Inside Television 508
Publication date: 7-2-10
By: Hubert O’Hearn
Happy Canada Day everyone. Granted, my celebration has been somewhat tempered by virtue of various provincial and federal bureaucracies mishandling or flat-out losing important paperwork over the last several weeks, I do realize that as Bruce Cockburn sand, they call it democracy. There are still a few kinks in the system. And we have stable banking laws. You take the good with the bad.
So let’s celebrate the country. There are two fairly interesting Canadian television stories this week. The first is paradoxically both prominent and obscure. CTV absolutely buried every other network in the world in the Promax/BDA Awards Competition this week in Los Angeles. Er, what’s that?, one might say as I did. Essentially, these are the awards for the ‘look’ of a network, its design, the lead-in music and the promos. They are for network design.
And this is hugely important in terms of the branding feel of a network. Think that’s not important? As grandly individual as you and I both are you and me and the neighbour are all easily captured by marketing and promises of a luminous future if only you and this object are put in union. We are drawn to sample by the packaging. It’s equally why we have drawers full of once-used gadgets next to old photos of former lovers.
Publication date: 7-2-10
By: Hubert O’Hearn
Happy Canada Day everyone. Granted, my celebration has been somewhat tempered by virtue of various provincial and federal bureaucracies mishandling or flat-out losing important paperwork over the last several weeks, I do realize that as Bruce Cockburn sand, they call it democracy. There are still a few kinks in the system. And we have stable banking laws. You take the good with the bad.
So let’s celebrate the country. There are two fairly interesting Canadian television stories this week. The first is paradoxically both prominent and obscure. CTV absolutely buried every other network in the world in the Promax/BDA Awards Competition this week in Los Angeles. Er, what’s that?, one might say as I did. Essentially, these are the awards for the ‘look’ of a network, its design, the lead-in music and the promos. They are for network design.
And this is hugely important in terms of the branding feel of a network. Think that’s not important? As grandly individual as you and I both are you and me and the neighbour are all easily captured by marketing and promises of a luminous future if only you and this object are put in union. We are drawn to sample by the packaging. It’s equally why we have drawers full of once-used gadgets next to old photos of former lovers.
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| stare at me long enough and I will own your mind ... |
The CTV Creative Agency won 36 medals including 13 gold, while the CTV Network as a whole won 41. In second place was NBC (who if you think about it has always been good at that, from the peacock through Must See TV) with a relatively paltry 14 total. Before you read the next paragraph, see if you can guess which particularly CTV promo campaign won 13 awards all by itself? Think about it ... and ...
Time’s up. ‘Believe.’ As in the Winter Olympics. If you hadn’t guessed, you’re smacking yourself in the head right now. Either that or waving your hands around in strange motions so the CGI crew at CTV can draw in balloons or letters in post-production. Regardless, well done CTV. No wonder they’re easily number one in the ratings in Canada.
CTV’s private competitor Global is more or less saying, ‘oh what the hell, let’s try it’ by launching as of yesterday the Reality Channel. The same idea crashed and burned like the Red Baron pursued by Snoopy in the United States, even though it was backed by Fox. Come to think of it, Manfred von Richthofen and Rupert Murdoch never were photographed together, so one never knows. Coincidence? I think not.
But will people really tune in to watch re-runs of The Apprentice and Survivor and all that? Even if you’re drawn in by it all initially, and neither series has ever appealed to me even though I’ve clearly softened my once diamond-hard stance against reality TV. Those are the featured series along with Big Brother, Hell’s Kitchen and the like. Oh good. All my enemies are gathered together in one spot. Launch the bombing run. Bin Laden may still be on the loose but we have Donald Trump in our ratings’ crosshairs.
The consensus of opinions that I have read on the subject think that the project is doomed to failure. We may not all be able to cite every season of Masterpiece Theatre - God knows I can’t - but there is a quivering beaver tail in my soul that still believes that the average Canadian is still slightly more culturally sophisticated than the average American, so if a Reality Channel wouldn’t fly in the Soo, Michigan, why should it work in the Soo, Ontario?
Enjoy the long weekend and at the Blues Festival next weekend I hope I’ll - be seeing you.
(And remember, clicking on ads is informative AND entertaining :) - ! H)
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