The Only in Montreal set at Whalley-Abbey Media’s office. This is where the three hosts set up their pieces with a discussion.
Only in Montreal, the new weekly magazine show about Montreal city life, debuted Saturday night at 7pm on City Montreal. You can watch the first episode online.
Each half-hour episode of the series, which is produced by Montreal-based Whalley-Abbey Media (the folks behind those Debbie Travis and Chuck Hughes shows) features one piece each by hosts Matt Silver, Tamy Emma Pepin and Dimitrios Koussioulas, exploring some interesting facet of life in Montreal. Because the segments are shot months in advance (early segments were shot in April while it was still snowing), there’s nothing very topical on the show. The first episode has Silver exploring Montreal’s food trucks during a First Friday event at the Olympic Stadium, Pepin talking to Corey Shapiro of vintage sunglasses fame, and Koussioulas hanging out with the roller derby crowd.
I talk about the show and its hosts in this story, which appears in Saturday’s Gazette.
Koussioulas vs. Koussioulas
You might have noticed that the debut of this show coincides with the airing of the Parc Avenue Tonight live show, also starring Dimitrios Koussioulas. In fact, they’re both on at the same time, as I point out in this short story, which features both CBC and Rogers downplaying the significance of introducing a new face and having him competing against himself.
The conflict has been known for months, and it’s hard to imagine with all the weeks and all the time slots they could have chosen, that this conflict isn’t somehow intentional. The official explanation from both sides is that the two shows have been in the works for months, and the schedules were set before they were aware of each other. And in any case it’s not a big deal.
But really, with months of advance notice, neither of these shows could have been moved by half an hour, or moved by a week?
I’m having a hard time buying that.
UPDATE: Because the Calgary Stampede ran way long, the local CBC newscast was pushed back by almost an hour, an episode of Marketplace was killed entirely, and still Parc Avenue Tonight was delayed by about 15 minutes. Maybe CBC should run it again some time.
I wish the new program all the very best. I am disappointed with the Morning News aired by Global Montreal. The personalities of the show do not blend. I am hoping that Breakfast Television that will be aired by CityTV Montreal will be better. I have been a fan of CityTV Toronto for many years.
Howdy!
I find it hilarious that they are both trying to deliberately sabotage each other. Which one becomes the DVR champion?
As I mention in a comment on Steve’s other blog about the Parc Avenue tonite show, local non-news TV is sad in Montreal, and this show’s attempt to emulate a McGowan’s Montreal style show is not working..
if viewers in other parts of the country are to think that hanging with the roller derby types is Montreal fabric stuff, we have a problem..I did rather enjoy Don McGowan in those shows be the smoked meat cutter at a place like Schwartz’ where people do dine out…
A recording two months before is regrettable is no longer topical, that’s a problem right there…Is that time needed to do an edit, maybe you can find out Steve why they do this..
Since you said you hadn’t even seen the show yet, maybe you should hold your condemnation until you do?
And since one segment out of 90 is about roller derby, and since the show doesn’t air nationally, and since the roller derby people would disagree that being represented here is “a problem”, I think we’re okay.
The point is they don’t try to do topical. They’re not a news show. Each episode is three featurettes about city life. And I imagine they will continue to be aired for a while, since not being topical means they don’t have a (short-term) expiry date.
“And since one segment out of 90 is about roller derby, and since the show doesn’t air nationally, and since the roller derby people would disagree that being represented here is “a problem”, I think we’re okay.”
Yes, It may not air nationally, in terms of a network show, but like any Expressvu customer with their time shifting feature can watch most local outlets of the networks, I would hate to think of someone in Vancouver or Calgary seeing hanging with roller derby types as Montreal City Life.
I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that (1) A local program airing on a Saturday night is not going to have many viewers checking it out on satellite from other cities, and (2) People who do watch Montreal television stations from other regions of the country know enough about this city already that they’re not going to be judging it based on one feature story.
That said, I don’t know what your hate-on is for roller derby or their “types”. Montrealers do this, why shouldn’t we show it on TV?