(Will Dixon has been a tv industry hyphenate for nearly twenty years - directing, writing, and producing a little bit of everything everywhere from Toronto to Los Angeles. Selected shows include 'Are You Afraid of the Dark?', 'Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal', 'The Outer Limits', 'Earth Final Conflict' and 'Guitarman'.)
From Will Dixon's 'uninflected images juxtaposed' blog update for August 10, 2008:
(Please follow the link for the complete blog update.)
Train In Vain...(or How Canadian TV Got Derailed By The Past Ten Years)
I have been following with interest the thread that began at Anthony Strand's Live Journal and then continued at Weinman's TV Guidance where they've been discussing...what is the definitive show of the past decade?
**snippage**
Anyway, go check out those posts --- what I wanted to put on the table is....
....what might be the definitive Canadian series/show of the decade?
But drama...not so easy.
In trying to determine a shortlist, I searched long and hard. Series like The Eleventh Hour or This Is Wonderland or Intelligence were quality but didn't quite attain the necessary 'popularity' factor. Cold Squad and Divinci's Inquest were popular and ran well into the 2000's, but both began airing in 1998 (and one of the criteria seems to be that the series began airing by or at least roundabouts 2000).
Stargate: SG1 or at least it's spinoff Stargate: Atlantis are certainly long-running and popular enough to warrant consideration. And as far as 'defining' us, service producing US programming is certainly high on the list of things we do as an industry (which is kind of an unfair rap against the Stargate's since the vast majority of cast, crew, writers, showrunners even are Canadian...but many up here still don't regard it as a 'Canadian' show since it's primary investors and broadcasters have been American - MGM and US's Showtime and then SciFi channel). But because most people don't perceive them as distinctly 'Canadian' shows, I moved on.
**snippage**
*******
What do you think is the definitive Canadian TV show for the past decade?
Or even the most definitive Canadian TV show ever?
Do Stargate SG-1 or Stargate Atlantis count as 'Canadian' in your view?
I loved Due South, which was Canadian made, but for the most part, took place in Chicago (supposedly).
And DaVinci's Inquest is excellent -- providing Canadian/British Columbia/Vancouver politics, history and drama.
But Stargate SG-1 really caught my interest of the quality Canadian production companies, crew and staff are capable of, and many cases, excel over what American TV usually provide.
From Will Dixon's 'uninflected images juxtaposed' blog update for August 10, 2008:
(Please follow the link for the complete blog update.)
Train In Vain...(or How Canadian TV Got Derailed By The Past Ten Years)
I have been following with interest the thread that began at Anthony Strand's Live Journal and then continued at Weinman's TV Guidance where they've been discussing...what is the definitive show of the past decade?
**snippage**
Anyway, go check out those posts --- what I wanted to put on the table is....
....what might be the definitive Canadian series/show of the decade?
But drama...not so easy.
In trying to determine a shortlist, I searched long and hard. Series like The Eleventh Hour or This Is Wonderland or Intelligence were quality but didn't quite attain the necessary 'popularity' factor. Cold Squad and Divinci's Inquest were popular and ran well into the 2000's, but both began airing in 1998 (and one of the criteria seems to be that the series began airing by or at least roundabouts 2000).
Stargate: SG1 or at least it's spinoff Stargate: Atlantis are certainly long-running and popular enough to warrant consideration. And as far as 'defining' us, service producing US programming is certainly high on the list of things we do as an industry (which is kind of an unfair rap against the Stargate's since the vast majority of cast, crew, writers, showrunners even are Canadian...but many up here still don't regard it as a 'Canadian' show since it's primary investors and broadcasters have been American - MGM and US's Showtime and then SciFi channel). But because most people don't perceive them as distinctly 'Canadian' shows, I moved on.
**snippage**
*******
What do you think is the definitive Canadian TV show for the past decade?
Or even the most definitive Canadian TV show ever?
Do Stargate SG-1 or Stargate Atlantis count as 'Canadian' in your view?
I loved Due South, which was Canadian made, but for the most part, took place in Chicago (supposedly).
And DaVinci's Inquest is excellent -- providing Canadian/British Columbia/Vancouver politics, history and drama.
But Stargate SG-1 really caught my interest of the quality Canadian production companies, crew and staff are capable of, and many cases, excel over what American TV usually provide.
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