Curious George
This year’s MADE | NOUS campaign found the perfect ambassador in George Stroumboulopoulos. Here, the media icon tells us what it was like to travel across the country speaking to Canadians about the films and TV shows that impacted their lives.
What piques George Stroumboulopoulos’s curiosity?
Everything. Which is why he was the perfect choice to lead this year’s MADE | NOUS campaign, “The Stories That Made Us.”
Stroumboulopoulos visited communities from coast-to-coast-to-coast asking Canadians one question: What Canadian films and television MADE you?
“Am I curious? Yeah, I am for sure. I mean, I ask a lot of questions for a living,” says Stroumboulopoulos via Zoom from a Vancouver hotel. “But really, it's more that I'm genuinely interested in what people think. And I think that's different than curious. Curiosity is an act you do on behalf of yourself. And I think being interested is really for both of us.”
The 53-year-old Malton, Ontario, native began his career as a DJ and sports talk-radio host before stepping in front of the camera in 2000 as a MuchMusic VJ. An effusive, yet laid-back, approach to interviewing landed him a weekly radio show and his own TV chat show, The Hour, eventually renamed George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, which aired for nearly a decade. And let’s not forget his two-year stint hosting Hockey Night in Canada.
The man knows Canadian culture, but as the MADE | NOUS ambassador he wanted to hear which TV shows and films impacted other Canadians. The Canada Media Fund will release long-form videos of Stroumboulopoulos’s journey across the nation in the coming months.
“We didn't go out with a script,” Stroumboulopoulos says. “We went out and just started asking questions. Was there a moment when a show did something for you and, in turn, you did something because of it? There were references to some of the classics — The Beachcombers, The Littlest Hobo, Mr. Dressup. In the modern era Schitt's Creek came up a lot and MuchMusic came up a ton.”
What Surprised Stroumboulopoulos
One surprise for Stroumboulopoulos was discovering that Canadians from most regions loved the same shows.
“Remarkably similar experiences across the country,” he notes. “Of course, Quebec has its own culture.”
The French-language MADE | NOUS campaign sent Québécoise comedian Rosalie Vaillancourt to speak with French Canadians about the unique French-language stories and people that shaped francophone culture in Canada.
Another surprise for Stroumboulopoulos was the influence of Canadian children’s TV on viewers, who now look back on their childhoods fondly.
“While it was important to be entertaining on Canadian kids’ shows, there was a lot of learning, a lot of crafting, doing things together, and it was slow. It was so slow,” he says with a laugh. “You go back and watch Mr. Dressup and it is glacial. It was really giving kids a chance to do things and learn without feeling the need to keep up. I knew that Canadian kids’ programming was important, but it is remarkable just how impactful that stuff was.”
Since I didn’t have the chance to speak with Stroumboulopoulos during his journey, I took a moment to share my memories. Our family of seven would gather to watch The Wayne and Shuster Show, The Tommy Hunter Show, Front Page Challenge. Hockey Night in Canada was special for me as it allowed me to spend time with my father, an older, reserved man who spoke very little English but loved the Toronto Maple Leafs. I think of those times with affection.
And what shows influenced Stroumboulopoulos?
“For me it was SCTV, House of Frankenstein, Seeing Things and The National. And you know, I didn't have cable. My mother's partner, who was a firefighter, did, and me and my mom would babysit his daughters when he was working overnights at the firehouse. We'd watch Saturday Night at the Movies, and that was important for me.
“A lot of the Gen Xers that I know, we listened to and watched things from other generations,” he continues. “You’re seven years old and watching movies from the ’40s. I think that really gave me a base of knowledge and understanding so that when I ended up getting into this business I had such a strong foundation and vocabulary in film and music, and film and music are the places where I think the great storytellers ended up in our era. I knew what a reference to The Philadelphia Story was or The Bells of St. Mary’s. So, I was watching these classic movies while also listening to Black Sabbath. What it did was it taught my brain to like good stuff from all sorts of eras.”
The Future of Canadian Media
Celebrating our past leads to talking about the future of Canadian media. The days of strictly over-the-air TV and only a handful of channels and viewing choices are long gone. Hundreds of channels, streamers and YouTube clamour for our attention. How can Canadian entertainment compete?
“You cannot compete with multinational streamers who play by no rules, who don't pay taxes anywhere,” Stroumboulopoulos says. “You can't compete with their budgets and all their data. Cultures fade; cultures disappear. I don't know what the story is for ours. I know that I'm doing my level best to try to maintain it and grow it, support it and celebrate it but, ultimately, Canadians are responsible for whether they want this to continue.
“If we think our stories are important then we should tell our MPs, MPPs and MLAs. I'm loath to tell Canadians how they ought to be, but you determine what's important to you and then you fight for it.”
