After 15 years, CBC still rules Geminis by Tony Atherton

by Tony Atherton

After 15 years and more than a thousand presentations, the Gemini statuette, seven kilos of brass and marble fashioned into a pair of stylized silhouettes, is thoroughly identified with Canada's annual TV-award ceremony.

But back in 1986, the two-faced squiggle almost lost out to another design, a brass spiral that Ron Cohen, former president of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, once described as "a graceful tornado." Given the whirlwind of change that has engulfed Canadian TV in the years since the first Gemini was handed out, a tornado might have been more appropriate.

On the other hand, the Gemini's twin design is almost as fitting. There are striking similarities between the state of the medium represented at the first awards ceremony, and that in attendance at the 15th anniversary gala, to be broadcast live on CBC Monday at 8 p.m.

While there are dozens more stations and specialty networks than there were back in 1986, and though private broadcasters are spending more on Canadian programming these days, the Geminis are still dominated by the CBC. Last year, programs on the public broadcaster snared more than half the awards. The next closest network was CTV with less than one-fifth the prizes.

And while there is infinitely more Canadian programming to choose from now than 15 years ago, Canadians – beguiled by a widening array of imported channels – are watching almost no more primetime Canadian programming than they did in the mid-'80s. In 1985, Canadian programming accounted for 22 per cent of primetime viewing; in 1998 it was 23 per cent.

Finally, while the CBC has now all but eliminated the U.S. programming that choked its schedule in 1986, has doubled its primetime Canadian content, and has increased its Canadian drama quota by 40 per cent, its annual operating grant from Parliament is almost the same as it was 15 years ago. In fact, the $760-million grant for this past year was $20 million less than it was in 1986.

The seeds of what inspired both the industry's change and its stasis were apparent even in that first awards ceremony, which aired, inauspiciously, on a hodgepodge of private stations on a Thursday night in early December.

The creation of the Geminis was itself a response to changes in the industry. Canada's TV awards before the Geminis were the Nellies, a creature of the actors and writers union, ACTRA. Since the emphasis was on honoring union members, and most of the union members worked at CBC, there was strong perception of bias.

Initially, no one cared much, since CBC was the only broadcaster serious about Canadian content outside news.

But as the CRTC began to pressure private networks to contribute more than token Canadian fare, broadcasters became increasingly testy about the awards. For the two years before the Geminis, CTV had boycotted the Nellies.

Looking for a less compromised awards system, industry members approached the Academy of Canadian Cinema, an independent body which had been running the Canadian film awards competition, the Genies, since 1979. After some negotiation, the Academy added "and Television" to its name, opened up its membership to TV craftspeople, and created the Geminis, which would soon to eclipse the Genies in both popularity and relevance.

Just as with the Nellies of old, a lot of the nominations for the first Geminis went to CBC in-house productions, programs made by network staffers in the Mother Corp's own studios. The list included the Louis Del Grande comedy, Seeing Things, the family adventure, Beachcombers, the period movie Love & Larceny, and the sitcom Hangin' In.

But that year's highest profile awards went to an emerging genre of programming – independent productions, shows commissioned by a network but produced outside by private companies. The Gemini-winner for best miniseries was Anne of Green Gables. Made for CBC by Sullivan Films, the popular production also picked up eight other awards.

The first Gemini for best drama series went to Night Heat, a U.S.-style cop show made for CTV and CBS late-night by an independent company that became the genesis for the formidable Alliance Films. Night Heat's win started a Gemini trend: Alliance dramas made for private networks CTV and Global (including E.N.G., Due South and Traders) would dominate the prestigious category for most of the next 13 years, much to the chagrin of CBC. Last year's Gemini for Da Vinci's Inquest was the CBC's first win in the category since Degrassi High in 1989.

The move to independent TV production had been precipitated two years earlier by the Mulroney Tories. The government had rerouted some of the cash its was siphoning from the CBC to create a broadcast fund administered by the former Canadian Film Development Corporation, renamed Telefilm Canada. Telefilm offered forgivable loans to independent producers making programming for Canadian broadcasters.

This bone was immediately seized upon by private networks who had no desire to underwrite the full cost of expensive drama programs as their U.S. counterparts did. CBC eventually also turned almost exclusively to subsidized independent programming as its own resources dried up. Over the years, the public broadcaster rerouted funds from in-house local programming to network coffers, where it could be used to license independent programming. Thus, CBC was able to increase Canadian content, even while its government grants fell far behind inflation.

Meanwhile, Telefilm kick-started the independent production industry. Weaned on a diet of government handouts that grew as support for the CBC withered, the industry flourished, and branched out.

Fifteen years ago, the most successful independent production company was Atlantis Films, with about $10 million in revenues. This past year, Alliance Atlantis, the merged production giant run by the original Atlantis partners, had almost $800 million in revenues.

Back in 1986, Atlantis's Telefilm-subsidized programming included the Gemini-winning sci-fi special, The Ray Bradbury Trilogy. Made for the movie channel, First Choice (now TMN), The Ray Bradbury Trilogy was named "Best Pay TV Drama." The category that would soon vanish as the industry came to realize that cable networks were not an anomaly to be judged in isolation, but the most vital part of the evolving medium.

In 1986, an Ottawa cable subscriber paid less than $10 for a package that includes 13 English language channels, among them three CBC affiliates, two CTV affiliates, a cable community channel and a part-time parliamentary channel. For another $16 a month they could get First Choice and the only two Canadian specialty channels, TSN and Much Music. Conventional broadcasters like CTV were bitterly opposed to any expansion of the specialty channel ranks, fearing the competition.

Today, Ottawa cable subscribers have access to more than two dozen English-language specialty channels, which collectively account for about a quarter of all viewing – and broadcasters wants more. CTV now owns eight specialty channels, which means the company can boast 93 nominations at this year's Geminis.

Canadian specialty channels are not just placeholders in the Canadian broadcasting system, either. Two-thirds of the viewing to Canadian specialty channels is to Canadian programs.

However, their promotion of Canadian content is offset by the popularity another dozen U.S. specialty channels, as well as the affiliates for upstart networks like Fox and the WB, none of which were available to Canadian viewers in 1986.

Still, the presence of increasingly vigorous Canadian specialty channels and the efforts of private broadcasters, particularly the CTV, are changing the face of Canadian programming. While CBC still holds sway at the Geminis, it is far less predominant than it once was. In 1989, according to an analysis released this week by The Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, specialty channels and private broadcasters accounted for less that 20 per cent of the Gemini winners. Last year, it was more than 40 per cent.

The result of this spread of quality programming across the broadcasting spectrum seems to be that Canadians are more appreciative of home-grown programming than they once were.

The Friends of Canadian Broadcasting analysis includes details of a CBC survey of more than 2000 Canadians last fall, who were asked to rate the quality of various dramas. While the top five shows on this quality scale were all U.S. series, including Law & Order and The Practice, CBC's Da Vinci's Inquest rated higher than NYPD Blue and Chicago Hope, and CTV's Cold Squad polled higher than Felicity and Ally McBeal.

As a rule, Canadian entertainment programs are both better (thanks to an aggressive subsidization of independent producers) and less broadly watched (thanks to the fragmentation of the TV audience) than they were when the Geminis started. But they're also beginning to earn some respect.

© Ottawa Citizen