Good Cop Bad Cop - The Border – CBC TV Premiere

"The Border"

Is the CBC really sticking its political neck out again with this one?

The first episode’s major plot is decidedly in he left zone of the spectrum and will undoubtedly be voraciously attacked by the Harper Zone. The last fifteen minutes said it all, CSIS, Foreign Affairs, The Attorney General, the PMO for heaven’s sake, the CIA and Homeland Security are, full caps, BAD! Not only is Immigration and Customs, full caps, GOOD they are all great looking so they are, full caps, COOL! But then, as Harper would be quick to point out, it was the Liberals under Chretien that provided the theme for this episode, the ‘Extraordinary Rendition’ of Maher Arar.

Sensationalistic production and dialogue using familiar mainstream media soundbites familiar to most Canadians has been packaged into one hour of hyper-entertainment. From the adrenaline pumping first few minutes to the first commercial after ten minutes we are subjected to guns, human-bombs and hack lines, chase scenes, crowd panic, confusion. CBC is looking for a ratings hit

After the first half hour I am left with the inescapable impression that The Border is totally unrealistic; characters, plots, sub-plots, dialogue – Thank God its just TV! In any other context I think I would be living in Bush’s America, turning truth into fiction.

But one achievement, to me anyway, is that the geek on junk food, Hieronymous, has me loopy! What the Hell does Maggie put in those brownies? Speed?

Well somehow, unlike the CBC’s subtle and far more believable, TV series, “Intelligence”, they are looking for the magic quarter mill (that’s half a million eyeballs) and have thrown at us as many hooks in the book as any American show can get into one hour. Where did I read that this was “slick”? Well it is and maybe because it’s done in Toronto whereas “Intelligence” was filmed in Vancouver.

Boiling down the issues to Good vs. Bad sounds all too familiar as we watch Fox news, rendering us incapable of using our imaginations much will surely dumb us down. Funny, propaganda can do this too but I can only hope not.

Defend the Border: Why CBC's new show can only help "the bad guys"
Submitted by Justin Podur on Sat, 01/05/2008 - 19:01.
Published on ZNet Jan 5/08


Border between thought and action
Jan 07, 2008 04:30 AM
Vinay Menon

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