In my last post I talked about how the CBC is totally cool. Well, this past week they aired a pair of shows that officially cemented that reputation. It’s pretty rare for me to talk about TV shows in this way, because I really don’t go out of my way to watch very many television programs. But these two shows are really great, and are definitely worth watching no matter where you’re living.

The first show is called Dragon Boys, a 2-part miniseries that aired this past Sunday and Monday. It’s all about Asian gangs in western Canada and the people who’s lives are effected by them. It was a very well done series with lots of twists and turns. While watching I could swear that I had seen the actor who played the lead detective character in something else that I had seen. In fact, I was sure that he was in my DVD collection somewhere. So I looked it up and I was quite embarrassed to say that I was right, because he played Ryu in the live action Street Fighter movie, and I do happen to own a copy of that film on DVD for some reason. But anyway, I won’t hold that against anyone, because Dragon Boys was excellent, and I hope they do a sequel. A DVD release is forthcoming, so hopefully a wider audience will get to check it out then.

The other show I want to talk about is getting a lot of buzz. It’s called Little Mosque on the Prairie and it’s about a community of Muslims living in small town Saskatchewan. It’s also a comedy. Obviously this show is dealing with some sensitive issues, but it is very funny. I think I’ll be making an effort to catch this show whenever I can.

What’s really great about both of these shows is that there is no way that anything like these could ever be a Hollywood product. It that were the case, the people in charge would go out of their way to make these shows as bland and generic as possible by casting few minorities and taking away pretty much anything that could be considered ethnic, thus ripping the heart and soul out of the entire project. Only Canada could be the birthplace of shows like this, and that’s yet another reason why I’m proud to live in this country right now.

Sayonara.