Comments | being_fulfilled: Canadian TV doesn't suck as much as it usually does

being_fulfilled

Canadian TV doesn't suck as much as it usually does

Jan 23, 2009 22:59

I smell like I've been in bed all day. Probably because I have been. On the bright side, the chicken soup I ate for supper is staying down quite nicely, and maybe I've kicked this thing. And I really need to shower before I crawl back into bed for the night ( Read more... )

television television, long-distance love, travel, not feeling well today, school

Comments 15

airbefore January 24 2009, 08:40:02 UTC

Oh, I ♥ Being Erica. And, yes, it was me that said it had a lovely Wonderfalls feel to it. You aren't the only one impressed by how it seems like Canadian TV is "catching up"; I've read statements very similar to that in every Erica review I've read. I wasn't aware that Canadian original programming had such a bad reputation.

Erin Karpluk kind of looks like Alyson Hannigan.
Oh, she does. I had never noticed that before but now that you've said it, I can't not see it. Oh, and for the record, I adore Erin Karpluk. She's just so darn cute and, I think, absolutely perfect as Erica.

I'm so glad someone other than me has finally watched the show!

being_fulfilled January 24 2009, 08:45:04 UTC

I wasn't aware that Canadian original programming had such a bad reputation.
Ohhhh, yes. The CRTC requires that a certain amount of Canadian media be Canadian content, but there really is a dearth of good shows out there.

Corner Gas is really the first Canadian sitcom in quite a while to be fairly well-received, but even that was a loooong time coming. Degrassi was kind of the last big one, it seems.

airbefore January 24 2009, 08:57:26 UTC

Oh! I can't believe I replied to a post that was specifically about you being Canadian and I didn't use my "You're Canadian" icon! I fail.

Degrassi isn't really great, in my opinion, but it did seem to hit the golden American market: teenagers. Maybe all Canadian programming should be created with the express intent of being aired on The N.

being_fulfilled January 24 2009, 09:02:00 UTC

Heh. Degrassi was standard health class curriculum when I was in junior high. I didn't really watch it other than that, though--I didn't watch a lot of TV as a kid.

scripted22 January 24 2009, 14:09:15 UTC

However, in the broad sense of going to university to get an education, there's no "the."

That makes sense, since we don't say we're going "to the college" but instead say "going to college." It's just the terms that are different.

In a slightly related note, the school Eric teaches at just legally changed from a college to a university. Heh.

I'm watching the first few episodes of Being Erica. Cute show. Someone in the Dragonfly (insanityjones, maybe?) said that it has sort of a Wonderfalls feel to it, which I can see.

I haven't watched Wonderfalls, but I might have to check out Being Erica -- I just looked it up and Michael Riley is in it. I love him. I was a big fan of This is Wonderland.

I hope you feel better soon!

airbefore January 24 2009, 18:38:19 UTC

Michael Riley
Dr Tom! He's quite enjoyable in his role. You should definitely check out the show.

being_fulfilled January 24 2009, 20:20:09 UTC

You should check it out! It really is a cute show.

And thanks--I'm feeling much better today. Sleeping for most of yesterday helped; I should be back on track for my real classes to start on Monday.

robyn_migratori January 24 2009, 19:00:37 UTC

I have an accredited Bachelor's degree, but because my school wasn't specifically a university, I say that I went to college.

Do you? I don't know if this is something that varies from province to province, but what I call "colleges" are post secondary schools that don't grant Bachelor's degrees. But then... the school I went to before SFU had the capacity to grant some Bachelor's degrees (nursing, psychology, a couple of others) so it was technically referred to as a "university college", but I would never have called it a university.

Anyway, this was a fairly pointless comment. And I hate all Canadian TV except Trailer Park Boys. Which I still admit is a pretty bad show.

being_fulfilled January 24 2009, 20:08:47 UTC

Yeah, my BAR (Bachelor of Arts in Religion) isn't accepted everywhere, simply because the school I got it from is a Christian college, but it's still an accredited degree. However, the school itself isn't a university, it's a college. Some of the Christian colleges are university colleges, but mine was just a college--but it still offered 4-year BA degrees.

smrou January 24 2009, 20:40:42 UTC

Regarding college/university, there are cases where a university has certain parts that are called "college", too. For example, I know that the undergraduate part of Harvard is Harvard College. Nobody ever gets a bachelor's degree from Harvard University--they get it from Harvard College. And then there are universities that have different divisions--like liberal arts, and technology, and fine arts--and sometimes those different divisions are "College of [such-and-such]".

Which has little to do with anything, but it's more fun with words.

Also, Canadians don't talk about our freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years. We refer to our post-secondary years as the first year, second year, third year, and fourth year. Which, incidentally, CalArts kind of does, too. We're referred to as BFA1, BFA2, BFA3, BFA4, MFA1, MFA2, or MFA3s.I don't know if it's standard graduate school terminology, but at my grad school all grad students referred to themselves as G1, G2, etc. This may have been specific to PhD programs (since you never ( ... )

being_fulfilled January 24 2009, 21:49:03 UTC

And then there are universities that have different divisions--like liberal arts, and technology, and fine arts--and sometimes those different divisions are "College of [such-and-such]".

I think most Canadian universities call theirs the "Faculty of [whatever]". Education, business, fine arts, law, medicine, etc. I know that's not a distinctly Canadian thing, but it's more common to see that than to see "College of..." at a Canadian school.

smrou January 24 2009, 21:59:46 UTC

Harvard uses that form for the main part of the university--the Faculty of Arts and Sciences--which includes Harvard College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. I don't think they have anything else like that, though, because all the others are "School"s, I think. Law School, Medical School, School of Public Health, School or Government, School of Design.

being_fulfilled January 24 2009, 22:05:40 UTC

At the U of C, the only things that are schools and not faculties are departments named after someone--Haskayne School of Business and Schulich School of Engineering. I think the rest are all "Faculty of..."

At CalArts, we differentiate between the Institute and the School. When we talk about something school-wide, it's the School of Theater. When it's Institute-wide, it encompasses the School of Theater, School of Music, School of Art, School of Dance, School of Film and Video, and School of Critical Studies.

jenepel January 25 2009, 06:16:05 UTC

I always think that Canada (and maybe Aust/NZ too) have some things that match US and some things that match the UK. It's like a best of both worlds kind of thing.

As for "college", over here that's the last two years of secondary school (so I guess 11th/12th grades in the US, not sure about Canada). Anything beyond that is University. Oh yeah, and sometimes it's used in a sense of parts of the larger Uni as a whole - like the colleges at Cambridge that are all part of the same University system.

I've never heard of that Erica show, but anything being compared to Wonderfalls sounds good to me, so I think I'll check it out!