True Patriot Love - Canada on Screen： Why our TV Finally went Global

00:00:00.000 once upon a time the pinnacle canadian television was the beachcombers and the littlest hobo well

00:00:17.380 things have changed over the last 30 or 40 years and someone who's had his finger in the pulse of

00:00:22.140 canadian television for close to two decades is the editor of tva.com greg david and he joins me

00:00:28.060 today greg how are you i'm great thanks for having me on and thanks for those those old old school

00:00:33.360 canadian tv polls it's it's fun because you know if you find the right channel i know littlest hobo

00:00:38.560 is still on the air on ctv on weekend mornings which i i catch every once in a while but happy

00:00:43.400 to be here with you well and and it's a pleasure and the thing is the reason i bring it up is that

00:00:48.620 was basically the canadian tv i grew up on there was a couple of shows ctv had one cbc had one and

00:00:55.020 that was about it and on your website tva.com the other day you had the story that the trailer park

00:01:00.620 boys have just wrapped up season 13 and they'll release it in april 2026 to celebrate the 25th

00:01:07.440 anniversary of this enduring show from the halifax dartmouth area it's an incredible canadian

00:01:12.160 television success story it really is and it's kind of snuck under the radar as well i mean i remember

00:01:17.740 back i visited the set on the during the filming of the second season and this was a show that lived on

00:01:23.180 the cable channel showcase when it first launched and now here we are that it's available on its own

00:01:27.820 streaming channel they've got to deal with crave the streaming service here in canada so it really

00:01:32.380 is a success story but like i said it snuck under the radar even for me because i thought

00:01:37.020 how has it been around for 13 seasons how have there been feature films that have been made and

00:01:42.140 how do these guys still stay relevant with their storytelling when they're not filming these shows

00:01:47.740 they're traveling around the us canada and around the world to sold out shows so they show no signs

00:01:54.300 of slowing down and that the that that base that fan base that they've got is never more rabid regardless

00:01:59.900 of whether it's canadian uh you know canadian fans or international fans and greg i'm glad you brought

00:02:05.900 that up because i i've met john paul tremblay mike smith and rob wells like yourself and i loved it from day

00:02:11.740 one because i used to live in north scotia and i saw a bit of the appeal there but when you see that

00:02:16.460 they're selling out theaters in wisconsin and ohio and ireland and scotland it kind of shocked me

00:02:23.980 that how universal their appeal is around the world yeah and i guess you know when i think about

00:02:29.660 this you know often i'm asked about you know a show like corner gas which was really the first

00:02:33.900 canadian show that kind of went down into the us and became a success on on tbs and and uh there was

00:02:40.860 also on pbs the red green show a lot of people don't know that that has huge success in the us

00:02:46.140 and around the world because pbs picked it up so i think you know you know you let off the top

00:02:50.780 talking about littlest hobo and the beachcombers but really in the in the last few decades and

00:02:55.740 especially now with the streaming services people are getting access to these canadian shows and we're

00:03:00.540 not being dismissed as a oh you know a a country that makes shows that that look like a certain way

00:03:07.340 or you know are kind of hokey no we tell storytelling with the best of them and we create shows with high

00:03:12.780 production values and and their international successes and to that end greg i i was watching

00:03:18.140 an award show with my wife a few years ago and there's brad pitt talking to a canadian reporter

00:03:23.260 going on and on about jerry queso letter kenny and shorzy and how much he loves it yeah that's that's

00:03:29.340 an incredible success story and i mean it doesn't get any better than brad pitt giving your show a

00:03:33.500 shout out as well uh you know letter kenny another canadian success story like you said created by jared

00:03:39.180 queso who was tired of trying out for hollywood roles and and not getting them and really thinking

00:03:44.220 about quitting the industry altogether and then he thought why don't i come up with my own show

00:03:48.380 and he did that and it became it's you know now wrapped up on on crave tv but now they've got the

00:03:54.220 spin-off that's shorzy which is based on one of the characters from letter kenny that is even more

00:03:59.500 successful i'd argue than the original show letter kenny was my stepson checks it out all the time when

00:04:04.380 he's visiting and he loves shorzy and he's very picky when it comes to his tv but yeah we create

00:04:10.140 these characters that that people identify with people love it's all about the storytelling you

00:04:15.820 know relatable stories that people get and it doesn't you don't have to be beaten over the head

00:04:19.580 with this is made in canada it's just good tv made for everybody and you alluded to streaming

00:04:26.700 earlier greg and i and i correct if i'm wrong i heard that crave loves shorzy so much they ordered

00:04:32.380 dozens and dozens of episodes so this will be going on for the future shorzy yeah absolutely i

00:04:37.740 mean when letter kenny first came out it was the first canadian original comedy for for crave and

00:04:42.540 really put crave on the map you know you've got to pay extra to get crave like the netflix's and the

00:04:47.260 and the disney pluses so people were willing to shell out that extra money just so they could get

00:04:51.740 access to it you know this is jared queso's baby and it's really smart for bell media and crave

00:04:56.780 to stay in bed with jared because he's creating programs that people watch and more importantly

00:05:02.060 people are willing to pay for in this very fickle market where you know people tend to be getting

00:05:06.620 rid of basic cable um paying a la carte prices for different channels and like you said going to

00:05:11.660 streaming services speaking to greg david the editor of uh close to two decades at tva.com uh highlighting

00:05:17.980 canadian television we we have the trail park boys the letter kenny's uh we have shorzy we also have

00:05:24.540 some food tv shows in canada that have become very popular like the great canadian bake-off and whether

00:05:30.380 it's canada or other countries maybe you can explain our fascination with reality shows around

00:05:35.420 cooking and food well i mean as a person who likes to cook and more importantly likes to eat

00:05:40.620 you know that it's it's undeniable that you like to watch those shows and watch people compete when

00:05:45.260 you're talking about the great canadian baking show you're talking about a competition series that

00:05:49.740 isn't as cutthroat as maybe the amazing race canada or perhaps big brother canada you know it's it's nice

00:05:55.900 and and people all tend to get along so there's that but there's also that fascination with the

00:06:00.220 competition show anyway whether it's food or travel we always like to see and it goes all the way back

00:06:05.420 to 2000 when a little show called survivor came out we always like to look at other people compete and

00:06:10.540 say what would we do in that situation what would i do in that situation could i be really cutthroat

00:06:15.900 so i think there's that fascination but when it also comes down to it it's all about budget it's a lot

00:06:21.500 more it's a lot cheaper to make a reality show than it is to make a scripted show so you're always

00:06:27.100 going to get that uh okay let's make something let's make a spin-off of this show let's create

00:06:31.580 our our own competition reality show because it is cheaper to make in the long run and with canadian

00:06:37.100 content still a thing a reality for everyone in the canadian media world that is like you say cheap

00:06:42.940 cancon to keep your license yeah yeah absolutely absolutely it is and you know if you look at the

00:06:48.460 specialty channels like you mentioned about food specifically if you go to food network or taste

00:06:52.700 channel here in canada you'll see a lot of those competition shows and those baking shows and

00:06:56.940 cooking shows that are all can con i mean there are production companies in canada that just make

00:07:01.820 their whole lifeblood is making and continuing to make you know culinary shows in this in this

00:07:06.780 country and yeah it does help with that license absolutely i've forgotten to know jonathan torrens

00:07:12.140 over the year of course people know him from j rock on the trailer park boys and street sense

00:07:16.540 but he's also developed his own shows in the maritime nova scotia pei new brunswick area

00:07:22.220 is it the mindset of people to give them the funding for these shows now in canada

00:07:26.700 changing greg because they're getting success yeah i i think so and i think that the you know the model

00:07:32.780 here in canada is very different from the us in the united states you have television networks

00:07:38.780 you know the conventional television networks like nbc and fox and cbs make shows they make a pilot

00:07:45.180 episode of a program and then they you know they shop it around and and decide whether a network

00:07:50.940 decides whether they're going to go ahead with it and then they put the money into it here in canada

00:07:55.500 it's really backwards you get the funding first uh because it is expensive to to make television

00:08:00.700 shows and production companies don't always have all of that money just sitting around waiting to

00:08:05.100 make a show so you really aren't able to experiment with programming like you are in the us and so yeah

00:08:10.780 if you have a new show idea you've got to shop it around and you've got to apply for that funding

00:08:15.980 so that you can get that funding to then make your show so there isn't as much of that gamble

00:08:20.780 or that crapshoot that you're allowed to do down in the us here in canada can we overstate the impact

00:08:26.700 that eugene and dan levy had with schitt's creek and all their emmy success that it's opened maybe

00:08:31.500 the doors and eyes to people on canadian television no you can't overstate it i mean you know

00:08:36.380 schitt's creek when it was just on cbc and cbc gem was a cute little show that here in canada we

00:08:41.420 loved but as soon as it went to went down to the us and and started airing uh on the cable channel

00:08:47.100 down there uh then that led to accolades in the us it led to primetime emmy nominations uh you know

00:08:53.580 and then it went to netflix where it's gone worldwide so no you can't understate it because

00:08:58.780 when you look at a show like schitt's creek and you do that that homework and you go back and say

00:09:03.180 it's a canadian show um then then uh then you know people get into it it's the same thing that

00:09:08.380 happened with kim's convenience when kim's convenience went to netflix people were like

00:09:11.980 what is this show and then it all went back to hey it's a canadian show that's really well done

00:09:16.620 well acted and well written and uh and filmed in canada too because that is a you know a debate that

00:09:22.940 goes on in this country we want to give money to the cbc but we first think of it as news documentary

00:09:29.740 uh you know that kind of uh political talk but there also is the original programming aspect of

00:09:35.740 the cbc and i mean they are under financial and fiscal pressure to sort of cut costs you wonder

00:09:42.780 how much money they're still going to have year after year to make original programming through the

00:09:46.940 cbc yeah and you bring up a really good point i think whenever you mention cbc it's a very political

00:09:52.460 hot potato and people immediately think like you did about the news stream and they're forgetting

00:09:56.860 about all the scripted programming uh the original movies canadian movies and international movies that

00:10:01.980 are broadcast there as well the award-winning documentary series that are there so yeah

00:10:06.700 people tend to forget about that um and it is tough you know every i hate the fact that you have

00:10:11.420 to wait to see what happens after every election to see whether the cbc is going to be around or or

00:10:15.980 what shape it's going to be in and the other thing that you know people say oh i don't want my tax

00:10:20.540 my taxpayer money going to to cbc well if you look at other countries around the world that have the

00:10:25.900 similar you know programming model the the with the public broadcaster we actually don't pay as much

00:10:31.100 as some other countries around the world uh so it would be interesting i always have interesting

00:10:35.100 conversations with people that don't really understand how it how it works the industry

00:10:39.020 works they just think oh cbc not aligned with my political uh my political views and so therefore we

00:10:44.540 should get rid of it has the just in the industry in general greg has the issues between trump and the

00:10:51.980 us and canada the 51st state talk tariffs and all that affected productions in all sorts on both

00:10:59.100 sides of the border in canada or is because the exchange is so strong you will find american tv shows

00:11:04.540 and movies uh still making productions in canada because they save so much money yeah i spoke to the

00:11:10.460 the president of the canadian screen awards about that um not too long ago and she said that there

00:11:15.420 aren't a lot of changes going on right now it's very much a wait-and-see approach uh because some

00:11:20.780 of the things that have been announced actually haven't come to fruition so there hasn't been

00:11:25.420 uh that i've seen any kind of production shutdown uh with regard to less u.s shows coming to film in

00:11:31.180 canada as you said the you know the tax the tax breaks for them are just so great um what we are

00:11:37.260 seeing though down in the states are are like gavin newsom in california especially you know imploring

00:11:42.460 shows and movies to to film in in california but you're seeing more of that rather than production

00:11:47.580 companies deciding to leave canada so i know bob odenkirk who had such great success with better

00:11:53.420 call sol he just shot nobody too in manitoba if i'm correct and i keep reading a lot is manitoba giving

00:12:00.380 even steeper tax breaks and tax cuts to movie and television production yeah all the provinces are

00:12:06.620 really starting to take take notice of this uh and the you know the fact is that vancouver and toronto and

00:12:12.540 even montreal now are becoming very very busy when it comes to productions whether they be homegrown

00:12:18.540 u.s or even international uh productions so now all of these other provinces are saying well listen

00:12:24.460 come here because we're not as crowded we've got crews that are available ready to work we've got

00:12:29.020 beautiful locations as well so i think that it's great you know it's a it's a good problem to have

00:12:33.340 when you've got everybody wanting to film in canada the east coast is quickly becoming a hotbed as well

00:12:38.620 you mentioned jonathan torrens and all the projects that he's got going on so it only makes sense for

00:12:43.100 for manitoba alberta and uh and saskatchewan to kind of jump on board and say come and film here

00:12:48.460 also the north is becoming really big now um there's a cbc gem series called north of north

00:12:53.660 that shot up in nunavut and uh and that's really opened the door to the north to go up and film too

00:12:59.100 i i don't think i'd want to be a crew person shooting a show in nunavut i have to say i love my i

00:13:03.660 love canada but i draw a line at that cold yeah absolutely i would too um what's the future where

00:13:09.660 are we going to be in the next few years in canadian television do we have something coming up in the

00:13:13.260 pipe that we should keep an eye out for i mean i i think you just need to look at what we've got and

00:13:18.220 kind of celebrate it you know i think that people should tune into some the shows like the canadian

00:13:22.540 screen awards to look at the shows that are winning here winning awards here in canada and check

00:13:27.260 them out i also think that people should check out the films that win at the canadian screen awards as

00:13:31.900 well because that there's so many great movies that get filmed here in canada that that we don't

00:13:36.860 get a chance to see so i don't mean to show for the canadian screen awards but that really is a

00:13:41.100 good place to start to look at previous winners and check out those shows and from a production

00:13:45.340 standpoint you know we're seeing canada uh partnering with other countries like ireland and uh

00:13:50.780 and the uk and and uh and other company uh countries in europe to to work on those international

00:13:56.860 projects to kind of spread that money around and and showcase uh you know the the international

00:14:01.500 crews in the international town alongside the canadian talent and canadian crews because greg once

00:14:06.940 upon a time automatically when you had a canadian show the canadian radio host uh with tv critics

00:14:13.580 they sort of they dumped all over it they tried to shoot it down because it's canadian it can't be

00:14:18.380 good then as you mentioned earlier it would get picked up by the bbc or netflix and it got popular

00:14:23.900 and all of a sudden everyone got on board with it and how do we change that mindset for canadians

00:14:28.300 that if it's a new canadian production it may be good and give it a chance that's so tough i mean

00:14:33.980 that goes back to like bands uh you know not really getting any love in canada until they go

00:14:38.460 down and become successful in the u.s or actors and actresses you know they try to make it here and

00:14:43.020 it isn't until they go to hollywood and they become successful that we love them i think that

00:14:46.780 that you know it's something that's going on with canada it's hard to change because you know we

00:14:51.180 always the the knee-jerk reactions that we're not good enough um to make to make stuff right any kind

00:14:57.740 of art uh you know we're not good enough but i think that you know going back to corner gas again

00:15:02.060 kind of broke that mold and said yeah we are good enough because look this these us channels are making

00:15:07.420 you know are picking up our stuff um but i think it's just a sea change that you need to go in and

00:15:12.540 just watch a show and don't think about it being canadian and think of that as being a negative

00:15:17.020 because sctv lives on in youtube and there are legions of people around the world they're like

00:15:22.940 this is brilliant then they realize oh it's a bunch of canadian men and women who made this in

00:15:26.780 the 70s and 80s yeah i mean i'm so glad that you brought that up you know there are so many people

00:15:31.660 that say that they preferred sctv to saturday night live uh it's just yeah again it's it's it's

00:15:37.980 that whole thing about you know we make really good content we're very funny we can write dramas we

00:15:43.500 write great music we can make good stuff just uh just give us a chance so i just wonder because

00:15:49.580 we're all like let's support canada by canadian if canadians also use that sort of mindset of the

00:15:55.420 grocery store in the department store to the arts which would be nice yeah it would be nice the

00:16:01.020 problem is that you know if you have uh netflix and you're scrolling through netflix and you watch a

00:16:06.220 show you might not know what country that show is from right you could be watching canadian content

00:16:10.940 and not even realize it and that's the problem with the streaming services there's just so much

00:16:15.420 out there and you're not quite sure unless you've been reading up and catching up on it you don't

00:16:19.420 know what country you're actually watching this show from so that would be the only negative okay i

00:16:23.740 have to ask you because i my partner and i have two daughters in the early 20s and they're obsessed

00:16:27.820 with all these real housewife shows are they are they going to start staging those in canadian cities

00:16:33.580 uh they have tried to do that in the past um i think that the problem with that is that it's you're kind

00:16:38.780 of hemmed into uh the the bigger cities you know it'll be vancouver or toronto or montreal

00:16:44.540 um it it all depends you know that said though you know we've looked at the the not the project

00:16:50.140 runways but the the rupaul's drag race um that has a canadian version and i mean there are people

00:16:55.340 around the world that say that the canadian version is better um than the original version

00:16:59.420 down in the u.s same thing with big brother canada there's so many people that say that that version of

00:17:03.660 it is so much better and to a certain extent um you know the amazing race canada better than the u.s

00:17:08.140 version i think it really depends i think you know it it could come up obviously they that that uh

00:17:13.740 the real housewives could um launch in canada in in other markets it just depends on on whether those

00:17:19.580 ratings are coming in uh in the first place for the original i mean the real housewives of moncton

00:17:24.460 has a great great sound really really rolls up greg thank you so much it's tv hyphen eha.com

00:17:32.140 tva.com greg david's editor greg thank you so much for your insight you do such great work you and

00:17:37.340 your team and keep it up and keep promoting canadian television and canadian arts thanks so much for

00:17:42.300 thank you so much for having me

True Patriot Love - September 11, 2025

Canada on Screen： Why our TV Finally went Global ｜ Jim Lang with Greg David

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