In the spring of 2007, Kirstine Layfield, CBC's general manager of English-language programming, vowed that the beleaguered public broadcaster would soon be "flying high," and she outlined a plan to move away from high-impact miniseries to steamier dramas, feel-good sitcoms, and way more reality programming.
The shrieks of outrage were ear-piercing and immediate. And the chorus of dissent went something like this: The CBC is dumbing down. Abandoning high art. Acting like a conventional broadcaster. Chasing numbers rather than nurturing a vision as a public broadcaster.
At the time, Layfield, who was just a year into the job (and who now goes by the surname of Stewart), looked a bit nervous making the proclamation of change. But she held her ground. "The stakes are high and the needs are urgent," she told a crowd of journalists and media buyers assembled on the cavernous 10th floor at CBC's Toronto headquarters. Then she stuck her neck out even further: "But the rewards will be great. The love affair is just starting."
As ratings go, at least, it turns out she was right.
As the CBC heads into the hockey playoffs - and turns its attention to what will come down the pipe this fall - it is crowing about the 2009-10 season. That season held not just the usual single Canadian-made show with more than a million weekly prime-time viewers - typically, that's been Hockey Night in Canada. Now the network has three more: Dragons' Den, Battle of the Blades and Rick Mercer Report. (Still, only Hockey Night ranks among the country's Top 20 prime-time programs - the only Canadian-made show to do so - squeaking in at number 20).
The Alberta-based drama Heartland almost made the cut, with 992,000 viewers. And the two-part miniseries Keep Your Head Up, Kid: The Don Cherry Story, drew almost 1.4-million viewers its first night, and 1.3-million its second.
All round, not too shoddy given that the CBC's benchmark of success has typically been 500,000 pairs of eyeballs.
"We strike a very good balance," Stewart asserts. "What people have to understand, and I think they do appreciate, is that if an audience isn't watching the CBC - whether it's our reality shows, sitcoms or the specials - they're not going to be watching the dramas either. Dragons' Den almost reached the two-million mark, and it led into our new drama Republic of Doyle, which is attracting 800,000 viewers. Doyle is the highest drama launch we've had in quite some time. And it's 100-per-cent Canadian owned and grown."
What Stewart describes as "good balance" is, not surprisingly, a matter of dispute among many of this country's independent producers, some of whom charge that, unless it's fun and fluffy, the CBC turns most scripts away.
Ken Finkleman, who has made several series for the public network, including his CBC-inspired comedy The Newsroom, says that his most recent script for a half-hour sitcom, Good Dog, was roundly rejected by the network. So he took it to pay TV's The Movie Network/Movie Central, which has green-lit 13 episodes.
Cable and pay TV, Finkleman says, are making the best, boldest shows on television. "Forget about dark and edgy; the CBC seems to only want warm and friendly," says Finkleman, whose new sitcom is about an older guy (played by Finkleman) living with a woman half his age, knowing full well she's there for his money. (He's there for the sex.)
"If you want to turn people who are funny away, there is no better way than this," adds Finkleman. "A senior CBC executive told me that Good Dog was 'too niche.' I sent a note back saying I have to give you credit for not only managing to express your opinion of the show in two words, but you also did so bilingually. So you're doing a great job."
Newfoundland native Adriana Maggs, a TV writer and actress whose first feature film, Grown Up Movie Star, was in competition at the year's Sundance, agrees that the CBC's appetite for anything "a bit out there" has waned. "A few years ago, I pitched them a comedy, but I was told they didn't want humour that comes from a place of discomfort. I think comedy does come from discomfort. I think that's why people laugh," says Maggs.
"After that, I didn't see the CBC as a place for me. I like truth and honesty. I'm not interested in replicating commercial, American-inspired production." Maggs's most recent writing job was on the ballsy comedy series Call Me Fitz, starring Jason Priestley and airing this summer on TMN/Movie Central.
But Laszlo Barna, the producer behind CBC's long-running Da Vinci's Inquest and Da Vinci's City Hall as well as the Don Cherry movie, defends Stewart's more populist route (which, there's no denying, he's done well by of late). " Don Cherry was a monster hit," he notes. "And the CBC just picked up our new series, Men With Brooms.
"I do wish the CBC did more movies, but nobody is doing movies, because they're hard to advertise and position," Barna adds. "The CBC is doing what everybody is doing, and their ratings are up. I know a lot of people have trouble with Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune running on the CBC at 7 p.m., but thanks to those shows, Don Cherry had one million people on the lead-in - not 300,000 to 400,000 viewers, like there used to be."
Stephen Waddell, national executive director of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, also sees upsides to what Stewart has done. Waddell was initially "concerned they were going to move too much toward reality shows … and away from drama and comedy." Now, he sees "a schedule that is reasonably balanced" - and likely the best way for the CBC to survive in tough times.
Last year, the CBC laid off 800 employees, and it is currently grappling with a $170-million deficit. The corporation also recently found out it will receive $12.6-million less for TV and digital production from the Conservative government's restructured Canada Media Fund. That cut, a CBC spokesman says, won't have an impact this fiscal year but could affect prime-time programming down the road.
In a few weeks, Stewart will unveil the new fall season. Already, she has announced that Battle of the Blades will be back, along with a new reality series for home-improvement diva Debbie Travis (replacing Sunday-night movies). Also planned for 2010-11 is a movie based on the life of John A. Macdonald (he'll be played by Newfoundland-born Big Love star Shawn Doyle); the comedy Insecurity (from Virginia Thompson, the Regina producer behind Corner Gas); and a steamy historical drama, Camelot, an international co-production to replace The Tudors. She hinted that the CBC is also considering a Jamie Oliver-esque food show that will try to get Canadians to eat better.
Maureen Parker, executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada, is less than thrilled with the Camelot news. "Tell me, what is Canadian about Camelot?" she asks. "Sure, they can buy and air a costume drama, but don't dress it up as Canadian content."
Stewart, who has weathered criticism before, just shrugs: "I don't know what's wrong with being considered more populist. I don't see us crossing any lines of quality."
All public broadcasters, she points out, are being forced to experiment. She notes that the BBC recently announced it is making a reality show called Hotter Than My Daughter. "If you compare that to Dragons' Den and Battle of the Blades," says Stewart, "I think we're doing pretty good." Further proof, if it were needed, that in an age of continuing government cuts and a push to prime-time populism, quality is a relative term.