Canadian Television and Canadian Culture - Essay Example

It is not good to see economics prevailing in Canadian television and Canadian culture taking secondary importance. Advocates of Canadian television’s sovereignty point that the biggest enemy of Canadian television is the US because of its cultural and social invasion: culturally, because American television culture is seen as a degraded form of entertainment, and socially because such debased entertainment is not compatible with Canadian identity. Also, it is claimed by nationalists that Canadian TV shows are more multifaceted and nuanced.

The formation of CBC in 1929 was in response to Royal Commission’s stand that Canadian national identity should have a strong presence on airwaves (radio). A report in 1951 by The Royal Commission on National Development warned dependence on imported programs.I find it irrational when nationalists compare the best of Canadian programs with the worst of lowbrows in the US. A proposal is made by Canadian television to be part of ‘middlebrow’. The idea is that Canadian programs need not be of ‘great’ moral ranking but ‘good’ will suffice so long it can meet the target of the satisfying Canadian audience.

I find it quite practical and promising. However, for decades, Canadian television even could not meet the objective of a good ranking. Even the most professional Canadian series looks quite amateur in comparison to their Hollywood counterparts. Canada has offered quite a number of interesting partnerships to HBO as it grew in popularity. For instance, the first television film made for cable television was ‘The Terry Fox Story (1983) which was a biography of a famous Canadian. I guess such joint collaborations should have been more in numbers.

Traditionally, the standard for Canadian television has been a season of 22-episode-sitcom of 22 minutes duration or 48 minutes duration drama with advertisements. The television landscape has altered considerably over the last decade with easy records and downloads over the web, leading to a falling in the market share of such shows. HBO tried to address this by introducing short seasons, 8 to 12 episodes, with a commercial-free structure and high production values. From 2001, the proliferation of a large number of private channels through digital receiver systems in addition to already existing cable and speciality pay channels made the audience even more fragmented.

Also, the trend by HBO and Showtime of quality television programs was carried forward in Canada with producers of Slings and Arrows with six episodes in the first season. The serial Slings and Arrows had for the first time built a rich group of Canadian theatrical stars, including Paul Gross, Mark McKinney, Martha Burns, and Susan Coyne.