commanderkai wrote:
You are right, it doesn't matter who shows Mr. Dressup.
It doesn't. It's just that neither CTV nor CanWest do it. Why's that?
commanderkai wrote:
If Global, CTV or the Cartoon Channel had a history of showing Canadian-made shows like Mr. Dressup, then CBC wouldn't have a leg to stand on. However, as most channels on the dial here spend an inordinate amount of time showing re-runs of Simpsons, Friends, CSI and reality TV like Survivor and/or Big Brother, the CBC is actually needed to show such "bullshit multi-cultural" efforts as Anne of Green Gables, Road to Avonlea, The Arrow, and Canada Russia 1972. I personally don't remember any of the other networks even trying to make things like that.
However, the privates never will for the simple reason that the bottom line is the only thing that matters. Ergo, if their cost to fill an hour is a tenth of what it would have otherwise cost them to produce the same in-house, then the shareholders rule even though it isn't in the best interests of the country as a whole. This is the shortcoming of looking only to the free market when justifying an argument.
commanderkai wrote:
In some ways, CBC has drifted from its role as a producer and exhibitor of Canadian TV and films, but it still does a far better job than any other Canadian network does of showing Canadian product. Most of that drift is an attempt to maintain viewership in a time when a lot of Canadians are watching more and more Hollywood TV/movies.
And it's kind of aggravating when the populace outside la belle province looks first to the States before it'll allow itself to look to its own in terms of what it'll qualify as worthy. Honestly, we have to get over that. We have many many talented people in this country. But it isn't until they have the U.S. (and I refuse to use "American" as shorthand that way) stamp of approval that we turn around and give them the acknowledgement they deserve. With the whole C-10 battle, it's astounded me the number of people who naysay the likes of Sarah Polley who've stayed mostly in-country in making their way while bowing down before Mike Myers and Jim Carrey once they've got that approbation from Hollywood. What the Hell is wrong with our collective values?
commanderkai wrote:
So then why should the Canadian Broadcasting Company (Or is it Corporation, eh no big deal)
Corporation
commanderkai wrote:
have a monopoly on things that isn't JUST Canadian...like Hockey Night in Canada and the Olympics? Why should the CBC have the full weight of the Canadian coffers and taxpayers' money to bid for these profitable programming like that?
'Cuz.......wait for it.......they actually create and broadcast things CANADIAN!!!!!! Absent CRTC expectation, do you really think CTV or CanWest would broadcast anything Canadian? Being a nationalist means that you aren't looking for the cheapest way to fulfill your responsibilities. Being a smallish (population-wise country next to a media powerhouse) isn't easy. However, we have to take an honest look at what it costs to be Canadian. If it's just dollars that justifies whether we stay ourselves or allow ourselves to give into that great sucking sound south of the border, then we've lost the necessary perspective already. If, however, there's something more at play, then aren't we doing ourselves a disservice by reducing the discussion to a simplistic argument?
commanderkai wrote:
Sure, the CBC shows Canadian-made programming, but Canadians aren't WATCHING it.
They're watching it alright. It just becomes an argument if cost per eyeball to justify it. CTV and CanWest ride the coattails of the media south of the border and promote the Hell out of what they air. However, how well does it reflect our reality? It covers a general position but its perspective is Yank through-and-through.
commanderkai wrote:
Isn't that the problem? Sure, American television is full of crap, like reality television...but if that's what Canadians want, why should the government legislate to CTV and Global saying that they must play x amount of Canadian content or we'll fine you? Why should we pay for something we honestly don't want? OOOH because its makes us different from the United States?
Well here's a suggestion: if CTV and CanWest want to retain their licenses in Canada, why's it such a big deal that they reflect Canadian values if they're using Canadian broadcast airwaves? Sure, they won't be making quite as much money as they are now but they'd be making money on something they'd own. Or does the argument really degenerate into 'we should've joined the States back in the day'? Because that's functionally what you're advocating.
commanderkai wrote:
If the CBC wants to make Canadian content television...then let them, but not on taxpayers money. Why should I, or my family, or anyone else for that matter, watch something not many of us are even watching?
Then what is it that you and your family feel makes you Canadians? Why haven't you moved south of the border? What's keeping you here?
commanderkai wrote:
The last CBC documentary I watched was the TV version of "Canada: A People's History" but I got the books first. If the CBC wanted a grant from the government, or a subsidy...then sure, but it should be accountable. They can't just release movies and television that people are not watching.
And yet again the repetition of the Big Lie. People are watching alright but because more people tune into American Idol, in your opinion we should just give up now. Pardon me if I choose to disagree.
commanderkai wrote:
I'm sorry you don't like CTV and Global for doing what Canadians want, and then making money off of it. So if CTV and Global know what Canadians want to watch...why should we keep a government funded station releasing shows and movies that Canadian don't want?
Canadians (like Americans) are being conditioned to accept what's available as shorthand for "what they want'. This is why more and more and tuning out and looking to other media to find what satisfies them. Hence this argument. Why should I accept a network of stations showing mostly what doesn't reflect my national reality while attempting to half-heartedly wrap themselves in the flag and have justifiers like yourself argue their case?
If it's really such an encumbrance to broadcast in Canada, turn in your license; honest to God, nobody could think less of you for it. Of course, I'm sure you won't be surprised that the Lennies and the Jims of this nation don't choose that route.
I wonder why.
