Corner Gas is Ruining The Industry!

I was just sitting here stroking my cock-a-poo, Biscuitface, and reading various blogs about the state of television and decided I should muse openly. With my dependence on the internet for all things entertaining and fufilling I've become very good typing with one hand, but I've asked my sister Stella to take my beloved dog for a walk, so I can give this my full attention.

Anyway, I realized I let a news item a few weeks ago, pass me by without commenting. Writer Paul Mather, fomerly of 22 Minutes and The Mercer Report is leaving his writing gig ("gig" is a word writers use for "job") at Corner Gas to write and showrun for CBC's Little Mosque on the Prarie.

What is totally bizzare about this is that it is "news". It was actually in the Globe and Mail (or National Post, same thing). When was the last time a Canadian comedy writer made the newspaper? Other than someone who couldn't get a gig in Canada moved to California where he made a cajillion dollars writing for top network shows and then died. Of course his obit will always recognize him as a Canadian writer and lost treasure to this country. But I digress.

Canadian writers in the news is recognition of a growing trend in this country to let comedians or comedy writers aka funny people, dictate how a comedy show should be written.

This to me is disturbing.

For years broadcasters worked hand-in-hand with producers to come up with concepts that combined "canadianous" with cliched premises and corny characters. Then they would hire the one canadian writer working and tell him what was funny. This was a comfortable way of doing things and it left creativity out the door where it couldn't complicate the funding process.

New ideas are scary, I think we all know this. So why are they putting writers, and not lawyers/accountants in charge of the creative? There's one answer - "Corner Gas". This show was developed and originally 100% produced and paid for using the CTV Benefits package. This was a crapload of money that BCE promised the CRTC they would spend in order to devlop Canadian shows that would be popular to Canadians. Now envision after this press release, the two groups got together for a snicker and clinking of glasses at a posh Toronto bar.

When a network promises to spend money to develop Canadian shows, it normally works like this; they throw millions of dollars (a drop in the bucket compared to how much they make from advertising on simulcast U.S. shows) at the independent producers in this country. Nobody expects much to come out of the process (Train 48, Blackfly, The Itch, Comedy Inc.), the networks say to the CRTC, "hey look we tried" and the CRTC says "there, there, come on over and we'll watch something British on my grey market satellite dish".

But Corner Gas has ruined all that and I'd like to know how it happened. A show stuck out in the middle of Saskatchewan sounded like a sure loser but someone (I want names!) decided to throw in interesting characters played by good actors, funny scripts and a self-referential attitude. How did this all slip by?

People watched it. CTV and The Comedy Network (I love Ed MacDonald's line about this name being ironic) quickly moved it around the schedule. No luck. People actually went looking for it and found it.

Mr. and Mrs. Lunchbucket talked about it the next day at work. They told their friends about it.

It got good ratings.

It got better ratings.

It has upset the status quo in this country's television industry and that makes me uneasy.

And maybe Corner Gas didn't start us on this slippery slope of "good" television but it sure was the wax on our skiies. Trailer Park Boys, The Jane Show (though I've never seen it, I hear its good and a funny person came up with the idea, writes it and....stars in it! I'll try and tape it if I can find it on the schedule as I'm occupied every night until nine with my treatments. Where was I?) The Mercer Report, This Hour and I'm sure there's others as well, are all writer driven. And no, I didn't accidentially forget The Butcher Brothers, what the hell's with all that screaming anyway?


So now, I have a longer list of shows to watch along with my American favourites. Shows like House, Sopranos, 30 Rock...hey, wait a minute...those are all writer driven shows. Its the american influence again trying to change our long entrenched culture of mediocre television! Damn them, is nothing sacred to their creative Rube Goldberg machine!

Oh, well, with the latest rejigging of Telefilms guidelines, at least I know our movies are safe.