And writes! And makes a whole bunch of sense in the Canadian cable vs Canadian television companies steel cage match. (Montreal Gazette). Told you getting your Grade 10 is important.
Showing posts with label Television. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Television. Show all posts
10.28.2009
Ricky Talks!
And writes! And makes a whole bunch of sense in the Canadian cable vs Canadian television companies steel cage match. (Montreal Gazette). Told you getting your Grade 10 is important.
7.07.2009
Your cable bill is about to go up $10 a month …
… thanks to the CRTC (Inside the CBC). With this, the federal government has successfully forced the Canadian public to subsidize the business stupidity of Canwest and Bell Globemedia.
Bill Brioux (TV Feeds My Family) provides Satan in the details.
"One shocking little detail buried in the fine print in today's CRTC funding announcement: after all that whining from broadcasters--yes, those same "Save Local TV" guys--about how all those local news costs are breaking their business models, the CRTC has lowered the minimum local programming levels to 14 hours a week in big cities and just seven hours a week in "non-metropolitan markets." That is an hour a day. So here is more money--go out and do less."
An hour less local TV. Hmm. Are some of these guys about to get layoff notices? (CTV Regina)
5.11.2009
Sawyer's Series
Huh! Apparently, Canadian science fiction author and frequent visitor to Saskatchewan Robert Sawyer has a TV series a-coming, as one of his books, Flash Forward, just scored a 13-episode run on ABC. Nifty! (CBC)
Anyone who wants more Sawyer can check out the author's blog, here. Link goes to the Flash Forward post, from Friday. And what the heck, here's a self-serving link to his recent Blog Post on his April 9 Planet S cover interview.
Sawyer will beam into Regina on Saturday, June 20 at Book and Brier Patch for signing and socializing.
Anyone who wants more Sawyer can check out the author's blog, here. Link goes to the Flash Forward post, from Friday. And what the heck, here's a self-serving link to his recent Blog Post on his April 9 Planet S cover interview.
Sawyer will beam into Regina on Saturday, June 20 at Book and Brier Patch for signing and socializing.
5.10.2009
4.27.2009
4.26.2009
GOODBYE, BEA
Small screen legend and Goldenest of Girls Bea Arthur passed away yesterday (New York Times). Here's a nice little tribute on Dark Horizons, a fine movie news and rumour website.
But what you want to know is, can you have an embed of the Maude intro? Damn straight you can!
Maude TV Opening Theme - Click here for more home videos
And while I'm at it, here's a clip from an episode of Maude with more social significance than the entire runs of most contemporary sitcoms. Remember what the United States was growing into before medieval-minded Christian fascists seized control in the Reagan era? here, let Maude remind you.
Rest In Peace, Bea.
But what you want to know is, can you have an embed of the Maude intro? Damn straight you can!
Maude TV Opening Theme - Click here for more home videos
And while I'm at it, here's a clip from an episode of Maude with more social significance than the entire runs of most contemporary sitcoms. Remember what the United States was growing into before medieval-minded Christian fascists seized control in the Reagan era? here, let Maude remind you.
Rest In Peace, Bea.
4.25.2009
Saturday Morning
Breaking with the format a bit this week. Instead of a cartoon, here's some classic Canadian Saturday morning live-action fare, The Hilarious House of Frightenstein!
As far as I can tell, there's yet to be a definitive DVD release -- one that's comprehensive and complete. Instead we've been given boxed sets of "select" episodes that have been chopped up and truncated. Now maybe, for some, that's all the Frightenstein they can handle. But this, IMHO, is a pretty important part of Canadian television history and deserves full preservation.
Apparently, one of the problems holding up such a release is the show's use of songs. Specifically in the Wolfman segments. Seems many of the songs that were spun on EECH Radio wouldn't have been had they had to get past today's more rigid intellectual property laws -- most notable among them, the segments intro bit, Sly and the Family Stone's "I Want to Take You Higher".
Once again, copyright sucks a little joy out of the world.
More info on The Hilarious House of Frightenstein at wikipedia (of course) and on this fansite.
As far as I can tell, there's yet to be a definitive DVD release -- one that's comprehensive and complete. Instead we've been given boxed sets of "select" episodes that have been chopped up and truncated. Now maybe, for some, that's all the Frightenstein they can handle. But this, IMHO, is a pretty important part of Canadian television history and deserves full preservation.
Apparently, one of the problems holding up such a release is the show's use of songs. Specifically in the Wolfman segments. Seems many of the songs that were spun on EECH Radio wouldn't have been had they had to get past today's more rigid intellectual property laws -- most notable among them, the segments intro bit, Sly and the Family Stone's "I Want to Take You Higher".
Once again, copyright sucks a little joy out of the world.
More info on The Hilarious House of Frightenstein at wikipedia (of course) and on this fansite.
3.18.2009
Re: The Banana Splits
For anyone who read my Doodlebops blurb in the 14 Days Top Six of the March 12 issue (pp. 20) here's some info on The Banana Splits (Wikipedia) (YouTube). Mind-expanding stuff, at least for a pre-teen living in Whitmore Park in South Regina.
3.04.2009
Update Central
Further to my Tuesday post on The Bachelor debacle which, if I understand correctly from my brief perusal of media reports, having never seen a millisecond of this or virtually any other reality show ever, the bachelor in question, Ryan somebody I think -- no, Jason -- first picked Melissa upon whom to bestow his final red rose (no phallic symbolism there), and then publicly reneged on his commitment on network TV, devastating Melissa and shocking millions of loyal viewers at home, not an insignificant number of whom, I imagine, were reduced to tears at Jason's duplicity. Instead, Jason went with first runner up Molly. As the linked interview with the show's producer demonstrates, the finale generated considerable controversy, But it was also a public relations coup for the show, setting the table nicely for the next installment of The Bachelorette which is set to start soon, and will star Jillian (after both Molly and Melissa turned the invite down).
3.03.2009
Stunned is Right
Apparently, the denouement to the latest installment of ABC's The Bachelor last night left a lot of viewer's stunned.
1.15.2009
TV is Dead, Long Live TV
Just read this interview. It's with Jeff Macpherson and Tosca Musk of Tiki Bar TV. (Yes. I realize I'm a little obsessed.) It's a pretty thorough behind-the-scenes look at how the show came to be. Lots of fun for anyone who's a fan.
But it's also worth reading for what it has to say about new media.
I found it very interesting to learn how internet-based shows like Tiki Bar are devising new business models for creative content. Basically, they're managing to make a living even though they give their show away for nothing. (Which is kind of like the prairie dog, come to think of it. Holy crap. We're cutting edge!)
Compare that to the dinosaurs in the mainstream media. The media conglomerates are wringing their hands over their intellectual property being pirated and everyday they're coming up with new, more draconian measures to hinder the free flow of content and punish those who circumvent them. And they're losing market share as a result.
Meanwhile, people like Macpherson and co. are making some truly inspired creative content, giving it away, and rewriting the rules of entertainment commerce as they go. Personally I'm pretty excited to see where this will all wind up.
One thing I think is pretty clear is television is going to be an early casualty in all this. Not being able to get shows on demand and for nothing (or next-to-nothing) is just not going to cut it much longer. (On top of that, switching to digital this year and making millions of televisions obsolete isn't going to help their situation any.) And I have to say, after being inundated over the xmas holidays by my parent's prime-time viewing choices, the networks aren't exactly churning out quality material.
Maybe the networks won't go black, but they might become the exclusive domain of reality shows while all the cutting edge drama and comedy wind up online. Kind of like what happened to radio when television took over.
But it's also worth reading for what it has to say about new media.
I found it very interesting to learn how internet-based shows like Tiki Bar are devising new business models for creative content. Basically, they're managing to make a living even though they give their show away for nothing. (Which is kind of like the prairie dog, come to think of it. Holy crap. We're cutting edge!)
Compare that to the dinosaurs in the mainstream media. The media conglomerates are wringing their hands over their intellectual property being pirated and everyday they're coming up with new, more draconian measures to hinder the free flow of content and punish those who circumvent them. And they're losing market share as a result.
Meanwhile, people like Macpherson and co. are making some truly inspired creative content, giving it away, and rewriting the rules of entertainment commerce as they go. Personally I'm pretty excited to see where this will all wind up.
One thing I think is pretty clear is television is going to be an early casualty in all this. Not being able to get shows on demand and for nothing (or next-to-nothing) is just not going to cut it much longer. (On top of that, switching to digital this year and making millions of televisions obsolete isn't going to help their situation any.) And I have to say, after being inundated over the xmas holidays by my parent's prime-time viewing choices, the networks aren't exactly churning out quality material.
Maybe the networks won't go black, but they might become the exclusive domain of reality shows while all the cutting edge drama and comedy wind up online. Kind of like what happened to radio when television took over.
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