CANADA/ENTERTAINMENT - The Conservative Party of Canada is upset about American game shows such a Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune on CBC and during the current economic climate the CBC has little choice but to boost ratings using American shows.The CBC has received $30 billion CDN in taxpayers' money over the last 30 years, fulfilling their obligation to provide Canadian content in both English and French, but doing so is tricky as they're limited to using a majority of Canadian content and are facing a lot of competition from cable networks with 300+ channels.
Stephen Harper and his cronies have little they like on the CBC as it is, so its no wonder its facing cuts.
Hockey Night in Canada and Little Mosque on the Prairie are the most popular shows and therefore safe from the Tory axe, but other shows like metrosexuals 'Stephen and Chris' (a style show) is being put on hiatus, and Fashion File (a show about the fashion industry and supermodels that has been on the air since 1989) is being canceled completely.
And what is the CBC promoting? 'Canada's Next Great Prime Minister', a game show which has contestants compete and get judged by Canada's old prime ministers. The show underlies an overall dissatisfaction with Stephen Harper's leadership skills and his inability to win a majority government during elections.
Whats left? The Nature of Things, CBC News, Rick Mercer, 22 Minutes, Just For Laughs, documentaries, the occasional movie, CBC children's shows in the mornings, The Simpsons (also safe from being cut because its too damn popular, despite previous attempts to remove it from the CBC) and the aforementioned Jeopardy/Wheel of Fortune game shows. Many of these shows are either contrary to the Tories environmental or immigration policies or openly mock Stephen Harper (ie. 22 Minutes and Rick Mercer) so its really not a surprise they want to axe a lot of the CBC shows.
So therein lies the problem. The CBC is facing a budget crunch and they need more money, but the Tories don't want to give it because there's too many shows they dislike (including The Nature of Things, The Simpsons and Little Mosque).
So what is left to do? The CBC have already cut back on staff as much as they can, advertising spots have slumped, and there's a shortage of Canadian content they can show.
Maybe its time to bring back 'The Raccoons' in reruns? No wait, that's a kids show with an environmental message.
Or borrow The Reach for the Top (a game show which gives scholarships to high school graduates) from TVO? No wait, that supports higher education and educated people are less likely to vote Conservative.
Obviously the CBC is between a rock and a hard place.
Is it just me or is Cyril Sneer a lot like Stephen Harper?
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