SOPHIE

The CBC has been promoting their new lineup of shows on a regular basis. Even if you were to only tune in the CBC National News (with Peter Mansbridge), the best of Canada's coast-to-coast news hours, then you have surely seen ads for jPod, MVP, The Border, and Sophie.

I have sampled jPod (which is only two episodes in to its run) and have found it to be wanting... needing... something. MVP is out of the question: It looks like pure trash; not that there is anything wrong with any grade of trash, necessarily. The Border comes across as pumped up, unnecessarily. They are trying to make a Federal case out of something which is pretty mundane for the most part. Besides, how many international or critical incidents are there at the Canada-U.S. border in any given week? I'm sure a lot does go on that we do not hear about, but this all borders on an excuse to tap into our '9/11 paranoia'. We'll see how far this paranoia takes this teddy bear.

Last night I watched the new half-hour series, Sophie. The Corp bills this as a "fresh new comedy". Give me a break. Even before I saw it I understood it as typical television network parlance. Sophie is at the same point, developmentally wise, as jPod -- that is two episodes into its life.

It was not bad. Natalie Brown, Sophie herself, was quite good. The cast looked to be comfortable in their respective roles; as though they have been doing this for a while. This is all a good sign. Maybe something will come out of this show. The plot, while unremarkable and nothing even this comatose television watcher has not seen before, moved in a confident manner. As a matter of fact, Sophie, the show, comes across to me as an updated version of Love, American Style (1969 - 1974).

The word 'confident' is important here. That is how Sophie reads. This program is produced in Montreal -- that might have an awful lot to do with it. They are removed from the phony, pompous, arrogant, and not particularly talented breed which populate much of the Toronto television scene.

This might have an awful lot to do with it...