June 05, 2009

Rabbit Fall

Here's another Canadian TV show that includes Aboriginal people:

Supernatural Crime Drama Rabbit Fall Debuts on SPACE October 28Bizarre deaths, violent crimes and the unexplained descend on the remote northern town of Rabbit Fall, when the second season of critically-acclaimed original Canadian crime drama, Rabbit Fall premieres on SPACE, Tuesday, October 28 at 10 p.m.

Produced by SPACE in association with APTN, Rabbit Fall has been compared to both X-Files and Twin Peaks. The half-hour series follows Métis cop Tara Wheaton (Andrea Menard) as she deals with claims that Rabbit Fall’s unexplained crimes are the result of the supernatural. Tara is skeptical there are paranormal elements at work, until more unexplainable deaths occur. Could these unexplained deaths lead to something bigger than this town? Tara’s nagging intuition leads her deep into the past, where she uncovers the town’s dark history and comes to realize she is part of the mystery in ways she could never imagine.

In the Season 2 premiere, Tara leads a manhunt into the darkest part of the forest when the town’s Medicine Man, Simon Blackhorse (Patrick Bird), vanishes from police custody. In the woods, Tara experiences a terrifying paranormal event and is forced to uncover the mystery behind Simon’s powerful medicine.
Comment:  It's kind of amazing that Canada, with its much smaller population, has broadcast a dozen or so series featuring Indians in the last decade. Meanwhile, the US has broadcast only 3-4 series with as many Indians in 50-plus years of television. Why the huge discrepancy?

For more on the subject, see TV Shows Featuring Indians.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The US/Canada thing is an old one. In the early 90s, people claimed 90210 was a ripoff of Degrassi Junior High. Degrassi Junior High had black people. And actual kids. The only Indian was possibly Ms. Avery, the teacher who Kathleen started a rumor about being a lesbian. (Every episode had an issue of the week.) Most people agree the Canadian show was better, if cheesier. Much cheesier.

So basically any foreign series that comes to the US will be either turned all-white or (more demeaning) have a five-token band.

dmarks said...

A five-token band?

Is that anything like Captain Planet's Planeteers?

Anonymous said...

According to a page on Wikipedia, the percentage of the population in Canada is 3.8% while in the US it is 1.5%. I suspect that's part of why there's more native representation on Canadian TV.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas#Demography_of_contemporary_populations