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Can-Con, The Best of Old School Canadian TV
Can con, Canadian content, ugg! It was the bane of my existence as a kid growing up under the proud maple leaf.
Our broadcasting authority, the CRTC (Canadian Radio and Television Communication) mandated that 30 percent of what was shown on our stations was made in Canada.
The shows were largely shit, or for old people. king of Kensington or The Beachcombers might have been cool if you were 50. Not so much if you were a teenager.
But now I AM 50 plus and maybe CanCon wasn’t so bad.
I get what they were doing. They were trying to preserve our Canadian culture, whatever that was. Honestly, at the time for me, it was American Lite. I wanted no part of it. Except, I was there for it all, and it was pretty good looking back.
Never mind Bleu Nuit, the soft-core porn we got from 1986 to 2007. Free, legal, and on the air for all the horny kids. After midnight, it was fun time!
That was great, but there were actually some pretty awesome shows that I dismissed as “just Canadian.”
1. First up, Smith and Smith, a little sketch comedy, variety series that aired on CTV affiliates from 1979 until the mid-80s. It starred Steve Smith, later known as Red Green, and his…
