Attention all those not downsized in Canadian Media circles this week: I’ve been asked to join my good pal John Doyle, television critic at The Globe and Mail, for a Live Webcast starting at noon Friday as part of the virtual “Globe Up Close” series.
I am flattered to be asked and indebted to Mister Doyle, who knows a lot about a lot and expresses it better than most. I’ve been a fan for years and we had great fun when he kindly joined me on a brioux.tv podcast in 2020.
Hell, I would even talk to John about soccer; or at least listen.
Besides, who could resist a debate where this is the opening line, as forwarded by the folks at The Globe and clearly written by John:
“Canadian TV, like American democracy, is in a constant state of panic.”
Hoo-boy, is that ever true this week. The graph goes on:
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“It is simply ill-equipped to deal with the change that the pandemic has brought about. And as traditional TV struggles, streaming networks are evolving at break-neck speed, but not without struggle.”
It reads like the first two lines of a novel. There is so much to talk about and we are going to need way more than the 45 minutes allocated. Broadcast TV today — it is like vaudeville in the ’60s. Streaming? How do you compete in Canada with these world-wide, multinational media giants? It’s like promising vaccines to all our citizens first but then realizing we don’t make any of it. Whoops!
Lucky for you, citizens, me and John are here to solve all of the problems in Canadian television — or at least celebrate the arrival of Pretty Hard Cases and point out a few others shows that we’re each streaming now.
The webcast is exclusive to Globe and Mail subscribers. You can become a member, and get more information on Friday’s event, live and in colour, here.
