This Is Me Breathing

Petitions, Petitions, Petitions!

Yesterday I wrote about the cancellation of a couple of cool shows by the CBC. (I know, that sentence sounded weird when I wrote it too.) Well I've just been introduced to a cool website called iPetitions. The idea is simple in its brilliance. Basically it allows people to set up online petitions and invite people to sign them. It's democracy at its best!

I found it because I heard about the Petition to GO Transit for a fare rebate which has almost eleven thousand signatures. After adding my own name to it, I took a look around the site because I thought it was a pretty cool idea. I was considering beginning a petition of my own to save MVP and JPod. But first, on the off-chance that one might exist, I thought I'd perform a search. Well I hit pay-dirt. Here are a number of petitions you can sign to save two of Canada's best shows. If you're a fan too, I encourage you to sign all of them.

• MVP:
  • http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savemvp/
  • http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/MVPforlife1/
• JPod:
  • http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/JPod/
  • http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-jpod/
  • http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/CBC_jpod/

Note: Once you sign a petition you will be asked to make a donation to the site. You can skip this step.

Just One More Reason to Hate the Leafs...Oh...And The CBC!

Up until this past season, the only reason I tuned in to the CBC was for three shows; The Hour, HNIC and RMR. But this past season I had two other reasons to watch the Mother Corporation, and they were called MVP and JPod.

The first (MVP) was a guilty pleasure mix of T&A and Canadiana. It had an ambitiously large ensemble cast and more storylines than you could shake a stick at. It was a truly Canadian soap opera and it appealed to both my wife and I for very different (yet oddly similar) reasons. MVP's season finale went to a dark place that I wasn't expecting and it actually made anxious for next season...alas, according to this CBC.ca article, that isn't going to happen now.

JPod was a new dark comedy based on a book by Douglas Coupland of the same name. The cast was young and fresh and it featured a hilarious Alan Thicke in a role that would surprise even the most loyal Growing Pains fan. I especially love the role of the pot-growing mother played by an amazing Sherry Miller. This show was probably the best thing CBC has ever produced and it was attracting a younger audience too! Something that the CBC has problems doing. So, they were a sure lock for renewal right? Wrong.

BTW, CBC also announced that they'd be renewing shows like; The Border, Sophie, Little Mosque On The Prairie, Dragon's Den and This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

Now I don't have anything against some of these shows, but really...I think 22 Minutes has had its time don't you? I mean who watches it anymore? Why couldn't they drop it in favour of a new show that might bring in some younger viewers like...say...JPod?

So what does this have to do with the Leafs? Another article on CBC.ca reports that if when the Leafs don't make the playoffs this year it will cost the network $10M in lost revenue. This hit meant that some of the network's newer shows had to go.

So there you have it...the Leafs aren't only hurting Toronto hockey fans, but now it seems their ever-extending reach has touched the lives of Canadian soap opera and dark comedy fans as well.

For not finding a way to keep these two great shows going, and for being the reason for the cancellation of these two shows, I offer both the CBC and the Toronto Maple Leafs respectively, two giant Bitch Slaps!