George Floyd - some impressive coverage

News from the world of Television

George Floyd - some impressive coverage

Postby mccrady » Fri Jun 05, 2020 7:24 am

Yesterday, while watching the George Floyd memorial on CBC's News Channel, I saw a remarkable thing. Someone had the good sense to let powerful images speak for themselves without some talking head getting in the way.

There was plenty of rhetoric, which under the circumstances had to be expected. It was what happened when the rhetoric stopped that I found so impressive.

That eight minutes and 46 seconds of "silence" -- the organist and pianist continued to play so it wasn't actually dead air -- was television at its very, very best. It was eight minutes and 46 seconds of raw emotion. I saw anger. I saw sorrow. I saw resolve. I saw people praying to their God. And it was all shot without being intrusive. I found it to be riveting television, produced by someone who truly understands the medium and its ability to convey emotion.

A quick check of CTV and CNN showed just the opposite: those powerful images had been tucked into a corner and the professional yappers were hard at it, spewing their nonsense. Their viewers don't know what they missed.

That, folks, is why we still need a CBC. For all its faults, their news people still know how to cover something. And how to treat it. and their medium. with respect.

Well done, CBC.
mccrady
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 77
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 9:41 am

Re: George Floyd - some impressive coverage

Postby paterson » Fri Jun 05, 2020 11:51 am

The CBC does the same thing with the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics. They obviously have hosts that talk about what is happening, but every so often they will be silent for about 5 minutes and just let the pictures do the work. Same on their coverage of a few sports, like baseball they have noticeably less chat than the other networks.

I find it odd that CBC radio does so well in the ratings across the country, but CBC TV seems to be in no mans land, even their newscasts don't attract many viewers. The french network (Radio Canada) has always been popular and seems to be a little more mainstream than the english network. It is great to have a public television broadcaster, but if few people are watching they need to take a hard look at what they are offering.

BBC in England is always at the top of the ratings in the UK, and they have a good balance of entertainment, even very mainstream shows and other fare that the private broadcasters wouldn't do, more high brow programming.

I was all for CBC producing a Canadian version of Family Feud. TV critics hate the program, and even go as far as saying the show is an embarrassment. But the sad fact is that no other network in Canada produces a daily game show. Family Feud Canada has actually been doing well in the ratings. Google reviews for what it is worth has the show with an 81% approval rating and the show has been renewed for 104 new episodes this year. Ratings wise it attracts 450-600 thousand viewers for new episodes and has increased the ratings for the 7:30pm timeslot.

Some don't like the show because it is a rehash of the US version. I say, who cares? Family Feud has franchised versions around the world. If anything, a Canadian version was long overdue. And I like that the Gerry Dee offering isn't as "racy" as what is presented elsewhere. The times when Family Feud Canada has been provocative with some questions or answers is actually pretty funny, and Dee is great at making it so. I like Steve Garvey on the American version, but they over do the double entendre and sexual themes way too much.

I find too many Canadian produced shows aren't that entertaining and get bogged down with trying not to offend anyone and seem to act like there needs to be a teaching moment for everything. Wrong, wrong and wrong again... Some shows should just be entertaining and fun for the sake of being fun, nothing else. That's why US programs attract more people. American networks and the BBC, and Britains ITV understand this, Canadian networks not so much.

I certainly hope CBC TV finds itself, and learns to balance the roles of being a public broadcaster that is able to be informative, engaging and unique, but also entertaining, fun, and popular with Canadians.
paterson
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 221
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 7:23 pm


Return to On the small screen

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 107 guests