in some cases I think the current media landscape in Canada doesn't allow for home-grown formats to shine anymore.
Anymore or
ever? I think back to the maxim of the operations manager at one the Canadian radio stations at which I used to be part of the on-air staff whenever the subject of playing Christmas music was discussed and his opinion on the many different versions of the same twelve songs: "Why am I going to play ‘Last Christmas’ by anyone else when I've got it by Wham?"
He also on one occasion, when the Chrétien government Heritage Minister Sheila Copps said to him in conversation at some gala event that Canadian radio stations need to do more to promote Canadian artists, replied to her, "Not counting the ones that have been given to you, how many CDs by Canadian artists do you own?" Touché.
So, why would Canadians, who already have access to the American TV market, settle for carbon copies of the same shows (whether you put
Canada in the name or not) that always comes with lower budgets and payoffs when they can view the originals? It's quite gratingly cheesy too when they try to make them "identifiably Canadian content" with stunts such as Canadian-themed questions or sticking the maple leaf somewhere in the logo.
As for those with the concurrent runs both sides of the border, they were the beneficiaries of disparities in exchange rates and available tax credits that made it cost-effective for the Americans to produce here and at the same time gave Canadian stations something to fill those Cancon quotas.
Somebody around here linked an interview a while back that Alex Trebek gave back in the '70s on the subject of Canadian game shows where he commented how they're a tougher ball game because they never have the big prizes the American ones can afford and play in a much smaller station market that's dominated by "the state broadcaster". Alas, in forty years, not much has changed.
The UK and other countries can take American exports for game shows far more feasibly because the viewers in those markets don't have the American counterparts a few channels down on the dial. They also tend to much more to make the shows their own, whether it's the sets, the theme, the execution or whatever (on the subject of execution, one of the best examples of this I have seen was the Australian version of Deal or No Deal. It was a hoot. The American version... I wouldn't last two minutes with it). Their unique cultures shine through without it being forced into the product (lest I be accused of insinuating there are no cultural differences between Americans and Canadians, I believe very much otherwise, though in the postmodern Canada, "Canadian culture" in commonplace tends to be, "Well, we're not like those Americans...")
This is why Québecois market can and has done a much better job in the Canadian media landscape at importing American shows because, well, first of all, they change the language to be that of the majority in one part of Canada who is probably not watching the American, English counterparts, immediately injecting themselves into that unique culture. I gather there aren't too many Anglophones who make themselves routine viewers of the Franco-Canadian game shows (maybe federal public servants who are looking to brush up on their French for job requirements, but you lose that audience once they pass the test).
