WRITERS LIKE TO complain. That's our lot. But if you're of the Canadian lot, you should be taking a closer look at the CBC this January -- specifically their drama department. There's good news there.
The CBC premiered a show called ARCTIC AIR a few weeks ago. It's about pilots flying in the North, very much an offshoot of (and produced by the same company as) ICE PILOTS, a popular reality show. The show was the highest premiere on CBC in twenty years. But the real story is not getting a big number for a first show -- lots of Canadian programs manage that. (Which says to me that Canadians are perfectly willing to sample homegrown fare, contra to the naysayers; they simply won't watch if they don't like what they see. Which should be, you know, the point.) The real story of Arctic Air is that they stayed. They like what they see. Three weeks in and the show is still over a million viewers. What's more -- I've heard that it's also very solidly PVR'd -- with final numbers adding sometimes 20 or 30% to the final viewer tally. That's not supposed to happen with CBC shows. The audience is older and conventional wisdom says that they don't use PVR's. Except that's not what's happening. ARCTIC AIR is winning its timeslot -- and it's being PVR'ed for later.
Beyond that one show you have REPUBLIC OF DOYLE consistently pulling in over a million in their 3rd season. It's not just a Russell Crowe guest shot. I personally don't think the stories are as good as they could be (but full disclosure, I worked on the show for 10 minutes in Season 1, so I would think that.) I raise that point because what the show does have is specificity -- it's utterly unlike anything you'd see on private nets in Canada..it's firmly rooted to place and people like it enough that they hang in through the loopy plotting. That's a win and I'm happy for it.Beyond that you have an aged Warhorse in HEARTLAND, a show that rates consistently huge for a family audience, up near 2 million some weeks, with Christmas movies also pulling in great numbers.
CBC just wrapped up the last season of BEING ERICA. Though the numbers slipped as the show went on, I talk to women I know in their 30's and there's a definite chord that was struck there. It connected emotionally. And it also managed format sales -- when was the last time a Canadian TV drama did that?
I've heard encouraging things about the upcoming pilots CBC has in the pipeline. I'm just at the beginning of developing something with them, and find the executives engaged and passionate about story. You always have to worry about bureaucracy at a place like CBC - it's a crown corporation, after all. But the point is - on CBC, Canadian drama is actually CANADIAN drama. It doesn't disguise locations. It doesn't get shuffled off to summer or bounced around the schedule.
Nothing's perfect. ARCTIC AIR has been promoted, and it paid off. But the CBC buried its excellent movie on John A. MacDonald...a movie that MACLEANS said might have been the best Canadian historical drama ever. I watched it and it reminded me of I CLAUDIUS...low budget and you didn't care because the characters and the meat were so good. They also mishandled the promo for MICHAEL: TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS, which at least partially led to that show's disappointing ratings. But the critical reception was almost universally positive.
So they're doing dramas that win timeslots -- in winter, when the competition is tougher -- and dramas that get populist love and critical acclaim.
People, that's firing on all cylinders.
Brits are rightly proud of stuff like SHERLOCK or LUTHER or LIFE ON MARS or ABFAB or DOCTOR WHO...where's the chorus of people going, "hey, you know what, for my $30 bucks a year CBC's actually giving me some pretty good stuff?"
There's a lot of layers at CBC and much opportunity for second guessing, and that's something they have to continue to be vigilant about. But there's a core there that's not flailing -- they're actually blooming.
Considering how much of the time people just want to bash the CBC for ideological reasons, and the number of people who want to complain about the CBC cancelling INTELLIGENCE like, 6 years later, I believe only for the sake of decency maybe it's time to acknowledge that something pretty spectacular is happening over there.
They're doing shows that Canadians want to watch. Not all of them, no... and yes, the sample size is very low compared to your average U.S. network...but really, look at how many shows they do total, and how many are connecting with audiences, and the conclusion has to be that they're doing something right -- unless you're being churlish, I mean.
If you're a creative and you've been wary of developing with CBC in the past, I think it's time to recognize that the team there is getting things right, finally. May the corporation have the wisdom to keep them moving onward and upward with great Canadian shows rooted in place, inventive in tone, that Canadians continue to embrace the way they're embracing them now.
And wouldn't it be wonderful if some journalist wrote THAT for a change?
