It’s a bit stunning actually, for a channel that’s been virtually comatose since its inception, even after an expensive and failed re-branding.
In a scoop by insidecbc.com, CBCNN announces that The Lang & O’Leary Exchange is being expanded to a full hour.
Even better, it’s moving to a time slot where people might actually be able to see it – 7 P.M.!
As an added bonus, this will mean that the painful Connect with Mark Kelly is scaled back to only one hour instead of the redundant two.
The CBC says they relied on focus groups to arrive at the decision, but really, just reading two blogs (1,2) would have told them the same thing.
Though it seems like an obvious move, it’s still surprising to find the CBC responding so quickly to the writing on the wall.
The lifeless, snails-pace of the public broadcaster has suddenly shifted into turbo for at least this one brief moment.
From Daft To Deft
Published February 11, 2010 6:35 am
13 Comments
Well, isn’t that special. A couple of comments:
1. I am so happy for the Torontonions who will now have time to stop by their local charcuteries and wash down some free-range Capicolla with vegan mojitos and still make it home in time to catch L&O by 7:00. Those of us in Edmonton and Calgary will still find it a bit tight getting home in time for 5:00 PM to catch investments tips to use to save up to buy Ceeement ponds for our ranch houses. It will be out of the question for British Columbians at 4:00, but then they have grow-ops and polar fleece factories to invest in, so they don’t need advice.
2. Maybe this will give Amanda time to bother her pretty little head with actual opinions. According to closing credits, either she doesn’t have any, or her opinions actuall do represent the official position of the CBC on all business matters (1)
Footnote – Here’s where the tongue gets a little bit out of the cheek:
(1) I don’t see a way of pasting in an imaging clip but so I will have to make do with instructions on how to find an example on the web. Go to any video L&O archive on the CBC site and scroll to the end. For a recent example, go to http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Money/Lang_&_O'Leary_Exchange/ID=1411032444, wait a minute or so for the buffer to fill, scroll to the 29:18 mark and you will see the disclaimer “The views of Kevin O’Leary are his alone and do not represent the views of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Please consult a profession financial advisor before making any serious investment decisions”. Given some of the other comments, I am tempted to speculate that O’Leary is paid as a consultant while Lang signed on as an actual employee – she seems to also turn up doing regular newsreading jobs once in a while. IMO, they are both expressing opinions and I enjoy watching it as much as I did back in the 70s when it ran on CBS’ 60 Minutes and was called “Point/Counterpoint”. I miss the stock ticker at the bottom of the screen (and the lack of personality-based broadcasting) from the old business show, so I guess I’ll still be going to BNN for that.
Wow, a sane decision by the mothercorpse. Maybe they’ll drop Connect completely and let Mark return to The National.
I bet they’ve both done quite well.
Everyone else?
Will Lang and O’Leary be putting their income tax statements for the past few years on-line?
Show us how astute investors/misers/selling-low people you are.
Can they be honest and admit they make mistakes?
Anyone who takes business or investment advice from someone who works for a Crown Corporation is an idiot.
I liked this show at first, but I’ve now turned against it violently.
O’Leary is scum. He’s quite happy to pull a salary from the CBC and then turn around and question the money being paid out to support businesss that give people decent jobs. He’d be right at home with the Goldman Sachs crowd.
Lang is about two steps behind O’Leary on the economic idiocy scale. They’re both BNN material, where the idea is to never question the system – let’s just talk about making money.
This isn’t business journalism. This is business TV for people who invest in the stock markets… you know, the same short selling fuckheads and leveraging hedge humpers who did a number on taxpayers over the last two years.
For business news try reading Canadian Business. I assume the only reason Allan loves the show so much is because he doesn’t understand business and that extra hour will help him through a refractory period.
Hey LocalYokel
That CBC can’t produce a decent show about business, other than Marketplace (which keeps an eye on business from the consumer’s P.O.V., better than anyone in Canada), is a valid point.
But, the person who “doesn’™t understand business” is evidently YOU. You wrote “This is business TV for people who invest in the stock markets”.
Get a life…the show is entertainment. Period. It doesn’t pretend to be “business journalism,” unlike the Globe and Mail which still struggles to get that right (this is Canada after all), and my hunch is that people who seriously “invest in the stock market,” as you penned, don’t see The Lang & O’™Leary Exchange any differently than other folks see a cooking show, or Regis & Kelly. Two host: one curmudgeonly, wearing over-priced clothes, and one cute and folically challenged. It’s popular, entertaining and for the most part meaningless and disposable.
One more thing, Anon – they don’t “work for a Crown Corporation” they work for themselves.
Where do you people come from?
You’re saying neither individual receives financial compensation from the CBC for their work and that they are funding this endeavour out of their own pocket?
You’re the fucking stupidest commenter on this site lately.
And we’ve had some real shit-for-brains-motherfucker douchebags ™ around here!
Wow, Fake Bible Bill Aberhardt. What a cleverly worded, insightful, intelligent response.
Wait.
So the CBC puts two people on TV to talk business (and politics) and the we’re all supposed to know to NOT take them seriously? A popular show that reinforces a “don’t fuck with the markets” attitude is unappealing to people with an extremely vested interest in the status quo? For an hour of prime time on Canada’s public broadcast news network?
Give the audience some credit! Watch the show…and don’t take it so seriously, they don’t even take themselves seriously…and good luck in your quest to find meaning, and someone to “question the system,” on television.
Report back on that, and in the meantime,
have you heard of YouTube and blogs? (you’re here so that’s a start)
Shit. You’re right, Bud.
Here I got caught thinking that the CBC would pick up on the fact that people who read biz-blogs, watch youtube, read biz news in major publications, or are businesspeople, tend to laugh at the bullshit being presented by these two BNN clowns.
This is, after all, just the CBC and just entertainment.
On tomorrow’s show Kevin skypes from California where he’s buying cases of pinot.
Lang: “Kevin, that glass looks wonderfully full.”
O’Leary: “When you’re spending three hundred dollars a bottle, they tend to be generous with the freebies. They’re giving me a mexican to use as a footstool, as well!”
Lang: “Oh, Kevin…. How was the flight?”
O’Leary: “First class.”