HNIC... Is it time to for it to die?

[Mr Burns]

Toronto is the biggest media market and its team has the biggest fanbase. Thats why they spend so much time on the Leafs.

I can't talk about biggest media market because in the French media it's always about the Montreal Canadiens and not the Toronto Maple Leafs but the Habs have the biggest fanbase sorry.

 

[Confucius]

I can't talk about biggest media market because in the French media it's always about the Montreal Canadiens and not the Toronto Maple Leafs but the Habs have the biggest fanbase sorry.

On this site it was Leafs. It was undeniable because the site would list how many views and posts each team had. This site doesn't show those stats anymore.

 

[RogerR]

I can't talk about biggest media market because in the French media it's always about the Montreal Canadiens and not the Toronto Maple Leafs but the Habs have the biggest fanbase sorry.

Issue with the Habs is their audience is split in two. So Leafs do get the biggest ratings and are talked about the most.

 

[shaner82]

I agree, people love to hide behind "I don't like politics in my x" when the truth is they're too weak minded and dishonest to admit they can't listen to anything that doesn't already cater to their views.

And people usually only defend it when it does cater to them

I have to add it also depends on how dishonest and idiotic the talking heads are. I haven't watched hnic but if it's anywhere near as moronic as ESPN, fox, the young turks, CNN, etc. I could see why people are totally fed up

I disagree with that. I engage in political discussion regularly, but that's the last thing I want to think about when watching sports. I want the focus to be on sports. It's supposed to be a break from real life. In a way, pro sports takes most of us back to when we were kids and we get to live vicariously through the pros.

I just don't get why sports shows can't be about sports. Why does every controversial issue in the world suddenly have to be discussed on a show about a game?

 

[OldCraig71]

I don't watch the pregame or the intermission parts, it's not nearly as relevant as it used to be, it's more fun to talk with fellow fans in places such as this.

 

[BruinDust]

I don't even see the old "HNIC" anymore. It's just a Rogers Sportsnet hockey broadcast on Saturday nights that uses the name and has a few of the old hands from the old HNIC around like MacLean, Scott Oake, and a few others. It bears very little resemblance to the hockey broadcast that was once put off by the CBC in it's entirety. I thought from a production value standpoint prior to the NHL rights going to SN that CBC's HNIC had the highest production values out of CBC/TSN/SN with TSN being 2nd IMO and SN was a distant 3rd at the time for me. Now we just have a Saturday night hockey telecast with crappier production values than before.

 

[theaub]

Haven't read the entire thread so this may have been discussed ad-nauseum already, but HNIC used to be an event, whereas now its just the Saturday night version of hockey on Sportsnet. Started when TSN bought the old theme, and then continued when Rogers cut some of the more unique parts of HNIC (ie Tim Thompson and the CBC branding) and some stuff that wasn't entirely in their control (Cole/Neale and Don Cherry). And in their defense, the sheer amount of games on TV make any individual game less relevant (as a comparative, look at the nostalgic views for NBC's MLB Game of the Week in the '70's compared to the apathy for the Saturday afternoon game on FOX now).

Is it time to get rid of it? I wouldn't go that far - there is some symbolism still in being the featured game in the featured timeslot on network TV. But the HNIC that I grew up with in the '90's/early 2000's is long dead.

 

[Machinehead]

People seriously want to bring back Cherry?

You can get hot takes and casual xenophobia on HF seven days a week. Why wait for Saturday?

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Ron Maclean is insufferable. The guy is always trying to be so profound with his quotes and poetry . Can’t stand him and they should have kept strombo

Maclean needed Cherry badly. He's the perfect 'level-headed' straight man to play opposite the larger than life flamboyant Cherry. Cherry drove that segment, Maclean was there to keep it on the rails.

But then he was left on his own and you realize that maybe he hasn't got a ton to add to the conversation, maybe he isn't actually all that interesting. He's probably the most famous person on that show now, and yet it doesn't seem like he belongs there. He'd probably be better suited to just have a quiet little documentary show where he travels around the provinces to talk about grass roots hockey, you know, the kind they can air at like 11 am on a Sunday or something.

 

[socko]

When Ron groveled on air to keep his job, and threw Cherry under the bus as part of it, you knew any pride he had was gone. But keep his job he did. And it's a really good paying job. So I can't blame him, what's a little pride compared to some serious bankroll. I would have done the same thing.

Cherry chose to go down when he might have kept his job too. But why should Ron feel compelled to join him?

 

[Voight]

I can't talk about biggest media market because in the French media it's always about the Montreal Canadiens and not the Toronto Maple Leafs but the Habs have the biggest fanbase sorry.

No they don't. Compare the two when they play out of town (aside from when they play eachother)..... its always more Leaf jerseys in the stands as the visiting team as opposed to when the Habs are visiting.

 

[ManofSteel55]

I think so.

It's had a good run and there's a definite nostalgia to it, but it has pretty much reached its limit, IMO. It pretends to be a national event when it really just gloms onto the Ontario market as its focus. Everything else is an afterthought.

I'm a proud Canadian, but I wouldn't shed a tear if HNIC was cancelled. I'm perfectly content with regional coverage of my favourite team.

Really, its always been this way. Not sure how it has changed, other than it not being our only option for watching hockey on television.

 

[LuckyDay]

HNIC just meant that at least we'd get one game every Saturday night with at least one Canadian team - almost always Toronto or Montreal though, unfortunately. It was almost like clockwork.

It made the CBC more money than any other program even though the News division and Crown Corporation as a whole despised it just like schoolteachers and Liberal prime ministers. We got to hear Canada's other national anthem.

For a country with not a lot of resources and one radio and system and the tv network to condescend itself and make time for something people and families really enjoy was a kind of flag waving in your heart because nothing like this got done without effort in Canada.

If you haven't noticed, the United States has seen the success and copied the name with Football Night in America and Hockey Day in America in the last few decades.

The real issue here is not the name but changes in format and the seemingly lower cost budget values. Also, cancel culture is starting to affect new reporting and we're being left with the bland type of tow the line CBC guys again - the type with no personality or thoughts of their own. Meanwhile a giant ad for a Chinese telephone company infamous for stealing your personal data and giving it to their totalitarian government is sitting at their feet and they pretend that there's nothing wrong here.

 

[LuckyDay]

When Ron groveled on air to keep his job, and threw Cherry under the bus as part of it, you knew any pride he had was gone. But keep his job he did. And it's a really good paying job. So I can't blame him, what's a little pride compared to some serious bankroll. I would have done the same thing.

Cherry chose to go down when he might have kept his job too. But why should Ron feel compelled to join him?

how many dittos and "you are correct, sir" can I say here?

 

[TheTotalPackage]

MacLean has definitely become a caricature of himself, but he could read the collected works of William McGonagall live on-air and I’d still prefer that to Mr. Tight Pants.

I still love MacLean. Partly because I grew up with him and he was always so good. Other part being is that he is very well spoken and eloquent, that he can make anything dull sound interesting. He's still the best at guiding and mediating a panel. And while he can be quirky with his stories -- even my wife says he is like a real life encyclopedia -- I'd take that over the alternatives.

The fact of the matter is that all programming these days has become too politically correct and motivated. No one can say something that would toe the line. For some reason now certain issues have to be pandered to. Despite the fact that we, you know, turn in to simply watch hockey to avoid all the other garbage going on in the world today.

Going back to MacLean quickly. I think people are sadly mistaken if they think Duthie and Marek would be good replacements. Both are just as quirky and dorky, minus the smarts and eloquence behind them. And Strombo was just a flat out disaster from the get go. I didn't mind the change when it was announced, but he was so out of his element from the get-go it was so sad to see (and made the program just as sad to watch).

 

[Crabapple]

I don't want it to die, but it's gotten so bad that I've begun to dread Saturday night games. I hope they just clean house and get a better crew.

 

[Pure West]

I may have agreed if not for the addition of Kevin Bieksa. He's filled any personality void left by you know who, and without any of the baggage and various other negative adjectives I could throw his way. He also knows what he's talking about too from the analysis side, something you know who really seemed to just ignore in his latter years. They'll be fine, at least as fine as any other major network sports broadcasts that aren't immune to the changing nature of the business.

 

[Byron Bitz]

I still love MacLean. Partly because I grew up with him and he was always so good. Other part being is that he is very well spoken and eloquent, that he can make anything dull sound interesting. He's still the best at guiding and mediating a panel. And while he can be quirky with his stories -- even my wife says he is like a real life encyclopedia -- I'd take that over the alternatives.

The fact of the matter is that all programming these days has become too politically correct and motivated. No one can say something that would toe the line. For some reason now certain issues have to be pandered to. Despite the fact that we, you know, turn in to simply watch hockey to avoid all the other garbage going on in the world today.

Going back to MacLean quickly. I think people are sadly mistaken if they think Duthie and Marek would be good replacements. Both are just as quirky and dorky, minus the smarts and eloquence behind them. And Strombo was just a flat out disaster from the get go. I didn't mind the change when it was announced, but he was so out of his element from the get-go it was so sad to see (and made the program just as sad to watch).

I thought Strombo was good

 

[Mr Burns]

On this site it was Leafs. It was undeniable because the site would list how many views and posts each team had. This site doesn't show those stats anymore.

If this site was in French or admit French at least, I guarantee you there would be more Habs fans here for sure.

 

[Mr Burns]

Issue with the Habs is their audience is split in two. So Leafs do get the biggest ratings and are talked about the most.

I agree with that. If only there was a way to add both ratings (English and French) together, it would give us a better idea.

 

[Mr Burns]

No they don't. Compare the two when they play out of town (aside from when they play eachother)..... its always more Leaf jerseys in the stands as the visiting team as opposed to when the Habs are visiting.

Certainly not in places like Florida and Ottawa. I can't really say how many Habs fans in the stands when they visit Western teams because it's always too late for me. If the Habs fanbase is not the biggest, it's certainly equal to the Leafs fanbase in North America. That's what happens when you are the oldest, the most storied and the greatest franchise in NHL history .

 

[TheTotalPackage]

I thought Strombo was good

I will give Strombo credit -- those roundtable discussions he conducted and shown during the intermissions were excellent. That's something fresh and new HNiC needed and should have run with. We keep saying hockey players have no personality -- this was a perfect way to show the players in a different light. That's why I enjoy After Hours -- it's nice to see and hear from one or two players or management personnel from outside of their element we see them in all the time. Especially as an East Coaster hardly getting a chance to see these guys on the West Coast.

Strombo should have been given an interview role like that. He was completely out of his element as the panel host though. His knowledge of hockey was limited (one thing to be a fan, another to have deep rooted knowledge), and he was caught looking at this notes for the simplest of things far too many times by the time they cut to the other panelist speaking.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

How many more years of Sportsnets' substandard hockey broadcasts?

 

[Thndrstruck]

I loved HNIC as a kid and younger adult. But the minute Rogers took it over with all there crap, it went downhill. I'm there to watch hockey and hear about hockey, not all the other garbage. And get rid of Hometown Hockey while you are at it.

 

[Nineteen67]

It’s already dead and it’s time to bury it.