What?  CBC is going to air Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune?  How lame is that.

Now I’ve enjoyed both shows on occasion but is CBC really that idea deprived that their just going to buy American game shows now?  I mean, sure they have Canadian hosts (if you still count as Canadian after 30 years or so in America) and they are the aristocracy of game show hosts (though Bob Barker still is king!) but it just sticks in my throat for some reason.

The shows can’t be cheap either, they are well established with decided followings, hell, they are television institutions, so we somehow have the money to buy game shows from down south but we had to drop our hockey night theme song.

Or maybe they are a deal, but couldn’t we at least use that money to make something Canadian?  Something is seriously wrong with our cultural system if we cannot create broadcast alternatives to Jeopardy or wheel of fortune. CBC is doing shithole work lately, all its slick, obviously well budgeted projects are flopping like fish in a boat waiting to get their heads bashed in.  Canada should not be doing slick, or big budget, or any of that shit.

Look to the golden age of Canadian television, in the 70’s and into the early 80’s Canada made some intriguing television.  It was all cheap and quick and much of it was amaturish but it had heart and charm and by trying lots of new and different and questionable things we were able to form an identitity and to let Canadians of all stripes give it a go.

Now the only people with access to broadcast television are rich hack fucks who go through the expensive and bland indoctrination factory process of TV/film school. Sure they make it slick and glossy but shit is shit even if it has a sheen to it.  Just look at jpod, mvp, that show about that woman who’s name I can’t remember but her name is the title of the series.  They all sure look professional but remain unwatchable.

Good television is not about production value, its about creativity, about engaging an audience.  In many ways budgets are a hinderance.  Make shift solutions and inginuity in the face of limitations are where creativity, and Canadians in particular, shine.  Do you think Beach Combers had a factory made commitee create it? No, it was probably just a bunch of people who had some boats, a diner, a greek guy and a desire to make some TV.

SCTV is infamous for not only working around tight budgets but working it into their show and making it their strength. Do you think SCTV would have been made if they had a budget? No way, it was to risky and to advanced.  (look at the fate of Police Squad, where it was canceled half way through the first season because TV execs said it was “too smart for audiences”)  For as the few contemporary example, watch Trailer Park Boys, and Kenny Vs. Spenny.

Accessible, low budget television may make some awful (yet historically hilarious) shows but it also makes unique and groundbreaking stuff.  But we don’t get that anymore. Instead we get hipster diarhea with a bow on it, and when we don’t want to swallow that we get a couple American game shows to make it all better.

Lame.