The Hour: live in Vancouver
Once again the CBC’s Hour is being filmed in Vancouver for two nights this month. The half hour news, chat, features, program with George Stroumboulopoulos is being taped before a live audiance at the CBC Plaza on Tuesday November 29th and Wednesday November 30th at 4 p.m. You can get tickets here by sending in an email.
I don’t watch the Hour as much as I used to when it first hit the air but I’ve sent in my request for tickets because I think it would be cool to see it filmed. If you’ve never seen the show it’s basically a weird sort of informal news cast where former Much Music VJ Stroumboulopoulos sits on a couch and runs through the news in a really personal way.
It can be a bit too… well it does like explaining the background to all of its stories to make them more accessible to those who might not have read a newspaper or say ever attended school. At a certain point you do want to yell at your television, “Alright already you don’t have to do a 90 second background piece on how Hitler was a bad man set to a mediocre rock rift, just so you can talk about the Holocaust.” As a history major and someone who does keep up on current events that does get a bit annoying for me.
So yeah it’s like the real news with training wheels on. However I’m still checking out a tapping if I can get a ticket. Anyone else going?
That could be very interesting. I’ve never seen a live TV show filmed. I’ve always wondered what happens behind the scenes and in between takes and breaks. I’m sure they won’t let you, but snap some photos with your camera phone.
I, for one, won’t be requesting tickets. It’s a strange and sad state of times when news-delivering is so irreverent but I do understand how it is making information assessible to those who otherwise wouldn’t get it. George S. and Jon Stewart are two people when if I heard their grating voices on the telly, I flip the channel *so* fast.
That being said, attending a taping is fun and good boost for local and home-grown programming. =) Go out and show Vancouver spirit!
Gasp.
First off Jon Stewart is 100% the fake news anchor that George is. Second George isn’t even a fake news anchor, and the Hour isn’t a parody show.
I don’t think it’s a bad thing that news-delivering is irreverent. Even the Globe and Mail has comics in it, and puff feature type stories.
I’ll grant you that the Hour is a fairly ineffective way of getting the news for anyone whose engaged in what’s going on in the world around them, but let’s face it not everyone is and if people learn a little bit about what’s going on because they find it easier to listen to a guy with a studded wrist band (George) than a guy in a tie, then I think it’s a good thing.