Players without a program

As some commenters are lamenting elsewhere, yes, yes, it's true. Last week, CBC-TV cancelled two of its best-reviewed - and award-winning - dramas, This is Wonderland and Da Vinci's City Hall. Despite their outstanding scripts and performances, ratings were hovering just under the 400,000 mark. Not good enough, it would appear.

"CBC management is punishing these shows for a decline in ratings — a decline clearly brought on by its own brutal decision to lock out 5,000 professional workers last fall," Stephen Waddell, executive director of the 21,000-member Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, said in a statement.

ACTRA condemned the cancellations as "a startling display of incompetence by irresponsible CBC brass."

<SNIP>

(CBC spokesperson Ruth-Ellen Soles) says the numbers decline had started well before that (the lockout).

"These are three programs that CBC believed in and attached significant resources to," she said. "Unfortunately the audiences for all three have been in steady decline and did not resonate with Canadians. These decisions are always difficult, but they had to be made.

(Also chopped was The Tournament, a program I never saw so I can't comment on its merits.)

The Toronto Sun's Bill Brioux doesn't buy the lockout argument.

The fact is, even before the CBC's arrogant summer screw-up, these shows were iffy at best. Da Vinci creator Chris Haddock told Sun Media Monday that bringing the seven-year-old series back last fall was "a battle" and that the character switch from coroner to mayor was a last-ditch effort to save the series.

And Soles told me:

These are three programs that CBC believed in and attached significant resources to.  Unfortunately, the audiences for all three have been in steady decline and did not resonate with Canadians.  These decision are always difficult but they had to be made.

Ironically, CBC is screwing with a loyal audience base because the ratings are not good enough, while boasting that it's doing great things with its numbers.

Here's why I say that:

The other day, in an internal memo to the walking wounded, CBC-TV exec vice president Richard Stursberg announced the promotion of strategy and planning director Christine Wilson to deputy program director. This came on the heels of the recent appointment of Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting lifestyle programming exec Kirstine Layfield (HGTV, Food etc.) to the top programming job at the network.

Anyway, after a lot of gobbledy gook about Wilson's successes with the ''PARC system, the Program Planner, the Public Value panels, the FIATS survey, and the new Audience Segmentation approach," Stursberg goes on to say:

Together, Kirstine and Christine will be taking on the challenge of providing Canadians with even more programs that they value and watch.

And they will do this how? By using the ''PARC system, the Program Planner, the Public Value panels, the FIATS survey, and the new Audience Segmentation approach?"

They'll be calling on all of us, on the tools we have already developed with Christine's help, and on new approaches that Kirstine will bring with her, to ensure we remain a relevant, vibrant and growing service 

So ''relevant, vibrant and growing'' that the service's two best drama series are toast? Yup.

What's more, programs will be picked with tools.

Stursberg's memo continues:

These two appointments bring the best of the outside and the inside to bear on what CBC Television is all about: programming.

Funny, because, until that paragraph, I was beginning to think it was really all about the ''PARC system, the Program Planner, the Public Value panels, the FIATS survey, and the new Audience Segmentation approach."

Somebody should tell Mr. Stursberg that programming is an art, not a statistics course.

By the way, veteran CBC programmer Deborah Bernstein has left, barely six months after top scheduler Slawko Klymkiw quit.

Bernstein, a 20-year veteran at the Ceeb, will be leaving her longtime post as executive director of arts and entertainment on Friday, March 3.

Memorable programming created under her watch includes: Road to Avonlea; North of 60; Da Vinci's Inquest; The Newsroom; Trudeau I and II; the Opening Night arts strand; The Rick Mercer Report; Human Cargo; Shattered City; and Sex Traffic.

No word has been released about Bernstein’s plans, although Marcela Kadanka will step in for the short term as acting executive director of arts and entertainment in her absence.

I will have much more to say about these moves in the near future, but for now I will leave you with a ''scoop'' on what next fall's schedule will contain:

Da Vinci's Garden, a dark show about a brooding network executive who likes to plant dead bodies.

This is Foodland, a sitcom about a  cooking show starring a controlling, number-crunching chef.

Sturs, a reality show about a cable lobbyist and bureaucrat who knows nothing about programming but does it anyway.

Back to Brioux:

The solution for CBC? Get back in the program business - fast. More than ever, content is king. Having property is no good if you don't have properties. Show us the shows before you show us the money. And - what the hell - make them smart shows. Might as well go down swinging.

Hat tip and hugs to Sid Adilman.

Comments

[Shelly]

'The Tournament' was a two-season series set in a town called Briarside, centred on a pee-wee hockey team and the parents and family members of its players. It was shown kind of like 'Trailer Park Boys' in the early years--like a mockumentary. I liked it, personally; but I think by the end of this past season, it'd come, pretty much, full circle.

The only cancellation I'm royally pissed off about is 'This Is Wonderland'. It's probably the best dramatic series I've seen in quite a while. Tsk, tsk to the Ceeb for making that decision. But then, it was poorly promoted, too; its more recent 30-second promos for it were quite lacklustre, IMO. So for them to say they poured a lot into it? I have to call bullshit on that. *nod*

Sigh.

[Bill-Muskoka]

Stursberg is 'two fundemental clicks short of a clue!' (Mary Walsh THH22M quote)

Look at the highest quality programs ever produced by Deborah Bernstein:

"Road to Avonlea; North of 60; Da Vinci's Inquest; The Newsroom; Trudeau I and II; the Opening Night arts strand; The Rick Mercer Report; Human Cargo; Shattered City; and Sex Traffic."

CBC has cast-off, and it seems to be a concerted trend, programs that portray real life. Are they afraid that people will leave their delusional world of 'Survivor' and 'Idol' mania, and having seen real life protrayed, start demanding the government deal with the social and judicial inequities? I think so!

'This Is Wonderland' turns the underbelly of reallife courts up for view. People will quietly spend billions of taxpayer dollars fighting crime and demanding justice. Few have any clue what things are really like. They think crime and our legal system is like 'Law & Order','CSI: whatever', etc.. People need to go sit in the court rooms and observe what goes on. There are some really troubled people in there.

'CSI' has made a real difference in the quality of work law enforcement has to do. No longer are juries willing to swallow bad evidence. they are demanding good forensic proof. So much so it is injuring the legal profession by forcing them to do the job right.

'This Is Wonderland' strips the lawyers of their sacred robes and shows them for what they truly are...vulnerable human beings. They are subject to the same psychological impairments as average people are. So are the judges, and all their support staff.

What does it mean? When the masses become aware of reality, especially the realities of society, they get off their well trained judgmental horse, and start seing how truly complex life is. That brings real change that creates progress away from things like the U.S. system of 'blind justice' (more like brainless judementalism), and brings actual treatment for so many suffering, not from being criminals, but in need of counseling. Then we can separate the truly criminal from the mentally dysfunctional.

That tends to knock the wind out of the sails of the Law & Order crowd politicians. They have to face the fact that their so-called social programs are failures, and therefore, so are they!

Follow the money on this issue. The CBC is being played politically.

Oh, and those ratings: What a total crock of crap they are. How are they measured? By cable viewers? Maybe by phone calls that interrupt people's evenings? Statistically?

Most people have satellite now and there is no way to garner those numbers unless its a Pay Per View program. Same goes for the old analogue air broadcast programs.

If TV degenerates anymore to such dribble as 'Survivor" (Hey, put them on Baffin Island for a month with only a box of matches and a knife. Give them a camera and come back a month later to gather up the remains), then CBC will see numbers lowered to ZERO!

The sports programming is watched by maybe 25% of the population, especially hockey. Most simply do not care.

Who was it that called TV a vast wasteland? Hey, there is a show Stursnerg and his sweeties can produce 'This Is Wasteland', just insert any dribble into the Wednesday night time slot.

Good grief. We need to purge Stursberg and his entourage of wackos. Write your MP. remember, CBC is OUR network, a Crown Corporation, and owned by Canadians, not Stursberg and friends. Parliament still funds them with our money! Cancel them, eh!

[PhantomObserver]

My own feeling: CBC English TV should get out of dramatic production altogether.

What do they do well? Sports. Comedy. Documentaries. Broadcast news, not so well, but at least it's still respectable.

Drama? Hmph.

When it comes to drama, let them buy shows from the Canadian private sector, or the NFB.

[Antonia]

Actually Phantom, look at the shows, drama and entertainment (eg. This Hour Has 22 Minutes). They ARE produced by the private sector, in association with CBC. It's the same deal at CTV.

Scroll to the bottom of this page, for example.
http://www.cornergas.com/about/
and then compare it with this:
http://www.thisiswonderland.com/abouttheshow.php

[Bill-Muskoka]

PhantomObserver,

"When it comes to drama, let them buy shows from the Canadian private sector, or the NFB."

They do actually. 'This Is Wonderland' is produced 'for' the CBC by Indian Grove Productions and Muse Entertainment Enterprises. 'RCAF', 'THH22M', The 'RMR', etc., are also privately produced. They may use the CBC studios, but they are, as best I can recall, private production companies, i.e., Salter Street for example, not 'by' the CBC.

The NFB funds many projects (and has the massive paperwork to prove it). Many Indies rely on that funding to perform their work.

The alternative would be allowing more U.S. based corporate goons to control Canadian programming.

Now, a question, why only the English CBC? Should they be producing the Francois programming?

[Shwacore]

I agree with Bill-Muskoka on this. It's time for people who truly believe in Canadian TV to take over at the CBC. But the single worst offender in the 'terrible TV shows that receive public money' sweepstakes has to be Popcultured on CTV/Comedy Network. I understand that some people dislike the idea of 'public' anything because they don't want to fund things they don't like or agree with, but how on earth can anyone justify that horrific train-wreck of a 'Daily Show meets Entertainment Tonight' ripoff getting public funds? If CTV needs a clever way to PROMOTE its American pop culture garbage they should have to do it on their own dime. The show is completely awful. I can't even laugh about how bad it is. And worst of all, it's supposed to make fun of celebrity and pop culture but does the exact opposite. It's a shallow attempt by CTV to create Can-Con and market it's American pop-garbage all at the same time. I'm beginning to honestly consider throwing out my TV. Any good shows come out on DVD and are on the internet anyways. Like Real Time with Bill Maher. I can't believe nobody has picked that up in Canada. It's the Daily Show on steroids.

[arthurdecco]

"Drama? Hmph." posted by PhantomObserver

Insightful, PO. Penetrating. (rolls eyes)

I don't watch much television because most of it isn't very good. I have been watching 'This is Wonderland' because it is. Very good.

This is the kind of show that the CBC should be aggressively promoting and programming - not canceling. Leave the mindless pap and drivel to the private networks. Create shows for people capable of holding on to the subtleties of plot for more than a few minutes at a time. Shouldn't that be the mandate of a publicly-funded broadcaster - to engage the minds of their viewers rather than pandering to the lowest common denominator like everyone else in the MSM?

Personally, I'm not interested in the CBC emulating CITY TV or Global. It doesn't always have to be about money. I'm sure there are many Canadians who would agree with me on that point if the question was worded fairly.

Stursberg, and those who share his ideology, should be fired before they can do any more damage to this once proud organization that used to celebrate what it was to be Canadian for all of us - not just the cognitively challenged living amongst us.

[PhantomObserver]

"Shouldn't that be the mandate of a publicly-funded broadcaster - to engage the minds of their viewers rather than pandering to the lowest common denominator like everyone else in the MSM?"

No. The mandate of a publicly-funded broadcaster is to showcase the audiovisual talents of Canada -- to tell Canadian's stories to Canadians, as it were.

It can do that with news and documentary programming. It can do that with sports programming. It can do that with comedy and music programming.

It has not yet been able to do that with dramatic programming -- not in a long while.

If CBC is serious about wanting to improve its drama selections, then it should try to persuade Paul Haggis or David Croenenberg or Guy Gabriel Kay or maybe even someone like Stuart Maclean to accept a vice-presidency in programming. Someone who knows how to tell a story that people will want to hear.

[Bill-Muskoka]

PO,

Listen carefully...please I HATE PRO SPORTS PROGRAMMING! I also DO NOT WANT TO PAY FOR SO-CALLED COMEDY PROGRAMMING THAT FEATURES FOUL MOUTHED YANKS!

Now, having expressed my opinion, try to grasp that CBC DOES NOT produce drama, it is done by private studios for CBC!

Those who want sports garbage should have to PAY FOR IT, as on TSN. It is of no public interest, and the pro teams make enough already.

Drama illustrates how people REALLY live their lives, which is in the PUBLIC INTEREST!

So, there, have a great day, but PLEASE forget the idiotic sports programming obligation. Olympics, and curling yes. They are boith way underfunded. NHL, NFL, NBA, baseball, all can be pay for view. They are FOR PROFIT businesses, and the taxpayers should not have to fund the air time.

[Pat Anderson]

If Kirstine Layfield is the person at HGTV who chose to move all of the gardening shows to between 6am and 7:30am (no repeats at any other time of day) and replaced informative shows with stupid junk competitions, I'm not thinking it will be good things that she does for the CBC.. Is it foul to wish poison ivy on someone?

[Edward Stun]

I didn't even know there was a program called "This is Wonderland". Goes to show how out of the loop I am, I suppose.

[Dwight Williams]

Okay, cards on the table: I'm a fan of Da Vinci and Wonderland. I disagree completely with the logic of the cancel decision re: these two series. I want to see it reversed, post-haste.

These two shows are worth a share of my tax dollars.

Okay?

[Dwight Williams]

Phantom: If we're going to get CBC seriously into Speculative Fiction (preferably in addition to reversing the Wonderland and Da Vinci decisions), then we need to get Robert J. Sawyer. He'll rally the rest of the spec-fic gang(some of whom you've named above) around the cause, once he's assured of his own room to maneuver. It's not as if he hasn't done work for the Corporation before, thankfully...

[Andrew Kerr]

For those of you who are as annoyed as I am about the cancellation of Da Vinci's City Hall, sign my online petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/davinci2/petition.html

You never know - maybe they'll listen to us.

[Shelly]

Let's break down the top-quality shows of the Bernstein era...

Road to Avonlea ~ co-pro of Sullivan Entertainment by way of CBC, and the Disney Channel (US). Aired for seven seasons (it was NOT cancelled; its own producer pulled the plug), won seventeen Gemini awards out of well over fifty nominations, and was the highest rated Canadian series of all time before Canadian Idol came along and is still Disney's all-time highest-rated series. (It may still be the highest-rated Canadian dramatic series ever.) Did I mention it still has a faithful following ten years after its end? Aired 1990-96, with one MOW in 1998.

North of 60 ~ Produced by (IIRC) Alliance Atlantis (or, at least, its follow-up TV movies were), ran for six seasons (5x16 episode seasons; the last one contained thirteen eps) and came out with four MOW (IIRC). Had a big audience. Aired 1992-98, with MOW in 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2004 (IIRC).

Da Vinci's Inquest ~ Ran for six seasons before becoming City Hall, produced by Barna-Alper (?) and Haddock Entertainment. Won the Gemini for Best Dramatic series for, what, three years in a row? And has a slew of others to its credit. It's now being aired in syndication in the US (I don't know how well it's doing, though). Aired 1998-2005 if you don't count City Hall.

The Newsroom ~ Three inconsecutive seasons with critical acclaim. I'll have to look up who produced them. Aired 199_ (can't remember the year), 2003, and 2004.

Trudeau I and II ~ The first one had gigantic ratings and was nominated for a slew of Geminis (IMO, Colm Feore got screwed!). The second one, IIRC, still did respectably well, even though it aired almost directly after the most recent lockout ended. Again, I'll have to look up the production company. First one aired in 2002/03, second one in 2005.

the Opening Night arts strand ~ Bits that have been shown on here (e.g., Kirsten Thomson's I, Claudia) have been well-received in more ways than one. Aired all through this decade.

The Rick Mercer Report ~ From the same outfit who brings CBC viewers 22 Minutes every week, IIRC. 2004-present.

Human Cargo ~ Seventeen Gemini nominations, very well-received. Aired 2004.

Shattered City ~ An average of 1.5 million viewers tuned in for both parts of this. 12 Gemini nominations. Muse had a hand in this. Aired 2003.

Sex Traffic ~ Well-received. It aired in the UK, I think, before it aired in Canada. Well-received. Aired 2005 (Canada).

And one of the cancelled shows...

This Is Wonderland ~ Muse Entertainment and Indian Grove Productions. Approximately 30 Gemini nominations (three wins--all won last year). Well-reviewed; and, IMO, is exactly what the Ceeb seems to be seeking out: stuff that comes from life. Creator/EP George F. Walker--one of Canada's most respected playwrights--spent lots of time at Toronto's Old City Hall researching for this series. www.thisiswonderland.com. Aired 2004-present.

So don't sit there and say that the Ceeb has produced shit for drama when there's plenty of evidence that goes against that claim. And don't say it hasn't done it in a while when--as it turns out--most of the aforementioned shows/miniseries (one of which is a comedy) have aired within the last ten years. And if I were to name ten of my favourite all-time series (comedy or drama), the vast majority of them would come from CBC (five of which--RTA, Nof60, DI, RMR, and TIW--were already mentioned).

I do have to challenge Bill's idea that the CBC should scrap HNIC: Last I checked, it still got the network its highest ratings. I think taking that off would be tantamount to them scrapping, say, Coronation Street. Oh, and I think you meant CFL instead of NFL.

[Bill-Muskoka]

Shelly,

Thanks. That proves many points about the high quality of CBC's dramatic endeavours.

Now, about HNIC. How about a half hour show with Ron & Don, and that is it? How much gabomania is really needed?

If their contract demands more air time, then let's get them a nice glass desk (Maybe Rick Mercer will lend them his RMR set at CBC T.O., eh), and they can interview people only they can truly handle like Bill O'Reilly, Ann COulter, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson. Imagine. Heck, even I might watch that just for the fun of it!

No, I meant the NFL. The CFL is far, far away financially from the NFL.

Coronation Street...take that off and I will jump for joy, but my wife and her best friend will kill me! LMAO! What a bunch of dysfunctional people that cast is. But, then I can sit and work on the computer for two hours every Sunday morning while the CS cast screams at each other over the same thing they did last Sunday!

Now, how about bringing back the Monty Python shows? There was classic, and hilarious BBC comedy. Fawlty Towers as well.

Benny Hill was hilarious as well...brainless, yes, but hilarious!

[Bill-Muskoka]

Shelly,

I will correct the prior post in that it is the CFL on CBC. I watch neither so, to me its just another time slot with a green background on my satellite system. LOL

I still think all pro sports should be on TSN, or another PPV channel. Consider the teams as professional entertainers, and the freeby viewing as copyright infringment. Does Mirvish ever show the stage plays on TV or even the Net? No way!

The WWF, or WFE, or whatever they are calling themselves nowadays, hasn't aired an actual wrestling match on non-PPV in years.

They started the talk-a-match game years back, and I haven't even scanned across the channels to look for them. They were entertaining at times.

Anyway, I stand corrected on the NFL vs CFL issue.

A further thought, before I am off the work day here. CBC could also buy and air some high quality science shows similar to PBS' NOVA, or solicit the production of some really high quality history shows? They have in the past.

The 'Fifth Estate' is another usually excellent program. They aired the 9/11 fiasco connections even before Michael Moore's F-9/11 movie came out.

Have a great day! More this evening.

[PhantomObserver]

"Drama illustrates how people REALLY live their lives, which is in the PUBLIC INTEREST!"

In that case, viewers who want to see that can turn off the TV and go party with their friends. They don't have to watch it, they can live it -- and it's cheaper for the taxpayer.

Sports programming enables the viewer to live vicariously, to see art in athleticism, etc. If Sports has TSN, then Drama has Showcase and Bravo! television.

The Newsroom and the Mercer Report aren't drama, but comedy. Bringing up the Trudeau series, though, shows one thing CBC *can* do to revitalize its dramatic programming: more limited series, instead of ongoing ones.

[Bill-Muskoka]

PO,

"art in athleticism' that would be only the Olmpics IMHO!

Talk about 'series' that should not be on CBC? How about NHL Stanley Cup?

Naw, PO, you have your views and others have theirs. So sorry!

[PhantomObserver]

Given the cultural dominance of hockey in the Canadian collective consciousness, if there's an all-Canadian Stanley Cup final then there's no reason for the CBC *not* to carry it.

And Don Cherry's a better talker than Nicholas Campbell anyway. :)

[Bill-Muskoka]

PO,

Cultural Dominance? Hmm...sounds like a Charter issue to me! LOL

Funny how La Crosse is actually Canada's national sport, eh? So, where are those games?

An all Canada Stanley Cup? Are you having those Maple Leafs delusions again old chap? LMAO!

Don't worry though, because at the rate teams have been sold to the U.S. we will have to find another Canadian sport to cherish!

[PhantomObserver]

Leafs delusions? Hardly. I leave that to Toronto.

I like the idea of Ottawa/Montreal vs. Vancouver, Edmonton or Calgary. Plenty of room for an all Canada Cup without involving Toronto.

[Antonia]

Please don't tell me you guys are gonna start talking hockey on my blog.

[Bill-Muskoka]

Antonia,

No, never my dear friend. I can barely stand it to begin with! Its one of those tolerance things Canucks do so well, eh? Fear not!

[arthurdecco]

"Please don't tell me you guys are gonna start talking hockey on my blog." Posted by: Antonia

Do you mean to say we can't? lol

(love that Canadian Women's team, btw!)