It was a good year for television. The medium got massive attention.
Not only did television both here and in the United States provide many moments of joy, enchantment and poignancy, but the TV industry itself was often at the centre of controversy. Television's role at the centre of our contemporary culture was underlined.
The U.S. networks, impressed by the success of series such as Lost, 24, Prison Break and Desperate Housewives, decided that ongoing serial dramas were the immediate future of popular TV. Even more compelling was the fact that the most coveted viewers -- the young and the affluent people who don't watch much TV -- would rise to the bait of those smart serial dramas once or twice a week. And the often gloomy tone of Lost, Prison Break and 24 meant that the networks were interested in airing shows with a level of seriousness not seen in years.
It didn't quite work out as the network execs had wished. With too many shows competing for an audience, some of the best new dramas disappeared quickly.
Here in Canada, CBC-TV staggered into the year still recovering from the disastrous lockout of late 2005. It had also ignited controversy by declining to air Prairie Giant, a miniseries about Tommy Douglas, until after the federal election. Not long after it aired, Prairie Giant was again the cause of complaints and bruising arguments. By mid-year CBC was deep in controversy again, this time for deciding to simulcast a rather pathetic U.S. network talent show.
In fact, although 2006 was a year of great TV, it will be remembered as the year of cancellations, conniptions and controversy. Even the most-watched TV event on the planet, the World Cup final in June, was most memorable for a bizarre and deeply controversial act of rage -- French star Zinedine Zidane's vicious head butt to the chest of Italy's Marco Materazzi. In Canada we had an election and a long political leadership race. In January, the Conservative campaign moved solidly toward election day relying heavily on both TV ads and photo-ops tailored for TV news. The usual array of CBC comics, the middle-class intelligentsia and pundits who claim to be media-savvy just sneered, but the missed the point.
Stephen Harper used television expertly.
The election was barely over before a tired Canadian population tuned into the Winter Olympics in Turin. As much as the performance of the men's hockey team was irritating, even worse were the soon-to-be-ubiquitous talking beavers, advertising Bell products. Some viewers felt about these beavers the way the voters of Vancouver Kingsway feel about turncoat David Emerson -- bafflement.
And then, while the Winter Olympics continued, on the day before Valentine's, CBC announced that it was chopping three acclaimed shows -- This Is Wonderland, Da Vinci City Hall and The Tournament. The predictable conniptions followed. CBC management was condemned by all the organizations that represent the creative side of Canadian TV. CBC said it had a plan, it was moving on. News came that CBC was relying on computer-generated "virtual" viewers to test new ideas. News came that new CBC dramas and comedies would be expected to reach one million viewers. None of this sounded like good news.
Soon after, controversy erupted Down East, where humour usually flows. Some people were livid because the Trailer Park Boys had been engaged to host the East Coast Music Awards. As some people saw it, the use of unemployed, foul-mouthed, hard-drinking, dope-smoking trailer-park dwellers as hosts of the ECMAs was offensive.
It turned out that the Boys did an excellent job and provided one of the year's TV highlights, joking around while the new Prime Minister Harper looked on.
By the middle of the year, a part of CBC's alleged strategy was clear -- it would simulcast the ABC reality/talent show The One and, when the series had run its course, there would be a CBC-made, Canadian version.
This extraordinary move was capped by the announcement that George Stroumboulopoulos would host the series for ABC. After a big promotional campaign by CBC (ABC didn't really care about the show -- it was just another summer tryout), The One finally aired to almost universal derision. It lasted two whole weeks. For this, CBC was willing to move The National's timeslot. Once again, CBC found itself coping with the words "fiasco" and "disaster."
No sooner was The One cancelled than CBC management found itself battling politicians, viewers, the Directors Guild of Canada and the Writers Guild over its handling of accusations of historical inaccuracies in Prairie Giant. A planned repeat of the miniseries was cancelled and both director John N. Smith and his screenwriter son, Bruce Smith, were outraged. This newspaper called it "one of the CBC's nastiest brawls in years."
It was the sort of year that offered no silly season in the late-summer months. The World Cup was over for mere weeks when our TV screens were filled with images of destruction, death and grief. The Middle East was engulfed in war and the rage stirred by that conflict reverberated everywhere. We saw lines of frightened Canadians stranded in Lebanon and waiting for rescue. Israel answered shelling from Lebanon with counterattacks, the networks and the all-news channels broadcast heartbreaking footage. Jittery, hollow-eyed TV reporters went on-camera in the middle of the night and their nervous demeanour authentically conveyed the fear and the sense of doom that gripped the region.
The news from Afghanistan was bleak. Canadian soldier after soldier was dying there, giving us all the chill feel of war. There was nothing silly about the events unfolding on our screens in the summer.
As a new TV season started in September, CBC aired the excellent and timely miniseries Answered by Fire, a fine, heart-scalding drama about the complete failure of the United Nations and the most powerful countries on Earth to protect the weak in East Timor. A co-production with ABC in Australia (where it got rave reviews), the miniseries got little attention here. In the U.S., however, seriousness was the order of the day as an excellent season of new dramas that seethed with paranoia and sinister scenarios got under way. There were Heroes, Smith, The Nine, Jericho, Kidnapped, Six Degrees, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Brothers & Sisters. Critics talked of the best new TV season in years.
Some series struck a chord with viewers, many of whom were bewildered by all the choices. But within weeks, Smith was abruptly cancelled, Kidnapped was pushed into a Saturday night slot, and Six Degrees and The Nine were placed "on hiatus."
Of the series that stuck around, Heroes was the new, buzzed-about show. A low-key but compelling drama about ordinary people who find that they have supernatural powers, it screamed the message: "The world needs saving!"
Late in the year, as viewers were still puzzling about the quick cancellation of some new, favourites dramas, came the most stunning cancellation of all. The Fox network had announced it would air a November sweeps special about O.J. Simpson, to tie-in with a book about the murder of his wife and her friend, called If I Did It. Fox needed a ratings boost after a poor fall season.
Then, to the surprise of many, the man who owns the Fox network and the book's publishing company, Rupert Murdoch himself, cancelled both the TV special and the book. Some speculated that Murdoch had finally succumbed to finer feelings. Other suggested Murdoch was concerned he might lose money, book sales and advertisers if the project went ahead.
Even as the year ended and the holiday season approached, controversy and conniptions raged again. Rosie O'Donnell dissed Donald Trump on The View. Trump threatened to sue and insults flew. Why? The winner of the Miss USA pageant, an NBC show like Trump's The Apprentice, admitted to being drunk and rather disorderly. Trump forgave her. O'Donnell didn't.
Here in Canada, four days before Christmas, ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) announced that negotiations with an organization representing Canadian TV producers had broken down. ACTRA said that a strike situation was looming, and the year ended as it began -- in bickering, controversy and conflict.
*****
JOHN DOYLE'S 10 SHOWS THAT MATTERED
Intelligence (CBC): Smart, slick, layered and dryly funny, this is the Canadian drama series that audiences wanted. An attention-grabber right from the get-go, it meshes the manoeuvres of British Columbia crime boss Jimmy Reardon (Ian Tracey) with those of the cops and CSIS. So far, viewer numbers have not been brilliant but this is Canadian TV drama at its smart, populist best.
The Hour (CBC, Newsworld): Some nights the number of people watching The Hour is only about 100,000. But you'd never know that with CBC's relentless promotion of George Stroumboulopoulus and the show. The amount of media attention it generates is way out of proportion to its actual popularity or significance, but this matters because CBC desperately wants The Hour to matter.
Dexter (Showtime, TMN, Movie Central): It's strange that a show about a serial killer with a heart of gold can be so compelling and charming. Michael C. Hall (the gay David Fisher on Six Feet Under) plays Dexter, a medical examiner in Florida. He knows his way around a dead body, and forensics are a breeze. By night he's a vigilante killer, hunting down and murdering the criminals he despises. Dexter is empty, calculating, sadistic and charming. The show is very grown-up TV.
The Wire (HBO, TMN): It is easily the best show on television. Put simply, it's a masterpiece of storytelling, drama, humour and social observation. It's just that it never gets a lot of attention. Its merits are not always obvious or easy to grasp and The Wire is rarely an hour of easy viewing. Created by David Simon (whose book inspired Homicide: Life on the Street), the most recent season showed it was capable of transcending its sister HBO series Six Feet Under and The Sopranos in the sophistication of its study of American life today.
The Nine (ABC, CTV):About nine people whose lives are changed because they were in a bank when it was robbed, The Nine was the best reviewed new drama. Complex and elliptical, its seriousness was ultimately off-putting to a mass audience. But that serious tone and clever storytelling are noble attributes. It ain't cancelled, yet, though it's off ABC's schedule. A lot of TV writers and producers could learn from its quality.
Heroes (NBC, Global):The season's only truly popular new show, Heroes is the sort of delicate mixture of drama, hokum and romance that network TV can still do with aplomb. For a while it looked like there wasn't room for another complicated serial drama, but Heroes proved there's plenty of room for originality.
Prison Break (Fox, Global): Another show that does what TV does expertly, Prison Break stayed compelling even as the prisoners (a superbly created motley crew) got out of jail and ran. It's twist-and-turn drama, don't-miss TV.
Rick Mercer Report (CBC): While CBC hoped desperately for gangbuster ratings numbers for many of its new shows, it was Mercer who managed to come close. He played the political scene with a deft feel for the potential comedy, and his visit to Stephen Harper's home was a massive hit with viewers. Anyone who says we have no star system in Canada needs to take a long look at Mercer.
Ugly Betty (ABC, CITY-TV):It was widely predicted as the season's first huge hit, but the series about Betty (America Ferrera), a plain girl who miraculously becomes the assistant to the head of a top fashion magazine, got even better as it progressed. Always sweet, light, breezy and far from stupid, it manages to keep the charm intact.
Trailer Park Boys (Showcase): The most recent season was not the best from the Boys, but something else happened -- the show spawned a genuine hit movie in Canada. That itself is a triumph in Canadian TV. What creator Mike Clattenburg and his team have done is astonishing: grow from obscurity on a cable channel to superstardom in Canada. The rest of world awaits.
SHOW'S BEST FORGOTTEN
The One (ABC, CBC): The next time some clever manager at CBC has a big idea, someone else in the room should mention this show.
Lucky Louie (HBO, TMN, Movie Central): Famous for its groundbreaking dramas, HBO took a flier on comedy with this sitcom and created a disaster. The idea was to derive comedy from a working-class couple and allow the characters to swear a blue streak. It was embarrassing to watch.
Deal or No Deal (NBC, Global): It won't be forgotten soon, of course, because it's still doing well, but this loud, brash game show was the cheap, nasty flavour of the year for NBC. Other networks took notice and launched their own, even more horrific, variations. None worked, but Deal or No Deal kept on chugging, giving Howie Mandel the most unlikely of comeback platforms.
Rachael Ray Show (Food Network, CITY-TV): For reasons that are immensely complicated, Rachael Ray became the most mocked TV figure this year. The show is wholesome and the host exudes niceness, but the vitriol aimed at Ray is a thing to behold. It's more fun than her show, that's for sure.
© Globe and Mail
