In the annals of comic book super heroes, characters often have a signature catchphrase. Superman has: "Up, up and away!" The Avengers shout: "Avengers Assemble!"

And the resilient Canadian super hero Captain Canuck? His tag line could be: "He's Back!"

That's what the cover proclaimed on his 1979 revival,...

I'd written before about the sitcom, Seed -- one of the few contemporary Canadian-made sitcoms (for all that cultural pundits curiously insist that Canadians are champs at comedy). My past comments related to my usual pet peeve: Canadian identity. Seed tries to imply it's American.

The premise...

Read a book or article about your favourite TV show or movie and you'll read about the innumerable obstacles that had to be overcome.

It's all about the creatives fighting for what's important, compromising on what isn't -- and recognizing the difference. A filmmaker who fights over everything soon...

Canadian TV has been enjoying some international notice within the fantasy/SF genre, from the (defunct) Sanctuary to the up-coming Bitten and currently including Lost Girl, Continuum and the newbie, Orphan Black. They are cut from similar cloth (all feature a white female in the lead) and generally enjoy good notice...

My previous post -- When Canadians are Ashamed to be Canadian -- resulted in comments. Some pro, some con, some didn't necessarily "get" where I was coming from. Perhaps because they were unaware discussions about Canadian identity and mass entertainment have been going on for decades.

But comments...

In some earlier posts I questioned ways to improve Canadian TV ratings.

But what about the broader culture? Is there a hatred of Canada, and if so, why? A hatred from outside...and a self-hatred from inside?

Consider this clip I found on youtube. It's of Canadian...

Everything has its season, and spring brings out the obligatory "Most Beautiful Celebrity" lists. People, FHM, Maxim, Hello Canada, etc. An excuse to plaster a pretty face on a magazine cover and to get readers debating the selections. Websites and personal bloggers sometimes offer up their own lists, too.

Thinking about current filmed-in-Canada American-produced series like Defiance, Hemlock Grove and others can lead you down a warren hole of musings, about American pop culture in relation both to Canada, and to the whole "Global Village" (as Canadian media guru Marshall McLuhan defined it).

First a quick digression ('cause...

Canadian filmmakers seem to love hockey stories -- whether theatrical motion pictures, TV movies, or TV series.

From the recent CBC biopic, Mr. Hockey, all the way back to 1972's Face Off (and probably earlier). Hockey movies have profiled Gordie Howe (the aforementioned "Mr. Hockey"), Maurice Richard, Don Cherry...

Canadian TV executives constantly cluck their tongues and ask, "How -- oh, how! -- can ratings be improved!?!"

You want to know how to improve Canadian TV?

Make more #@$%&#! Canadian programs!!!!

Period.

Global, one of Canada's "Big Three" networks, currently has, I believe, two scripted "in production"...

Recently it was announced there will be an industry seminar asking the all-important question: how to get people watching Canadian TV shows?

I was actually all set to launch into some wild screed on the subject, but then came upon this post by Diane Wild...

With the eagerly anticipated new Star Trek film, Into the Darkness, just weeks away, I wanted to dust off my old LEGO-constructed phaser, don my rubber Vulcan ears, and ask that all important question: would the original Kirk even like the modern Kirk?

Captain Kirk has become identified as the...

Canadian TV can reflect the ambiguity that is Canadian culture.

Canadians have long struggled with defining themselves...and suffering the definitions of others. Some have suggested, pejoratively, that Canadians are simply the "un-Americans", defined by an absence of identity.

Equally Canada has been defined as the bridge between Europe and...

I believe that stories work best when they are rooted. That if you watch a movie set in New York...you want to be believe the filmmakers know New York. If you watch a TV show set in England, you appreciate dialogue peppered with a few English colloquialisms.

I tend...

Part of pop culture is trends, narrative echoes -- the tangled skein of culture. Yet in Canadian TV it's rare for people to say: "Hey -- you know what this reminds me of?"

Critics are quick to identify American trends, both mini (the modern Gothic of Revenge, Ringer, Deception, and...

The whole Seth MacFarlane Oscars triumph/travesty provides a fascinating look at the notion of perspective.

MacFarlane is an entertainer who specializes in off-colour "shock" humour who hosted the Oscars and peppered the evening with a lot of off-colour "shock" humour. Some was deemed in bad taste (a joke about...

The Oscars are over but don't return your tuxes yet, because next up is...The Canadian Screen Awards.

Hip, hip...huh.

Canada desperately wants its equivalent of the Oscars/Emmies even as -- particularly with films -- in most cases the audience hasn't even heard of the films nominated. But awards shows...

The media reaction to the Hollywood film, Argo -- depicting when Canadians in Iran provided a haven for American diplomats -- has subtly started to diverge in the American and the Canadian press. In the U.S., it's been about how many Oscars it's likely to win.

In Canada, the...

I like to blog about pop culture -- specifically (though not exclusively) Canadian film & TV. Ideally, I should write about one particular theme...then move on to another.

But as Al Pacino said in a Godfather flick: "Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in!"

Y'see,...

Canadian TV is enjoying a kind of Golden Age with various series boasting respectable ratings and even landing slots on American networks.

Yup, Canadian shows abound...or do they?

Y'see, a recurring gripe of mine is how many Canadian movies and TV shows slavishly pretend they aren't Canadian -- such...