Battle of the Blades
The quote “Nobody Knows Anything” is sometimes thrown around in the TV and movie business. It’s from a book about Hollywood and suggests that prior to the release of a movie (or in this case a TV show) nobody really knows how well it will do.
In Canada, there may be an exception to that rule.
It seems that in this frosty and mostly frozen land, just about anything that has anything to do with hockey does well in the ratings. The latest show to prove the point is Battle of Blades.
‘Battle’, as it’s being called in the corp, is getting a lot of attention from the media. Last week the Toronto Sun even put the show on the front page of their tabloid. I can’t remember the last time that happened for a CBC show.
The ratings have reflected the media coverage. The opening episode on October 4th drew 1.95 million viewers, which is the highest ratings for a debut episode on the ceeb since Little Mosque on the Prairie. Those numbers were only eclipsed by, you guessed it, hockey. The first game of the season for Hockey Night in Canada drew 2.5 million viewers.
Jon Doyle, the Globe’s TV critic, called the show hokey, wholesome and ‘a gimmick’. Nevertheless, the next week’s broadcast, on thanksgiving Sunday, pulled in 1.56 million viewers. The show, for all it’s hokeyness, appeals to a lot of people. Which to me is curious. Why is it that in Canada anything to do hockey scores with viewers? Are we really such a nation of single-minded hockey-crazed fanatics that we’ll swarm to a show like ‘Battle’ while generally ignoring some of the other excellent dramatic shows produced in this country? It’s an open question, feel free to comment.
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#1: It’s hockey players doing something out of character. Same deal as Rick Mercer flying with the snowbirds, in a demolition derby, etc.
#2: it capitalizes on the whole dancing deal that’s so big now (not my thing at all, but…)
#3:It offers double-edged benefits: if Tie Domi looks like an idiot, you get to laugh at him (and he gets to laugh at himself); if he performs well, you get to be surprised and say “wow, look at that! Tie Domi didn’t do too bad, eh?”
#4: It’s likely not overgeneralizing to say that men are more likely to watch hockey and women figure skating; this combines the two.
All of the above in no way should be construed to suggest that I would choose watching this show over sticking rusty heated needles in my eyes. That being said – if it gets great ratings, good for the show!
MVP, that hockey soap opera, didn’t do well in the ratings. Making the Cut didn’t go all that well for CBC or Global.
I don’[t think the appeal of Battle of the Blades is all about Hockey. I think the appeal is a hokey figure skating show – that your hockey-crazed husband/wife will tolerate watching.
There is alot that is archetypal in it too – the classic Beauty-and-Beast story. Pygmalion in reverse. etc. etc. etc. And in the end, it’s all about the charity – these bruisers have big hearts – or at least that’s what we want and hope to believe in.
I think part of the draw are some that watch “Dancing with the Stars” it sort of has that same feel to the show. Figure skating is very popular in Canada as well. I’m not sure how many Hockey people are going to continue to watch to see these men prance around week to week. But from a pair figure skating/dancing theme I think it is quite entertaining. The production looks good and in HD it is beautiful. I have yet to see another Canadian reality show in HD.
I could care less about hockey – I watch it to see the figure skaters.
The show is a perfect storm of cross-demographic appeal where a whole family can sit around the TV with different generations and have something to watch and discuss.
Timing the second episode to conincide with Thanksgiving (and featuring Cherry and the Browning skate) was brilliant.
They have old players like Ron Duguay to appeal to the grandmas, younger players like Lemieux to appeal to the crowd in the 40′s etc. And to paraphrase Kelly H – the women skaters are not hard to watch.
Ron M is the perfect host for this – appeals to all.
The majority of fans on the Battle of the Blades site seem to identify themselves with figure skating… so maybe it’s anything to do with figure skating that does well?
Not my type of show, but if 1.5 million tune it some one likes this type of content.
i am disappointed that my decorating class is on monday night so i don’t see the show . but. as far as i can see the skating is great on both types of blades.
It is good clean fun for a good cause, it is not violent, it is not gory, it is blood sweat and tears. blood when an elbow or knee is skinned in practice, sweat because it is hard work, and the tears come when someone is voted off. It is great and we need more programs like this.