Is it wrong to pretend that Canadian shows… aren’t?
Over the holidays, public broadcasting blogger Justin Beach said he thinks it should be legally banned against the law for Canadian programs to ignore their Canadian settings in order to make the show more ‘sellable’ to American audiences.
He notes that while the first line of the CBC’s mandate says all CBC shows should “be predominantly and distinctively Canadian,” the popular sit-com Little Mosque on the Prairie deliberately excludes any references to Saskatchewan, where the show is filmed.
Justin quotes from an interview in the Regina Leader Post in which LMOTP producer Zarqa Nawaz tells an NPR reporter that they write out any Canadian references because “they hope an American audience will reference it as taking place in North Dakota and because ‘sales are important.’ ”
Just feels this practice should be banned. “No program that receives tax subsidies should be able to do alternate takes to disguise the fact that it is Canadian.”
The issue, I think, is whether or not Canadians are seeing programming that references Canada. I don’t have a problem if the show shoots different takes for different audiences (“That’s why it’s always cold in Saskatchewan” for the Canadian version; “That’s why it’s always cold here” for the American version).
I would have a problem if the show shoots one version sans Canadiana then airs it here. Does anyone know which way it is?
What do you think?
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| Little Mosque on the Prairie, Our Mandate, Saskatooon |
Very interesting, Justin. I hadn’t thought of that before, but you make a good point. I think of LMOTP as being very Canadian, but perhaps that’s because I recognise the actors and the cultural references. What do others think?
I worked on season two of Little Mosque. I’m not sure what Zarqa was trying to say — maybe she was misquoted. But there’s been no attempt to hide the fact that Little Mosque takes place in Canada. We had Samantha Bee guest star as a CSIS agent (who reads Chatelaine!) and an upcoming episode has a character becoming a Canadian citizen (with mounties and everything).
Love the blog,
- Paul
I thought originally, they avoided referring to Saskatchewan to avoid comparisons to Corner Gas, which is explicitly set in Saskatchewan. I read somewhere that the writers refer to Mosque’s setting as “Alsaskitoba,” somewhere between Ontario and BC but not in one of the cities.
But I think it’s fairly evident to anyone watching what nation its set in. In one of the best of episodes of the season, the town’s economy was affected by an endorsement of beet juice by Darcy Tucker of the Maple Leafs. I don’t think that would happen in North Dakota. In another episode, Samantha Bee guest stars as a CSIS agent from Ottawa. In another, they have to travel across the border to complain about Barbar’s addition to the U.S. No Fly List.
So while they’re a little vague about the exact province they live in (but let’s face it: it’s Saskatchewan, otherwise they wouldn’t have confronted Strombo in that bit before the Geminis), I don’t think the show is pretending to be set in any other country than Canada.
But maybe the show could look into Rayan putting up a portrait of Tommy Douglas in her office.
Who cares?
I mean, honestly, it’s bad enough trying to write good shows without having to worry about how many references to Canada you’re supposed to have.
I think deliberately removing references to our country is sad, especially for the CBC, but I think deliberately adding references is just as silly. Storytelling should take precedence over these kinds of petty politics.
Honestly I think people at the CBC vastly overestimate how much people care about where a show is set.
Just to clarify: “against the law” makes it sound criminal and I don’t think people should be arrested. I also don’t have a problem if a Canadian made show is not set in Canada, many Canadian films are set in Europe and Asia and that’s fine but for a show that is shot in and set in Canada it’s a little different. The fact that the show receives tax subsidies and then increases the cost of production by doing additional scenes to disguise the fact that it is Canadian is, to me, unacceptable. Why should Canadians pay to hide the fact that the show comes from Canada?
This would belong in the find-a-real-problem file. If LMOTP is getting govt. funding, then it’s already subject to very stringent requirements on content, financing, crew, the works. It’s a bit pathetic to be sniping at one of the few recent Canadian (and distinctively Canadian) shows to achieve any level of international success, not to mention the fact that the Leader Post “article” that triggered it is actually just a reader’s letter indulging in that most Canadian of pastimes, Toronto-bashing.
(Seriously, I like to bash Toronto as much as the next person, but if you’re going to do it, earn it – live in the festering cesspool for a while first.)
I don’t know who Justin Beach is (nor do I much care), but I wonder if he bothered to listen to the NPR interview himself? Or whether we (by whom I mean those responsible for this blog) did. *I* did. Zawaz never said scenes have been reshot. Not even in a roundabout way. Canadian references are clarified for international audiences (for example, a reference to Harper would likely specify *Prime Minister* Harper) so that context is not lost. But no scenes from the show are reshot, nor did Zawaz say they were. Go ahead. Google it. Pretend to be a journalist, do some research and listen to the actual interview. Love the way we help our own cause here…
And yeah, sales are important. What do you think we make programs with, charm?
If that is what it takes for good Canadian shows, like LMOTP, to survive than I’m all for it. It would be silly of the producers to ignore the huge revenue opportunity that is the United States as their population is an order of magnitude larger than Canada.
Seeing as I’ve been recommending this series to any number of American friends, partly on the strength of the explicit Canadian setting – and in Saskatchewan of all provinces – as much as anything else, and a fair chunk of the initial publicity Little Mosque got from south of the border to begin with made it quite clear to anyone who paid attention where the show was set, I don’t see the point of doing this “two-version two-step”. Any American who bothers to tune in at this point is going to know where Little Mosque makes its home. And if they don’t, there’s the website and Wikipedia and assorted fansites to fill in the blanks for them.
Let’s not hide the light from those wanting to see it.
@justin: You’re right, that was a mischaracterization of your posting. Sorry about that.. I’ve made the correction.
@paul: Great to see you on here!
I was under the understanding that Justin had listened to the NPR piece, else he wouldn’t have linked to it. Planning to listen to it myself very soon, though…and maybe I can understand things a little better.
On the other hand…I’m not sure where Justin made a call in that posting for any kind of ban, either. What the Bleep?
@dwight:
From Justin’s blog:
“Personally I feel that such practices should simply be legally banned.”
Yes, you know it. It is wrong.
Maybe the complaint (I don’t agree with in regards to Little Mosque) simply indicates a generalized disgruntlement with recent Cdn TV.
In the same vein: This very week as another example; I wonder why a U.K. singer, of the late 90s, from Los Angeles, hosted a Primarily Canadian fan result 80s video countdown. Because similar to the CBC, that channel also receives ‘public’ funding – via a mandatory cable/satelite subscription placement. To an average viewer (IMO), that old national indentity issue arises almost continously.
With the amount of overacting taking place in that show, it really doesn’t matter where it’s set. Take The Trouble with Tracy, reshoot it with a few script adjustments and an ensemble cast, and you have Little Mosque on the Prairie. What other country would want anyone to think it was shot there?
I don’t have a problem with LMOTP shooting alternate takes for foreign audiences as long as they show the Canadian version here. I would love for other countries’ productions to “Canuck it up” a bit when the show is set in some indeterminate locale. Why not?
It’s too bad the CBC doesn’t encourage (or make it a law) that shows are of good quality. Oh well, it’s easier to insist that they overtly display Canadian-ness.
Who cares ? Without a $billion dollars of Canadian taxpayer money this Corporation( and it’s overpaid political mandarins) could not survive a minute on it’s (their) own merit. I challenge the new president to abandon the idea of asking Ottawa for more money and instead develop a 10 year blueprint for independent autonomy . Public leeches not only disgust me but they putrefy my pre-Confederation Canadian heritage. TC
The whole issue of ‘Canadian Content’ is bogus and should be abolished. If a programs works, then it works because of the quality of the writers, the actors and the techie staff. There is nothing on any of the networks that inspire me to salute the program just because it is supposedly Canadian. The fact is, most Canadian programming is crap. Very few meet the challenge and can be considered successful. Taxpayers waste enormous money on this issue and get very liitle in return.
I’d rather not be swamped by "dumped" programming any worse than I already am(if I might borrow WTO terminology for this argument).
As for the "most Canadian programming is crap" assumption, may I remind you of Sturgeon’s law?
Ninety percent of everything is crap.
No matter what country it comes from.
As a Seattleite who’s been watching the show from day one, I do notice the lack of Canadian references, and miss them.
And what’s with the perpetual sunshine?! Where the heck is it filmed-L.A.? Make it real. Give me touques and snow piles, please.