very good especially when you consider that there were no big time TV people involved in the project. One of my favorites, was the episode that involved Brent playing challenger Lacey, in a series of games of table hockey. The entire show sustains the 1970’s Canada Cup Histrionics in miniature; very funny.

  29. After two or three minutes of watching a TV “drama” together, we (wifey and I) often look over at one another and nod, “It’s Canadian.” And we switch channels. It’s so obvious. The language is the most vile, the violence is over the top and, of course, they’ll inevitably have an American stars and stripes flag displayed somewhere so that we know how awful American society is. Crap. Actually, Blackett’s “sh*t” is a better term.

  32. The CBC represents everything wrong with Canadian TV. The sports coverage is not bad (what to cover is questionable at times, but the technical quality is there), and it has some good dramas (Heartland, North of 60), but anything involving real world analysis or life outside Toronto sucks. Left wing indoctrination masking as entertainment makes for “crap”.

  33. All tv sucks not just ours. It’s too bad because the medium could be so much more than it is or ever was. One last kick at the cbc. Why are Canadians forced to pay for taxpayer sponsored tv or radio service in the 21st century? Thousands of television channels are available today. The same is true of radio. The Canadian government isn’t in the newspaper business. It’s time to pull the plug and leave news and entertainment to the private sector

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