Mr. TV: Northern Exposure

This high-tech world of ours never ceases to amaze me. I was at the airport in Calgary, Canada, with two hours to kill, so I opened up my laptop, popped in my wireless modem and it was business as usual. Anyway, as I was sitting at the airport writing this column, in walked Canadian rock star William Shatner, who was honored at the Banff World TV Festival. While Trekkies, of course, will always remember Shatner as Captain James T. (quick, anyone know what the T stands for?) Kirk on Star Trek, he will always be T.J. Hooker to me. Too bad his former co-star, Heather Locklear, wasn’t along for the trip up north.At the moment, and this is a rare thing for me, I am feeling pretty damn satisfied. Aside from one member of the audience who accused me of not liking Canadian programming (huh?), my Fall TV preview at the festival was very well received, and I find it enormously gratifying to meet the people who actually read my The Programming Insider newsletter. One person even asked me if I would be willing to come to England to speak. How do you say yes in English? If you’ve never been to Banff, you’re missing what I personally think is the most beautiful spot on the face of this earth. Coming from New York, the clean and lush mountains are so exhilarating it’s a bit of a shock. If you go, pack an umbrella because it seems to rain there a lot.The town in Banff is very reminiscent of fictional Cicely, Alaska, in CBS drama Northern Exposure. And while seems there are more elk roaming the streets than people, Banff is a hopping place. The festival always closes out with a bus trip into the mountains for some truly excellent Canadian hospitality. I hope this becomes an annual event for me. I may live on Long Island, but the bit of country in me always loves to get some fresh air and great barbeque. Every time I come to Canada (and I have been to Toronto four times in the last two years), I’m always impressed by the caliber of original programming being created north of the border—a valid option for any network in search of filling a time period without breaking the bank on production costs. Now that I am back in New York, it suddenly dawned on me that I didn’t watch anything on TV for four days. That’s right. No small screen for Mr. TV for 96 hours, which could very well be a record. And, you know what? I felt like I missed nothing. I’m not feeling the love for Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance without the weekly participation of the bombastic Mary Murphy. I have no interest in NBC’s Last Comic Standing or Losing It With Jillian. And finally I have zero tolerance for the nonsense on NBC’s America’s Got Talent (which America doesn’t seem to have much of based on this series).I think I’ll spend most of my TV viewing in the summer surfing the cable networks and watching my guilty pleasure, nonscripted CBS mainstay Big Brother. Hopefully, TCM, my primary destination, will load the airways with some meaty classic movies. Anyone up for an Alfred Hitchcock festival this summer?While I do give credit to ABC for introducing three scripted drama—Scoundrels, The Gates and Rookie Blue—the pessimist in me thinks the network would have aired them in the traditional TV season if they were any good. But good for them for at least trying. Unfortunately, however, opening ratings for Scoundrels and The Gates on June 20 were disappointing.My next trip is the annual summer gathering of the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Los Angeles beginning on July 27, where I will have the opportunity to learn more about the 25 new fall series along with about 200 other critics and bloggers from across the country. As much I do enjoy La-La land on a biannual basis, for my money it doesn’t touch Banff. And if there were any mountains worth noting, they would be covered by the smog.

Convergent TV

Mr. TV: Northern Exposure

Marc Berman

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Marc Berman