Toronto: In the Media and Pop Culture

[Jaye101]

Another? I watch Cold Case, Criminal Minds, Law & Order SVU, CSI Miami, CSI NY, & CSI.

[gei]

Anyone see Resident Evil 3? Terrible movie, but it was all based in Toronto (playing as "Raccoon city"). It was cool watching them blow up city hall.

[Taller, Better]

I watched it being filmed every night after work. I wish I had had a decent camera then.
Mind you, they won't let you get very close to the scene.

[isaidso]

It's very important to see ourselves portrayed on television and other media. There has always been top notch Canadian talent in television and film. The problem has always been that they worked in California on US productions.

The tide does seem to be turning regarding being able to keep talent in Canada. California will always be a draw, but talent will always be drawn to quality and/or money. Canadian television doesn't have to mean sub-par. If you make a good show, people will watch regardless of where it is from. We watched Seinfeld. We watched because it was entertaining, not because it was from the USA.

Hopefully, these 2 new programs will be good and it will be picked up in some of the other 200+ countries out there. There's a massive world (and market) beyond the USA. People need to start seeing past this one country.

[Gil]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

I think Little Mosque on the Prairie was picked up in Europe, in countries like France.

I very much like Sheila McCarthy as an actress ever since she was in one of my all
time favourite Canadian films: "I've heard the Mermaids Singing".

Little Mosque on the Prairie has been picked up in the US by . . . wait for it . . . FOX! Fox apparently purchased the rights to either rebroadcast the show on its network, or shoot its own version of the show. Given how the similar show Aliens in America only lasted one season (granted it was on the CW) I'm not sure which of the two alternatives Fox is better off pursuing. But the fact that Fox HAS picked the show has got to say something.

[Taller, Better]

and they are going to redo it and translate it into American. From the National Post:
http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=577908

It's the little mosque that could as show outgrows its small-town roots

Reuters Published: Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Related Topics

The Canadian comedy Little Mosque on the Prairie, created and produced by Zarqa Nawaz, pictured, will get a makeover for U. S. television. 20th Century Fox Television has acquired U. S. format rights to the show, which centres on a Muslim community in a small prairie town, and will develop the comedy for a potential U. S. network slot. "Comedy is a great way to bridge cultures and bring peoples' guards down," Mary Darling, the series' executive producer with Toronto-based Westwind Pictures, said Monday at the Banff World Television Festival. There's no word on casting or a production schedule for an Americanized Little Mosque. The Hollywood studio is still assembling a writing team. "Fox got the creative vision of the show, that it has to be funny while it treads sensitively on certain Muslim issues," Darling said.

[urban 2.0]

.. why can't American's watch international productions?

Is it really that hard to understand the UK version of the Office? Or Little Mosque?

Maybe subtitles could be added - if it's not American I guess it's not broadcastable in the USA.

[rick1016]

One of the reasons is probably that more people will tune in if it's a domestic production.

The average Canadian doesn't watch international programming from outside the US/Canada either.

[Taller, Better]

I disagree; British and Australian shows don't have to be re-done and translated for the English speaking Canadian market, and probably the same for French shows in Quebec.

[allurban]

Originally Posted by urban 2.0

.. why can't American's watch international productions?

Is it really that hard to understand the UK version of the Office? Or Little Mosque?

Maybe subtitles could be added - if it's not American I guess it's not broadcastable in the USA.

what about the "Britcoms" on WNED? C'mon, just because it is a small market and most of the viewers are from Toronto...there are still a few thousand Americans watching international productions

Funny thing is that a few of programs I watch here in Malaysia are coming straight out of TO. Lots of fashion and design shows, as well as something about a team of actors who create a fake company and hire temp workers and put them through weird experiences...

Most of the programs are from Indonesia tho. Australian tv is interesting but the shows lack creativity. One program I do recall was "Water Rats" about the Sydney Harbour police...I wonder, could we get the Canadian rights to that show?

Cheers, m

[rick1016]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

I disagree; British and Australian shows don't have to be re-done and translated for the English speaking Canadian market, and probably the same for French shows in Quebec.

When do you see British and Australian television shows on network television? The CBC? Their viewership is a fraction as commercial networks (CTV, Global) and systems (E!, Citytv, A-Channel).

[Taller, Better]

There are lots of British shows on TV. Yes I do watch CBC.

[Taller, Better]

There are lots of British shows on TV. Yes I do watch CBC.

[rick1016]

Most of those shows are available in the US as well.

[Taller, Better]

I doubt if you would get 100,000 people in the entire USA watching Coronation Street every Sunday morning. I've travelled to almost every part of the USA and with the exception of the intelligentsia in big cities, the UK is like a foreign planet to most Americans. No offence to anyone, but it is an entirely different culture, and in many cases a different language. English speaking Canada is also a different culture, but there is definitely more cross over than in the States, due to the fact historical bonds are more recent here than the ones broken in 1776.

[rick1016]

Right...like it's so different in Canada...

And there's your proof that it doesn't get huge representation. Sunday morning? Do you have any idea what kind of time slot that is?

[Hanker]

I watch Corner Gas nightly on the WGN superstation out of Chicago.

[elliot]

Don't forget that one of the biggest feature films of the year is about to open, "The Love Guru", which is basically a hilarious Mike Myers love letter to Toronto (or more specially/painfully... to the Toronto Maple "leaves").

[InTheBeach]

RENTAL.

[Taller, Better]

Originally Posted by rick1016

Right...like it's so different in Canada...

And there's your proof that it doesn't get huge representation. Sunday morning? Do you have any idea what kind of time slot that is?

100,000 Canadians to watch that British soap is a huge audience. This isn't Hockey Night in Canada that we are talking about. Were you born and raised in Canada? I guess it is one of those things that if you don't see it, then you don't see it.