Bob and Doug McKenzie Have Not Left the Building...

Tim Cavanaugh | September 29, 2005

... because they were never in it. This fall, in a ritual that has been repeated every year since the fall of Montcalm, Canadian television viewers are opting overwhelmingly for United States television. Reader Ryan Posly sends in the thoroughly unsurprising news that American TV programs occupy all the top 10 primetime spots in the Great White North, with only one Canuck-made show cracking the top 20 (kudos, eh, to the makers of Corner Gas). This popular defiance of the awesome power of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (which is trying to regulate local product into popularity by, among other things, letting stations run more ads in exchange for carrying more homegrown content) alarms a Canadian union boss:

"From our perspective, we believe that the ad incentive program is inadequate, and the only way in which Canadian broadcasters will actually produce Canadian material to any significant extent is if they're obligated to do so through regulation," said Steve Waddell, national executive director of ACTRA, Canada's actors union.

When in doubt, always trust revealed preference. Canadians say no with their lips, but with their eyes, and their remote controls, they're always saying Yes. That's why I'll always love our neighbors to the north, even when they pound on my colleague Jacob Sullum using the lethal Canadian martial art of Lighting Toque-Kido. The anti-American tirades, the insults against the superpower's legions of mindless fatties, the imprecations against American cultural hegemony, the endless spittle-flecked tirades about God knows what—yes, I've heard them all too, and I know that these are but the trappings and the suits of patriotism. Like almost all patriotism, it goes about an inch deep, even in countries where they use the metric system. Americans (and Canadians) would do well to remember it: If the Canadians were so protective of their culture they wouldn't need goofy content regulations any more than a chaste woman needs a chastity belt. So let 'er rip, you wonderful Canucks; you're beautiful when you're angry.

Brian Doherty surveyed Canadian cultural protectionism long ago, concluding, "This feud is really about product differentiation when you don't really have that much to differentiate." Angry Canadians responded angrily (and if you want a real blast from the past consider that as recently as the second Clinton administration 43 emails was considered a shockingly large response to a web piece).

John Candy, the Swan of Toronto, died while making the Michael Moore joint Canadian Bacon—an act of Yankee cultural predation the Canadians have every right to hate us for.

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drf|9.29.05 @ 8:19PM|#

is this the time when the prog rockers start going off on how great RUSH is?

early distant warning...

|9.29.05 @ 8:48PM|#

I like DaVinci's Inquest and the "Red Green Show.

|9.29.05 @ 8:49PM|#

My brother's got a bleeding nose.

|9.29.05 @ 8:51PM|#

I'm going to get crucified for this, but I'm going to say it anyway ... ahem ...

Much of the television programming that I watch in my american home is produced in Canada. No, really. The two types of shows I watch most often are childrens programming on Noggin and Home/Garden stuff on HGTV and several of the shows (some really good ones) are produced in Canada. I suppose it should be noted here as well that others are produced in still other countries, and some of those shows are quite good as well. And I'll just finish off the bulls-eye on my chest by confessing that, in my opinion, the best of the crop of kids shows can still be found on PBS. There ... I said it, and I stand behind it.

Now, let me be clear. I don't think that any of the above has any deep meaning as regards the market, or the government hijacking the means of production, or any of the other hot buttons that the John Galt types get in a twist about. All I know is that I dig Sesame Street, I dig Franklin, and I dig Devine Design because tall chicks do it for me. It just is what it is.

|9.29.05 @ 8:52PM|#

I'm thinking Jennifer could organize another get-together, this time up in Toronto, then, after all the Reasonoids have got liquored up, they could get out there and do a posse comitatus all over Canada.
Why not?
They need to be taught a lesson.

Wait, let's start a fund to reward inuits from WAY up there to swoop down and take some smarmy scalps.

If we could start a Yank & Inuit war, maybe we could begin another palimpsest for North America.

|9.29.05 @ 8:55PM|#

Wow. Three in a row. Did someone drink a flat Labatt's today?

Speaking of Rush, back in the 70's they used to tour with Max Webster. I wonder if the government made them do it, insisting on a Canadian opening band for cultural reasons?

No matter, it didn't work, much like TV.

Actually, John Candy died while making that great classic "Wagons East."

Re: revealed preference- I've seen that 'joke' in the economist before, and while I think it holds a lot of wisdom, I've always thought that it isn't quite right. Unless economists are universally paid far higher than I would assume, I would think making it a more run of the mill car, say, a Camry, would make it ring more true. Using this 'joke' to illustrate a point with an average joe on the street is going to be fruitless, because his first reaction is likely to be "who the hell can afford a Ferrari", missing the point entirely.

And as for the revealed preference at hand, it only shows a narrow preference for U.S. TV shows, which doesn't necessarily make the U.S. bashers hypocrites. It merely shows that the subset of Canadians who watch TV prefer U.S. programming for that period of time. Compared to all Canadians' entertainment-man-hours, it could turn out to be a very small preference. Or maybe not, but in and of itself I don't think with just the TV ratings one can claim that this makes the U.S. bashers look silly. Though they do look silly, just for other reasons.

|9.29.05 @ 8:57PM|#

Will anyone living near BLG be so kind as to burn a wooden maple leaf on his front lawn?

Red Green, btw, is hereby granted diplomatic immunitiy... whatever goes down.

|9.29.05 @ 9:05PM|#

Is the President of Canada a Democrat or a Republican?

drf|9.29.05 @ 9:22PM|#

Tom:

no matter. we're told by Those Smater Than Us that one is definitely worse than the other.

Jeff P.|9.29.05 @ 9:36PM|#

FYI, Max Webster and Rush were friends, as were the members of FM, who are reforming, sans Ben Mink who plays with KD Lang now, and Nash The Slash, who performs soundtracks to silent movies.

In the meantime, can we please get Trailer Park Boys back on BBC America?

|9.29.05 @ 9:36PM|#

Canada sure is a big country for only having like 13 states.

|9.29.05 @ 9:47PM|#

Happy Jack;

I heard that Kim Mitchell (lead singer for Max Webster) and Geddy Lee (Rush) were high school buddies. The 2 groups collaborated on a song on the last Max Webster album ("Universal Juveniles") called Battlescar. I saw both groups after they finished touring together, Rush in Denver at the old Mc Nichols arena and Max Webster at The Rocks in Lubbock. They were both great shows. I like both groups.

|9.29.05 @ 9:53PM|#

I like DaVinci's Inquest and the "Red Green Show.

I'll give you a pass on Inquest because I haven't seen it, but haven't you noticed that Red Green is the same show, over and over?

I don't know how the Canadians can even think they stand a chance of competing with the 300 million head monster to their south when it comes to such a fast-moving industry like TV -- with all the social diversity we have here this must be one of the best test markets you could conceive of for something like TV shows. Any show that can make it here will probably find a place somewhere in foreign markets as well. Canada's population is more homogenous and I think what succeeds there is less likely to have the same broad appeal as very popular US shows (whether those suck or not).

|9.29.05 @ 10:14PM|#

Just WHO ARE these... Canadians everyone talks about?

Paul

|9.29.05 @ 10:19PM|#

Did someone say Rush? As it happens, I was just posting in another forum about the true holy trinity, and have Vapor Trails blasting on the stereo.

Yup.My geek cred is unimpeachable.

|9.29.05 @ 10:30PM|#

As I always say. There are stronger North South ties between our countries than there are East West.

If you doubt me. Come to Alberta. Then drive to Texas.

|9.29.05 @ 10:32PM|#

OK, sorry for the shameless threadjack, but has this story made the rounds? I just saw it for the first time, and couldn't find a thread about it:

"Armed and dangerous - Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina"
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1577753,00.html

Turns out some dolphins armed with "toxic dart" guns, part of the US Navy's Cetacean Intelligence Mission, may have escaped into the Gulf of Mexico when their coastal compound was compromised by Katrina. It's feared that they may bust a cap dolphin-style in divers and surfers in wetsuits, who may look like the simulated terrorists used in training exercises.

Now _that_ is good comedy.

|9.29.05 @ 10:40PM|#

Jeff P, Cliff- I know. In fact, Pye DuBois, the Godfather of Max Webster, was a co-writer of Tom Sawyer.

|9.29.05 @ 10:43PM|#

mmmmm good Pye

|9.29.05 @ 10:46PM|#

TheWarlrus,

You've got a point. The only other place I've sat on a plane next to a cowboy dipping Skoal besides Houston is Calgary. And except for an appalling lack of BBQ, Klondike Days in Edmonton could have just as easily been in Amarillo.

J,

Good threadjack. But to bring things sorta back on topic, the most depressing thing I've seen in my entire life was two sad ass dolphins swimming in forlorn circles in a tank in the middle of the West Edmonton Mall. I'm no PETA fan, but that was just plain wrong.

|9.29.05 @ 10:51PM|#

Wow, three in a row! Is it just me, or does anyone else get the impression the Canadians have gotten themselves on the wrong side of the Reason editorial staff?

I'm thinking Jennifer could organize another get-together, this time up in Toronto, then, after all the Reasonoids have got liquored up, they could get out there and do a posse comitatus all over Canada.
Why not?
They need to be taught a lesson.

Well, we could always organize a massive panty raid on the entire country. No doubt, such a Sensitive Nation would be so thoroughly traumatized we wouldn't hear another peep out of them for at least a century.

|9.29.05 @ 10:58PM|#

Ralphus

It'll sadden you even further to know that the dolphins have since died. They tried to replace them with seals. That lasted about 3 months I think.

Now they just showcase idiots in clownsuits jumping off the highdive.

|9.29.05 @ 11:03PM|#

I wouldn't go that far ralphus. We're in the top 5 Al Quaeda terrorist 'nation hit list'.

And I believe that Charles De Gaul said he's support a military coupe in Quebec.

I've also heard that people in more than a few nations are beginning to get tired of our constant self assured moral high ground. I love Canada, but having experienced an Undergraduate School in Canada I can kind of see why.

|9.29.05 @ 11:19PM|#

thewalrus,

That sucks. I do find it funny that a country that gives us crap about consumerism gave the world the first super mega mall.

Seriously though, I love you guys. I've spent a lot of time up there and can honestly say I have never had anything but a great time. Even when someone is telling me what a disgusting Yankee pig I am they do it very politely and usually over a beer they just bought me.

What part of Alberta are you from?

|9.29.05 @ 11:27PM|#

I'm actually from Lethbridge. About 2 hours south of Calgary.

Ironically enough I'm also a US citizen from California. So I have what you might call a unique position on Canadian - American relations. haha

|9.29.05 @ 11:37PM|#

ralphus,

"But to bring things sorta back on topic, the most depressing thing I've seen in my entire life was two sad ass dolphins swimming in forlorn circles in a tank in the middle of the West Edmonton Mall."

Yeah, I kind of feel the same way when I go to a zoo and see some large mammal, generally a wolf or a big cat, who's worn a trail along the perimeter of their enclosure. Especially when they have fur rubbed off in various places from some obsessive behavior.

|9.29.05 @ 11:39PM|#

Walrus:

Yes, western Canada is indeed pretty much part of the US' Intermountain West, psychically.

However, the claims to some sort of cultural and moral superiority that Eastern Canada, Quebec, and the Maritimes still seem to make strike me as "methinks the lady doth protest too much." Or, less gently put, they seem to be whiny, self-righteous, and irrelevant.

|9.29.05 @ 11:43PM|#

Cedar. Yeah I hear where you're coming from. And there is an attitude out east - not absolute of course, and I do hate generalizing - but there does seem to be a prevalent attitude of supremacy there.

I wouldn't, however include the Maritimes in that. They're very much the downtrodden area of Canada. Ecomomically they're by far the poorest area. And culturally I think there's just this huge attachment between them, and the North East Seaboard of the United States.

|9.29.05 @ 11:53PM|#

J,

I hear you. The great apes and sea mammals usually bum me the most. They seem all too aware of their surroundings.

thewalrus,

Since when was California part of the US? Kidding. So-Cal is definitely the anti-Canada.

I've spent a lot of time canoeing and traveling in Canada. Love it out west. I've done the Nahani up in the NWT and traveled around the Yukon, Alberta and BC. Beautiful country. I don't think many Americans have a true grasp of what wilderness really means. I do find that most westerners I have met have a strong self-reliant streak. The people back east are great too, but the westerners would fit right in anywhere in Texas.

I also lived in Florida, which as you know is Canada's southern most province. At least in the winter.

|9.29.05 @ 11:57PM|#

To bring the thread back on topic, is it true that the MacKenzie Brothers were developed by SCTV to get around CBC Canadian content regs?

|9.30.05 @ 12:14AM|#

to get back off topic for a second.. haha man.

I have to agree. To an extend. I mean I look at Northern California, and that really is a lot like BC. Well it's probably closest to Canada of any part of California. From what I've seen. Now Southern California. I don't know if I'd call it the anti-Canada. It's... it's just so different. I don't really know what else you could compare that area too. It seems to exist in this surreal zone all it's own. Which is very cool.

|9.30.05 @ 12:22AM|#

Do they really all live in Igloos?

Even their president ?

|9.30.05 @ 12:23AM|#

Ralphus: ...."Since when was California part of the US? Kidding. So-Cal is definitely the anti-Canada."

And Nor-Cal is the uber-Canada.

|9.30.05 @ 12:24AM|#

I love the Canadians. I'm actually jealous of them. They're the one country in the world that absolutely no one is pissed off at. Canadians can travel anywhere in the world and play the "Hey it's cool - I'm Canadian" card.

Interesting observation ralphus. Makes me think they're kind of like the thoreau of the world - the one regular commenter on here that absolutely nobody is pissed off at. He can say whatever he wants on any topic and play the "Hey it's cool - I'm thoreau" card. :-)

And now, back to Terrance and Phillip...

|9.30.05 @ 12:33AM|#

Even when someone is telling me what a disgusting Yankee pig I am they do it very politely and usually over a beer they just bought me.

I agree. It can be almost annoying, because it's hard to actually debate something and disagree without seeming rude. Like my good friend's parents who alway stopped by to and from Florida (how true ralphus...). Nicest people in the world, but the topic always eventually landed on politics, and it was always just so darn pleasant.

On the other hand, their son pretty much hates the states, and we got into a good fight once on mandatory bi-lingualism in Canada...

|9.30.05 @ 12:36AM|#

This popular defiance of the awesome power of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (which is trying to regulate local product into popularity by, among other things, letting stations run more ads in exchange for carrying more homegrown content)

And of course this is hardly a recipe for success. If I have a choice between watching roughly equivalent quality shows, am I going to watch the one with more commercials, or less?

|9.30.05 @ 12:38AM|#

The weirdest thing about Canada is that as much as you guys brag about how good you have it (generalizing I know) I've seen a lot of po white trash. It's true that it's a cleaner, subsidized, less violent form of po white trash. But I saw a lot of folks that don't seem too happy with their lot in life. They seem to be getting along, but don't look like they'll ever get ahead. A driver we had told us that the thing that he envied most about Americans was that we had more opportunities to hit it big than your average Canadian.

The other thing I've noticed is that it really sucks to be an Inuit. I've been in villages like Fort Simpson on the day liquor rations are sold and it�s depressing. I�ve also been propositioned by Inuit hookers in Yellowknife that would give a Jersey crackwohre a run for their money. I'm not saying we've got our Native American situation together down here, but for an "enlightened" country yall's Inuit situation is pretty embarrassing. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't they left out of a lot of the national averages your eastern brethren like to throw in our Yankee faces? I pointed out in another thread that while Canadians like to think of us as racist bastards they aren't so quick to acknowledge their own racism.

This is a paraphrased conversation I had with a canoe outfitter in Black Lake Saskatchewan:

Outfitter: Damn Indians are lousy boatman. They're drunk all the time. They don't work. All they do is drink and have babies and collect their checks from the government. They're useless.

Me: You don't say.

Outfitter: So where are you from in the States.

Me: Texas

Outfitter: Down Sous eh?

Me: Yep

Outfitter: (with a straight face) Lot of racism down there eh?

|9.30.05 @ 12:43AM|#

Douglas Fletcher,

Well, I've only seen the about a half dozen episodes of Red Green, so it might bore me if I watched a lot of it. If you like the BBC series Inspector Lynley you'll like Da Vinci's Inquest. I think it also compares favorably with Foyle's War.

|9.30.05 @ 12:49AM|#

Let me tell you. The state of native Americans up here is absolutely shamefull. My old philosophy prof would call it de facto apartheid. And he was absolutely correct. They're placed in a dilemma. If they leave the reservations they lose their culture and their people. If they stay on there they essentially condemn themselves to poverty since there's no way off to work or develop. It's a terrible shame. And any Canadians that condemn any nation for allowing poverty are simply ignorant. I'd like to think that there aren't many that do that though. It takes only a little selfreflection to see that we're no better. And I do feel a good deal of outrage at that.

James Anderson Merritt|9.30.05 @ 1:05AM|#

BLG doesn't know the half of it. Do yourself a favor and start watching the end credits of your favorite network shows: ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, USA, PBS, UPN, WB, SciFi, what have you. Look for that Canadian Maple Leaf toward the very end, indicating that the show was at least partially produced in Canada (usually in Vancouver or Toronto), in exchange for tax favors. Did you know that the small town of "Smallville, Kansas" on the WB show is actually Merritt, BC (no relation :-), which is near Vancouver, the site of production (and double for Metropolis)? Over the past decade or so, there have been scores of such bi-national shows, starting out first in syndication and eventually working up to US network prime time.

So-called "American" TV is thoroughly Canadianized, and has been for years, but usually so deftly that nobody realizes it, or cares. The "Canadian content" regulations that were satirized by SCTV's "Bob and Doug McKenzie" aimed at two things: 1) putting Canadian performers and production talent to work; and 2) boosting Canadian cultural pride. The goal of item #1 has been achieved, and then some, by the establishment of Vancouver as the Hollywood of the Great White North. It is the goal of item #2 that is being thwarted by Canadian rejection of "local content." I think this means either that Canadians don't care to be pandered to via television, or that the pandering is heavy-handed and sucks (as we might expect from anecdotes of state-sponsored drama in places such as the Soviet Union and Cuba). On the other hand, equal-opportunity pot shots, aimed with affection at both the US and Canada, were the staple of both SCTV and another of my favorite bi-national productions, "Due South." Both of those were fairly well-received and are today fondly remembered by many viewers on both sides of the border.

|9.30.05 @ 1:08AM|#

The Walrus,

Well, there are a lot of myths about Canada; such as the idea that Canadians are less prejudiced than Americans.

|9.30.05 @ 1:25AM|#

dead elvis,

Canadians are infuriatingly pleasant to argue with. I once argued politics with a Canadian for 12 hours straight on a car ride from Pickle Lake to Thunder Bay. We agreed on about two things and I still gave him my home address and told him he had an open invitation to crash at my place if he ever made it through Dallas. And I meant it.

The Walrus,

Both countries have their issues and I think most thinking citizens understand that there are pluses and minuses to both systems. We've got lower taxes; you've got better buds.

Nice shooting the breeze with ya. Keep holding it down in the Great White North.

COOOO COO COO COO COO COO COO COOOO!

and

Googoogachu to you.

It's lights out.

The Anti-Puritan|9.30.05 @ 1:31AM|#

Happy Jack:
In fact, Pye DuBois, the Godfather of Max Webster, was a co-writer of Tom Sawyer.

You mean Mark Twain had help?

[The Anti-Puritan ducks a rotten tomato.]

|9.30.05 @ 1:57AM|#

Well when I'm dick-tater Ima force all the radio to play 2112 (A side) on endless loop continuously by gunpoint.

Then my party members will go house to house forcing everybody to play 2112 on endless loop by gunpoint.

That will teach them.

|9.30.05 @ 2:30AM|#

As a Canadian, I'll take the puritanical FCC over the CRTC anydays. At least the FCC doesn't explicitly condone censorship. Read up on the sad saga of CHOI-FM. The libertarian-friendly radio station in Quebec stands to lose their license to broadcast thanks to complaints from that provinces' left-wing establishment.

Dave W.|9.30.05 @ 4:19AM|#

Of course Reason is miffed by Canada. Even though it has a bigger government, which is bad, at least it didn't go off on a jingoistic tizzy after 9-11. WoD is less extreme in Canada. Hurricane Katrina didn't exactly make the US look too good either. Yeah, Canadians look down their snoots a bit at USians -- they've earned that right. Its better here right now even tho the material standard of living is lower.

I would like to think the US will get its bearings back and even recover some of the libertarian vision that made the US such a great country in the first place. As of right now, though: sour grapes, leave such a bad taste.

Best thing about Canada: healthcare spending seems to lead to a greater degree of accountability than militay spending -- sometimes I think it is lack of accountability of most gov't spending that bothers me more than the spending itself -- wasting tax money happens here, but at least it is considered as a problem to be solved, rather than a hopeless, porky quagmire.

|9.30.05 @ 7:56AM|#

Trailer Park Boys didn't make the Canadian top 20? I'm surprised by that.

Damian P.|9.30.05 @ 8:31AM|#

Trailer Park Boys didn't make the Canadian top 20? I'm surprised by that.

It airs up here on Showcase, a cable channel. But along with Corner Gas, which I've yet to watch, it's one of the very, very few Canadian shows which has really taken off (eh) among the general public - and deservedly so.

Along with Don Cherry's Coach's Corner segment on Hockey Night in Canada, it's also one of the few Canadian shows which makes absolutely no attempt to be even remotely politically correct. There's a lesson there somewhere.

|9.30.05 @ 8:57AM|#

Damian--

My boyfriend and I like the show so much that a few months ago, when we vacationed in Canada, buying the DVD was one of the main points on our itinerary. Funny, though--I first heard of it because BBC America used to show episodes from the first two seasons. At first I thought it was a British show making fun of American trailer-park dwellers--it wasn't until I'd watched three or four episodes that I realized they were Canadian. (In the meantime, I made comments like "Those Brits do a pretty convincing American accent--if they can just learn how to pronounce the diphthong 'ou.'")

|9.30.05 @ 9:41AM|#

Come on two smokes, two smokes! That show is one of the funniest I've seen in quite a while. My wife and I purchased the whole Trailer Park Boys collection off of e-bay. The Chistmass Special is precious, Happy Fxxing Christmas. "Chrismas is a time to get fxxked up and high with your family and friends."

I recomend it to all

|9.30.05 @ 9:52AM|#

There are no CBC shows in the top ten (although there will be when televised NHL hockey returns). The CBC which receives hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars each year cannot use this money to produce any tv shows that Canadians -or anybody else wants to watch.
A number of years ago, a survey was done and it revealed that Canadians preferred watching American PBS rather than the CBC. The CBC's response? "Canadians actually watch us (CBC) but they are so dumb, they think they are watching PBS." Is it any wonder nobody watches the CBC?

Andrew Ian Dodge|9.30.05 @ 9:53AM|#

Rush, Triumph to name a few damn good Canadian bands. There is a decent bit of Canuck TV like SCTV and Red/Green.

Course they get minus points for inflicting Celine Dion (cats having sex is more pleasant to listen to) and Neil Young (good song-writer but can sing for shit) on us.

However Canadians, for the most part, when in the UK make Americans seem down-to-earth and self-effacing. After one or two beers is America sucks because of this and that. That generally continues until I point out that most of the Canadian population lives within 50 miles of the US border and how they watch US TV when not crossing the border to buy stuff in the US.

|9.30.05 @ 10:24AM|#

Ruthless, as to your palimpsest, I'll have Nunavut.

|9.30.05 @ 10:37AM|#

Is a diphthong some sort of sexy underwear?

|9.30.05 @ 10:52AM|#

Is a diphthong some sort of sexy underwear?

It would be very sexy if worn by Julian-the-trailer-park-boy. He's definitely the hottest sociopath on television. (And I usually don't even like men with facial hair.)

|9.30.05 @ 11:28AM|#

I for one refuse to hold Rush against Canadians. Prog rock was not their fault. I'll even let Celine and Brian Adams slide. After all we gave the world Bolton and Kenny G. But I will never forgive them for Bare Naked Ladies. Hootie's bastard Canuck cousins. They deserve a kick in the beaver for Avril too.

Of course Evangeline Lilly absolves all their sins. I�d love to dip her in maple syrup and�

Sorry about that.

|9.30.05 @ 11:35AM|#

True story: I once asked a Canadian man, "So what is it about you guys and Celine Dion, anyway?" He just shrugged and said "I don't know. What is it about you guys and Barbra Streisand?" To which I could only say "Touche."

Moral: Let the country which is without musical sin cast the first stone.

|9.30.05 @ 1:28PM|#

My friend Bob assures me that Canada is a porn paradise for satellite owners. So they certainly have the the right to claim that they are less uptight than Americans, if not libertarian.

Jeff P,
I saw Nash The Slash open up for the Tubes in Ludwigshafen Germany in 1980. He totally blew my 11-year-old mind. I didn't realize that anyone even remembered that guy had ever existed.

|9.30.05 @ 5:39PM|#

[Have] you noticed that Red Green is the same show, over and over?

And have you noticed that the one show they do over and over again is so very, very bad?

It stinks. People have made bad shows before, but the Red Green show is so awful, it makes me angry. ...angry that people would put that out there in the hope that I would somehow become physically incapacitated and unable to use the remote. ...It's bad. It may be the worst television show ever. I defy anyone to sit sober all the way through two episodes, back to back.

I'd rather watch static.

|9.30.05 @ 6:40PM|#

Jennifer- just out of curiosity, how do they pronounce the diphthong 'ou?

|9.30.05 @ 7:46PM|#

Shem, I think it's "oo" as in "It's aboot time."

|9.30.05 @ 7:54PM|#

Shem--

Yes, Stevo and the "it's aboot time" stereotypes are correct.

In one episode of Trailer Park Boys, Ricky kidnaps the guitarist from Rush. So when Alex was cursing at Ricky and accusing him of being a kidnapper, Ricky kept protesting that he was "just boring you." At least that's what it sounded like--"I'm not kidnapping you, I'm just boring you!"

It took me a long time to figure out he was saying "borrowing."

|9.30.05 @ 8:37PM|#

I only ever hear "aboat" (subtle difference) and tend to think of "aboot" as a hackneyed stereotype. Most of my experience with Canadian accents is via TV, though, so I'm guessing I hear mostly Ontario.

Michael J. Fox used to say "boro" and "sory" on Family Ties. Dunno if he's since corrected that.

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