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Running Down MVP
by Alanah McGinley on 01/12/08 at 03:28 PM ET
Comments (7)
I was looking forward to the debut of CBC’s series MVP last night, after Kukla pointed out to me, “You review it, you’re the girl!"* But being true to all stereotypes possible, I botched the recording with my PVR and only caught about 20 minutes of the show.
Turns out, that was plenty.
The program was called “titillating trash” in the Globe & Mail the other day, which appears accurate. In a mere 20 minutes, I witnessed a bit of violence, a bit of sex, a few broken laws, a couple of jackasses, a girl too-innocent-to-be-of-this-earth, and a touch of evil.
It was like a modern version of Dynasty for puckheads. And, lord help us all, it’s going to be a huge hit.
William Houston noted, in the afforementioned Globe & Mail review, that the show lacks any interest in accuracy or deep thought; but also conceded that such lofty goals are hardly the point:
MVP, of course, doesn’t aspire to greatness or authenticity. And, for what is, it’s slick and entertaining.
But while Houston argues this show is entirely made for women, I’ll bet that it gets a serious dose of male viewers, too. After all, our era is the cult of celebrity and pretty girls in the beds of our favorite star athletes are photographed, blogged and written about more by male sportswriters than by female ones, and for a largely male audience. (And more of that audience has probably wished they were Sean Avery because of his liaison with Elisha Cuthbert, than because of his hockey prowess...)
So my guess is that MVP, while primarily aimed at women, will still reach a noteworthy section of male viewers. After all, this is still basically a show about hockey players who drink too much, and the hot chicks who want them. What’s not male targeted about that?!
An interesting tidbit from Houston: Peter Miller, who plays “Damon” on the show, played five seasons in the CFL in the 1990s.
Anyway, I’m not the best female test-subject for MVP since my own interest in trash-television is largely limited to Toronto Maple Leafs games. But here’s the thing: I do want to like MVP… both because there’s nothing wrong with a bit of tawdry fun, and because it’s a drama set peripheral to my favorite past time—hockey.
So I’ll be watching next week… if I can manage not to screw up the PVR again. No more reviews, though— if I do manage to get hooked on this show, I’ll be hiding that fact as my own secret shame.
P.S. The CBC’s website of the show is quite well done with some notable features:
- All the episdoes are kept online here.**
- The show’s soundtrack is updated here each episode. A cool idea.
- There’s a blog with the show “Puckbunny Blog” that’s bound to be a hit. (Though I think they’d do well to team up with the girls of Hot Oil)
- A linkup to the show’s Facebook group.
Notes:
*Nah, he didn’t say that. He said, “You review it because I’m stuck in the United States and can’t get CBC on cable. I’m dying to to see that show. Tell us everything!"***
**Episodes are only available to Canadian-based IP addresses. If you figure out a workaround outside Canada, drop me a line.
*** Okay, okay, he didn’t say that, either.
Filed in: dumb stuff | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: cbc, hockey+entertainment, mvp,
Comments
Unlike Rent-a-Goalie, I was able to download episode 1 this morning off the usual multimedia newsgroup this morning (remember usenet?)
Wife thought it was cute, and there was enough jokes to keep me interested.
Posted by WK from Chicago, IL on 01/13/08 at 12:35 PM ET
I watched it because I was genuinely curious but it actually wasn’t as tawdry as I thought it would be. Maybe I’ve just been desensitized but I was actually a little bit bored with it, which was surprising because I expected to find it cringe-inducing.
The fun part was picking out where they filmed it in Hamilton.
Posted by Sherry on 01/13/08 at 02:38 PM ET
George -- Yeah, I forget you Michiganites can pick up CBC across the lake. And you don’t have to pay taxes for our national public network. There should be an investigation… 
WK -- Usenet! Good solution. Thanks for sharing your (and your wife’s) impressions of the show.
Sherry -- Not tawdry enough? Hmmm. Well, I haven’t seen enough myself to have a firm impression, but the half-naked girl riding the half-naked bad-boy player for 5 minutes while on a secret camera in his bedroom… that sort of gave me the idea that we’ll get our fair share of “tawdry” as they show progresses.
Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 01/13/08 at 04:32 PM ET
to watch outside canada just find a proxy based here in canada. Use google to find a free one.
Posted by Ryan from dapuddle on 01/13/08 at 09:53 PM ET
Fortunately, Friday Night Lights, which does aspire to greatness and authenticity (and not being targeted at either women or men, but anyone who wants to put the time in), is on at the same time.
Trust the Americans to at least try and get it right with a prime-time series based around sports instead of an amateurish warmed-over Footballer$ Wives rip-off which seems to be a nonspecific product which won’t appeal to anyone who cares about how they spend their free time.
Posted by Neate S. on 01/14/08 at 04:43 PM ET
Maybe it’s just me, but I do feel like I’ve seen more tawdriness on Fox on any given primetime night. I do expect it to get worse from here though.
It’s hard to care about the show since like Neate said, it’s not meant to be authentic but it’s nowhere near campy enough to snark on. It’s just...blah.
Posted by Sherry on 01/14/08 at 10:58 PM ET
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About Canucks & Beyond
Alanah McGinley has been blogging hockey since 2003, sharing opinions, rants and not-so-deep thoughts with anyone who will listen. In addition to writing Canucks & Beyond and helping manage Kukla’s Korner, Alanah is one of the founders and co-hosts of The Crazy Canucks Podcast, as featured at Canucks.com.
She has contributed pieces to FoxSports.com and the New York Times Slapshot blog, as well as other stray destinations in cyberspace.
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