There's No One Left But Me... And Him

Mr. McGrath put me on to this dreadful bit of news, courtesy of John Doyle:

The last thing the Canadian TV networks and the watching Canadian audience need is more air-headed coverage of American celebrities.

But that's precisely what we're going to get with CanWest Global's bizarre decision to foist the execrable E! Entertainment Channel on Canadians. With the signing of a cheque and, presumably, the agreement of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, CanWest Global is turning over its venerable CH stations to the content of an American cable outfit that's entirely devoted to maniacally intense and superficial reporting on U.S. showbiz. This move is grotesque. It's the sellout of a string of Canadian over-the-air channels to dumb-as-a-post American cable coverage of already overexposed and often talentless idiots.

This is absolutely horrifying. I grew up with 'The Hilarious House of Frightenstein' and 'Party Game', and later, 'Smith & Smith' and 'The Red Green Show' - all developed, produced and aired by CHCH in Hamilton. These guys were doing original, local, low budget, Canadian programming back when CITY TV was just a throbbing bulge in Moses' pants.


The CRTC is a pathetic, impotent joke. Billy Van must be spinning in his grave.