I couldn't make it through the first episode despite my fondness for Molina, so I appreciate that you saved me from feeling guilty about tuning out tout de suite.
Perhaps more disappointing because there are so many examples of not particularly good TV shows that viewers love for being community shows. Eureka comes to mind, but I just watched the pilot for Northern Exposure for the first time since it aired and marveled at how that show became a celebrated, successful model of the lovably quirky community show because the pilot was pretty lousy.
Fantastic post. I recent read a book about Canadian music in the 1960s and 1970s, and the struggles of musicians there to get Canadian radio programmers and record producers there to take them seriously without having to establish their bona fides first in the U.S. or England, and it’s sad to see that tastemakers still don’t take Canadian art seriously enough to make unless it can be projected onto a wider screen. I wonder why people still struggle to see Canada as culturally distinct the way they do Australia or New Zealand. Maybe because Canada is culturally distinct in so many ways that people have trouble seeing any coherent whole in its most colorful parts?
I think it's entirely financial. Canada's English speaking book buying public is something like the size of Colorado's...that's just not a giant market. I think with TV it's the same.
I think that many (but by no means all Canadian mysteries) are community based. I am thinking especially of two of my favorites - Gail Bowen's Joanna Kilbourn and Giles Blunt's John Cardinal series'. Cardinal was picked up as a series and in my opinion was not entirely successful at conveying the (I don't know) pathos of the books. I think that TV and movie producers think that in order to have a successful adaptation it has to be exciting and fast moving (like Reacher) and community based novels do not fit that conceit. This is not limited to just Canadian content. I have long felt that Steven Havill's Posadas County novels would be great TV but I am not holding out hope of ever seeing it. Maybe someday someone in the entertainment industry will find your books to be worthy of an adaptation. I would like to see you be able to buy a house too.
I couldn't make it through the first episode despite my fondness for Molina, so I appreciate that you saved me from feeling guilty about tuning out tout de suite.
Perhaps more disappointing because there are so many examples of not particularly good TV shows that viewers love for being community shows. Eureka comes to mind, but I just watched the pilot for Northern Exposure for the first time since it aired and marveled at how that show became a celebrated, successful model of the lovably quirky community show because the pilot was pretty lousy.
A lot of pilots are lousy but lead to good shows...but yeah, sometimes the pilot is exceptionally offbeat compared to what the show becomes
Fantastic post. I recent read a book about Canadian music in the 1960s and 1970s, and the struggles of musicians there to get Canadian radio programmers and record producers there to take them seriously without having to establish their bona fides first in the U.S. or England, and it’s sad to see that tastemakers still don’t take Canadian art seriously enough to make unless it can be projected onto a wider screen. I wonder why people still struggle to see Canada as culturally distinct the way they do Australia or New Zealand. Maybe because Canada is culturally distinct in so many ways that people have trouble seeing any coherent whole in its most colorful parts?
I think it's entirely financial. Canada's English speaking book buying public is something like the size of Colorado's...that's just not a giant market. I think with TV it's the same.
Well, there goes my idea for a cozy series set on Baffin Island.
Orca Bay Murders could be big, though
I think that many (but by no means all Canadian mysteries) are community based. I am thinking especially of two of my favorites - Gail Bowen's Joanna Kilbourn and Giles Blunt's John Cardinal series'. Cardinal was picked up as a series and in my opinion was not entirely successful at conveying the (I don't know) pathos of the books. I think that TV and movie producers think that in order to have a successful adaptation it has to be exciting and fast moving (like Reacher) and community based novels do not fit that conceit. This is not limited to just Canadian content. I have long felt that Steven Havill's Posadas County novels would be great TV but I am not holding out hope of ever seeing it. Maybe someday someone in the entertainment industry will find your books to be worthy of an adaptation. I would like to see you be able to buy a house too.
Thanks! Wakeland TV stuff has been ongoing since the first book came out...fingers crossed, but all I can do is control the quality of the books.