Wednesday, April 26, 2006

How excellent is 'The Hour'?

I can't say enough good things about The Hour on CBC.

As someone who regularly reads such diverse stuff as The Onion to the Economist, I think 'The Hour' perfectly covers my demographic, from pretty deep analysis about important issues that most media is ignoring (i.e. Darfur) to a light-hearted discussion of the word 'Fuck'. The host, George Stroumboulopoulos came from the fast-paced media background of Moses Znaimer's ChumCity empire at MuchMusic and it shows. The show is fast, slick and excellently produced. What's completely unexpected is that it combines the curiousity and depth of traditionally more conservative magazines such at the Atlantic and the Economist. Aside from 60 minutes, I can't think of a traditional news program that shows the same level of commitment to the material. They even have a nice ironic staid name like 'The Hour' to sucker you in.

The other things they are doing 100% right is providing all of their material online (and some that doesn't make the show).

For an example, see this clip on the Iraq war propaganda.