Minou and Me

You KNOW we will be watching this on Monday....

Nothing to do on Monday? Stay tuned to this turkey
DAWN WALTON
CALGARY -- Okay, it isn't Gemini-worthy original programming, but it could be the surprise smash of the Thanksgiving weekend.

Turkey TV will hit the air holiday Monday featuring nothing but a 10-pound roasting turkey surrounded by carrots, tomatoes and fresh greens in front of a traditional wood-fired oven. Highlights of this riveting new show, which does not actually offer cooking advice, includes the occasional basting by a hand.

"It looks like a real nice turkey and there's a lovely crackling fire behind it," said Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications Inc., which is the brains behind the bird. "I think people will record this."

The Calgary-based company has been working on the project for a couple of months as a way to celebrate the holiday. It enlisted the help of a local restaurant where the turkey was cooked and filmed.

But clearly the folks at Canada's second biggest cable television operator aren't taking themselves too seriously. Rarely has a press release announcing the launch of a new show been so breathless, with corporate tongue planted firmly in cheek.

Turkey TV promises its ongoing coverage (55 minutes of footage will be played all day on a loop) will "keep viewers on the edge of their seats throughout this thrilling turkey program."

Shaw is hoping to build on the success of its previous much-loved holiday hit --a fire log.

The crackle and hiss of a burning log was introduced to audiences in Edmonton during the 1986 Christmas season. Hours of footage of a blazing hearth was interrupted from time to time by an arm, which would reach in to stoke the fire or change the charred piece of wood. The arm, of course, went on to become the star of the show.

The fire log video spread like wildfire across the country. It even spawned knockoffs. And, a cult-like following.

When the local Shaw station in Victoria wrapped up nine days of its holiday log run in 2000, the switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree and protesters gathered outside the station demanding that the program return. The station, taken aback by the reaction, acquiesced.
*(there was more to the article but it went on about cruelty to animals and such and really it is all about the cooking turkey on tv)