Comments on: Is it wrong to pretend that Canadian shows… aren’t?

By: Anton

Anton — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 01:11:47 +0000

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.

By: Dwight Williams

Dwight Williams — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 21:01:52 +0000

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.

By: sdgreen

sdgreen — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 01:03:57 +0000

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.

By: T. Cassidy

T. Cassidy — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:25:30 +0000

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

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 16:08:23 +0000

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.

By: Tod Bovingdon

Tod Bovingdon — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 15:00:13 +0000

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?

By: Eric E

Eric E — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 04:24:53 +0000

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?

By: CQ

CQ — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:53:12 +0000

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.

By: Keith

Keith — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:45:37 +0000

Yes, you know it. It is wrong.

By: Blog Administrator

Blog Administrator — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 08:10:15 +0000

@dwight:

From Justin’s blog:

“Personally I feel that such practices should simply be legally banned.”

By: Dwight Williams

Dwight Williams — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 03:07:52 +0000

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?

By: Dwight Williams

Dwight Williams — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:32:19 +0000

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.

By: Tod Maffin

Tod Maffin — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:25:42 +0000

@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!

By: Dwight Williams

Dwight Williams — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:47:44 +0000

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.

By: Simon MacDonald

Simon MacDonald — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 20:06:39 +0000

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.

By: anonymous CBCer

anonymous CBCer — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:37:38 +0000

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?

By: Kev

Kev — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:17:05 +0000

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.)

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:13:32 +0000

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?

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:53:43 +0000

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.

By: John

John — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:46:50 +0000

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.