Canadians have not forgotten the name Ralph Benmergui, inasmuch as Friday Night! with Ralph Benmergui gave him his infamy.  The show is still seen as the nadir of Canadian late-night talk shows, although haters of The Hour and/or Open Mike with Mike Bullard would disagree.

Lately Benmergui has found his niche on VisionTV, working with director Allan Novak on shows like Ralph Benmergui: My Israel and 5 Seekers.  God Bless America (VisionTV: January 19, 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT) is Benmergui and Novak’s latest project, a six-episode documentary series about how religion intersects with United States politics.

It took me a few viewings of God Bless America’s first episode to understand what Benmergui and Novak are driving at.  The episode specifically targets the “evangelical right” and its influence on American politics.

God Bless America’s strength is in underlining the relationships between religion and politics while not denigrating religion itself.  It demonstrates that certain groups within the evangelical right, like Liberty University and the Center for Christian Statesmanship, have become organized and established enough to influence the secular world.  In their view, church and state have a symbiotic relationship and should not be separate.

The first episode of God Bless America has its problems.  A Toronto rally concerns the non-arrival of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church.  He was to protest the debut of Alistair Newton’s play The Pastor Phelps Project, only to be detained at the U.S.-Canadian border.

This is juxtaposed with an anti-gay demonstration held in Denver, Colorado at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.  Benmergui tries to frame the issue as “Canadians are gentler than Americans,” which is misleading.  He’s comparing a local play to matters of international importance.

God Bless America bothers me in another way.  Richard Nixon was the first U.S. President to say “God bless America” during an April 30, 1973 speech.  Benmergui has it wrong when he says Nixon resigned “within days of uttering those words.”

The 1973 speech concerned the resignations of Nixon aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, as well as the dismissal of then-White House Counsel John Dean.  Nixon wouldn’t resign until August 9, 1974.  Fudging the date of Nixon’s resignation like this is just sloppy research.

God Bless America is a decent effort by Benmergui and Novak, although scattershot in its approach.  Later GBA episodes focus on topics like the religious left and creationism versus evolutionary theory.  The series is not nearly as well-executed as it could be given its central concept, but it’s worth a look.

The Comedy Network is airing The Gong Show with Dave Attell (The Comedy Network: January 15, 10:30 PM ET/PT) out of order.  The fourth episode will be the first aired in Canada, which makes little sense to me.  It’s not like there’s a danger in airing a talent show out of order, but the scheduling is arbitrary.

The original Gong Show* was both old-fashioned and a product of its time.  Contestants went before the cameras to have their acts judged by a celebrity panel.  If an act was bad enough, it was gonged.

Acts usually started off bad and deteriorated from there.  Chuck Barris’ amateurish hosting meshed with the bad acts, while the celebrity panelists did whatever the hell they felt like.  The show was a daily trainwreck, which is part of its enduring appeal.

To its credit, The Gong Show with Dave Attell remembers what made the original show good.  The amateur performers are about as bad as on the original Gong Show.  The top prize is $600 and a gaudy championship belt.  The panelists have a rapport with each other and the show doesn’t pretend to be an earnest talent competition.

The main problem with The Gong Show with Dave Attell is that it’s too stiff.  The host and panelists find it more necessary to deliver stinging one-liners to contestants/each other than to have fun with the format.

Andy Dick at least threatens a contestant with the gong mallet, but that’s as chaotic as The Gong Show with Dave Attell gets.  Maybe the panelists are boring this episode.  Not every panelist can be Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, where you can just sniff his non-butt and smell the money.

The Gong Show with Dave Attell isn’t as cheerfully haphazard as the original Gong Show, but it’s better than Extreme Gong.  I give this show a 5 for execution and a 2.5 for Brian Posehn’s beard.

^{*No, not the John Barbour version.  Don’t be smart.}

Howie Do It (NBC/Global: Friday, 8:00 PM ET/PT) and Marketplace (CBC: Friday, 8:30 PM ET/PT) are similar in certain ways.  Both Marketplace and Howie Do It use hidden cameras and feature people who don’t necessarily want to be caught on television.  Marketplace directly competes against Howie Do It in Canada on a weak television night.

The age-old question: is a half-hour consumer affairs show funnier than an hour of television pranks?  We’ll find out – right now!

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CBC News: Marketplace
Hosts: Wendy Mesley and Erica Johnson
Season: thirty-sixth

Mike Holmes appears on Marketplace, as he does these days whenever Marketplace talks about housing.  The show travels to Hamilton, Ontario, where an estimated one out of six houses are built in violation of building permit regulations.

The story focuses on Hamilton builder Brett Wright and his Londonderry Residential Group.  Eighteen houses on a single street were built by his company before permits were issued.

Needless to say, the houses are badly built.  Hamilton housing officials look like boobs for not enforcing their building codes.  Even Tarion, Ontario’s new home warranty program, comes off badly.

This is a typical Marketplace story, and quite a strong one to start off the season.  House-based episodes generally make for good television and this episode is no exception.

Erica Johnson’s short item is somewhat pointless.  Someone can buy a ticket from Ticketmaster and resell it at TicketsNow, which was bought by Ticketmaster in 2008.  Ticketmaster profits from surcharges and TicketsNow collects a fifteen percent commission.

The piece is two solid minutes of “well, duh.”  Ticketmaster knows there’s money to be made from online scalping.  It’s a no-brainer in the free market.  That doesn’t make Ticketmaster’s double-dipping right, but since when do businesses have to be ethical?

Marketplace bigs itself up a bit too much this episode, but I’m glad the show’s in a timeslot where CBC affiliates can’t preempt it.  Marketplace is a fairly strong show at this point in its history – good hosts, solid reporting, keeps itself current.  Scheduling Marketplace after The Rick Mercer Report is stupid, but at least this show is in better shape than the fifth estate.

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Howie Do It
Host: Howie Mandel
Season: first

Wow, I am amazed at the show’s set.  It literally looks like a set from the late 1980s.  The entire show feels like it came from the 1980s.  Wait, that’s not true – the theme song is from the mid-1990s.  There is not one thing on this show that’s new aside from a drummer, and he’s completely unnecessary to Howie Do It.

I honestly wasn’t expecting much from Howie Do It, but I didn’t know it was going to be as bad as it is.  Mandel wears glasses and a David Duchovny wig and that’s supposed to make him a whole different person, but doesn’t bother disguising his voice after the first prank.  Mandel even uses a leaf blower and garden hose in tandem at one point.  Howie Wowie, what a gasser.

I know Howie Do It is short-run programming while NBC “fixes” (ha!) Deal or No Deal, but is NBC this bereft of ideas?  Wait, NBC doesn’t order pilots anymore and ceded weeknights at 10:00-11:00 PM to Jay Leno, so yes.

I’ll be amazed if Howie Do It lasts the full six weeks it’s been slotted for on NBC.  Say hello to reruns of Most Outrageous Moments in a few weeks.  Howie Get Cancelled.

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Funnier Show: Marketplace!

Gord Lacey reviews The Border’s first season for TVShowsonDVD.com.

I don’t normally point things like this out as I am the king of generalization, but Lacey begins his review with the “I don’t watch Canadian television even though I’m Canadian” and “most Canadian TV is cheap and cheesy” caveats.

Considering that I talk about Canadian television for this site, I’m curious to know why Lacey makes this comment.  The “low production values” argument is weak in the age of Tripping the Rift, Heartland et al.

Canada is the king of badly-tweened Flash cartoons, I’ll grant Lacey that, but the Canadian television industry knows how to put out a good-looking show these days.  I’m not saying the industry’s a torrent of wonderment, but it’s not like it was in the 1980s or 1990s.

Canada’s just not releasing more of its good shows on DVD.  Someone should pick up the SCTV ball that Shout! Factory unceremoniously dropped.  You Can’t Do That on Television better come out on DVD before the tape masters rot.

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The Los Angeles Times reviews the Fraggle Rock complete series set.  There’s no mention of the set’s shoddy packaging, the review sticking hard and fast to the basics.  Newspapers are free advertising, after all.

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Spider-Man vs. The Vulture earns a stand-alone release.  This disc was originally part of the Villains Showdown box set, and I just love stand-alone releases!  These discs never go into the bargain bin within a year!

I should draw attention to the horrible cover art.  That image is almost on par with public-domain cartoon compilation artwork.  The Vulture’s face in particular is wretchedly drawn.  The Vulture is supposed to be ugly, but what the hell?

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This seems to have slipped past the radar.  I know Imavision’s promoting a Chaotic volume set on Teletoon.  The title is one of Imavision’s best sellers.  What I didn’t know is that My Goldfish is Evil has had a first-season set out since November 2008.

My Goldfish is Evil is one of those post-modern cartoons where the fish being out of water isn’t a detriment to its survival.  No one knows the fish is evil or capable of building machinery aside from a ten-year-old conspiracy theorist.  It’s the timeworn “pet has a secret life” premise currently employed by Phineas and Ferb and Kid vs. Kat.

Surprisingly, My Goldfish is Evil is not animated in Flash.  I know, crazy!

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John E. Mitchell of The Last Visible Blog reviews The Starlost.  He likes it!

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Todd Erwin of Home Theater Forum reviews Super Dave’s Super Stunt Spectacular.  He hates it.

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Press release for the upcoming Goosebumps DVDs, “Return of the Mummy” and “The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight.”

This Canadian TV-on-DVD Roundup entry has been the weakest yet.  Some Canadian television shows are going to make DVD debuts shortly, right?  Come on, Canada.  You’re killing me here.  A country where Beastmaster has season sets and CODCO doesn’t is not a country I’d like to live in.

I haven’t been in the habit of doing best-ofs.  URBMN only went in its “new” direction late last September.  What I can do at this point in URBMN’s history is talk about Canadian shows that I want to see this year.

I’m more receptive to Canadian television than a lot of people.  Sometimes a Canadian show will have a horrible premise, like Life’s a Zoo.tv’s “animals + reality show parody = fun.”  I honestly thought that show would die on its ass, yet Life’s a Zoo.tv is actually decent.  It’s a weaker stop-motion Drawn Together, but what the hell, I like Dr. D.

Consequently, I want to like Testees.  I like South Park and Kenny vs. Spenny, two shows Kenny Hotz has had his finger in.  Testees is tepid by comparison.  It’s a well-worn buddy comedy without the Odd Couple-meets-reality-television dynamic that makes Kenny vs. Spenny funny.  The greatest conflict in Testees is between Testico and the human guinea pigs, and that takes up two minutes of a half-hour show.

It’s hard to predict which new and returning shows will keep my interest this year.  Here’s to hoping that one of these shows will meet my personal hype.

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Hotbox | The Comedy Network actually teased this show late in 2008, with Pat Thornton in an owl costume wishing viewers a Merry Christmas.  This was followed by random clips of the show and some “eerie” static.

Thornton is the creator of The Owl and the Man, a series of YouTube-ready shorts depicting the differences between a man and an owl.  Hotbox will likely follow that tradition of absurdist humour.  The show seems like Robot Chicken with proper wraparounds.

I don’t know whether or not Hotbox will be good.  Thornton created and writes for the show, yet I find The Owl and the Man just okay.  There have been better and worse things on The Comedy Network.

I hope Hotbox meets TV Funhouse-level standards, but it’s a tall order to be as funny as Robert Smigel.  At the very least, Hotbox must be funnier than Comedy Inc.  Static is funnier and far more highbrow than Comedy Inc.

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The Jon Dore Television Show’s second season | I’ve been watching some YouTube clips of the show’s first season.  The new season premieres January 21, 2009 on The Comedy Network.

I wasn’t impressed by The Jon Dore Television Show at first glance.  After watching this clip, my fears were allayed.  I have no idea why The Comedy Network buries this show in post-South Park timeslots, but at least Jon Dore survived Canadian Idol.  I guess this show did deserve its Gemini nominations last year.  Neat!

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Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town | Whether this airs in 2009 or early 2010 doesn’t matter.  It’s Kids in the Hall.  KitH is taking a page from shows like League of Gentlemen with Death Comes to Town, and a job lot of people want to see this.  I want to see it.  You want to see it, even if you hate Kids in the Hall with a passion.  I know you!

I have reservations about Death Comes to Town.  My taste for Bruce McCulloch will never wane, but Scott Thompson has annoyed me with his post-Kids work.  Shows like My Fabulous Gay Wedding have underlined the fact that Thompson is gay, but where is his funny?  He even threatened to ruin The Larry Sanders Show at one point, but no one can make Hank Kingsley unfunny.

Dave Foley has starred in subpar work post-Kids, like his Christmas special and NewsRadio.  I’ll give Mark McKinney credit for producing Less Than Kind, but that doesn’t excuse his two mediocre seasons on Saturday Night Live.  As for Kevin McDonald, he was in Zeroman and the Lilo & Stitch cartoon.  ’Nuff said.

The hype factor also works against Death Comes to Town.  I remember being excited at the announcement of Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon.  I was met with “Ren and Stimpy are gay” subtext and the beatdown of Mr. Horse.  The new Ren & Stimpy’s awfulness killed my respect for John Kricfalusi.

I don’t want to see Kids in the Hall suffer the same fate as John K.  As soon as Dave Foley says “you’re the pitcher, I’m the catcher” to Scott Thompson, off goes the television.

Simply put, the five Kids in the Hall castmembers need each other.  Together, they are a force for comedic good.  It’s hard to say whether the comeback will be as funny as the original KitH, but CBC’s comedy lineup needs more than uneven political humour, Rick Mercer doing his best Shelagh Rogers impression and Being Erica.

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Durham County’s second season | I actually see this show making inroads on American television, since Flashpoint has introduced Americans to Hugh Dillon.

I’m not saying Durham County will pick up fans disenchanted by Dexter’s third season, but what the hell.  NBC bought Howie Do It, and that’s just Howie Mandel hosting a Candid Camera derivative.  Slings and Arrows has an American fanbase two-and-a-half years after its death.  Who the hell knows which shows will become popular in the fifteen-thousand-channel world?

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Howie Do It | It debuts on Global and NBC this Friday.  It probably won’t be any good, but who knows?  Howie Mandel has the power to survive this show if it stiffs.  This is an age where people have a new appreciation for Bob Saget and David Duchovny.

I haven’t written this show off in my mind like I have The Animated Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie.  Dave Coulier as Bob?  Take off, eh.