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» The Emmys this year and the current TV landscape

Jerrison Oracion
Senior Columnist

 

we another decade of TV about to
end, we should all reflect on the
things that have changed. In 2010, network
TV and premium cable were dominant and
streaming services were starting to emerge.
Today, premium TV and streaming services
are dominant—and the biggest shows
right now air on those services. Shows are
starting to obtain film quality because
of their use of 4K cameras and “scope”
widescreen presentation.

The Emmy Awards this year were
interesting with no one hosting it this
year (I thought that Homer Simpson was
hosting it because it aired on Fox), and
the winners were balanced. HBO swept
up the awards again with the last season
of Game of Thrones, Barry, Chernobyl,
and unsurprisingly, Last Week Tonight is
getting the big awards again. Netflix might
sweep the awards up next year with the

services:

newest season of Stranger Things—which
many people are saying is the best season
of the show so far.

There were awards this year for
Ozark, the miniseries about the Central
Park 5 called When They See Us, and the
interactive TV movie episode of Black
Mirror, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch—which
made history as the first interactive TV
movie to get an Emmy award.

Amazon Prime Video swept the
comedy category for The Marvelous Mrs.
Maisel, Fleabag, and RuPaul’s Drag Race
surprisingly finally winning the Best Reality
Show award. If you like to watch these
shows, you have to either subscribe to the
channel or get the streaming service that
airs the show to watch it—shows today are
scattered all around the place. It’s like back
in the day, during the rise of HBO, when
you had to get the channel if you wanted to
watch The Sopranos.

With more streaming services being
available in the next few months including

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Apple TV+,
Disney+, and
HBO Max, if
you get every
streaming
service that is
available today,
it will cost the
same as full
cable, if not more. The Emmy commercials
about streaming services looked epic—
watching them was as exciting as watching
the commercials in 1995 about the DVD
being the future. Crave’s commercial

about their streaming service having the
most nominated shows this year is very
convincing. I'd have to get Disney+ if I want
to watch the shows that accompany The
Avengers films.

After Netflix began offering original
shows, the other entertainment companies
made their own streaming services, causing
Netflix to lose the rights to a big chunk of
their content. If all of the popular content

I paid $8 to watch people insult
each other for 2 hours

>» Roast Battle Vancouver review

Michele Provenzano
Staff Writer

 

Db: you subject your friends to the
occasional roast in the group chat?
Perhaps you often find yourself the butt
of the joke; the victim of playful mockery
and insults. You and your close friends
have a mutual agreement to make fun of
each other at any given moment—and you
wouldn't change a thing.

If so, it’s safe to assume youd enjoy the
antics that occur at Roast Battle Vancouver,
a monthly comedy event hosted by the
Little Mountain Comedy Department.

The gist of the night is as follows: eight
pairs of local comedians go head-to-head
to see who can insult the other with the
most wit and power—as determined by the
night’s judges. Each comic gets the chance
to tell five prepared jokes at the other's
expense. If the judges deem around a tie,
the comics participate in a “joke-off” tie
breaker.

The show takes place at Little
Mountain Gallery, a small, colourfully
painted building tucked around the
corner of 26th Avenue and Main Street
in East Vancouver. The building is
rather unassuming; walking by the self-
proclaimed “hole in the wall,” one may not
expect to find a lively comedy event inside.

The theatre space was cozy with its
wood-paneled walls and its relatively small
size. Compared to other comedy venues,
the space felt intimate and laidback—sort
of like you're hanging out in a friend’s
cramped basement. DJ Hatecrime played
popular tracks as the audience filed in,
though the DJ could barely be heard above
the conversations of the excited crowd.

The evening began with energetic host
Kody Audette, dressed in what resembled a

referee’s uniform, introducing the opening
act: stand-up comedian Matty Vu. Matty
got the crowd warmed up with material
that covered movie franchises, living in
Vancouver, and his family— “Last year,
[my adult brother] wanted to fight me over
a game of Cranium. You know, the game
where you play with clay.”

Then the battles began.

Some pairs of comedians were
best friends, while some were merely
acquainted by the Vancouver comedy
scene. Some comics kept the jokes tame,
such as Anna Cran: “Devin looks like his
main personality traits include... hockey.’
Most, however, delved into edgier territory.
The comics insulted each other based on

 

appearance, ethnicity, age, sexuality, failed
comedy careers—you name it. Nothing was
off-limits.

The show’s main event was the
first ever “Revenge Battle” in which two
comedians who have faced off in the past,
Andrew Packer and Kyle Bottom, came
together once again to settle the score.

A few of my favourite jokes include
Kyle’s, “Andrew looks like a racist. He
looks like he didn’t like Trudeau until the
blackface.” Or Toben Spencer-Lang’s, “I
wouldn't call Bobby dumb. What I would
say, is that he’s like a legally blind visual
learner.” The energy of the crowd was
palpable. Audience members in the rows
ahead of me doubled over in their seats. At

  

onas Roesler

 
 

is removed from Netflix and they only have
their original shows, it is pretty much just

a TV channel. Out of all the shows that got
awards this year, the only network show
that got an award is Saturday Night Live.
The (only) great things about network TV
are the live shows, live sports, reality shows,
and crime shows.

There is not a lot of hype for the
dramas and comedies on network TV;
many shows get cancelled each season.
Although, Netflix has also cancelled many
of their shows because of low ratings.

A new TV season has just begun and
the amount of streaming services available
offering new shows will determine the
future of television.

multiple instances, people banged on the
walls, as if laughter just wasn’t enough to
express how entertained they were.

The judges, Christine Bortolin and
Charlie Demers, provided funny remarks of
their own as they decided on each round’s
victor. “This show is a psychologist’s
dream,” Christine quipped.

I don't think a minute went by when I
wasn't laughing. My cheeks began to hurt
at around the halfway point of the show.

The next Roast Battle Vancouver
show is on Wednesday, October 30th. On
eventbrite, tickets are $8 online and $12 at
the door. If you're looking for an affordable,
hilarious show to attend, you can't go
wrong with a Roast Battle.

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