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Colour me shocked and appalled. It was announced during the weekend at the Gemini Awards that online voters had chosen Degrassi as the best Canadian television show of the past 25 years.

I guess British Columbians did not take part in any great number because Da Vinci's Inquest, the compelling urban drama made by Vancouver's Chris Haddock and starring Nicholas Campbell (above) came in at 20 out of 25.

This is disgraceful. To my mind, Da Vinci singlehandedly justified the parliamentary grant to the CBC during its seven seasons on air from 1998 to 2005. (Not to mention its sequel, Da Vinci's City Hall, which does not figure in the list at all!) Its portrait of Vancouver's underbelly was unlike anything seen on Canadian television before. I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that it showed the possibilities for Canadian tv in the same way that The Wire subsequently showed a new direction south of the border.

Look at the other shows that finished ahead of Da Vinci on the list: Anne of Green Gables, Mr Dressup, Corner Gas, Due South, even that coastal classic, The Beachcombers. It makes one embarrassed to be a Canadian.

Labels: ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA, URBAN SCENE

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