George Stroumboulopoulos CNN show dominated by Canadians

When you start a new talk show, booking guests who are familiar with what you do is a great way to start. In his new show — Stroumboulopoulos — on CNN, George Stroumboulopoulos has brought back a few Canadian favorites to transition to doing a show for the U.S. audience.

The setup is very similar to his regular gig — George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight — on CBC, right down to the red chairs. In the first two episodes, we've heard from Canadian transplants to Hollywood, including Martin Short, Keanu Reeves, and Howie Mandel. Short and Mandel particularly had warm praise for Stroumboulopoulos and his interview style.

The Canadian lovefest continues on Friday when Ellen Page will be a guest on Stroumboulopoulos.

Previous coverage:

CBC's George Stroumboulopoulos gets CNN summer tryout

His interview style is to do a lot of research on the interview subject and take the interviews in directions that the interview subjects don't expect. The reason CNN took a chance on Stroumboulopoulos is that he is different from other interviewers.

I can't (sadly) compare this to the Canadian version of what Stroumboulopoulos does, so I don't know if he is pulling any punches on the American version. Since Stroumboulopoulos has made it clear that he is going back to his day job in Canada this fall, hopefully, he will show the U.S. audience why Canadians like what he does.

Much was made in the Canadian press over the ratings from the debut episode, but to be fair to Stroumboulopoulos, CNN put the program on Sunday nights instead of the regular Friday night time slot. If we don't know when the episode is airing, how are we supposed to watch?

This article in the Ottawa Citizen says Friday was the debut of the show. Even the article's author didn't realize the program debuted the week before.

The time, in case you didn't know, is 11 pm Eastern Friday nights on CNN with repeats throughout the next few days.

photo credit: CNN

Comments

[CQ]

I'm in an opposite position. No cable with CNN, all the broadcast CBC I could ask for.
My views on Stroumboulopolos' CNN guest list is also opposite. IMO, he's being steered into a failed U.S. news show attempt by loading up mainly those obviously known Canuck names.
http://classicquarters.blogspot.ca/2013/06/lame-nationalism.html

[Chad]

I agree about the obvious Canucks, as you put them. Feels too safe. Though Henry Winkler appreciated what George is about. Hopefully, toward the end, George will branch out a bit. The Ellen Page interview ought to be good, though.

[Allan Sorensen]

Strombo's ratings are and have been DISMAL in Canada as well, yet no one in the media up here has the courage to talk about it.
Apparently, if the CBC keeps putting him on he must be doing something right?
That is not the case.
The fact is there's no leadership at the CBC and continuing to go with Strombo is an act of trying to save face.
What Strombo does is no different whatsoever than ALL talk shows are doing, and there's nothing special about his style or skill.

[Chad]

Having seen Strombo on a more extended basis, I've been surprised how good he is at getting his guests to open up. No one, not even Letterman, is as good as Strombo is, and that is the U.S. version.

I wish I could speak more to the CBC version, but maybe Strombo is stretching himself too far with doing both versions.