Friday, October 23, 2009

MIA

I just thought that I should warn everyone that I will probably not be posting for the next couple of days. As most of you know, I am moving to Toronto this weekend (yay!). Thus as Rogers seems to think I should return my modem and cable box, I will be without both TV to watch and internet to post.

Now, because I am essentially a nerd, I'm very interested in seeing how this will affect my challenge. For the past months, I have been in my own apartment but now I'm moving in with two other people. There is a big difference between me, squirreled up in my tiny basement apartment by myself, watching whatever I want whenever I want. Now there will be other people there that I'll either have to fight with to watch what I want to watch or spend a lot more time in my room. The main problem will be the fact they are not limited to watching Cancon. The temptation here is rather small since I can just simply not watch American shows. Plus, TV is also a social thing. It brings people together (if only to sit quietly together in the same room) and gives them something to talk about. Do you know how sad it'll be while I'm squirreled in my tiny little room while my brother and sister are out there watching NCIS or Grey's? (I don't think either of them watch Grey's but I think the sound of my sobs would force them to stop anyway). I've largely been able to ignore most of the social aspects of TV up till this point since I have nobody else to really talk about the shows with anyway (except you blog, you care, don't you blog?). But now I'll be like those kids whose parents won't let them watch The Simpsons.

The upside? My housemates will probably end up watching more Cancon with me. Hurrah!

But don't worry! I'll be watching the SYTYCD-C finale on Sunday. Even if I have to fight my siblings for it. I want to see Vincent crowned Lord of the Dance!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

All's Fair

The cable companies have answered the challenge with http://www.stopthetvtax.ca/ Still no handy song but I have been seeing commercials explaining the cable's side of the story. Now, I know that the broadcasters are not completely blameless in all this but I have some serious problems with the commercials that the cable companies are running. Thus, in list form:

(1) In these commercials, they say that the CRTC is going to be making the common people pay an extra $10 a month. This is not entirely true. In fact, it is pretty much not true. The CRTC would only require that the cable and satellite companies to pay the broadcasters a fee for carriage. The cable companies are the one who say that they will pass the cost onto the consumer. Which I have always thought was a rather childish way to deal with it (but frankly, everybody in this whole debacle seems to be playing the childish card so it doesn't really matter anymore). Or they say that the networks themselves are proposing the monthly cost. To be clear, the cable companies are the ones who intend to make you pay if they have to pay.

(2) What I also find kinda funny in these commercials is how they keep referring to them as the "big" broadcasters. Yes, they are clearly "living large." And they are just closing local stations for fun. But then they claim that these "big" broadcasters made a total of $400 million last year. Wow, that's a big number. But that covers the 3 biggest networks in Canada? Maybe it's just me but considering that covers the 3 main networks in Canada...it doesn't seem like a lot. I mean, I wish these broadcasters were the wealthy giants that the cable companies are making them out to be (I know that they aren't poor by any stretch of the imagination, but after Global is applying for bankruptcy protection and seeing all the people who've been fired this year at CBC and the other broadcasters, I find it hard to believe that they are just bleeding cash).

(3) Though, despite all this, what really made me chuckle is how on the commercial online, portrays the CBC. It's postively rolling around in it's own gluttony. And worse yet, it's all from YOUR money. Just look at all the money flowing into the CBC. How could they possibly need any more?! Well, as my teacher told the class this year, the CBC is one of the worst funded public broadcasters in the world. In fact, I think the only one that was worse was New Zealand but I'm not entirely sure on that. And considering that the CBC doesn't purchase the majority of it's primetime schedule from the foreign markets and instead produces it's own content which is more expensive (Or at least that's what I hear from CTV and Global), I wonder why they need all that money? Possibly to produce Canadian content? How bizarre.

But here's what I think should happen. If the CRTC does allow this whole fee-for-carriage thing to go through, I think the broadcasters should then have to stop trying to reduce the amount of Cancon they have to carry. I'm tired of CTV and Global arguing that they can't afford to produce Cancon. Also, there should be a provision so that the money actually does go towards local television. If we could guarantee those, I'm all for the fee-for-carriage because then it might actually mean more local television. You know, television that matters.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Never too old

I hate to admit it, but I think I'm starting to like Degrassi. Now I've only seen The New Generation and completely out of order but they are growing on me. I realized this today when I turned one on and was shocked to find out that Liberty was pregnant. I was shocked. And then I found out that JT was the father and that this was the first time that I had ever actually seen JT (and I was very impressed indeed...).

The other thing I disovered today was Instant Star. I had heard of it but never really bothered watching it since I'm not really the target audience. But it just happened to come on after Degrassi (okay, I realize I need to stop watching shows at teenagers. I know, I know) and I actually found it really interesting. It follows this teenage girl who wins a singing constant show and shows how she deals with being an instant star. First of all, I thought it was a really interesting idea to fictionalize a reality show like that but also showing the downside to becoming instantly famous. Which is probably something that most kids should know since everybody these days thinks they should be famous. Secondly, it's an interesting counter-part to Hannah Montana since this show has a much more real vibe to it (possibly because it seems to be aimed at a slightly older audience but still). Though Hannah experiences times in which it isn't fun to be famous, the consequences never really seem to appear. Thirdly, the issue on this episode was that the media started questioning her virginity which is something that all female pop stars seem to have to deal with. But she refused to answer the question, leading to everybody thinking that she isn't but later on reveals to one of her friends that she's still a virgin. I admire that she was able to take such an adult stance on this issue and that the show dealt with a very real issue.

Now I just have another show that I either have to find online or buy on DVDs.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

All Night Long

I have decided that tonight is going to be the perfect CanCon night.

6:30 - Style by Jury (W Network)
7-8 - Rick Mercer and 22 Minutes (CBC)
8-10 - SYTYCD-C (CTV)
10-11 - Being Erica (CBC)
11-12 - The Hour (CBC)

God bless time shifting channels. What's nice is that I can actually have a night of CanCon without having to watch a show online. Usually if there's nothing on, I'll flip on The Listener or Corner Gas but this way, I get to see 5 hours of brand new CanCon! SYTYCD-C is on the final 4 and I'm really looking forward to this episode of Being Erica since she spends the whole day with that other guy whose in therapy (he has a strange name...). It'll be good times!

...and Bruce just kissed the woman on Style by Jury. Where can I sign up for this show?

Monday, October 19, 2009

A Battle Indeed

(This indeed contains spoilers. Please be warned).

One on the first episode of Battle of the Blades, there was a very clear team that came out on top: Barb Underhill and Ron Duguay. They skated wonderfully, Barb hasn't figure skated in a long time and has a rather sad history, and Ron the hair and the Studio 54 past, they were the clear favourites. Even though I didn't like them, I thought that they were going to go far.

...But apparently they would only stay until tonight. They actually got beat out by Tuffy and Tie. Mind boggling, almost. I mean, if you look at the CBC website for the show, Duguay and Underhill have the most fans! I really have no idea what happened. I mean, yes, they didn't quite have the same showmanship as Tie and Tuffy or even that they did in their first performance but to fall this quickly out of favour and be eliminated? Canada is apparently a very fickle mistress. And how can the team with the largest amount of fans online be in the bottom two? It just seems bizarre. Too bad there's no french judge to pin it on this time.

Personally, I think it's going to come down between Lemieux and Bourne vs. Simpson and Sale. But who knows? They might just be the bottom two next week! (I will once again state my apathy when it comes to reality shows. I will do absolutely nothing to keep them safe. They are on their own).

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Slacker

I'm sad to admit but things have been a bit crazy lately so I haven't really been keeping up on my shows this week. Just now I'm trying to catch up on The Hour and still haven't touched Being Erica or Defying Gravity yet. It's a good thing that I have some extra time this week so that I can catch up on everything and not fall further behind.

I'm excited since today is another episode of Battle of the Blades and the competition is starting to heat up because now the hockey players are taking it much more seriously and getting more competitive which is great! Plus Strombo will be a guest judge tonight which is more of an incentive to watch. But watching the interview on The Hour with Glenn Anderson and Isabelle Brasseur, I learned something that makes me reconsider the competition. So we all saw how Glenn fell last week and it made me very sad. That damned toe pick! Originally, I was impressed since Domi was the only one still wearing hockey skates as the rest of them all switched to figure skates which is quite the adjustment for them. Then in this interview, Glenn revealed that the majority of them (excluding him and I believe he said Craig Simpson) has filed the toe pick off their skates! That seems unfair! I mean, even though Glenn fell, at least he had the decency to man up and face the toe pick. The rest just seem like cowards now. I think that they should all have to use regulartion figure skates with the toe picks. It's part of the sport. And if you fall, that's part of the sport too. Suck it up men, it's to put on the real figure skates.

p\s I just want to give a shout out to my brother. As I'm sure you all watch the Hour, remember when Stephen Lewis was on? And in his bio, there was a clip of a public service announcement with K-OS working at the Bay? Yeah, that was done by my brother's company, The Corner Store (http://www.thecornerstore.tv/ check out the Fast Food link). I don't mean my brother owns the company, he works for them so it's not "his" in the sense he owns it...this is going on too long. Anyway, good job bro!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

If I had a million dollars

At my work, we have a lottery pool and like to discuss what we'll do when we win. What I found funny was yesterday, somehow this turned into a discussion of whether when we were rich, whether we would get coffee from Starbucks or Tim Horton's. Their conversation was actually about the type and quality of the coffee but seeing as I don't drink coffee, it didn't mean much to me. At first, I agreed that I would go to Starbucks since I love the green tea fraps and recently addicted to chai lattes. But then I realized that nothing would ever really replace a iced cap or sour cream glazed donut in my heart. And I have a feeling that no matter how rich we are, we would still go to Tim Horton's. I mean, of course we would, we would just go more.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Final 4

So it's official: SYTYCD-C is down to four. I'm happy with all but 1 of the 4. I dislike Jayme Rae and would be kinda upset if she won. And I think she should have gone home tonight and that Melanie should still be here. But here's what I find funny. Out of the 5 people I originally said I liked, 4 of them made it to the top 10 and 2 of them are still in the running to become Canada's favourite dancer (...okay, I still think that's a bit of a lame title. I think they should have gone with something like "Supreme Dancer of Canada"). And that's why you should always pick people based on their looks. I'm just surprised since usually Canada and I are on different sides. This was how it usually worked with Canadian Idol (except for Brian Melo, we all agreed on him). But here, I have pretty much agreed with each elimination (except for Melanie. See above).

My pick to win? Either Vincent or Tara-Jean. I just love his hips so much! Mesmorizing really. Even though I do love Everett a lot, I would probably pick Vincent. And I think Tara-Jean has really been awesome the past couple of weeks and really shown that she wants and deserve it.

But will I vote at all next week to have my say in who should be Canada's favourite dancer? No. It's a proud Canadian tradition to be apathetic. I'll just save my votes for when Harper tries for a majority.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Listener

I spent most of yesterday doing absolutely nothing. It was wonderful. But I was also catching up on CTV's The Listener. And it wasn't as terrible as I thought it was.

I will admit. I unfairly judged the show. Mostly because of SNL. They did a skit once mocking The Closer, by having a man dressed as Penny Marshall starring as The Looker (really terrible quality but here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ljinko1KCA&feature=PlayList&p=E750B66F70A0BC37&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=6_). And whenever I heard "The Listener," that's what I think of.

Overall, I'm impressed with the show but we all know that's not the interesting part so here are the problems I have with it:

As much as I love a man in uniform (especially when it's Craig Olejnik), Toby completely oversteps the boundaries of being a paramedic. I'm pretty sure the police would have been much more violent towards him than just the distain Charlie shows towards him. And as a character, he seems kinda one dimensional. I dig the dark, mysterious and brooding man but I find him kinda flat at times. I would just like to see him happy every once and a while.

What I do like? That his best friend Oz is Turkish and his love interest Olivia is Asian. How Canadian. And Toby's apartment. And that in the one shot, you could see the spot where I used to wait for the bus all the time. It was good times. Generally I'm not a fan of cop shows (you notice the lack of Flashpoint and The Border in this blog) but I do like the twist that he is a telepath. That keeps me interested. And how did I get this far without mentioning Colm Feore? I love that man.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Giving Thanks

It seems appropriate that on this Thanksgiving weekend, we take time to appreciate things in our lives. Besides all the family, friends and all that jazz, I think we should all give thanks for local TV. Hopefully by now, you've all seen the commercials for Local TV Matters. These revolve around the fee-for-carriage issue. Now originally, it took me a long time wrap my head around this idea (and I don't really know why, apparently I'm just slow). But essentially, the traditional broadcasters (CBC, CTV, Global) want the cable and satellite companies to have to pay to carry their signal. These companies have to pay to carry American stations like CNN and HBO etc but the traditional Canadian broadcasters don't get anything. And what is the response from the cable companies? "If we have to start paying to carry these signals, we're going to pass the cost onto the customers!"

When I first heard about this issue, I assumed the cable companies would win and the networks would get screwed. But now I'm not thinking it will end like this. This commercial campaign is first of all, going to (hopefully) get the public on their side. Everyone already hates most cable companies already (personally, I'm already not a fan of Rogers...) and the possibility of having to pay more for cable. But the truth is, with all the different local stations that have had to close over this year, I think people are actually paying attention this time around. Especially since even during times of economic crisis, people aren't canceling their cable since that's their escape from the real world. So while the networks growing through a crisis because of the economy and lack of ad revenue (damn you internet!), the cable companies are still in a good place.

What I find most awesome about these commercials? Most people are watching these commercials on their cable! The cable companies have to carry these networks and so in fact, the cable companies have to air these commercials against themselves. Frankly, if I didn't have cable, I wouldn't have seen these commercials at all.

Plus the networks have a catchy song: http://localtvmatters.ca/. What have the cable companies got?

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Who killed JR? (Er, I mean Canadian History)

For this Thanksgiving weekend, since I doubt there is much Canadian programming going on (I have chosen to listen to music and clean instead of watching TV), what is better than to take a look at Canadian history?

I just finished reading J.L. Granatstein's "Who Killed Canadian History?" and it is a really interesting read. For the most part, I find myself agreeing with him though at times, I feel dirty about it since he can go further and ends up sounding like my father or grandfather. Basically, the argument is that Canadian history is not being taught in schools as much as it should be and that when it is taught, it's not done properly. Mostly it's now through the many social, politically correct lens that permate academia. So we don't learn so much about the different battles of WWI but the roles of women and minorities during the war. Who needs to learn about a bunch of old dead white men anyway?

The problem with this? Most of the history is made by old dead white men and it's hard to ignore that. Yes, we need to learn about those who didn't have any power and what they still managed to accomplish that but I don't think we need to throw out all the facts that those old men did too. It needs to be taught in context, to understand why there were no 'mothers' of confederation but still teach who the fathers of confederation were too.

The other really interesting point that he raises and I agree with him on the most part (I'm hesitant with how far he goes with some of the examples sometimes...) is that Canadians have a habit of painting our history with the darkest brush. We never commited any sort of genocide. We didn't start any major wars. We fought when we needed to fight but we didn't go killing sprees all the time. Yes, there are blemishes on our record and these need to taught. But there is no way that the fact that we turned away Jewish immigrants during WWII makes us as bad as the Nazis. We should be proud of our history when compared with those of other nations, instead of trying to bring ourselves down to their levels. It's like being the smartest kid in school but not wanting to draw attention to it so we downplay our marks. That A doesn't really mean anything. Yes, the treatment of the Natives was terrible. But did we try to turn it into a genocide? No (well, not actively anyway. The diseases the Europeans brought weren't exactly a great welcoming present). There just needs to be a better perspective on our history.

I think the best way to put is, in Granatstein's words, we have "a generally usuable past" and we need to utilize it properly.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

TD CBC?

You know, if the CBC wasn't the public broadcaster, I would think it had been bought by TD. Seriously?

(1) As previously mentioned, the whole Little Mosque - TD scene.

(2) TD now sponsors "The World of Good News" for The Hour.

(3) On Being Erica, Judith's husband not only works for TD but had to give a speech with large TD banners behind him. And the large green chair. And the point of the speech? "Promoting diversity in the TD Canada workplace."

...And all of this was just in one week. I mean, I know that neither of the two scripted shows revolved around TD and it would have been easy to slip in references to the bank into the shows. But I find that once shows actually start inserting the names of products in the shows (without the type of ironic self-awareness as in shows like 30 Rock) it becomes too much. It's a dangerous road, CBC. Please be careful.

I really wonder what kind of deal the CBC struck with TD.

Friday, October 9, 2009

The Hour ...

As much as I love George, and I do, don't get me wrong, I don't know how I feel about some of the changes in this new season. I mean, the guests are still top notch but the show is trying some new things and generally, I don't like new things.

First of all, now they tend to show more of the audience or behind the scenes type shots. Which really isn't too bad except when I see the guy telling the audience to clap. That just doesn't seem classy. And they do these different camera angles before he does Mile a Minute which I don't care for. Or the new woman who does the voice-over for the bios. Or the "Tomorrow's Headlines Tonight." I miss when George would end the show with "And that's time." I much preferred that.

But those are all little things that I suppose aren't a big detail. What I dislike is how George now insists on playing games with the guests. I mean, true or false with Drew Barrymore is one thing but I don't really care what type of music Richard Dawkins listens to. For me, I find it takes away from the seriousness of the show. It always had the fun/cool edge but was still a credible show. Now it feels like it's gone down a few pegs.

...excuse me now, I have to go spend some quality time with George.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Cheaters

So last night was the closest I had ever come to cheating since I started this. And why was I so close to cheating? Peer pressure. It's just no good. My friend, Sabrina, had baked an apple crisp and thought it would be nice if she brought it over and we watched America's Next Top Model. Then she remembered. She told me that I could just watch it and not tell anybody. And I was so close to watching it. So close. But then we didn't and instead went on facebook.

But here's the thing, I totally would have confessed that I had cheated. Some people were convinced that I would end up cheating and not tell anyone. But that would ruin the whole integrity of this project. If it gets to the point that I do cheat and watch an American show, I want to know why it was that time and what lured me over to the side of evil. It's all part of the challenge and the experience. So if I cheat, I will let you know. Rest assured.

The moral of this story: Peer Pressure? Just say no.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Way of the Future?

We have all gotten used to product placement in our shows. I mean, in SYTYCD-C, Tylenol sponors the after the dance section, Canon shows the dancers getting ready and somebody else probably does the recap of all the dances. For the most part, it's not something you notice any more. But last night on Little Mosque, I was a little surprised with the TD placement. First you got it in the background of a bunch of shots (and Thorne's car oddly matched the TD colours). Then a scene actually took place inside. Okay, scenes take place in banks all the time but I can't really recall if they ever actually state which bank it is. But here, the teller kindly does her "Welcome to TD, how can I help you?" And then I thought, "Hm, I think TD might be giving the CBC some funding."

Now, I've always been okay with product placement as long as it doesn't play an active role in the show (unless it's like in Josie and the Pussycats where it almost becomes another character). I mean, the money for these shows has to come from somewhere so if there occassionally has to be Snapples in the shot, I can deal. Of course there is an intersection of art and business, the problem becomes when you notice the business more than the art. But it's a fine line when it becomes distracting. Little Mosque was walking the line because I think anything more would have been too much.

But am I more likely to go to TD now??? Not really. I hate their commercials with the old men.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Battle of the Blades

One of the reasons I was looking forward to this show so much was because you can see how it probably came into being:

"Hm, I think we should do a Canadian Dancing with the Stars."
"But Canada doesn't have any stars (especially b-list stars)."
"What do we have?"
"Hockey players."
"I know! It'll be Dancing with the Stars...on ice!"

Overall, I enjoyed it though. I do enjoy figure skating and am glad to see Kurt Browning again. What I noticed and expected though, is that it is mostly the women skating around the men who occasionally throw them in the air. But I know that as they improve, the performances will get a lot better. And I'm looking forward to it.

The one thing I notice though, that makes me smile is that when the men make a mistake, they all shrug their shoulders and shake their heads. It's just such a change from professional skaters where they just keep on going without even a facial expression. It does draw a lot more attention to it even though I know I would probably do the same thing. And the men are so out of breathe when they finish.

The part that made me a little was the technical errors that kept occurring. The judges' monitors weren't working (which I thought worked out better since they had to say their scores aloud which I liked). Kurt messed up at one point. But it all just made it fall into the Canadian stereotype of poor production quality. At least there was no boom mikes.

(sidenote that probably only my family will appreciate: While I was watching it, the hockey players kept having problems with the toe picks. And I thought to myself: "Toe picks? This all sounds vaguely familiar. OH MY GOD! It's the Cutting Edge!" And then suddenly I enjoyed the show so much more).

Sunday, October 4, 2009

2 Boos and 1 Yay

Boos:

(1) I was quite mistaken that DG would be posted on Space. At least not yet anyways. I'll check back in a few days but for now there are just episode previews posted. This makes me more sad since I dislike leaving things incomplete.

(2) I tried to be all cool and watch some of the Battle of the Blades stuff online since I thought it would be funny. But for some reason, all the clips are skipping and stuff which makes them unwatchable. This makes me sad.

Yay:

(1) Battle of the Blades start tonight. Since I saw Domi and Probert on The Hour, I'm all excited. As a former figure skating star, I've been looking forward to this for a while. I'll let you know how it goes.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

The Mysterious Disappearance of Defying Gravity

Last week (I believe, as I have permanently lost all track of time), Defying Gravity was not on. Originally it had started on Sunday nights and then was moved to Fridays. Then instead of DG, Flashpoint premiered. I thought, okay, where are they going to shove DG now? And why does everyone (meaning CTV and Global) shove the Canadian shows to Friday and Saturday nights when everybody with lives are out doing other things? Anyway, I looked around for it and realized it wasn't there. So I checked the next week. Not there either. I then had to go to wikipedia in order to find out what happened to it (I know that I really need to stop getting all my information from wikipedia but it's just so handy!).

So here's the deal: Apparently now the rest of the shows (episodes 10-13) are only being aired on Space. Which means that both CTV and ABC have dropped the show from their line-ups. This is a similar story to The Listener which NBC pulled mid-season due to low ratings. What a sad day for co-pros. After all the hope and optimism of Flashpoint, we all believed in a new era. I just hope that Americans don't give up on Canadian TV after this. Especially since Canadians have given up on so long ago.

The only silver lining in all this is that Space will be posting the remaining episodes of DG online so I can actually watch them. Even though I didn't care for the show, I still need to know what happens!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Shows I wish I were watching

When I started going through the schedules to find shows to watch, I found a whole bunch that I really wished I could watch. And the worst part is, that most of them have a Canadian connection which make them so close to being watchable! Here are the top of the list:

(1) Flash Forward: A mysterious global event causes everyone on the planet to simultaneously lose consciousness for 2 minutes and 17 seconds (137 seconds), during which people worldwide see what may be visions of their lives approximately six months in the future, April 29, 2010. The event results in deaths from accidents and leaves the survivors wondering whether what they saw will happen. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlashForward_(2009_TV_series)
-It's based on a Canadian novel and stars Joseph Fiennes. That's pretty much all I needed to know to start with but it just sounds so fascinating.

(2) Eastwick: The show follows the lives of three strangers, Roxanne, Joanna and Kat, who meet at a wishing fountain and soon become friends. A mysterious man named Darryl Van Horne has moved to Eastwick and has sinister plans for the women, but befriends them. Even more dangerous, he unleashes their supernatural powers. By igniting their hearts' desires, he might just be opening Pandora's box. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastwick_(TV_series).
-And who plays that mysterious man??? None other than Mr. Paul Gross. Despite never having been interested in the book or the movie, having Mr. Gross involved definitely piqued my interest in the show.

(3) Glee: Really, it looks like a TV version of High School Musical. That's all I needed. I think everybody needs a little more HSM and even better if it's in a weekly dose! Though when I put it in perspective, watching a bunch of teenagers sing isn't exactly what I would call a good time. But then again, for a while I was watching HSM 3 once a week. Sometimes I question my own judgement.

And of course, there is the old favourite America's Next Top Model. I just got addicted to it last year. It's a shame to have to say good-bye so soon. At least I had Canada's Next Top Model throughout the summer.

But please, if you watch any of these shows. Let me know how they are. My fingers are crossed that they are terrible so I'm not missing anything.

Just think of how nice Thursday would have been with Flash Foward and Grey's...sigh.