Last time I checked I did not care what was on CBC TV. Not because it is a hot bed of socialism, as some famous bores might go one about, but because it is simply pretty bad. That being said, I am almost moved by this stunned decision:
CBC programming executives scrambled to do damage control yesterday in the wake of a firestorm that erupted after fans of The National learned that the flagship newscast would be bumped eight nights this summer for an American Idol knockoff reality show. After announcing The National’s schedule shift yesterday, The Globe and Mail received 50 e-mail messages from readers enraged that the Peter Mansbridge-led news hour would be pushed back to 11 p.m. on Tuesdays, starting July 18 and ending the first week of September. The program, The One: Making a Music Star, is based on an international format that has been a hit in several territories around the world…
Why so stunned? Why run a show that is available on another channel? Even if it isn’t why run one that is at least fourth in line for the summer reality show market? The dumbest and therefore best of the summer talent shows is the new America Has Talent which brings David Hasselhoff back to North America after three decades thrilling central Europe in a format which is basically The Gong Show. Canadian hearts and minds are already caught up by Canadian Idol and the issue of what new goofball shirt Ben Mulroney will wear this time. The best of the best has surprisingly shown itself to be So You Think You Can Dance in which people with actual artisitic skill display their actual artistic skills. I know it is proof that I am entering the years of my dotage that I like the show and think, short of sports, it is the best thing on TV. But it is. So there.
That all being the case, why is the CBC buying a likely dud and disrupting its base in the blue rinse and corduroy vest crowds…does anyone else watch CBC TV?…oh, yes…the members of the Canadian Senate.