Quote:
Originally Posted by Loosheesh
And if you have the slightest inkling to read Black Coffee (the novel), spare yourself and just don't bother. It's a Christie play, but novelized by Charles Osborne. The writing, the characterization, the plot, everything is off (and, if you're an attentive reader, there's no missing the murderer upfront). It is, to use your word, terribad  |
Well, I did pay 99 cents for it, so I might as well give it a try at some point. But probably not any time soon, unless the morbid curiosity† moves me to do so.
Thanks for the warning, even though you've actually managed to pique my interest with it.
Anyway, took a break from all the Christie to finish up a paper book from the library:
Original People, Original Television: The Launching of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, by
Jennifer David, herself a participant in the making of.
I have vague but fond memories of the
APTN, not because I can remember anything that was ever broadcast on it (besides
North of 60 reruns, which were excellent and entertaining, by the way), but because it was one of the handful of channels we could get with crystal-clear reception back before everything was switched over to digital broadcasts.
The CBC, our national broadcaster? Fuzzy like a snowstorm, even on a cable subscription. The local versions of CTV and Global? Same. CKVU 13 which eventually morphed into City TV, an actual Vancouver-based channel actually broadcasting from Vancouver? Staticky like it had been rubbing cats with amber. Only The Shopping Channel, APTN, some francophone thing (I think it was TVA), and one of the Fairchild Television Network's local Chinese-language channels ever came through without any problems.
And that's why I have an extensive DVD/Blu-Ray collection which I really ought to get around to watching more of. But I digress.
Anyway, this was a very interesting look at the lead-up to forming an independent, aboriginal (aka, Inuit, First Nations, and Métis) made and operated mainstream TV network which would showcase works by aboriginal people depicting themselves as they saw themselves, rather than just having works involving aboriginal peoples made by non-aboriginals, which had been pretty much the standard until then.
It goes back to well before there was even the idea of having such a channel, to the 60s and 70s back when the advent of videotape was beginning to make it much more affordable for isolated Northern communities to create local interest content, and the various CBC efforts to provide regional coverage in those areas, and the then-surge of interest in native-made dramas and documentaries. Then there's a lengthy section on the formation and inner workings of TVNC, the northern specialty channel which was the predecessor to APTN (and which author Davis used to work at), as well as the various proposals and eventual creation and launch of APTN.
This is done in a mix of insider perspective and outsider recollections and anecdotes, as David gets stories and quotes from other people involved, regarding their roles in the attempts to get the network off the ground and create and promote programming for it.
David doesn't shy away from addressing the (still-extant) issues of the regional/cultural divides of South and North programming, where the former was often thought to unfairly dominate the latter, as well as the (now no-longer-applicable) Northern divide between aboriginal and non-aboriginal audience catering, and this book provides interesting insights into the separations between aboriginal cultural and social interconnections (by no means monolithic, even if the native peoples of Canada do tend to get lumped together and treated, rather unfairly, as one).
Also, there's some fascinating behind-the-scenes info on exactly how Canadian television and the CRTC and CBC work in terms of securing funding, what hoops you have to jump in order to get stuff done, the technical issues involved in doing more-or-less simultaneous broadcasting over a very spread out area, etc. if you think you might be interested in such things.
Recommended if you've any particular interest in the attempted mainstreaming of aboriginal culture or the inner workings of the publicly-supplemented television broadcasting industry in general.
† Darn you, morbid curiosity. Darn you to heck!