TORONTO – After a short two episode run, little watched and poorly advertised Canadian television program, the Canadian Screen Awards, was cancelled by the CBC today.
“Unfortunately, given the financial restrictions we are under, we just don’t have the budget to produce a show celebrating the other shows we don’t have the funds to produce,” said CBC President Hubert Lacroix.
“Also it was set in Toronto, not more traditional Canadian entertainment settings like Newfoundland or the middle of the Arctic Tundra,” he added.
Among other complaints executives had were that the show was “too highbrow, too lowbrow, not Canadian enough, didn’t have enough American guest stars, made too much fun of Canadian entertainment, and didn’t have a sense of humour about itself.”
Executive producer of the show, Helga Stephenson, said that while she was disappointed about the cancellation, she was proud that the show had “run longer than 90% of the shows that we gave awards to”.
Stephenson added that DVD copies of the complete Canadian Screen Awards series will soon be available in large, unmarked bins at discount electronic stores across rural Ontario.
At press time, Canadian Screen Awards cast member Andrea Martin was mourning the demise of the show while working her day job as a server at Jack Astor’s.
