CBC picks up idea for genealogy reality show from BBC
Is it just me, or does CBC Television seem to be buying a lot of ideas for our TV shows from other broadcasters and producers (see No Opportunity Wasted, Dragons’ Den, Test the Nation, and very nearly The One)?
Even CBC Radios’ recent This I Believe began life as a National Public Radio column.
Add one more to the list.
Who Do You Think You Are? is a BBC television documentary series, made by Wall to Wall that started in 2004. In each episode, a celebrity goes on a journey, in order to try and trace their family tree.
The Canadians to be profiled on the CBC show will be Don Cherry, Margot Kidder, Mary Walsh, Scott Thompson, Gen. Lewis MacKenzie, Steven Page, Avi Lewis, Sonja Smits, Measha Brueggergosman, Randy Bachman, Shaun Majumder, Chantal Kreviazuk. The series will launch October 11.
What do you think? Are we borrowing/buying a little too much from the ideas of other broadcasters? Or is this a fiscally responsible way of bringing new programs to air?
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Copying the BBC is job one, or hasn’t that become evident yet?
This show is the bomb.
How is the same audience that likes Lewis MacKenzie supposed to be interested in Shaun? The ratings will be like a rollercoaster.
And an episode about Avi Lewis???
Good luck trying to prove he’s not boring.
And wasn’t he only born yesterday, with only one insignificant documentary under his belt?
Is this supposed to be indirect PR for CBC personalities?
Pretty much every reality TV show we see in North America has been franchised from another country: “Big Brother”, “Survivor”, “American Idol”. One rare successful exception is “America’s Next Top Model”.
So, I don’t think there’s any shame in borrowing from other broadcasters–it’s common practice. Other recent CBC examples include “The Greatest Canadian” and the forthcoming “The Week The Women Went”.
CBC may be borrowing from other broadcasters but by no means are they alone. One network comes up with a good idea for a show and all the other networks seems to jump on board. First it was Friends, then it was Star Trek and the sci-fi genre, then it was Trading Places and the home improvement genre, then Who Wants to be a Millionaire and the game show genre.
how will that show be different from “ancestors in the attic” ?
do we need two of these types of shows?
Reveals the paucity of local creative thinking that is allowed through the filter of management.
I think CBC is doing a good job of bringing in generally GOOD shows…whether they are of foreign origin or not. Of course, it would be nice to see more homegrown GOOD Canadian shows, but at least they are pulling from sources like the BBC and NPR – and not trashy shows like The Bachelor, etc. Taking successful shows that have been proven in other markets and putting them in Canadian context makes sense to me.
I see the logo/main visual is basically an upside down version of Six Feet Under’s too (the three, the line from the text towards the tree).
Any other recycled ideas embedded out there?
I live in America so I don’t know how anything is spelled anymore, but isn’t it genealogy?
Darren’s wrong about American Idol: it’s based on Pop Idol in the UK, which was created by the mean Simon guy in the American version.
Regardless of what’s happening on the internet, I think the TV viewing public is still pretty homogeneous and fickle. It’s a real risk to create something new and different, and every time the CBC does that and fails to generate an audience, they get backlash since part of their budget comes from taxes. You’d think we’d all watch the CBC more based solely on the fact that we pay for it!
It’s becoming the norm to “steal” shows from other countries, anyways. The reality show craze that’s been going on in North America since 2000 started years before that in Europe, and quite a few American shows are based on British shows that did well in ratings (as Darren mentioned above). One of my favourite shows is “What Not To Wear” on TLC, which had a BBC start; and I have to say, having seen both shows, the American version is the superior of the two (though it took them a few seasons to get there).
Given that this copying/stealing/etc. is going to happen anyways, I don’t have a problem with the CBC taking a BBC idea. However, I’d love to see them take the premise and grow from it, change it, make it more “Canadian” (whatever that means) and try to make it their own. You never know, they might surprise us.
Whoops, I misread Darren’s comment, he said America’s Next Top Model was created in the US, not Idol. I should pay more attention to what I’m reading.
There is alot of borrowing going on, by CBC and everyone else and alot of what they are borrowing isn’t original to begin with it’s a reality TV show about _____________. The only thing that’s really different is what’s in the blank. Any original ideas out there? Anyone? My ‘Must Watch’ list is almost down to zero.
i’m less concerned with the provenance of the show than with the fact that both steven page and the bachman-bot will each be getting more public air time. ugh. next they’ll be hosting a show together with measha brueggergosman and then the cbc will only have to pay 3 people.
These shows/ideas aren’t “borrowed” or “stolen.” Formats are purchased. I’d love to know how much the CBC has shelled out for such things over the last few years. The CBC used to be an international leader in public broadcasting. Over the last few years, it’s turned into a follower, and not even a very good one.
Let’s see now, what formats have they bought from abroad?
- Canada’s War in Colour
- The One
- Dragon’s Den
- The Greatest Canadian
- The Day the Women Went
- Test the Nation
- No Opportunity Wasted
- The Next Great PM
And how many non-news shows has the CBC developed in-house in more or less the same period?
- Canada: A People’s History
- Hockey: A People’s History
…uh…
I think there is a lot of evidence to suggest that tv — and traditional tv broadcasting is. Devoid of new ideas, ratings declining, dozens of sources for news information and video. And who ever said a whole show about ‘Avi Lewis’ ?? is right. Or maybe the big surprise is that in the end … Avi Lewis finds out General Lewis (Mackenzie) is his dad.
Why think of new ideas when you can pay someone to think for you.
as for the show I downloaded a few episodes, and only the David Tennant was worth watching.
Just to underscore the lack or originality – did anyone notice that the graphic for that show is itself not original?
I’ll bet that the show everyone immediately thought of re: that graphic isn’t the first one to use a variant of the design either.