Comments on: Behind the Scenes: How a CBC TV Drama Show Got to Air

By: C. Kunz

C. Kunz — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 20:49:17 +0000

How many more times will the CBC cancel a show without letting us viewers in on their handywork? This seems to be a continuing fault with our publicly owned corporation. I got hooked on their new series 49th & Main and just as I was settling down with a cup of tea after viewing another fave Emmerdale and then I couldn’t find it anywhere. In it’s place was that redicualous ‘Green’ show. Why is CBC messing with us the viewer. Some years ago I was hooked on a terrific show set in Toronto and Poof!. Withour warning IT was gone. No ending no goodbyes, nothing except repeats of that same show over and over again.
It’s ridiculous to spend $ on a view episodes and just as the show gets nicely settled in, it’s taken off the air. I hope with enough people complaining they will bring back 49th & Main.
Signed pissed of in Hepworth ON

By: TJ

TJ — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 05:38:47 +0000

i feel that this show has great potential. It’s many diverse and colourful characters, along with the well thought out storylines give it limitless possibilities. We must bear in mind that these were just the pilot episodes and a series does take a little bit of time to jell. However, the show was already getting better and better with each episode and i think it would only continue to improve should it be given the opportunity.

I enjoyed 49th & Main because it catered to a wide array of age and ethnic groups, and dealt with real issues that people are forced to deal with in everyday life; bringing to it a sense of reality and importance. Having grown up very close to 49th and main, it really hit home with me, and I hope to see more of this show.

By: Helene

Helene — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:16:07 +0000

I’ve actually posted some comments on the show ’49th & Main’ on another blog on this site http://www.insidethecbc.com/2006/07/20/a-few-tasty-tidbits-for-your-thursday/#comments

I couldn’t disagree with Joe Clark more ! I’m of the same opinion as the critic Andrew Ryan-this is a better show than North/South and I hope the CBC will give it a chance to develop. I think the characters are interesting and diversified. I don’t know where Mr.Clark lives but in my neighborhood I see people of multiple races in the same places all the time. It’s not a fantasy;that’s Vancouver! Perhaps the pacing could be improved but it’s a new show and as Jane says, no show is perfect right off the bat. The important thing is it has all the right ingredients in place to be a great show.

As for the doctor……well he’s just plain HOT and SEXY!! I could look at him all day long – and that voice of his with that accent….Yummy!

By: Jane

Jane — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 05:35:00 +0000

I lived in Vancouver for several years and saw a mix of cultures all over the place – and by the way, the skytrain could look rather homogenized if you ask me! I remain a fan of the show. I think the writing is tight and I do not understand how someone could just label a group of actors ‘unschooled’. I am sick and tired of reality tv shows. I want to see some decent, interesting drama. This production shows alot of promise, and as I said in another blog, I hope the CBC keeps it running – I would love to see the show ripen. I am hooked on the characters. One more thing….take any tv show that has had a successful run with great actors and great story – now look at the first few pilot episodes, and you will see that it takes a little time to find the groove. Please keep this show and others like it on the air. Good, creative productions don’t just pop up out of nowhere (unlike the virulent and ridiculous reality tv show)!!

By: Michael Scales

Michael Scales — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 04:08:25 +0000

As a person of colour who lives in the multicultural mix of Vancouver, I appreciate a show that attempts to present the complex issues of race, class, gender and ethicity in a both a commercially viable way as well as a Canadian way. I am very tired of the typical television attempts at diversity where the show is set in a one ethnic group neighbourhood, i.e. a Black ghetto or an Indian Reserve. I am proud to say that Vancouver is one of the best examples of urban multiculturalism in the world. It is far from perfect, but it is worthy of broadcast.

By: Joe Clark

Joe Clark — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 15:48:47 +0000

At some point, is anyone going to bother mentioning that the show is dreadful?

Fake-looking sets striving to seem realistic; unschooled actors; ethnic stereotypes curiously resistant to eliminationon a multicultural show (check the saucy, zaftig red-haired lass); Canadian-style slow pacing and missed beats; expository dialogue (particularly from the Vietnamese gang member); and that familiar curse of echt-multicultural productions, the fantasy that people of multiple races and ethnic backgrounds all simultaneously and habitually populate the same rooms each day. If the show were set on the Vancouver SkyTrain, maybe that last would apply, but the whole thing seems strained.

And the British doctor? He’s reminiscent of the stunt casting conspicuous in international coproductions. And just at the level of backstory, if your wife dies, are you really and truly apt to pick up and move not only to another country but to the westernmost reaches of that country? What about recognition of your professional credentials? Doesn’t Vancouver have numerous Indo-Canadian cabdrivers with medical degrees unrecognized here?

Then there are the many problems with captioning and the boomingly out-of-place description narrator that Descriptive Video Works seems to think is somehow appropriate for usage on planet earth.

Give me _North/South_ anyday. Really.