The HJU Great White North TV Thread!

[Undrave]

Here's something else pro-environmentalist

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvfVNpx9EzQ[/ame]

Not as well done as the Smoggies.

Here's something else from my childhood:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkSOVM6hYHI[/ame]

It used to air on Radio-Canada... and speaking of our national TV they helped produce this great educational classique:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNURUGCOQ5I&feature=related[/ame]

 

[Silver Wolf]

I vaguely remember Ovide (in English as "Ovide and the Gang") and The Little Flying Bears, but not the latter one.

Here's some of the other History Bites clips on Canada specifically:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yo0UXXfy1A"]Cultural Identity[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYsVNDvfulk"]Car Ride[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htox26xfdYc"]War of 1812[/ame]

I seriously reccomend looking up "History Bites Uncle Sam" or "Mother Britain." There's also ones ranging from the changing music scene in Ancient Greece, to the Mongol Invasion of Japan, to when Colombus arrived in the Americas, from the Natives perspective, done as a parody of 'The Day The Earth Stood Still".

On a related tangent:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLa0mUWAiVk"]RMR: 1812 Re-Creation[/ame]

I also remembered this was under Mainframe's filmography:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvrNHlo3dEs"]Spiderman: The New Animated Series[/ame]

There's also a French show I came across which, although I've never watched, I'm curious as to whether it was shown in Quebec or Francophone Canada in general. It's called "Moi Renart" or "I, Renart", an animated adaptation of sorts of the "Reynard cycle" also known as "Le Roman de Renart" (Renard the Fox, Isengrim the Wolf, Tybalt the Cat, Bruin the Bear, etc.), but set in the 1980s with Renart being a "master of disguise," running an "Odd Jobs" business, and occasionally getting in trouble with the law for his sometimes outrageous plans. Does that sound familiar at all to anyone?

 

[Forever Knight]

There's gotta be someone who remembered The Odyssey:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dhk3wdEQok

That show, and especially the theme, was badass! :buttrock:



Oooooh, I sooo remember that show. Was quite a weird show... but I really liked it.

I found a clip on Youtube but never knew this show featured kids were wearing Nazi uniforms. I doubt that'd fly nowadays...

[hide]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBDjEC7jMBw
[/hide]

Anyone reconize the Nazi Leader in that clip?....

 

[KAGEKI]

Anyone reconize the Nazi Leader in that clip?....

I was really susprised when I found out that Ryan Reynolds made a appearance on The Odyssey. It looked like it was his first on-screen role.

 

[Silver Wolf]

Here's one that's a bit obscure, you'd more often see it in science classes today, a cartoon series known as "Eureka!":
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGH_UjerfMI"]Acceleration I[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BM89yVZoBg"]Acceleration II[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy3nATe85Kg"]Gravity[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77R4arwD8G8"]Conduction[/ame]

Luba Goy (of Air Farce fame) and Billy Van (also the narrator) did all the voices.

 

[MetalSymphony]

I'm sure i'm not the only Canadian guy who watched all the BritComs that YTV aired in the early 90's: Red Dwarf, Are You Being Served?, Keeping Up Appearances, Yes Minister, Who's line is it anyway? and the like.

Hell, they kept some of them on until 2003 when they dumped them in favor for Anime.

 

[Undrave]

Then they dumped the anime to make space for more Nick tween comedy and lame cheap cartoons >.>

 

[Silver Wolf]

I'm sure i'm not the only Canaian guy who watched all the BritComs that YTV aired in the early 90's: Red Dwarf, Are You Being Served?, Keeping Up Appearances, Yes Minister, Who's line is it anyway? and the like.

Not to mention My Family, which apparently was the last to be removed from the schedule. According to Wikipedia:

Due to a general lack of original programming for specialty services in its early years, YTV often filled its schedule with older or more obscure types of acquisitions not normally seen on other services. One of the most well-known additions has been British sitcoms, which were initially used to fill prime time slots, but due to popular demand remained prominently on the station's late night schedule for well over a decade. Highlights included the North American premiere of Red Dwarf as well as a persistent run of the improv series Whose Line is it Anyway?, but because YTV's standards for content had not been firmly established at the time, both series endured excessive censorship.

Although prime time programming slowly became more focused, programs such as Are You Being Served?, Keeping Up Appearances, and Yes Minister found cult audiences in late night time slots, and aired free of time and content edits for years as more focus was placed on younger audiences viewing at earlier hours. However, in 2003 when YTV began marketing their late night hours towards older youth viewers, it was finally decided to remove the remaining shows from the schedule.

YTV seems to have this tendency to look for older (age demographic or production wise [Older shows often mean cheaper acquistions for short syndicated runs]), or cult-favourite programming when it comes to filling the blanks of the late hours. Sometimes it's Mainframe shows such as Reboot, Beasties/Beast Machines, or Shadow Raiders, sometimes it's cult-favourite anime series (Inuyasha, Dragon Ball/Z, etc.) or somewhat-popular sitcoms (Canadian, American or British). And other times it's Teen Dramas/"Dra-medies" such as 15/Love, Falcon Beach, and so on (yet strangely never any of the Degrassi series to my knowledge). Two notable Canadian ones of the latter genre I can recall of the top of my head are:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8i3l7Z53Xs"]Student Bodies[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsREOzHLH4o"]Ready or Not[/ame]

 

[MetalSymphony]

You know what?

If YTV whats to make easy money, they should put some of their old Original Shows like Big Wolf on Campus, Catwalk, Fries with that?, Radio Active, Maniac Mansion, Student Bodies and System Crash and put them on DVD.

I'm sure people our age who grew up watching these shows would buy them up in an instant.

And you know what else i e-mailed them, BRING BACK VIDEO AND ARCADE TOP 10!!!

That show ran from 1991 to 2004.....13 YEARS! Hell, I WAS ON THAT DAMN SHOW and kicked some Asian kids ass at NBA Jam (I came in second though, so no blindfolded prize Garbage can for me, but i got a Sonic Shirt :thumbs.

I want it back, NAO!

 

[Silver Wolf]

The trick is often balancing the interests of the older "periphery demographic", often driven by nostalgia for cult favourite series, and those of the "active demographic" that although possibly fascinated by the above, may not get as much out of the shows as the former and thus be in even smaller numbers (i.e. less of the ratings) then the already "minor" periphery demographic, often preferring "newer content" they can relate to.

Also, YTV may have been the original broadcaster (and thus could air them if there is an acknowledged demand and a benefit for the channel operators, i.e. Corus Entertainment) but that doesn't mean total ownership of the shows, and that includes DVD releases. So it's really out of their hands.

Video & Arcade Top 10 likely ended due to the rising cost of gaining the "rights" to various games and obtaining prizes/sponsors, not to mention the variety of genres and tastes (the large shift from just Nintendo and Sega to a "constantly shifting, Three-way Console War," as well as the plethora of diverse game types) and the need to keep "updating" with the times (with some consoles, or popularity of games (i.e. marketing) only lasting a relatively "short" time, and then they may not neccessarily be well-reviewed titles either). With all this compacted with syndication issues (somewhat similar to YTV's Hit List) and you can end up with a show that is "dated" only a few months after recording, let alone the possibility of re-runs.

Newer shows also have an uphill battle. I've heard and seen many a promising show that although marketed with some "fervour" ends up dying off a quiet death once it's comissioned run is completed, if that, and becomes lost to time.