CBC scales back
National broadcaster cancels daytime lifestyle series The Goods
Here are the goods on The Goods: It’s not coming back next fall.
CBC confirmed Tuesday it has cancelled the daytime lifestyle series after two seasons. Steven Sabados, Jessi Cruickshank, Andrea Bain and Shahir Massoud all host the series, which premièred in the fall of 2016. Reminiscent of Sabados’ previous series with late husband and business partner Chris Hyndman, The Goods recorded its final episode last week and will play out the season weekdays at 2 p.m. until May 10.
Jennifer Dettman, CBC’s executive director of unscripted content, says the public broadcaster will continue to offer lifestyle content via the digital portal CBC Life. Data research company Numeris says the current, confirmed season-to-date average among Canadians two years old or older is 66,000 viewers nationwide. The Goods drew slightly less its first season, averaging 62,000.
The decision to cancel the series, however, wasn’t just about numbers.
“We are proud of the show,” says Dettman, acknowledging daytime — like all of television — has become a highly competitive market and genre. Taking The Goods off the CBC’s TV schedule, Dettman says, “is part of our ongoing redirection of programming budgets from television to digital content.”
The public broadcaster announced a few seasons ago it would begin focusing its resources on digital, streamed programming “as a strategic priority.”
The demise of The Goods follows Rick Mercer’s decision to shut down The Mercer Report after 15 seasons. The two were among the remaining regular studio-audience series at CBC’s downtown Toronto broadcast centre. This spring, the major tenant at CBC Toronto is Rogers. The rival broadcaster’s between-periods set for Hockey Night in Canada occupies one of the bigger sound stages on CBC’s 10th floor.
Aside from annual Air Farce New Year’s Eve tapings and budding entrepreneurs pitching wares on Dragons’ Den, there seems to be little use for the purpose-built studios within the walls of CBC’s broadcast centre.
That’s more coincidence or optics than agenda, suggests CBC’s head of publicity Katherine Wolfgang. She says a soon-to-be-announced new competition show, coming next season, will definitely be recorded in Toronto before a studio audience. Other studiobased shows, she says, are in development.
CBC does partner on or produce a number of studio audience shows recorded in other parts of Canada. This Hour Has 22 Minutes originates in Halifax and Still Standing travels to towns all across Canada. CBC’s studio audience specials include comedy festivals in Winnipeg and Halifax, as well as Montreal’s Just for Laughs galas. CBC also announced in December that a new, ground-floor studio is coming to the Toronto broadcast centre, allowing visitors a behindthe-scenes peek at CBC Kids’ interactive, multi-platform productions. As for scripted, prime-time programming, CBC has already announced the return of the following programs for next season: the reversioned Green Gables drama Anne, Baroness von Sketch Show, Burden of Truth, Dragons’ Den, Frankie Drake Mysteries, The Great Canadian Baking Show, Kim’s Convenience, Little Dog, Mr. D (for a seventh and final season), Murdoch Mysteries, Schitt’s Creek, Still Standing, This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Workin’ Moms. More renewals are expected to be announced at the network’s annual season preview event. That will be held late next month in — where else? — a giant sound stage at the Toronto broadcast centre.