Marketplace has been upset from its 7:30pm Wednesday time slot by the syndicated game show Jeopardy. It will not return to the programming roster until January of 2009, when it is predicted to take over the Friday evening time slot left vacant by the departing Royal Canadian Air Farce.
Marketplace is the only adult show on CBC to not run ads, a commitment the show has kept since it started 36 seasons ago. This is in keeping with the shows spotlight on consumer affairs. The time slot bump was a move to simulcast Jeopardy at the same time as its US media counterparts broadcast the show.
Maybe the CBC is just pining for the old days when Alex Trebek belonged to us…
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Well I can’t say that Jeopardy is a bad show…
But this feels like a cheap-programming-commercials-revenue-grab move.
Note the irony in the contrast between those inane CBC “quiz the nation” shows and a well done quiz show like Jeopardy.
Ah, and just one entry after “Lacroix wants more funding”.
You can’t run “Jeopardy” AND ask for more funding.
Quality programming is a big part of the justification for any funding increase. You can’t run a game show, then turn around and ask for more money. It makes management look a little confused.
I think that the CBC needs to start developing more Canadian material from new Canadian writers. The people who are graduating from college right now have grown up with American sitcoms and shows and don’t know what Canadian television is all about. I recently saw a premiere of a short film called Mortonomous (http://www.mortonomous.com) in Winnipeg that a college student made and it was great. I’d like to see more people like the creator of that short film get a shot at making a show for the CBC.
Apalling. Man, we suck.
Outrageous and Unaffordable Suggestion: take ownership of the Jeopardy franchise, lock and stock, and move it up here, airing from the TBC. That way, the critics are silenced forever.
Yes, I’m dreaming in holo-VR. Might as well dream big if I’m going to dream at all.
Jeopardy and Wheel were first mentioned at the launch of new shows back in January. It was a disappointment then and it’s a disappointment now. Marketplace has been bumped to only 13 episodes beginning in January 2009. One can only conclude that the monies used to create Marketplace and it’s former partner Venture, are being used to pay an American producer. It’s death by a thousand cuts in my opinion. Look for Marketplace to be canceled after next season for low ratings.
Vancouver Guy You are right and it is exactly a “cheap-programming-commercials-revenue-grab move” like you said and they are not hiding it on the corp side (At least the suits don’t seem to hide that fact. They seem to use the rationale of “We buy these cheap US moneymakers so we can fund our Canadian programming” ).
Fact is CBC is getting less and less funding so they end up resorting to these cheap tricks to get revenue. The corp seems to be Shooting themselves in the foot by pulling moves like these and wanting more funding. I am really disappointed. The CBC does need more funding but they do not seem to be helping their own case.
Also on the live stream of the “CBC Fall preview” They made it look like It was a “Canadian Jeopardy” But I am sure this is just the syndicated US version…
Who are the idiots making these decisions? Is this a plot to make the CBC irrelevant?
This is disgusting. It seems as if the CBC is gradually being made irrelevant by a slow process of killing off its most interesting, original and creative Canadian programming: as many have observed, it is death by a thousand cuts. They risk losing their core audience, for radio as well television.
Ok even if you buy into the whole idea of Jeapordy being good (it will make us some money, we can use that to make more canadian stuff, rather than going into CTV’s owners’ pockets) why do you still have to put Marketplace on hold? Find another timeslot folks!
This is one of the last few current affairs programs. Basically it’s that and the fifth (they killed marketplace). I think losing current affairs is one of the gradual cuts that is really a shame. We used to do amazing current affairs stuff in a variety of areas. Now on TV we have the back half of the national or the fifth estate. Those are your options. Instead we’re doing “factual entertainment”. We don’t even have any QUALITY CA shows on Newsworld. This is an important part of our mandate and we are failing Canadians. It’s not like the privates are doing it.
It’s a sell out if CBC Tv plans to run Jeopardy & Wheel of Fortune.
With Air Farce gone on Friday nights now, I strongly suggest that some group of talented Canadian writers get together to submit a rollicking live show that Air Farce people could be proud of.
I also remember the days when there were NO commercials during CBC Primetime programming.
Pity that we can’t follow the lead of Eurpoean broadcasters & use the money from tv licenses to produce quality, intelligent, memorable programming
They did say that they will be creating a Canadian version of Jeopardy that will air around Christmas time.
And as for the cheap money grab, yeah it is. The Ceeb has been asking for more funding from the government for years now…and if the government isn’t gonna give up the extra money, than I guess you gotta get it from other means. Making TV ain’t cheap these days.
Further thoughts: Alex Trebek was on Q today, and those of us listening in got a reminder that this network was where Trebek got his start in the business. I hope he and CBC will jointly forgive me for wondering(maybe even hoping?) for a bit if perhaps that old relationship might not have had an influence in the deal in question getting done. I don’t think I’d mind if that turned out to be the case.
And, no, making TV’s never been cheap…although it’s been getting cheaper in recent decades.
Marketplace is one of the few reasons I tune into CBC.
I will not be tuning into Jeopardy.
Programing decisions like this, and the recently announced Radio CBC2 changes, are making the CBC more and more irrelevant to me.
Jeopardy is a very good show, best of its genre, and CTV (which runs it here in Moncton) abuses it horribly, frequently running other programming (such as Degrassi or today’s Lost double episode) over its time slot. Were local CBC to take over running Jeopardy, it would change the number of CBC programs we watch on television from zero to one.
I’m so relieved that CBC is going to air Jeopardy. Having three other channels that carry it between 6 and 8:30 p.m. every night are clearly not enough.
Okay, Marketplace is remarkably soporific, but surely the CBC can do better than syndicated game shows (even a relatively good on like Jeopardy) that are already well represented on the airwaves.
Sad, really.
Marketplace “soporific”? Hot-seat interviews for shifty PR flacks? Bagpipe-led parades? EXPLODING HOUSES?! Watch the show, friend. (Or at least the reruns, while they last.
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