"John Doyle," they'll whisper, "has it out for us. He's so anti-CBC..."
They say that every time the Globe & Mail TV critic runs a column critical of the CBC or one of its shows. On balance, I think though Doyle, like most critics, has his favorites and his causes -- a general dislike for CBC is not one of them. Nobody seems to remember when he writes something good about the CBC.
And in a strange way, today's column -- though it makes rough work of the second season premiere of Being Erica (CBC, 9pm) -- is doing just that. Doyle doesn't pull his punches about how he feels the show has lost its way in terms of character and tone, but here's the thing... he reviews it in an integrated article where it's contrasted with a U.S. Freshman Drama, The Good Wife. I'll get to why that's important in a minute.
I was on the fence about The Good Wife, after the lacklustre series Juliana Marguelies found herself in last season. At the same time, I'm determined to try and add a couple of new network hours to my viewing this year... I'm starting to worry that my viewing is becoming a bit too cable-centric, which for a TV writer is almost as bad as becoming one of those "I don't even own a tv" guys. Doyle's good review of Good Wife convinced me to give it a try.
And that's where my point comes in. The Good Wife is a show that benefits from all the promotional muscle any U.S. show gets. For all its efforts, CBC could never hope to promote Being Erica that much
By reviewing the two shows together -- with no handicaps for CanCon, no short bus or ghettoized "separate" bullet reviews, Doyle pays the compliment that CBC would do well to hear. I've written before that we need to get Canadian shows reviewed as drama first, without regard to how Canadian it is. That means overcoming a whole bunch of homegrown cultural biases -- both the ones that lead to consumer distrust ("Oh they let Cancon off too easily") and the ones that speak to strange quirks of the Canadian psyche, ("It can't be any good, it's Cancon.") Yes, these impulses are contradictory. But they're both alive and well in Canadian editorial coverage.
Doyle cuts through that, and by contrasting Erica and The Good Wife, implicitly makes the point that there is no "other" box. This is the competition. This is the pool you want to swim in? Great. Go. Swim.
And that, believe it or not, is a very good thing.
I haven't seen any Season 2 Erica myself, either. I thought it was uneven but worthy last year. I hope they find legs and continue to connect with their audience this season, and I'll be checking it out to see if they do. Besides. Erin Karpluk is dreamy.
3 rumbles:
Sort of comparing apples and oranges. The only thing they have in common is a female lead. They are pitched at different demographics and are completely different franchises. Let's say a fairer comparison would be Erica to Journeyman, as both are time travel shows. Or Erica to My Name is Earl - both shows aim at fixing the past to better the present. IMHO anyway.
Well, ok -- but that's not really germane to the point I was making. You can argue that his comparisons aren't apt, but they're his comparisons.
My point is simply -- to make the comparison on an equal footing, instead of doing what most papers, and all the entertainment and networks do -- ghettoize the Canadian stuff, is a good thing.
Last spring in New York, the Soap network bought a HUGE Time Square electronic billboard space to advertise Being Erica. Erin K was 20 feet high, towering over 42nd Street.
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