Logrolling Roundup: Nerdity, Press, and The Q

FRIENDS OF MINE from my days at Canada's SPACE channel have started a nifty new venture, a portal called Hardcore Nerdity which is worth checking out. (It's in the sidebar.) Yesterday they met with me along with Toronto Star Televsision Writer Rob Salem at an undisclosed location. (Okay, Okay, it was actually the Dominion on Queen Street East) to do an edition of their podcast.

The topic of discussion was the U.S. Election and its coverage, Presidents real and fictional, Canadian TeeVee and Michael Crichton.

Meanwhile, we're now at the point where I give interviews about stuff and totally forget I've done it. I think this one was from awhile back though, so that's probably why I missed it. Cassandra Szklarski compares and contrasts three prairie-set Canadian comedies, Less Than Kind, Corner Gas, and Little Mosque on the Prairie.

Interesting fact: so far as I know there's one guy I know who's worked on all three: Comedy Dynamo Rob Sheridan. Rob, as anyone who's ever met him can attest, is a veritable son of the open field. A corn fed, prairie loving, small town man of the people. Yessir. If you want to know what "real, rural Canadians" are thinkin' -- Sheridan's your man.

Anyway, here's a bit of my blather from the article:

Identifying the reasons for a boost in Prairie programming seems just as hard to nail down. McKinney suggests a ramped up rivalry among provinces trying to attract TV productions while McGrath posits larger forces at work.

"You've got to talk about what cycle you're in and things go in cycles," says McGrath, whose writing credits include "The Border," "Rent-A-Goalie," and "Across The River To Motor City."

"Right now, there are no shows that are really set in the Maritimes, whereas if you go back on Canadian TV screens maybe seven, eight years ago, there were like three or four series that were supposed to be coming out of Newfoundland."

He argues that today's political and economic climate encourages a shift away from shows set in Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal, especially in light of recent upswings in Western provinces.

"It's the place where all the money is, it's the place where the oil is and it's in many ways, the economic engine," he says, singling out Calgary as a new locus for the country.

"And then when you go to some of the other places in the heartland of the country ... it's not so different."

By the way, that's really true. I often posit larger forces at work.

Next, that Rick Mercer Report segment from the set of The Border is finally up on the YouTube. This is my favorite TV cameo ever because I'm mercifully, finally silent. And I love stories on how the gak works. Oh, and Director Brett Sullivan is dreamy. I said it. Please, to enjoy:



Finally, if you were so inclined, you could always tune in CBC Radio's Q tomorrow, where sometime in the 2nd hour I'll be talking about what President-Elect Obama, and the shift in U.S. culture he represents, might mean for the kinds of TeeVee you'll see coming your way soon. That's Q at its new time: 10am on CBC Radio.