Continuing with our series on free streaming services, let’s take a look at a ‘free’ service that you are paying for, whether you like it or not – CBC Gem.
Gem is the streaming service of the venerable Canadian Broadcasting Corporation which, for all its faults, is still the only place to go for Canadian content, or CanCon as they call it.
The bulk of CBC Gem is made up of CBC programs that, judging from their sometimes anemic viewing numbers, most people didn’t watch over the air. There’s Family Feud Canada (Gerry Dee makes it worth watching), Son of a Critch, Workin’ Moms, Heartland, Marketplace, and even some old episodes of The Beachcombers. There are documentaries (if you missed the excellent Summit ‘72 doc on the Canada-Russia series, I heartily recommend it), and some obscure sports that people only pay attention to in Olympic years. Essentially, Gem provides viewers an opportunity to sample everything CBC has to offer, but beware – there are commercials, and a lot of them, frequently the same commercials repeated ad infinitum. You can pay $4.99 a month for ad free if you like.
There is some live stuff – the House of Commons for masochists, the dreary CBC News World, and every CBC channel from Victoria to St. John’s. This being the CBC, there are ‘inclusive’ sections of ‘Must Watch Black Leads’, and ‘Indigenous Stories’, and ‘Asian Excellence’, and ‘Watch with Pride’.
[Editor’s note: there are also some very funny, albeit short form and low budget, CBC Gem originals, including Hey Lady! starring Jayne Eastwood, My 90-Year-Old Roommate with the late Paul Soles and the duck carving comedy Decoys.]
If you’re one of those people who would rather watch reruns of Young Sheldon over anything CBC offers, Gem really shines in its imported programming. There are also lots of British dramas that are usually worth checking out, but the best stuff is in the comedy area. Here are some gems from Gem.
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- Portlandia, the U.S. sketch comedy show with Fred Armisen that pokes fun at the most ‘progressive’ city in America.
- The Office, the original with Ricky Gervais.
- Sherman’s Showcase, a parody from the IFC channel in the US, that chronicles a fictitious music program over its 40-year history.
- W1A, a scathing comedy from the BBC that takes aim at the bureaucracy and political correctness of … the BBC. It stars Hugh Bonneville of Downton Abbey fame.
- Stath Lets Flats, another British import, stars Jamie Demetriou and his real-life sister Natasia (Nadja from What We Do In The Shadows). Jamie plays Stath, a hopeless Greek-Cypriot rental agent (‘lets’ is Brit-speak for rents). He’s a truly terrible character, but very funny.
- Ghosts, a comedy about a haunted bed-and-breakfast. This is superior, I think, to the American version airing on CBS.
- Documentary Now!, a series of absolutely spot-on parodies of the world’s most famous documentaries. You can watch and enjoy these shows even if you’ve never seen the docs they mock, but if you’ve seen the real films, so much the better. From Fred Armisen, Bill Hader and Seth Meyers.
Gem is well worth checking out. After all, you’re paying for it.
Edmonton-born and raised, Maurice Tougas claims he was his family’s “walking TV listing back in the three-channel universe.” He’s also a retired, award-winning journalist. I first encountered Maurice when he was editor of Alberta Prime Times. He asked me to contribute a TV column there; happy to continue our association. Look for him to unearth many more “hidden TV gems” here at brioux.tv.
