New CBC TV shows catching on: Canadian Press
We’re getting there…
The CBC is succeeding in getting Canadians talking about its new primetime shows, suggests a survey conducted late last month by The Canadian Press and Harris-Decima.
As of Jan. 28th, one in three people polled had heard about four of the CBC’s heavily promoted winter shows: “The Border,” “JPod,” “Sophie” and “MVP.” All of the shows launched in early January.
Now the bad news. That hasn’t yet translated into large numbers of Canadians tuning into the shows, however – only 10 per cent of those polled had actually seen “The Border,” about an elite team of Canadian border-security officers. That’s more viewers than the other shows had managed to attract among those surveyed.
Thirty-three per cent of those surveyed felt that the quality of CBC programming is getting better compared to previous years, compared to 21 per cent who felt it was getting worse. But those who had watched one or more of the new programs (19 per cent of respondents) were five times more likely to say the quality was improving (67 per cent)rather than declining (12 per cent).
More younger people than older people had a better opinion about the quality of CBC programming, the survey also found.
More than 1,000 Canadians were interviewed between Jan. 22 and 28th though Harris-Decima’s national online panel, and the results are considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Canadian Press
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I can’t view CBC clearly (I don’t have cable nor satellite and generally only watch what comes in over the air, so local CTV, sometimes Global, and TVO). However, I am thoroughly enjoying The Border online. I have similarly consumed other online shows by other Canadian producers as well.
I haven’t checked out Sophie yet, nor jPod, and I ‘m not sure MVP is my type of show.
The Border is an excellent program, though perhaps not quite a Da Vinci’s Inquest nor an Intelligence. Part of Television’s problem is that it has to chase advertising dollars. I believe if the CBC received adequate funding (and Canada does not support the public broadcaster the way other nations do), developed intelligent programming, and found a way to begin the process of eliminating commercials, it would find as loyal an audience as that of Radio One. But to do this would mean a channel devoted to CBC Sports, complete with lots of advertising. The private sector seems to have the inside track on that score.
Doing the math here, it appears that 200 people out of a thousand thought that CBC programs were getting better, while never having actually watched any of these new shows.
And such opinions are considered encouraging?
I really enjoy both jPod and The Border. I haven’t had a chance to see the other two shows because I don’t have a TV: since the shows I mention are online than I can watch them whenever I like. I do believe that CBC programming has improved lately. These are some of my favorite shows to watch.
I wrote a review for jPod and The Border here.
>> But those who had watched one or more of the new programs were five times more likely to say the quality was improving.
Absolutely !! I’ve done my own test with friends and we all concur JPOD is amazing once you get past the first episode. The Border is excellent. Sophie and MVP are ok. I’m also getting feedback that many scenes in these new productions are elaborate, often superior to U.S. TV. I think we’ll only have confidence once U.S networks pick up a second or third program which I think will happen sooner rather than later.
JPOD may be a bit trickier to measure with its younger demographic. One friend watched JPOD online at CBC. One friend actually downloaded all the episodes from some sort of BITTorrent site with superb quality. It took some Internet savy but we’re all hooked though. What were you expecting putting JPOD opposite new episodes of American Idol?
The thing is, it’s not like if the CBC could find a way to measure torrent downloads they could include them in the audience numbers and everything would be great. For the purposes of selling time to advertisers and making money, people watching torrents do not exist. Full stop.
While it is my belief that the reason that p2p networks and such exist is not that people are natural thieves or pirates or any such thing, but that the media industry has failed to respond to the needs of its users and the new capabilities offered by technology, the fact is that it hasn’t caught up yet, and if you actually like the show and want to see it survive, you should maybe consider watching it on TV.
The Boarder is an obvious piece of predictive programing. complete propaganda.
I’m not so sure. The issues it raises are fair ones, as are those raised by Intelligence. No matter which party’s on the Government side of the House. Which is part of why I’d like to see both kept on the schedule for the 2008-’09 CBC TV season.
The Economist has a story about U.S. border restrictions with CBC’s The Boarder as its jumping-off point.
CBC’s "the Border" is the most thoughtful and sophisticated television drama to come onto television over many a year. It’s use of actual Canadian locations- we have many on ‘the border’ - and the actual events of our border over the years has been done intelligently and imaginatively. The production value is as high as anything we see on television but assists the story telling, not just done for its own sake. Most important it invites us to think through the issues of our border from at least a dozen perspectives so far. It has resisted cliches and predictability, at least so far. Each episode actually provides some small resolution which is a welcome relief from series such as "24" and "Intelligence" which simply spiral ito meaningless.
Congratulations, and let’s hope that the CBC finds the dollars and the resolution to keep this going as long as Peter Raymont can do it.
The topics on The Border are good, the scripts incredibly bad – clunky lines. I quite like MVP though the Captain’s impossibly perky girlfriend gets to me.
I heard today that cbc was cancelling Jpod, how can you do that. It is one of the better shows cbc has put on the air in a long time! I also am loving the Border and funny enough MVP, please give these shows some time to catch on with the viewers, I promise they will, they really are terrific!
I just read that MVP is going to be cancelled! I love this Canadian show and I NEVER watch Canadian tv shows. How can they cancel it after only airing approximately 7 shows. PLEASE do not cancel this show!