Archie Bunkers Place - Archie Alone

One of the saddest and most powerful scenes in TV history.

Reality Television Isn't Reality

There is no such thing as reality television - it’s rarely a reflexion of reality in any shape or form. It seems that a long time ago, you actually had to have some ability or talent in order to achieve some sort of fame. You may have been a bad actor or terrible singer, but at least you were doing something that attempted to entertain. Now, you can get instantly famous without having any talent or even any personality to speak of. Behind all this rage of reality TV is the once-repressed human urge of voyeurism. People are always curious to see the “inner lives” of others. When McLuhan claimed that the medium itself was the message, he wasn’t kidding. Now you’re famous simply because you’re on TV, even if you are just sitting around a table and talking pointless drivel.

It all started inocently enough. One of the first reality shows, “COPS“, is still on. From the start, it kind of seemed far less contrived in that you really didn’t know what you were about to face when you headed out on the road with the police. Seemed like a good premise for a show and it was a big eye-opener. Rare are the reality shows that maintain that quality though…

As we entered the 2000s, scripted programming began to take a beating… It really started with the emergence of “Survivor”. It was something different, but at least there seemed to be a point to the premise. It became a huge hit and is now part of American popular culture. It’s the kind of show that could stay on the air forever… Unfortunately, the show’s format has become mercilessly copied from the start. The concept of getting rid of someone at the end of each show became a new fad - from who gets the last rose to who leaves "Hell’s Kitchen". It’s not survival of the fittest, it’s survival of the most popular. No, in real life you can’t usually get rid of people that way, although TV has made it seem fashionable.

And then there was the “celebrity” reality show. It must be noted that at their very beginnings, they actually used real celebrities and their families. Again the voyeur factor played a big role in some of these shows’ success. People wanted to see the way these folks really lived, and at first you probably did. At some point, however, it became obviously staged for the cameras. The first one of these successful shows was “The Osbournes” about a decade ago. Ozzie Osbourne was a big star with or without the show, but along the way these series began to pop up “starring” washed-up celebrities attempting to resurrect their careers. And eventually, you starting getting shows based on the lives of people who had never accomplished anything except that they have a recognizable name. Kardashians?

Another category of reality television is the “expert is gonna fix everything in an hour” show. It doesn’t matter if you have a failing restaurant, have a bad marriage, have nasty children or dogs that don’t behave, the expert will waltz into your home and miraculously fix everything by the time the show is over. In the meantime, that person will also subject you to ridiculous or even sadistic “challenges” that in many cases have nothing to do with your actual problem, but seem to make for better entertainment.

There are TV shows that follow businesses or professionals. There must be a dozen cake shows on TV, and at least a couple that make cupcake making look like a dangerous profession. No matter what you do in life, a camera crew is ready to follow you around. The thing is that a lot of the time they focus on personalities instead of the actual task at hand, and a good deal of the “drama” is obviously staged. Will they be able to fit the giant cake into the truck? - as the dramatic music plays as they break for commercial… Sometimes it is just laughable.

Then there is the reality show that focuses on groups of people. They are usually young people who either are thrown into a house together or hang out all day. It’s not a problem for them, since many apparently don’t have a job, and never intend to get one. As pointed out in the beginning, these people are famous only because they are on a show in the first place. “The Real World” and “Jersey Shore” are good examples of this kind of “show”.

And finally, there is American Idol and all the sad and very poor imitations that have filled the airwaves since it debuted. On these shows, groups of people are subjected to another version of the “vote off”, only this time it is done by the public. The fact that it is probably the same miniscule group of people voting 50 times a piece should not take away from the drama of it all. These shows create their own “brand” of stardom. What is an “American Idol“ or a “Masterchef“? They are titles created by the producers of those shows, that otherwise don’t really mean anything. On a show like Idol, with rare exception, the most talented performers have gone on to great fame without having won the whole thing. Of course, the exposure didn’t hurt…

It’s really amazing to see how many reality shows are on the air today and what they are about. Some are just too ridiculous for words and you just can‘t believe they exist. Just look through some of the titles on this list and try not to laugh! The fact remains though that somebody must be watching…

Montreal at Night - Super Cool NASA Photo

Montreal at Night

The Great Ice Storm of 1998

We have reached yet another anniversary of the Great Ice Storm of 1998. It began in Montreal on January 5th of that year. The storm hammered the Montreal area. Not only was Montreal affected, but so was a wide area of southern Quebec and eastern Ontario. There was also ice accumulation in New Brunswick. Northern New York and Vermont were also hit hard.

Nobody really saw the storm coming. Three storm waves of freezing rain came through and lasted for 80 consecutive hours. Some parts of the affected region were hit with 100mm of ice or more.

Life in Montreal become paralyzed as the ice continued to accumulate. Roads were almost impassable, and travel became nearly impossible as the bridges and tunnels to and from the island of Montreal were shut down. People would literally stuck on the island.

By far the biggest impact of the storm was on the power grid. Ice accumulation brought down immense hydro pylons, cutting power to huge population centres. For a time, around 4 million people were without power, and most of them were in Quebec. it would take weeks, if not months to restore power for some. The power situation was particularly brutal on the South Shore. Montreal’s water treatment plants were also affected by the power outages and people were forced to boil their water.

Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick requested the Canadian military be called in on January 7th. About 16,000 troops would help with rescue and clearing operations. It was the largest non-combat-related military mobilisation in Canadian history. Municipalities also set up special centres to house people who had lost power. Some people were afraid to leave their homes for fear they would be looted.

By the time the storm ended on January 10th, 28 people had died in Canada, and most of them died of hypothermia. The cost of the damage was estimated to be over $2 billion in Quebec alone. Harm was also done to the landscape. Over 80 per cent of Mount Royal’s trees were damaged, and 5000 of them would have to be cut down. Farms were devastated and the maple syrup industry was also hard hit.

As far as radio was concerned, the storm knocked out CJAD's antenna. They would reach a deal with CKGM to broadcast on 990 kHz for several months until their signal was re-established on 800 AM. Many listeners switched over to the now-defunct CIQC when CJAD got knocked out. That resulted in them gaining a whole new audience. They were not able to translate that into any long-term success, and most listeners returned to CJAD once they got back on the air.

Some smaller Montreal stations also managed to stay on the air despite the ice. I've heard stories of how CINQ continued to broadcast using auxiliary power. Yes, the Internet was around by 1998, but when the power grid goes down, just about everything else goes down with it. Even if you have battery power for your computer or mobile device, the relay centres may be overwhelmed or down. You may have to go back to the basics and get your local information from old-fashioned terrestrial radio.

Here are some classic Ice Storm YouTube clips from January 1998:

Good Riddance, 2010

As 2010 draws to a close, it’s interesting to look back at predictions that were made at the end of last year. It seems that almost all the big news items of 2010 were unforeseen. Sure, some of the most memorable events are often bad ones, and a lot of them are the result of disasters beyond our control. Earthquakes and tsunamis fall within that category. It’s amazing how life can be forever transformed by something that came out of nowhere and lasted only a few minutes.

Emergency planning is usually lacking in far too many instances. Just look at what happened in Europe recently, as a dozen centimetres of snow shut down airports and caused total chaos. Things like that could very well be avoided. Then there is the other end of the spectrum, when “experts” go overboard in their apocalyptic predictions and preparations.

It is no secret that the attention span of western societies is pretty short. No matter how horrible the disaster, few will literally change the world and the way we see it. In other words, an event must have a direct impact on our lives in order for it to remain on the radar. 9/11 was probably the last such Earth-shattering occurrence.

In 2010, there were two news stories that blanketed the media for long periods of time. The earthquake in Haiti and the Gulf oil spill. For a while it seemed that there was nothing else happening. But as it goes, both eventually became yesterday’s news…

It seems the situation in Haiti has not improved much since the quake hit almost a year ago, but with some exceptions, we don’t hear too much about it now. Likewise, as disastrous as the Gulf oil spill was supposed to have been, it too isn’t talked about that much anymore. Either there has been a miraculous environmental recovery, or it just isn’t as interesting to look at live shots of a capped well. Has anything been learned from those two events and how the world responded to them? Maybe. Will anything change as a result? Probably not. Most policies are reactionary not visionary.

So take note of some of the predictions that are being made about the year 2011. There is little doubt that some of the biggest news stories of the coming year will be things nobody saw coming - even if they should have. As for 2010, it wasn't that great...

Canadian Tire Christmas 1982

Weren't those ads great?

Montreal TV in Canada

There was a recent article that appeared in a local newspaper that lamented the lack of English TV production in Montreal. To be more specific, the lack of "openly" Montreal fictional TV produced. It is truly amazing how non-existent it has been, not only in recent years, but for decades.

Gone are the days of local programming aimed at Montrealers. Still, it wasn’t that long ago that quite a few shows were based here. Some even managed to be seen by a much wider audience. Some CBC shows were produced here, but you'd probably have to go back to the 1980s to find the last time that happened. On channel 12, Travel Travel was hugely successful and sold abroad. It didn't really focus on Montreal, but the hosts were always local television personalities. As for shows that were produced for the local market alone, they are too numerous to name. They are now all gone, and that too is a damn shame.

So what were some of the more "memorable" contemporary - and I use that term very loosely - shows that were supposed to be set in Montreal? The last one that I remember was a CBC show called "Urban Angel". It only ran a couple of years, and that was nearly two decades ago... A cool fact about that show was that it was picked up by CBS and shown once a week in what is now David Letterman's time slot. Urban Angel was unique in that it was actually watchable. The same can't be said of the next two gems on the Montreal list...

Do you remember a show set at a ski resort near Montreal back in the early 1980s? It was called "Snow Job". It might quite possibly go down as the worst show in the history of Canadian television. I remember one episode in particular where a young Wayne Gretzky made a cameo. No doubt Wayne would probably want to have that tape burned, if it hasn't been already...

And the last show on my list was highly touted by CTV before it went on the air. It was meant to mimic what had been very popular American prime-time soaps. Unfortunately for Mount Royal , by the time it premiered, powerhouse shows like Dallas and Dynasty were beginning to fade. Even more unfortunate for the program was that it had no plot or point to it. You did get your weekly fix of Montreal location shots, but that was not enough to save it from the inevitable.

What is quite amazing is that Montreal-centred English-language theatre and fiction are thriving right now. I see it with the endless line of talent that makes its way onto the Arts Notebook program on Radio Centre-Ville every week. Why this hasn't translated onto television screens is a mystery. And it is rare that a work of Canadian television fiction ever portrays the interaction between anglophones and francophones in Montreal. Almost everything you have seen on Canadian TV to this point has presented the groups are the stereotypical two solitudes. There seems to be a fear of presenting any other reality, because some people might be offended.

Maybe all the Montreal TV talent has left for greener pastures... Or maybe the decision-makers down the 401 just don't care if there is any Montreal representation on the airwaves. Having said all that, don't expect anything to change. Even the control rooms are in Toronto now!