Aamer Haleem.
Smart, funny, laid-back, unassuming.
Watch his goofy demo reel.
See how his talent was wasted by the CBC on the misguided “The Point”.
Afterwards, ask yourself, “could this guy host “Q”?”, “could this guy host “The Hour”?”
Any producer who took this mature and playful television host and put interesting guests in front of him is going to end up with the most watched show in Canada. Something definitely not boring.
WATCH THIS …
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Would Aamer still be on the air if he was dating/married to/related to someone at the CBC?
If he was banging Kristine he might get the hour.
Three points worth expanding 1) CBC doesn’t need more celebrity interview shows, it needs smarter treatments, and approaches to, current affairs. No evidence Aamer is the guy for that 2) It’s time for Sook Yin to stop “phoning it in.” Note to Donlon & the team: consider revamping Saturday programming. Brent’s brain is wasted, Sook Yin’s show is tired and uninspired, despite efforts to re-create it. 3) Aamer’™s only flaw is that he lives in Vancouver & is therefore excluded from the Toronto media clique. As always this is a problem which can only be served by tokenism.
“current affairs” is as old and overdone as celebrity interviews. They need material made for the medium, essays, serious criticism, drama (not as practiced in the past), comedy that’s actually funny, reports from the regions that are serious minded and not just fluff pieces. No interviews, no phoners , no regular panelists, no disc spinning. Something new.
And the Saturday schedule is utterly exhausted. Scrap the whole, tired old day.
DNTO and The Hour have hit the wall. The hosts are as bored with the shows as the audience.
But, like the Air Farce, neither show will be terminated until they are on life support and the hosts and audience are in a coma. Sook-Yin & George are in it for the pension & health benefits at this point.
The Point had none, it was a clone of the Freestyle, can we get “afternoon water cooler type gossip” going on CBC. Fail.
While Aamer Haleem is known for his California, Toronto and Hong Kong pop music VJing, he did straight news in Vancouver in the serious vein. He could replace Old Man Peter Mansbridge in the National anchor’s (no such thing-)chair.
See http://hintomedia.tripod.com/newswatch/yvr-tv/crossover-chron.html
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aamer_Haleem
and http://members.shaw.ca/vancouverbroadcasters2/H.htm
Really disliked Aamer when he was with VTV Vancouver; he and the other hosts on the “Big Breakfast Show” came across with a “you’ve gotta like me, you’ve really gotta like me” vibe, trying way-too-hard to be goofy & lovable. But once removed from that atmosphere, and surrounded by a different level of professionalism at VH1, Aamer raised the level of his game. He’s much better in a one-on-one interview situation that Jian, coming across as a real person, instead of an egotistical windbag.
The Point was actually a very good show. Its problem was its blog. The show itself opened a lot of very interesting and topical discussions, and it drew opinions from people from all walks of life and all parts of Canada. That part of the show was excellent. The problem was that the blog was so terribly set up that it was extremely difficult to continue discussions on the blog. The show generated tonnes of good ideas and issues that begged for further discussion, and then it didn’™t allow you to do it. I eventually got frustrated enough that I quit the show. BUT, Aamer Haleem is a real host. He’™s educated. He’™s intelligent. He’™s lived for an extended period of time in various places in Canada and the world, and therefore he has the awareness and humility that goes along with that kind of experience. He’™s also plugged in and aware of current cultural trends. In short he is everything that George and Jian aren’™t. To say that CBC made a mistake by hiring George and Jian, however, would be missing the point. Those two were never even minimally qualified for their jobs. They were clearly hired for entirely different reasons, and presumably because those who hired them thought that Canadians were pushovers who would let them get away with it.
I think Amir is one of the people who would make a very good and successful host of a late night Canadian pop culture talk show, but I think you’™d have to scrap The Hour and everything associated with it and start fresh. I also think such a show would have to stay clear of Toronto and be made in Vancouver or Montreal to avoid being poisoned or tainted by what’™s been going on in Toronto.
Did I type Amir? haha! I meant, of course, Aamer. I went to school with a guy named Amer, so I do know the difference!
Too true…I would love more content & less analysis/chat/rant. Maybe a variety show: Club Canada!
No budget and their hands were pretty much tied behind their backs.
They were not allowed to interview celebrities, because that gig was the property of Toronto and George & Jian.
That meant not even famous Vancouver residents, like Douglas C. or Sarah M. and many, many more.
They were allowed to talk, but must keep it safe so as not to draw attention to the CBC and cause any undue controversy.
It’s also fairly apparent that Aamer is better suited to television, but how would it look if Canadians were to see him on television and thereby expose the other two for giving essentially plastic performances by comparison.
The Point was hopeless from the start.
Once again, the talent in places like Vancouver and elsewhere is ignored by the Toronto elites.
I met Aamer about ten years ago for all of 15 seconds but saw plenty of him on the local Morning show.
He was immediately likeable, handled everything that was thrown at him, smoothly and with good humour. You respected him immediately, and recognized that he was easily as smart as you were.
He was just miles ahead of any other television host I’ve seen since then.
He set an appealing, welcoming atmosphere, and you felt that he respected his audience.
You sense you can trust him.
That he’s not trying to sell you something you don’t need.
I invite you to compare him with the nonsense of George and Jian.
Or the coldness of Mark Kelly.
Were Aamer to be given the chance to be seen by a national audience, I think it would be game over for a lot of people.
All the more reason for the CBC in Toronto to pretend he doesn’t exist.
Think of how heavily invested the executives in Toronto are with George and Jian and trying to make their stardom fly.
It doesn’t matter how great Aamer is because saving face for these executives is more important than what’s good for the country.
The last thing the world needs is more celebrity interviews by Aamer, Jian, George or anybody. They are in surplus. They have nothing to do with the CBC’s mandate. Using the national public broadcaster to promote acts, commercial entertainment enterpises, that do not appear on that service, and are therefore competition, is counter productive.
There is a larger question as to whether Billy Bob Thorton, Frankie Goes to Hollywood or Van Morrison have anything of any significance to say. I think the point is to play their recordings.
The Point had no budget. It was doomed from the start.
Aamer’s only flaw is that he lives in Vancouver & is therefore excluded from the Toronto media clique.
Actually he live s in Los Angeles now. He only moved up to Vancouver for a year to do the show. He’s originally from Ontario. But yes, being on the west coast he could not charm Toronto. A very, very good man and hilariously witty in person. He shoudl have been on-camera. Such a waste of good talent that he was let go. I can assure you he won’t ever come back up from the US to work for the CBC again.
I never really got the point of The Point. After it was cancelled, I started to realize how glaringly poor Q is as a daily national show. Now I miss The Point.
I suggest cancelling the heinous Definitely Not The Opera (thus allowing Sook-Yin to work on her other projects, which she’s constantly mentioning on air as free advertising), move Q to that timeslot. Recreate a version of Sounds Like Canada with maybe Aamer as the host.
I’m tired of Sook-Yin’s “I’m-a-goofy-kid” persona…she’s pushing 50!
Aamer is an outstanding host. The CBC was stupid to lose him. He is genuine and real, the complete opposite of the 2 idiots that the CBC loves. Wake up CBC – it’s you that enjoys these 2 idiots – not the Canadian public. Aamer is the type of host the CBC should be holding onto….he is adaptable – he can interview hip musicans and serious scientists. And, he does it all with charm and grace. Aamer is not a poser and he is not a phoney. Maybe that’s what we should rename George and Jian – Poser and Phoney – like that one????
Give him Q AND The Hour. This guy could be our Ryan Seacrest, but more intelligent and interesting!
I’d heard him on The Point, but never seen him before. He’s amazing! Unlike Jian, he comes across as very genuine. Where’d he go? CBC is nuts not to snap him up.
Wow I never saw this guy before but now I have the major hots for him. He’s everything Jian and George are not: intelligent, funny, genuine, young, and very sexy.
He starts the demo off on the wrong foot by trying to get people to pronounce his name right. It stinks of Jian.
In his defense, possibly, this is probably the most common thing he faces every day. Even just in writing about him I find myself constantly saying “Ameer”.
Agreed. Aamer is a great host and a really decent human. Yup. Wasted.
I would love to see Aamer do “The Hour”!