Lessons in Canadian TV

Every time I look at the masthead on this site, I realize I'm one of the few Canadians listed on it, which is an interesting statement about Leaf fans in itself.  I like to think I can bring some needed Canadian Content to the site.  And what's more Canadian than The Beachcombers?  The Beachcombers was a CBC TV show about a guy near Vancouver who tracked down logs on beaches.  His name was Nick Adonidas and the bad guy - his main competition for these logs - was named Relic.  Sounds like a pretty boring concept, hey?  Well somehow this show managed to run 17 seasons, meaning that for the majority of Leaf fans here who are in their late 20's and up, this show was a big part of their childhood - and more.

I barely remember The Beachcombers but I do remember how sad my dad was when CBC announced that it was ending.  This show was a Canadian institution, much like other CBC shows as Degrassi, the Royal Canadian Air Farce and The Friendly Giant. Heck, when they did the Beachcombers Reunion show it was a rather big deal.  Families reserved that night to watch Nick and Relic and all of Nick's friends one last time.  They also apparently have a facebook group.  Oh yeah, and there were two movies made about The "New" Beachcombers, who also have their own facebook group.  The second movie, Christmas At Molly's Reach even featured hockey as a central plot point, with appearances from Ron McLean and Kelly Hrudey.  By the end of the movie, the good guy's hockey team features Manon Rheaume, Tiger Williams, Jyrki Lumme and Gary Nylund.  How's that for Leafs content?

Why am I talking about The Beachcombers today? Because it was filmed and set in lovely Gibsons BC, a 40 minute ferry ride from North Vancouver and my destination this weekend. Gibsons is very picturesque, about an hour's commute from Downtown Vancouver, and it has that quaint, small town feeling. I'm fortunate enough to have both friends and family that live there (although one friend is a Canucks fan who hates all things Toronto, with me being the only exception.) So while you're here, searching for hockey news to talk about, I'll be relaxing up in Gibsons, eating fresh seafood, and maybe combing beaches for driftwood (probably not).

On to the links!

• Baldlongs
  NEW COX BLOC
• The Passion Strikes Back
  general borschevsky takes on the Toronto Media in this post.
• 12 Burning Questions: Will The Leafs Avoid The Slow Start In 2010-2011?
  MLHS asks something that I think most of us are at least a little worried about.
• Now That They’re Gone: Vesa Toskala
  MLHS asks: just how bad was Toskala?
• One Thing Burke Got Right
  Curt S. likes Burke's acquisitions in goal and sees good things in the future.
• Fehr Mongering
  Yakov Mironov has a good write up about Donald Fehr as the new NHLPA leader./

For those of you sick of the blogger vs. MSM discussion, you can skip the following (though I'd suggest not to):

• Blogger Brouhaha
  Mile High Hockey wades in on the blogger credentials debate and speculates on which western conference team was alluded to by Puck Daddy.
• Blogger Press Access Kerfluffle - Do Teams Need Us In The Pressbox?
  Bird Watchers Anonymous on the bloggers getting credentials issue.
• Access Hockeywood
  Anaheim Calling discusses the recent controversy on policies for blogger access in the NHL./