[downbeat]

CBC has renamed "The Hour" to "George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight" because the show is no longer an hour long. Still on weekdays at 11:05 p.m. on CBC Television, but the show is only 30 minutes now (minus commercials).
So it's "The Half-Hour".
Wonder if they'll start making new shows for Friday instead of running a best-of mashup that night.

 

[johnnysmoke]

Too bad. The show is finally coming into it's own. There was a great interview last night with ex Zep Robert Plant.

 

[rocket9]

George has really taken leaps and bounds as an interviewer. I enjoy his take on things as well. At first, his "hipper than thou" persona kind of turned me off the show, but he seems to have toned that down quite a bit.

I never felt like he was straining to fill an hour , but he suits thought otherwise, I guess. That's unfortunate as there isn't a whole lot I watch on CBC to start with. Puzzling.

 

[s40]

I think that they made it too short. I didn't mind the odd take on the news now or in the past, but I think he wandered too much between interviews. I do think he is best at interviewing, I just wish in the past that he would have taken more time with the interview and less with the fluff.

 

[CHrisCHu]

And the show seems to finally stay HD (at least for the last couple of episodes). In the past, The Hour was in HD only in random episodes while the rest were in widescreen SD.

 

[cooper83]

If you're ever in Toronto, attending a (free) taping of the show is a lot of fun. Q&A with George afterwards is really cool, and I even got a photo op sitting in the big red chair being "interviewed" by George!

Does seem a bit odd to make it a half hour. I hope the focus is on interviews; it's nice hearing questions no other mainstream media dares to ask without a PR person present.

 

[downbeat]

@cooper83: I think this will be your cup of tea.
The lone episode I've seen so far was the season premiere. There was a news recap, a short interview with a politician and a longer interview with Robert Plant.
I'm sure the tapings are just as fun as they've always been — it was apparent to me that the second interview was edited for length.
I don't think I mind 30 minutes, to be honest. I can't say I stuck around often to watch a full hour-long show under the old format.
To answer my own question in the initial post, Friday programs appear to contain new material (if the listings service I use is being truthful). There's also a 30-minute repeat/recap on Sunday night, right before The National.

 

[Neild]

George has really taken leaps and bounds as an interviewer. I enjoy his take on things as well. At first, his "hipper than thou" persona kind of turned me off the show, but he seems to have toned that down quite a bit.

I never felt like he was straining to fill an hour , but he suits thought otherwise, I guess. That's unfortunate as there isn't a whole lot I watch on CBC to start with. Puzzling.

Well, his attitude may be toned down but still a little too much to take.

As for the interviewing, I guess it's matter of personal taste. Myself, I can't stomach watching how hard he sucks up to every guest, and how often he twists the interview into being about himself or inserting his quips, his pseudo-intellectual quotes, and his insincere canadiana.

The shorter format may make the program stronger as the tighter timings will enforce a bit of discipline that will hopefully put a lid on a lot of his self aggrandizing.

I was thinking this is a perfect example of 'less is more', but that got me to wondering if they shorten the program even more, how much better can it get...

 

[mike70sk]

I don't like the new format. I watched the first episode and he sorta gives an dummy's to the news segment. Maybe for the younger target market its good, but i find it condescending .

The cut to 30 mins means less interviews (the only good part of the show imho.)

No big guests this week with the exception of plant. I just delete them of the pvr when i see the guests.

George is very good at doing interviews.

Its a shame the new 30 min format will take away his interviews time and number of guests.

will keep it on my pvr in case he has some better guests. But i will fast forward to the interviews and watch nothing more.

 

[Neild]

I don't like the new format. I watched the first episode and he sorta gives an dummy's to the news segment. Maybe for the younger target market its good, but i find it condescending .

The cut to 30 mins means less interviews (the only good part of the show imho.)

No big guests this week with the exception of plant. I just delete them of the pvr when i see the guests.

George is very good at doing interviews.

Its a shame the new 30 min format will take away his interviews time and number of guests.

will keep it on my pvr in case he has some better guests. But i will fast forward to the interviews and watch nothing more.

OK, can you elaborate on what it is that makes you feel he's 'good at doing interviews'?

Seriously. Is it how how he does most of the talking? Or how obsequious he is with every guest? I've seen other people say he's a good interviewer so this is a legitimate question where I want to know what exact attributes it is that his fans are praising.

To me it's as boggling as someone saying Milli Vanilli are greatest singers of all time...

 

[cooper83]

OK, can you elaborate on what it is that makes you feel he's 'good at doing interviews'?

His interviews come across as more of a conversation rather than a formal Q&A. Rarely does it seem like his guests are there purely to pitch their latest product. So many talk shows have a format of:

• tell us something interesting that happened to you recently
• commerical break
• pitch your product
• "what clip are we about to see?"
  "uh...I don't know"
  "great, let's roll the clip!"

You may not agree with his interview style, but that doesn't make him a bad interviewer. I would consider Jimmy Fallon, for example, to be a bad interviewer. But he knows it and his style works for his show, so I don't mind it.

 

[s40]

I like the fact that he puts his guests at ease and seems to extract more information from the guests than they wanted to give. He also seems to get their personality to come through more and less of their personna.