# Canadian Police Shows Don't Be Embarrassed



## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

There has been an influx of canadian made police shows on the US networks lately and something has bothered me about them. From Flashpoint to Rookie Blue and another upcoming one, and some other one I am forgetting...

They all seem to be ashamed to be Canadian. They all act as generically as possible in terms of where they are located. Sure you find little clues like the one desk officer in Flashpoint who has a Maple Leaf on their lapel, or using Canadian money for a drug deal in Rookie Blue...

My point is this though, why not claim you are Canadian and in a Canadian City. Tell me you are the Toronto Police, or Vancouver Police or whatever.. don't just make yourselves into some generic metro department.

I suspect it is because they want to be able to sell the shows in America, but I can tell you as an American I would rather see the show embrace its Candian roots and embrace a Candadian city instead of hiding from it and making up a generic backdrop that makes the show much less interesting to watch.

What they feel like to me are American Police shows filmed in Canada but not made fully authentic for the US. I just think a true Canadian city police show would be a bit different, but I don't know because they won't show me.


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## verdugan (Sep 9, 2003)

In Flashpoint the maple leaf is pretty prominent in more than just the desk person. They also do aerial shots showing that its pretty clear than it's in Canada. I could tell the first time I saw it that it was filmed in Canada.

You do have a point about Rookie Blue though. I didn't realize that it was set in Canada.


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## phox_mulder (Feb 23, 2006)

Flashpoint also refers to the regular cops as Constables, pretty Canadian.

I know I've heard/seen other Canadian references they didn't try to cover up.

Chalk me up as another viewer that wasn't aware Rookie Blue was Canadian, although I did wonder why the money looked so "fake" in the last episode.
The design on their patrol cars looks almost exactly like the ones on the local Transit Police around here.


phox


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

I don't know what you're talking aboot.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

If I'm not mistaken, Flashpoint is actually airs on CBC before it's aired here.
It's made in Canada for Canadian TV.
CBS uses it as an inexpensive Summer Replacement.

As others have said, it's not hidden that they are the Toronto Police. In fact, the constables have the Toronto PD insignias and also have the red stripe circling their hats.

Rookie Blue, it's not specifically the Toronto Police but it's pretty obvious to me that it's shot in Toronto.

There was also The Listener last year that I believe it was pretty clear that it was the Toronto PD and FD.

Of course, I don't think any of these series are really that good.


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## RonDawg (Jan 12, 2006)

I don't think it's necessarily a Canadian thing. Several US-based (and filmed) police shows over the decades have intentionally avoided referring to a specific city.

The original _Rookies_ and _SWAT_ from the 1970's and _High Incident_ from the 1990's, although obviously SoCal based, don't make references to any real-life police departments, though they were clearly modeled on the LAPD.

The most famous of the "generic" department shows is of course _Hill Street Blues_, which is believed to be based on the Chicago Police Department (especially the cars' paint scheme and the uniforms) but never ever refers to them.


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## Sadara (Sep 27, 2006)

Until now I did not realize that rookie blue was filmed in Canada, which does explain the weird money in the one episode. I knew flashpoint was filmed in Canada, but I think they are pretty clear about who they are. If these shows aired during the fall to spring lineup season, I wouldn't watch them, they aren't that good. But, I am fine with them as average filler summer shows.


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## That Don Guy (Mar 13, 2003)

RonDawg said:


> The original _Rookies_ and _SWAT_ from the 1970's and _High Incident_ from the 1990's, although obviously SoCal based, don't make references to any real-life police departments, though they were clearly modeled on the LAPD.
> 
> The most famous of the "generic" department shows is of course _Hill Street Blues_, which is believed to be based on the Chicago Police Department (especially the cars' paint scheme and the uniforms) but never ever refers to them.


Also, _T.J. Hooker_ was set in the "County of L.C.", and I think _Simon & Simon_ switched from San Diego to a generic southern California city at one point.

As for _Hill Street Blues_, they once made it clear that it _wasn't_ Chicago, but, at the same time, implied that it was Chicago in everything but name; somebody mentioned that the city on the show had just elected a new black mayor named Cleveland, and, at the same time, Chicago also had a new black mayor, Harold Washington.

-- Don


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## verdugan (Sep 9, 2003)

That Don Guy said:


> As for _Hill Street Blues_, they once made it clear that it _wasn't_ Chicago, but, at the same time, implied that it was Chicago in everything but name; -- Don


The series was insipired/based on Pittsburgh's Hill Distric. Steve Bochco (writer, creator) went to CMU, which is in Pittsburgh. That's the story I heard when I was at CMU. A quick check over at wikipedia confirmed it.


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## RonDawg (Jan 12, 2006)

verdugan said:


> The series was insipired/based on Pittsburgh's Hill Distric. Steve Bochco (writer, creator) went to CMU, which is in Pittsburgh. That's the story I heard when I was at CMU. A quick check over at wikipedia confirmed it.


Pittsburgh may have inspired Bochco, but the look of the show definitely screams Chicago, from the unique paint scheme of the cars (Pittsburgh's police cars of that time had a simple shield on the doors) to the fact that the opening sequence was actually filmed in the Windy City. The precinct house exterior shot is that of a real CPD station which they used until 1998.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Rookie Blue has made a couple of references, subtle but obvious, that the show is in Canada. They mentioned Younge Street in the last episode...they showed a speed limit sign with Km instead of MPH in another. The scene with the money was another give away.

But, not one of the actors has any kind of obvious Canadian accent, and in the large shots of the city, they DO seem to avoid showing the CN Tower, which is the obvious T.O. landmark. If you look close, in some of the scenes, you will see the Rogers Centre or the Air Canada Centre.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

JYoung said:


> There was also The Listener last year that I believe it was pretty clear that it was the Toronto PD and FD.


BTW, for anyone interested, The Listener was renewed in Canada; NBC won't air a second season though; so fans need to find other means of watching once season 2 begins airing.


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## Sadara (Sep 27, 2006)

I ditched my SP of the Listener pretty quickly after it started, while I love cop shows of most kind, I couldn't force myself to get interested in that one.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

Steveknj said:


> But, not one of the actors has any kind of obvious Canadian accent,


I'm not Canadian, but from Northern Wisconsin. People ask me all the time if I'm Canadian. The accent is something I can turn on or off. Naturally, I have one, and when I'm lazy or tired it shows up. I don't know if actual Canucks can turn it on or off like me, but I would guess yes.

[edit] Certain words I pronounce different. Like someone mentioned above....aboot. roof.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

justen_m said:


> I'm not Canadian, but from Northern Wisconsin. People ask me all the time if I'm Canadian. The accent is something I can turn on or off. Naturally, I have one, and when I'm lazy or tired it shows up. I don't know if actual Canucks can turn it on or off like me, but I would guess yes.
> 
> [edit] Certain words I pronounce different. Like someone mentioned above....aboot. roof.


I'm pretty good at picking up on accents, but, if the show is not TRYING to hide it's Canadianess, they WHY try and hide it? I know at least Missy Peregrym was born in Canada (Montreal according to the info on DirecTV). I am not sure about the other actors.

Funny though, the Police Chief on Rookie Blue has his uniform all buttoned way up. He reminds me of Don Cherry


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## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

Hmm I always thought HSB was in Chicago. WTH


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Steveknj said:


> I'm pretty good at picking up on accents, but, if the show is not TRYING to hide it's Canadianess, they WHY try and hide it? I know at least Missy Peregrym was born in Canada (Montreal according to the info on DirecTV). I am not sure about the other actors.


Because not all Canadians have an accent that's really different from the standard American accent.

I work with a number of Canadians and like the US, they have regional accents.

Quebec tends to have that French influenced accent while New Foundland has the pseudo Scottish one

If you ask me, Vancouver and British Columbia basically have the same accent as those in the State of Washington.

As does the Toronto area (and Alberta too, based on my dealings with our sites there). I only really notice the difference when they pronounce certain words ("aboot") or use certain slang.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

JYoung said:


> Because not all Canadians have an accent that's really different from the standard American accent.
> 
> I work with a number of Canadians and like the US, they have regional accents.
> 
> ...


Well that's it. Minnesota and Wisconsin folks sound very "Canadian" to me. But I watch a lot of hockey from Canada, and I've visited the country a few times. There are expressions and certain words that for some reason give them away. There's also in inflection in their speech which is more pronounced in some areas. When I visited Edmonton, there was NO doubt where those folks were from. In Toronto, yeah, less so, because there's a large immigrant population so some things get homogenized. But on this show, there's not even a hint they sound different from say, someone in Kansas LOL.


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## zordude (Sep 23, 2003)

JYoung said:


> Because not all Canadians have an accent that's really different from the standard American accent.
> 
> I work with a number of Canadians and like the US, they have regional accents.
> 
> ...


All lies, I'm Canadian and I have no accent at all! The french don't count, no one wants them in Canada anyways, even themselves. 

Z


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## sieglinde (Aug 11, 2002)

I remember seeing a politician on TV who I didn't recognize and I kept trying to figure out where he was from by his accent. My mind kept going to the Northeast and then it was revealed that he was from the further Northeast, Canada. Sounded like a USAdian regional accent to me. I have only heard one or two people say "eh" between words. An instructor for my local community college came from four hours north of Vancouver and she sounded like Sarah Palin on steroids.


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## RonDawg (Jan 12, 2006)

JYoung said:


> If you ask me, Vancouver and British Columbia basically have the same accent as those in the State of Washington.


Highly disagree there. I think western Canadians have an even more pronounced "oot and aboot" to their speech than those in the eastern part of the country.


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## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

I don't know when I was younger I got to spend several summers/christmases with a group of kids my age who several were from Vancouver (Squamish actually), and several from Washington (Seattle, think Bainbridge Island or something).

They did not sound at all the same to me. I am weird because I pick up people's accents really quickly. if I am around people with accents (to me), I will start talking like them in a couple weeks it seems.


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## sieglinde (Aug 11, 2002)

Looks like the Bridge is another Canadian cop show. Really dark and also no hint that it is Canadian. Even the license plates on the cars had no state or provence names on them.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

And regardless of regional accents, there are a lot of people, and more as time goes by, all across Canada and the US who pretty much speak newscaster standard.


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## getreal (Sep 29, 2003)

zordude said:


> All lies, I'm Canadian and I have no accent at all! The french don't count, no one wants them in Canada anyways, even themselves.
> 
> Z


LOL! :up::up: Folks from Quebec and East (Maritime Provinces) have distinct regional accents. And the aboriginals. Canadians (aside from immigrants) don't have nearly the variety of accents and regional dialects and expressions as the Americans. 

Another Canadian reference in Rookie Blue was after handing over a bunch of Canuck bucks, Missy mentioned sending the person on a bus to Kelowna, which is a lovely town in the Okanagan (home of Ogopogo, the lake monster inhabiting Lake Okanagan) region of BC.


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## getreal (Sep 29, 2003)

RonDawg said:


> Highly disagree there. I think western Canadians have an even more pronounced "oot and aboot" to their speech than those in the eastern part of the country.


I'm calling BS on that, Dawg. :down::down::down: That's a part of Scottish dialect, which is where Nova Scotians (New Scotland) come from. Americans see some Canadian comedy shows which originate from (and mostly feature actors/comedians) from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia (the Maritimes in Eastern Canada). If they portray a Westerner, their own Eastern accent comes through. And unenlightened Americans perpetuate the stereotype by trying to find accents where there are none.:down::down:


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## RonDawg (Jan 12, 2006)

getreal said:


> I'm calling BS on that, Dawg. :down::down::down: That's a part of Scottish dialect, which is where Nova Scotians (New Scotland) come from. Americans see some Canadian comedy shows which originate from (and mostly feature actors/comedians) from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia (the Maritimes in Eastern Canada). If they portray a Westerner, their own Eastern accent comes through. And unenlightened Americans perpetuate the stereotype by trying to find accents where there are none.:down::down:


Well this "unenlightened American" is basing his opinion on the fact that he personally knows several Canadians (including relatives who live in both the western and eastern parts of the country) and has visited a good chunk of the country as well.

I don't know why some Canadians feel so insecure about their accent, whether real or perceived


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

This week, the CN tower was prominently viewed during a night shot of the city. It's the major landmark of Toronto, so, I don't think they are trying to hide the show being in Canada. And the closing credits clearly say this.


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## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

So we add another show to the mix. I have not watched it yet, but I have been told by people who have seen it, that The Bridge falls into this same mode of a shame filled Canadian police show.

I wonder if the problem is that Vancouver and Toronto, for example, are so often used to portray US cities, that they don't want them to actually be portrayed as themselves in a movie or tv show lest people be confused?

The city of a show can be such a character in the show, and these days that is all the rage. Why can't ANY of these Canadian shows seemingly take on full frontally that they are not only in Canada but in a particular place in Canada.

Do all police cars in Canada just say Metropolitan Police on them?


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Maybe they don't want to admit that there's crime in Canada.


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## sieglinde (Aug 11, 2002)

A vampire show, I used to watch but don't remember the name of, had a female detective working with a vampire who was a graphics novel artist. They were openly working in Toronto.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

sieglinde said:


> A vampire show, I used to watch but don't remember the name of, had a female detective working with a vampire who was a graphics novel artist. They were openly working in Toronto.


Blood Ties?


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

sieglinde said:


> A vampire show, I used to watch but don't remember the name of, had a female detective working with a vampire who was a graphics novel artist. They were openly working in Toronto.


This is not the show you're talking about, but _Forever Knight_ was a vampire cop show that was fairly open about being set in Canada, and I think it was Toronto.


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## sieglinde (Aug 11, 2002)

It was Blood Ties.


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## wendiness1 (Jul 29, 2005)

Perhaps it's not a matter of producers trying to hide the fact that the shows are shot in Canada as it is intentionally done so at the request of the Americans who purchase these shows. Maybe leaving in a lot of Canadian references makes the shows harder to market to Americans?

I grew up in Saskatchewan, lived in Alberta and British Columbia. I had the good fortune to meet a Canadian linguist (I think that's what you call 'em; people who study accents) who told me the following:

People in the Maritimes (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland) have an Irish influence in their accent due to the fact that many Irish immigrants landed there and stayed because it was very similar geographically to Ireland. I have found this to be true - the Maritimers sound Irish to me.

People in the west have a Scottish influence in their accent due to the fact that the Scots emmigrated further west. I would agree with this as well. Even in the early 1970's I recall often running into new emmigrants from Scotland in Calgary and Vancouver. The west just seemed to appeal to them more.

I have noticed that folks in the prairies and some westerners have a lilt in their speech that has an Irish feel to it - almost a sing-songy sound to it but that's just my observation. The other stuff comes from a linguist.


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

wendiness1 said:


> Perhaps it's not a matter of producers trying to hide the fact that the shows are shot in Canada as it is intentionally done so at the request of the Americans who purchase these shows. Maybe leaving in a lot of Canadian references makes the shows harder to market to Americans?


I can't imagine why... this looks perfectly fine to me:


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## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

Haha. Somehow I missed that episode. WTH. That is funny though. It is like when they play hockey and basketball on Degrassi High but not hockey. Seems weird to me.


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## zordude (Sep 23, 2003)

marksman said:


> It is like when they play hockey and basketball on Degrassi High but not hockey. Seems weird to me.


?


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## zordude (Sep 23, 2003)

wendiness1 said:


> People in the Maritimes (*Prince Edward Island,* New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland) have an Irish influence in their accent due to the fact that many Irish immigrants landed there and stayed because it was very similar geographically to Ireland. I have found this to be true - the Maritimers sound Irish to me. are awesome.
> 
> People in the west  have a Scottish influence in their accent due to the fact that the Scots emmigrated further west. I would agree with this as well. Even in the early 1970's I recall often running into new emmigrants from Scotland in Calgary and Vancouver. The west just seemed to appeal to them more.  wish they were from the Maritimes.


FYP


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## getbak (Oct 8, 2004)

busyba said:


> I can't imagine why... this looks perfectly fine to me:


That's so stupid. Canadian football uses yards, not metres - 110 of them, in fact; and the season is over at the end of November, so no one would be playing football on Boxing Day.

I hate it when writers mess up the simplest things. 

Of the shows in question, Rookie Blue is the only one I've watched, and I'd say it's not so much that they're trying to hide the fact that they're in Canada, they're just not going out of the way to point it out.

As a Canadian, I thought it was pretty obvious right away that it was Canada, and most likely Toronto, even without the obvious shots of the CN Tower or Skydome. The sergeant has a crown on his epaulets, the cars all have what are obviously Ontario license plates (despite the word "Ontario" being blocked out); the speed limit signs are in km/h; they're seen with Canadian money; etc.

In the second episode, they talk about sending someone "out west", which is as specific as I thought they'd get, then later, they talked about "Kelowna".

If they're trying to hide that they're in Canada, they're not doing a very good job of it.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

getbak said:


> That's so stupid. Canadian football uses yards, not metres - 110 of them, in fact; and the season is over at the end of November, so no one would be playing football on Boxing Day.
> 
> I hate it when writers mess up the simplest things.
> 
> ...


Has there been a Canadian-produced TV show sold to the US market that was filmed in Montreal, ever?


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

dswallow said:


> Has there been a Canadian-produced TV show sold to the US market that was filmed in Montreal, ever?


Canada's fine, but we don't want none of that FOREIGN crap!


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## wprager (Feb 19, 2006)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> Canada's fine, but we don't want none of that FOREIGN crap!


The thing about Montreal is having to deal with French. I lived there for 20 years so I can tell you there's plenty of English spoken by the people who live there. The issue would be mostly dealing with the bureaucracy -- french bureaucrats cut the red tape lengthwise.

By the way, it's interesting how this thread is almost mirrored in this one on a Canadian forum. The thread title is 'My problem with "Canadian" shows like Rookie Blue, and the first post starts off:

Why won't shows like Rookie Blue and Flashpoint just acknowledge that they are Canadian?

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?p=1124977#post1124977


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## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

wprager said:


> The thing about Montreal is having to deal with French. I lived there for 20 years so I can tell you there's plenty of English spoken by the people who live there. The issue would be mostly dealing with the bureaucracy -- french bureaucrats cut the red tape lengthwise.
> 
> By the way, it's interesting how this thread is almost mirrored in this one on a Canadian forum. The thread title is 'My problem with "Canadian" shows like Rookie Blue, and the first post starts off:
> 
> ...


Haha awesome. I feel a bit vindicated.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

wprager said:


> The thing about Montreal is having to deal with French. I lived there for 20 years so I can tell you there's plenty of English spoken by the people who live there. The issue would be mostly dealing with the bureaucracy -- french bureaucrats cut the red tape lengthwise.
> 
> By the way, it's interesting how this thread is almost mirrored in this one on a Canadian forum. The thread title is 'My problem with "Canadian" shows like Rookie Blue, and the first post starts off:
> 
> ...


Ok, but honest question, what exactly is "Canadian Culture"?

Because from what I can tell, there's a lot of overlap between "Canadian Culture" and "American (US) Culture".

Another thing, the last time I was in Canada, I did some shopping at the Square One Shopping Centre outside of Toronto.

Looking at the the multiplex there which was showing 10 movies, 8 of those movies were US productions and two were Canadian productions.

It seems to me that a lot of Canadian residents actually prefer the American product over the Canadian product.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

JYoung said:


> Looking at the the multiplex there which was showing 10 movies, 8 of those movies were US productions and two were Canadian productions.
> 
> It seems to me that a lot of Canadian residents actually prefer the American product over the Canadian product.


Two of them were probably only Canadian because of some law mandating the theater always dedicate two screens to Canadian produced movies.

On the other hand, it's amazing some of the wonderful things that come out of the National Film Board of Canada financed productions that probably would not happen if there weren't something of a guaranteed outlet for such material to gain notoriety and to attract audiences.


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## RonDawg (Jan 12, 2006)

JYoung said:


> It seems to me that a lot of Canadian residents actually prefer the American product over the Canadian product.


It's not just Canada. In a LOT of countries, American TV shows and movies are extremely popular.

So popular that in Canada and other countries, there are laws that mandated a minimum number of locally produced movies and TV shows be available for viewing, to prevent American culture from having an excessive impact.


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## wprager (Feb 19, 2006)

JYoung said:


> Ok, but honest question, what exactly is "Canadian Culture"?


Step one -- lose the gun
Step two -- buy a canoe
Step three -- live multiculturally
Step four -- you're ready, there is no more.

http://www.channelapa.com/2009/06/canadian-please.html


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## sampsas (Jul 31, 2009)

Up her ein good ol Canada the CRTC has this to follow..For broadcast stations, the CRTC presently requires that 60% yearly, and at least 50% of prime-time programming, 6:00pm to midnight, be of Canadian origin...
CRTC stands for Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

I always thought that Canadian "culture" is about 70&#37; the same as American Culture, 20% British or French culture and 10% strictly Canadian. Obvioulsy hockey replaces football and baseball as the national sport. There's cultural differences in how government is looked at. But yeah, considering a vast majority of the population lives within 100 miles of the US, there's quite an overlap in culture. But if you look at anything that's Canadian produced, you'll see the maple leaf all over the place. They MAKE sure you know that it's from Canada.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Steveknj said:


> Obvioulsy hockey replaces football and baseball as the national sport.


When I was a kid, hockey was the national sport in Minnesota. I don't remember the numbers, but back then the leading source of players for the NHL was Canada, #2 was Minnesota, and #3 was the rest of the US combined. I was almost totally non-athletic, and still played hockey on the pond across the street.

Of course, things have changed, and hockey has become much more of a national sport in the US...back then we would have laughed at the thought of a hockey team in Dallas, much less one that had moved there from Minnesota...


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## loubob57 (Mar 19, 2001)

My first clue this show was set in Canada was the little crown emblems on the cars and uniforms. Then when I paid attention to the end credits it confirmed it. I didn't see any overt mention of Toronto or any other city even though I was watching for it.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> When I was a kid, hockey was the national sport in Minnesota. I don't remember the numbers, but back then the leading source of players for the NHL was Canada, #2 was Minnesota, and #3 was the rest of the US combined. I was almost totally non-athletic, and still played hockey on the pond across the street.
> 
> Of course, things have changed, and hockey has become much more of a national sport in the US...back then we would have laughed at the thought of a hockey team in Dallas, much less one that had moved there from Minnesota...


There's always been a few hockey hotbeds in the US. (I love hockey, so this stuff interests me). Minnesota is definitely one. I always found it interesting that the North Stars eventually couldn't make a go of it in Minnesota and had to move, to, of all places Dallas. New England is another. In the heyday of the Celtics dynasty of the 60s and early 70s, the Bruins would regularly outdraw the Celtics at Boston Garden. I think over time the Philadelphia area has become another. Upstate NY (There's more NHLers now from NY State than any other, at least that was the case a few years ago), Michigan. It's definitely becoming more national. There's been quite a few players coming from California over the last few years. When we start seeing some from Florida or Alabama, we'll know there's some popularity in the non traditional areas.

But still, if you go to Canada, the passion for hockey is unrivaled here in states. I would say it's more like baseball was in the 40s and 50s than any US based sport now.


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## RonDawg (Jan 12, 2006)

Steveknj said:


> But if you look at anything that's Canadian produced, you'll see the maple leaf all over the place. They MAKE sure you know that it's from Canada.


The ending credits especially, with the Canadian Film Tax Credit logo being particularly prominent.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

wprager said:


> Step one -- lose the gun
> Step two -- buy a canoe
> Step three -- live multiculturally
> Step four -- you're ready, there is no more.


I believe that's also known as "moving to Oregon".


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## Jon J (Aug 23, 2000)

I stumbled across a program over the weekend on CBS I think that involved geniuses in a big think tank solving the world's problems. Exteriors were Washington DC but a helicopter used to transport a family to the think tank home base had C tail numbers...Canada. Minor point but part of my giving up after about 30 minutes.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

RonDawg said:


> The ending credits especially, with the Canadian Film Tax Credit logo being particularly prominent.


Definitely. Watch a Canadian TV commercial if you have a chance and in many cases you will see distinctly American products like Subway or McDonalds with a maple leaf on them. I used to have the NHL Center Ice package and I always loved watching the Canadian TV commercials. Not being of the culture it was fun as an outsider noticing things like that. EVERYTHING seemed to have a leaf on it. When so much of your culture is derived from your American neighbor or your British (or French) roots, it's nice to see things distinctly Canadian where ever you can I suppose.


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## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

RonDawg said:


> It's not just Canada. In a LOT of countries, American TV shows and movies are extremely popular.
> 
> So popular that in Canada and other countries, there are laws that mandated a minimum number of locally produced movies and TV shows be available for viewing, to prevent American culture from having an excessive impact.


When I watch big brother in the UK and Australia, 90% of the promos that I catch from the shows are for American TV Shows.

I would say this was even moreso when Australian BB was on. I don't think that station ran anything but BB and US shows, from what I saw. 

As for a show showing where it was produced at the end in the credits, I am not sure how that is relevant to where a show is actually depicted in the show itself, as to where it is at... I don't think it holds any relevancy at all.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Steveknj said:


> Definitely. Watch a Canadian TV commercial if you have a chance and in many cases you will see distinctly American products like Subway or McDonalds with a maple leaf on them. I used to have the NHL Center Ice package and I always loved watching the Canadian TV commercials. Not being of the culture it was fun as an outsider noticing things like that. EVERYTHING seemed to have a leaf on it. When so much of your culture is derived from your American neighbor or your British (or French) roots, it's nice to see things distinctly Canadian where ever you can I suppose.


Well, they are mandated to have Canadian content.


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## sieglinde (Aug 11, 2002)

I was buying random things in Canada and noticed that even the sort of cheap stuff was all made in Canada. I asked the store owner and she said that most stuff was made in Canada rather than China.


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## RonDawg (Jan 12, 2006)

marksman said:


> As for a show showing where it was produced at the end in the credits, I am not sure how that is relevant to where a show is actually depicted in the show itself, as to where it is at... I don't think it holds any relevancy at all.


I was referring to Steveknj's comment about how shows produced in Canada just about hit the viewer over the head in telling you how it was produced in Canada.

Saying it was produced in Canada is one thing...but do the ending credits have to have a gigantic "CANADA" logo taking up half the screen?


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## sieglinde (Aug 11, 2002)

Most countries use their flag, Canada actually has a logo.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

sieglinde said:


> I was buying random things in Canada and noticed that even the sort of cheap stuff was all made in Canada. I asked the store owner and she said that most stuff was made in Canada rather than China.


Go Canada. Now why can't we do that here.....


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

RonDawg said:


> I was referring to Steveknj's comment about how shows produced in Canada just about hit the viewer over the head in telling you how it was produced in Canada.
> 
> Saying it was produced in Canada is one thing...but do the ending credits have to have a gigantic "CANADA" logo taking up half the screen?


It's not just the TV shows. If you get the opportunity, go watch the commercials. Almost every product, especially those from American companies have the maple leaf on it. In my visits to Canada it is also very apparent. I think a lot of it is pride, which is great, but I also think they do it show they are NOT Americans (or British or French).


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## getreal (Sep 29, 2003)

marksman said:


> As for a show showing where it was produced at the end in the credits, I am not sure how that is relevant to where a show is actually depicted in the show itself, as to where it is at... I don't think it holds any relevancy at all.


Star Trek wasn't produced in Alpha Centauri.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

getreal said:


> Star Trek wasn't produced in Alpha Centauri.


Prove it.


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## zordude (Sep 23, 2003)

Steveknj said:


> I think a lot of it is pride, which is great, but I also think they do it show they are NOT Americans (or British or French).


I think it has almost nothing to do with showing who you are NOT.

The only thing I ever remember not wanting someone to think I was is "from Quebec" 

Z


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

zordude said:


> I think it has almost nothing to do with showing who you are NOT.
> 
> *The only thing I ever remember not wanting someone to think I was is "from Quebec" *
> 
> Z


I'm sure that's a WHOLE 'nother issue entirely


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