Tuesday, October 27, 2009

CBC's National glitzy but a little contrived: Star

The Toronto Star's Greg Quill is one of the first TV critics out of the gate with a comment on the revamped CBC news:
" . . . The National bowed in last night, flashing new graphics, a glitzy, wide-open set, a faster pace, a larger reporting crew. Its now-unseated anchor, Peter Mansbridge, plays a cross between a wandering, gracious maĆ®tre d' and — when he's standing behind the new Plexiglas counter — an avuncular publican pressing messengers to unburden themselves.

Gone is the pomp and circumstance of old, the age-soaked wisdom the national broadcaster oozed at 10 p.m., with Mansbridge as chief pooh-bah, the steel-jawed herd boss who once commanded a far-reaching news empire bound by the red and white of the nation's flag and by the sobriety and authority that represents. . . ."

Quill's bottom line?
"What The National has gained in speed and visual wallop seems to be at the expense of the appearance of reality. It was all a little, sad to say, self-satisfied and contrived."

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