Hold Me Closer Tiny Feschuk

OKAY, YES, I'VE said it before, but Scott Feschuk writes for a real dead tree publication. And he says it so dreamily...

Simulcasting: It’s like coming up with your own ideas, but without actually having to do that

One ritual I look forward to every year is the triumphant return from Hollywood of the Canadian television executives, hauling across their mighty shoulders the spoils of the Comedy and Drama Hunt.

It takes a special kind of hubris to tout one’s enduring achievement in television programming when one’s enduring achievement in television programming is flying to California, pointing politely and saying, “That one, please.”

But every year, without fail, the best part of the Hunt is the breathless manner in which TV executives describe their accomplishments.

The president of “creative, content and channels” at CTV said yesterday that the network has “remained focused on creativity.” To be specific, it remains focused on American creativity – either airing it directly or copying it in format (Canadian Idol, So You Think You Can Dance Canada and – in what must surely be in development by now – a Cold Case Canada devoted to finding out where Ben Mulroney disappeared to). Trends come and go, but in Canada getting bizarrely jazzed about rebroadcasting some other country’s shows never goes out of style.