Final four face off in Canadian TV contest

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/11/2017 (3187 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As most sports fans know, the biggest and baddest of the bracket-driven competitions is the annual NCAA Basketball Tournament, otherwise known as March Madness.

But there’s another bracket brawl brewing these days, and it’s aimed at determining the greatest-ever Canadian television thing. For the sake of the discussion that follows, and with a respectful nod to bracketology’s apparent affinity for alliteration (the progressive stages of the NCAA’s “Madness” march are nicknamed the Sweet Sixteen, the Elite Eight and the Final Four), let’s call the Canuck-TV countdown “November Nuttiness.”

The bracket gimmick was unleashed online earlier this month by self-described journalist/ranker of stuff Justin McElroy, a Vancouver-based CBC staffer, under the heading “Canada’s Most Memorable (English) TV Thing.” On his website (As most sports fans know, the biggest and baddest of the bracket-driven competitions is the annual NCAA Basketball Tournament, otherwise known as March Madness.

But there’s another bracket brawl brewing these days, and it’s aimed at determining the greatest-ever Canadian television thing. For the sake of the discussion that follows, and with a respectful nod to bracketology’s apparent affinity for alliteration (the progressive stages of the NCAA’s “Madness” march are nicknamed the Sweet Sixteen, the Elite Eight and the Final Four), let’s call the Canuck-TV countdown “November Nuttiness.”

The bracket gimmick was unleashed online earlier this month by self-described journalist/ranker of stuff Justin McElroy, a Vancouver-based CBC staffer, under the heading “Canada’s Most Memorable (English) TV Thing.” On his website (justinmcelroy.com), the contest’s creator offers a simple rationale for his effort: because nobody, in the digital age has ever conducted a public vote to determine Canadian TV’s most memorable property.

He also points out that his site has already ranked the top Heritage Moments and Vancouver breweries. “It’s Canada 150,” he argues. “Just go with it.”

Like the NCAA bracket, McElroy’s “tournament” began with a typical single-knockout draw set up in four 16-competitor divisions. In the case of November Nuttiness (our name, not McElroy’s), the four divisions were drama, comedy, children’s programming and a miscellaneous bracket that allowed for entries of hard-to-categorize Canuck-TV offerings such as Don Messer’s Jubilee, Street Cents, Body Break, Hinterland Who’s Who and Reach for the Top.

In each round, online voting determined the winner of each individual bracketed match up, with the victors moving on to the rounds of 32, 16 and eight. At this writing, November Nuttiness had reached its crucial Final Four stage.

It goes without saying there has been controversy — albeit not of the particularly pressing variety — along the way. Social media debates flared up as tweets and taunts followed each matchup’s result. Some votes were no-brainers — in the first round, SCTV trounced The Trouble with Tracy by a margin of 98.19 per cent to 1.81 per cent (prompting the inevitable question of WHO, exactly, was in the Tracy-favouring less-than-two per cent?).

Other matchups were more contentious — in the comedy bracket, Ken Finkleman’s The Newsroom edged Kenny vs. Spenny by a margin of 50.05 per cent to 49.95 per cent, and in the drama category, Da Vinci’s Inquest (50.62 per cent) eked out a similarly slim victory over Street Legal (49.38 per cent).

As the bracket votes continued to be tabulated, the Twitterverse (Canadian division) was ablaze with comments, shouts of support and grim declarations of defeat.

The round of 16 saw big-name shows matched up against each other — the comedy bracket had The Kids in the Hallvs. Trailer Park Boys and Corner Gas vs. SCTV, while the drama showdowns featured The Littlest Hobo vs. Anne of Green Gables and The Beachcombers vs. Degrassi; the kids’-TV bracket featured The Friendly Giant vs. Fraggle Rock and Mr. Dressup vs. The Raccoons, and the miscellaneous mix saw Street Cents vs. Body Break and Wayne and Shuster vs. Heritage Minutes.

More heated competition ensued, of course. And now — at least, as this is written — it’s down to the Final Four: 

The Kids in the Hall vs. Degrassi.

Mr. Dressup vs. Heritage Minutes.

People are passionate. Award-winning Free Press writer Melissa Martin went as far as to record and post a 12-minute video (wfp.to/degrassi) exhorting voters to support her “Most Memorable” choice (Degrassi).

In the end, of course, the final result of McElroy’s digital-age determination will be neither definitive nor particularly important. But what’s cool about the whole exercise is that is has got people talking — loudly, long-windedly and even lovingly — about Canadian television. It has been a remarkably relevant, in a cultural sense, unscientific experiment.

All of which raises the question: What do YOU think is Canada’s most memorable TV thing ever? Did the voters who weighed in on McElroy’s bracketology ballot get it right, or is there a defeated show you think deserves a better shot at the title?

Comments can be posted (online). And please, as always… no wagering.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @BradOswald

 

wfpyoutube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuQp39EmgHI&feature=youtu.be:wfpyoutube