There were certainly things to like about the Gemini Awards’ Regina telecast on Oct. 28, but as a vehicle to promote Canadian television, it fell short of the mark.

First, it was good to see the show back on CBC. As the network most concerned with homegrown programming, the Gem’s airing on the Ceeb makes perfect sense. Global, meanwhile, deserves kudos for having taken on the event the past couple of years. The private caster certainly knows how to throw a good party – although it did stick the show on Saturday nights, where few watched it. Global remained on board this year with its pre-show ET Canada red carpet special, which attracted nearly 200,000 viewers.

Alternating broadcasters like this is the ideal model for the TV awards – which of course means that CTV must step up sometime soon, which is only fair considering the CBC telecast was a pretty good plug for the number-one network’s Corner Gas.

Putting the Gems in a better Sunday 8 p.m. timeslot, CBC drew 447,000 viewers – more than double what Global got in each of the previous two years, and, in fact, the best numbers the Gems have recorded in at least six years.

Host George Stroumboulopoulos was brought in to inject new energy into the proceedings, and that he did, with mixed results. George S. is a natural at this sort of thing. The opening filmed bit, in which our intrepid Hour man catches hell for calling Saskatchewan ‘flat,’ was brilliantly funny, effectively incorporating various Canuck TV stars and getting things off to a good start. Unfortunately, the producers were more concerned with putting on a show of their own than boosting the shows up for awards, and too many more skits followed, including a riff on Are You Smarter Than a Canadian 5th Grader? and some silliness about a retirement home for randy puppets.

More time was wasted on a Viewers Choice Award for favorite Canadian actor on a U.S. show – the prize ultimately going to Howie Mandel, of Deal or No Deal fame. I have no problem with this category if it brings more people to the Gems and raises awareness of the Canadian programs featured on the show, but this only works if those programs are in fact featured. Instead of profiling each of the five Viewers Choice finalists, as the show did, how about meatier profiles of the shows up for best comedy or drama series?

It sounded like a good idea to keep the show down to 60 minutes, but not with all this excess stuff. What also didn’t work was having Corner Gas star Tara Spencer-Nairn interviewing some of the winners as they came up on stage. This meant that a befuddled Paul Gross didn’t have time for an acceptance speech for his best-actor award. He called Peter Hutt up to the stage for a heartfelt remembrance of his uncle, William Hutt, the great Stratford Festival thesp and Gross’ Slings costar, who recently passed away. But before Gross could get anywhere with it, he was given the musical hook. It was quite embarrassing, but Hutt did get his moment later when Slings won its award for best drama series. For his part, Gross really should have spat out the gum and put on a suit.

Seeing Slings & Arrows win for best drama series for the second year in a row was actually a bit of a drag. It’s not that the show doesn’t deserve it – quite the contrary – but its series finale aired on The Movie Network and Movie Central on Aug. 28, 2006 – a whole 14 months ago. So it’s currently not on Canadian TV (Showcase will air a second window sometime next year), while other nominated shows such as Intelligence are on right now and could use whatever hype a Gem would offer. The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television should consider moving up the timeframe in which shows must have aired to qualify for awards.

Overall, it was a decent first effort for the new-regime CBC, and the same team is welcome to do it again. With this year’s wrinkles ironed out, and more thought put into how awards shows like this can benefit Canadian TV, the Gems can indeed do what they’re supposed to. * * *

This issue marks the debut of Etan Vlessing as Playback’s feature film columnist, as he takes over the Big Screen space (see p. 16). Many of you know Etan from his years as a freelancer and Playback contributor. With his insider knowledge of the Canadian motion picture scene, we look forward to all the insight Etan will impart to our readers.