Canadian TV
I'd never spent much time watching TV over the last several years, and as programming trends increased toward reality shows, makeover programs of one sort or another (whether they be faces, homes, motorcycles, or whatever), and bad teen dramas, my desire to turn the TV on steadily decreased.
Canadian television is a whole new creature, though.
First of all, the availability of US shows here is selective, and sort of interesting. Since airtime is split between Canadian and US programs, the number of US shows is greatly reduced, and criteria which determine which programs which make the cut, though kind of hard to nail down exactly, at least meet with my approval. US shows which are easy to catch on TV include The Simpsons, That 70's Show, Law and Order, King of the Hill, Friends, and Sex in the City. Not too bad.
Not to mention, there are around five different public television stations, in addition to Discovery, TLC, and History, so there's more Nova and other documentaries than I could ever get enough of.
On the other side of things, there's Canadian TV. As I understand it, there are actually a number of laws in effect which dictate how much of local programming must be Canadian, and also which influence the Canadian content of those shows. The resulting broadcasts make for some pretty fresh viewing for a bored American tired of the TV where he came from.
Most of the Canadian shows aren't particularly noteworthy in themselves, aside from just being different (there are lots more crime dramas and shows about sex toys). There are a couple of stand-outs, though.
My favorite so far is an animated show called Chilly Beach. I can't tell if it's an outright copy of South Park or if it just shares some of the same general aspects, but it's a quirky little show about two slacker hockey player guys in the rural town of Chilly Beach. The series includes lots of commentary on current events and politics as a large part of its humor, and then, when you add that it's from a Canadian point of view, and often poking fun of Americans, it can be really amusing.
On tonight's show, for example, the dim-witted US President had been trying to boost his popularity by staging a fake mission to Pluto. To carry it out, he'd condoned a task force sent into Canada which ended up abducting one of the lead characters, who was then unwillingly cast as a Plutonian alien (apparently his goalie mask made him look scary) and was filmed frolicking about in the frozen wastelands outside his hometown. Several days later, when our hero caught onto the plot and finally escaped, we find that the President had given up on the Pluto plan, anyway, and was now focusing on a public identity makeover as a cowboy-boot-wearing slow-talking Texan, to the great dismay of the Pluto mission coordinator the Assistant Deputy to the American Ambassador in Canada, but who has career aspirations to the Pentagon), who was astounded that the dumb-Texan ploy actually worked far better than the Pluto mission for the President's ratings in the polls, making his re-election almost certain.
There were also lots of subtle bits when the US Federal Agents kept forgetting that they were out of their jurisdiction in Canada, but then acting as they would have anyway, along with the Pluto mission coordinator threating to take away the Canadian villagers' civil rights if they didn't comply with the "voluntary" searches she needed the agents to carry out.
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but it was good stuff. There are several "webisodes" on the website, so you should check them out. (How can you not watch an episode called "Poutine on the Ritz?" Come on.)
Anyway, looks like I have something to set my VCR for.
Canadian television is a whole new creature, though.
First of all, the availability of US shows here is selective, and sort of interesting. Since airtime is split between Canadian and US programs, the number of US shows is greatly reduced, and criteria which determine which programs which make the cut, though kind of hard to nail down exactly, at least meet with my approval. US shows which are easy to catch on TV include The Simpsons, That 70's Show, Law and Order, King of the Hill, Friends, and Sex in the City. Not too bad.
Not to mention, there are around five different public television stations, in addition to Discovery, TLC, and History, so there's more Nova and other documentaries than I could ever get enough of.
On the other side of things, there's Canadian TV. As I understand it, there are actually a number of laws in effect which dictate how much of local programming must be Canadian, and also which influence the Canadian content of those shows. The resulting broadcasts make for some pretty fresh viewing for a bored American tired of the TV where he came from.
Most of the Canadian shows aren't particularly noteworthy in themselves, aside from just being different (there are lots more crime dramas and shows about sex toys). There are a couple of stand-outs, though.
My favorite so far is an animated show called Chilly Beach. I can't tell if it's an outright copy of South Park or if it just shares some of the same general aspects, but it's a quirky little show about two slacker hockey player guys in the rural town of Chilly Beach. The series includes lots of commentary on current events and politics as a large part of its humor, and then, when you add that it's from a Canadian point of view, and often poking fun of Americans, it can be really amusing.
On tonight's show, for example, the dim-witted US President had been trying to boost his popularity by staging a fake mission to Pluto. To carry it out, he'd condoned a task force sent into Canada which ended up abducting one of the lead characters, who was then unwillingly cast as a Plutonian alien (apparently his goalie mask made him look scary) and was filmed frolicking about in the frozen wastelands outside his hometown. Several days later, when our hero caught onto the plot and finally escaped, we find that the President had given up on the Pluto plan, anyway, and was now focusing on a public identity makeover as a cowboy-boot-wearing slow-talking Texan, to the great dismay of the Pluto mission coordinator the Assistant Deputy to the American Ambassador in Canada, but who has career aspirations to the Pentagon), who was astounded that the dumb-Texan ploy actually worked far better than the Pluto mission for the President's ratings in the polls, making his re-election almost certain.
There were also lots of subtle bits when the US Federal Agents kept forgetting that they were out of their jurisdiction in Canada, but then acting as they would have anyway, along with the Pluto mission coordinator threating to take away the Canadian villagers' civil rights if they didn't comply with the "voluntary" searches she needed the agents to carry out.
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but it was good stuff. There are several "webisodes" on the website, so you should check them out. (How can you not watch an episode called "Poutine on the Ritz?" Come on.)
Anyway, looks like I have something to set my VCR for.