by Glen Livingstone » Mon Jan 15, 2007 3:35 pm
This afternoon, I tuned in to watch the debut of Living Vancouver, CBC's new lifestyle show hosted by Jennifer Burke, the former CKNW talkshow host-cum-California Girl who changes surnames more often than some people change their underwear.
I wasn't expecting much, and, as it turns out, I wasn't disappointed because there wasn't much on offer.
For starters, the sound was out-of-sync with the video, producing a somewhat jarring viewing experience that continued throughout the show.
As for the show itself?
The first story featured Jennifer wandering around a hiking trail in North Vancouver. "Don't look at my butt" she tittered, less than two minutes into the program.
Look at your butt? Christ, I was too busy trying to find the remote control to change the channel.
I never did find the damn thing ( the remote control - not Jennifer's butt), which is how I wound up sitting through the whole sorry mess.
To the accompaniment of music you would expect to hear in a low-budget porn flick, Jennifer and some guy named Mark (I believe he is also the show's producer - double dipping on the public teat?) visit various Vancouver businesses including a spa, coffee house, gourmet food outlet and Costco (?), make fools of themselves, and leave.
Each of the stories is followed by a list of businesses that offer the services that the story featured. I assume these businesses are paying for the mentions.
Living Vancouver is insipid, boring, and a waste of time.
If some half-naked fat guy getting a massage or a bunch of freeloaders stuffing their faces at Costco is supposed to hold my attention, it's not working.
Which begs the question: Who exactly is Living Vancouver aimed at?
Is it stay-at-home moms, unemployed people, the bedridden, the dead ... who knows?
This show has no reason to exist that I can see, with the possible exception of keeping about thirty CBC employees off the dole for at least twelve more weeks.
For an example of how a lifestyle show should be done, check out Seattle's long-running Evening Magazine on KING-TV. It's a quality production.
CBC does some things right. Sadly, Living Vancouver isn't one of them.