There’s far more than 57 channels now, but Springsteen was right even then. TV is overflowing with crap.

And yet, I still watch it because somewhere among that crap are little gems — the shows that make me laugh, or at least smile, or teach me something or even make me feel better about my life or my abilities (I’m looking at you, Canada’s Worst Handyman).

Recently, Alberta’s Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett told a room full of industry insiders that Canadian TV is crap — I don’t agree. Sure, there’s a lot of it I wouldn’t watch if you paid me (well, maybe if you paid me) , like Heartland,  or Being Erica, or anything about a plucky little red-head from Prince Edward Island.

But a lot of it isn’t that bad. Made in Canada was hilarious, as was The Newsroom. Corner Gas took a while to grow on me and then it was cancelled. Most of the Canadian TV I watch is actually the “reality tv” stuff like Canada’s Worst Handyman and Canada’s Worst Driver, Dragon’s Den, Daily Planet, Restaurant Makeover, and so on.

Canadian television needs to cut loose. Some of the best stuff is over the top crude like Kevin Spencer, Trailer Park Boys and Kenny vs Spenny — stuff so edgy that I frequently marvel it can be shown on television at all. Is it crap? Maybe, but it’s our crap and it is certainly no worse than programming from the U.S. or U.K.

Blackett’s comments were discussed on the Dyscultured livecast this evening* and the consensus was that Canadian television kinda is crap but even worse is the networks’ inability to schedule things and the lack of incentive to create good stuff. Why bother when it’s a lot less stressful to get the pre-made stuff from across the border and just tack in your own ads? I was thinking about this — it’s kind of the difference between a home-cooked meal and fast food. Sure, there’s calories (22 minutes worth of “comedy”) but they’re mostly fat and filler. On the other hand, sometimes that home cooked meal is a home-burger between two slices of bread and your friends are eating big macs…

*EDIT: podcast for episode 88 is now available.