Street Cents | |
---|---|
Created by | John Nowlan |
Written by |
|
Directed by |
|
Starring |
|
Country of origin | Canada |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 17 |
No. of episodes | 923 |
Production | |
Production locations | Halifax, Nova Scotia |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Release | |
Original network | CBC Television |
Original release | March 15, 1989 – October 1, 2006 |
Street Cents is a newsmagazine TV series directed at teenagers that originally aired on CBC Television between 1989 and 2006. Street Cents focused on consumer and media awareness for young people. The series was created by producer John Nowlan. He cites Britain's Pocket Money as one of the inspirations for Street Cents. The show has won several Gemini Awards and even an International Emmy for Best Youth Programming or Series. The series was lauded by critics for its efforts to be inclusive and representative of Canada's youth. The theme song for several seasons was "Where Does My Money Go?" by Thrush Hermit. [1]
Like CBC's Marketplace , the show aired without commercial interruption, because the producers did not want the bias of advertising revenue to affect the potential criticism of the advertisers' products and/or services. The show promoted safety and ethics and action while empowering young people. Sponsor logos were briefly seen in the end credits of episodes in a manner akin to public television in the United States.
In August 2006, the network airing Street Cents, CBC Television, decided to cancel the series as its target demographic, teens and preteens, have shown a decline of viewership. The last episode aired October 1, 2006 leaving CBC-TV with no programs aimed at its target demographic.
One of the original hosts of the show, Jonathan Torrens, started a YouTube reboot of the series in 2019 called Your Two Cents . The CBC subsequently announced its own revival of the Street Cents brand as a TikTok account in 2022, hosted by Anisha Joshi, Mercedes Gaztambide and Ian (Creo) Walters. [2]
In 1988, CBC Halifax created a pilot for the show that would become Street Cents. The working title for the program was Moneypenny’. The pilot was written by John Nowlan and Gary Vermier. Produced and directed by John Nowlan.
Originally, there were 3 hosts (Jamie Bradley, Benita Ha and Chris Lydon-- Jonathan Torrens replaced Lydon later in Season 1) and a sneaky salesman named Ken Pompadour (played by Brian Heighton) and various pigs and hedgehogs named after coins. Season 1 featured a pink pig named Penny, Season 2 had a pink and black pig named Nickel and Season 3, a pot-bellied pig called Moui (Vietnamese for 'dime') and then hedgehogs One-Bit & Two-Bit. Ken was a weak-willed lackey for the "evil" corporation BuyCo, which always sold inferior, overpriced and shoddy products, and marketed how great their products were in a stereotypical parody fashion. Every week, Ken would try to sell the viewers and hosts BuyCo products and every week the hosts would foil his scheme. Eventually, Ken's boss (whose face was never seen but was secretly played by host Jamie Bradley) died over Aruba, and Ken got promoted to the head of BuyCo. As boss, Ken's image changed completely, as he was cool, wore all black leather (including pants), had a goatee, and always was able to snap his hand to reveal an item for dramatic effect. He also had his own team of lackeys or "yes men". Since Brian Heighton left the show, the BuyCo storyline completely disappeared, and the show became less story oriented. Jamie Bradley left the show in 1994 as host and was replaced by Anna Dirksen but made cameo appearances for several years after.
By the ninth season, Street Cents took on a more news-magazine style while maintaining a focus on empowering young people to make their own educated decisions about the media and products they consume. Despite being based in Halifax, the show still maintained its efforts to include all of Canada in the segments it produces by featuring segments from across Canada in each episode. During the final few years, the show also expanded by featuring segments on various teen issues such as divorce, interracial dating, and eating disorders.
Studio segments in Seasons 11 and 12 were directed by Stephen Hall. Both seasons were nominated for both Gemini and iEmmy awards. In 2001, episode four from Season 12 won both the Gemini and iEmmy.
Made in Canada is a Canadian television comedy which aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2003. Rick Mercer starred as Richard Strong, an ambitious and amoral television producer working for a company which makes bad television shows. A dark satire about the Canadian television industry, the programme shifted into an episodic situation comedy format after its first season.
Jonathan Ormond Torrens is a Canadian actor and television personality best known for his co-hosting of Street Cents, his talk show Jonovision, and his role as "J-Roc" in the popular Canadian mockumentary Trailer Park Boys. In October 2009, Torrens began hosting TV with TV's Jonathan Torrens, a comedic newsmagazine program broadcast on the TVtropolis network. In January 2014, he teamed up with fellow Canadian Jeremy Taggart to create the Taggart and Torrens Podcast. They discuss everything from sports to politics and offer a unique perspective on current issues.
Seán Cullen is a Canadian actor and stand-up comedian. He is known for combining improvisation with mimicry and music. He is known for providing voices of characters in shows like Best Ed, Seven Little Monsters, and Almost Naked Animals.
Jonovision was a Canadian television talk show aimed toward teenagers. The show aired for five seasons, from 1996 to 2001, on CBC Television. Jonovision was nominated for 4 Gemini Awards. It reached the top of its popularity at the beginning of its fourth season, when it hosted a Degrassi reunion. The host was Jonathan Torrens, who later went on to play J-Roc in Trailer Park Boys.
Benita Ha is a Hong Kong Canadian actress. She is best known in Canada for her appearance in the television show Street Cents.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 16th Gemini Awards were held on October 29, 2001, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Mike Bullard, took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and was broadcast on CBC Television.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 14th Gemini Awards were held on November 7, 1999, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Rick Mercer, took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and was broadcast on CBC Television.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 13th Gemini Awards were held on October 4, 1998, to honour achievements in Canadian television.. The awards show, which was hosted by Ronnie Edwards and Kenny Robinson, took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and was broadcast on CBC Television.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 7th Gemini Awards were held in March 1993 to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and was broadcast on CBC Television.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 9th Gemini Awards were held on March 5, 1995 to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Paul Gross and Tina Keeper, took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and was broadcast on CBC Television.
Allan Novak is a Canadian television director and editor.
Darryl Kyte is a lawyer, writer, producer and television personality in Canada. Kyte hosted the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's International Emmy and Gemini award winning show Street Cents and has worked as a journalist and producer for a number of other CBC news television programs.
Eli Goree is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his roles as Quincy in HBO's Ballers, Malik in Da Kink in My Hair (2007–2009), Wells Jaha in the post-apocalyptic drama show The 100 (2014–2017), Joel Goodson in the supernatural horror show Dead of Summer, and Cassius Clay in Regina King's biographical drama film One Night in Miami... (2020). In 2018, he started a recurring role on the CW's TV series Riverdale, where he plays Munroe "Mad Dog" Moore.
Musical.ly was a social media service headquartered in Shanghai with an American office in Santa Monica, California, on which platform users created and shared short lip-sync videos. The first prototype was released in April 2014, and then after that, the official version was launched in August of 2014. Through the app, users could create 15-second to 1-minute lip-syncing music videos and choose sound tracks to accompany them, use different speed options and add pre-set filters and effects. The app also allowed users to browse popular "musers", content, trending songs, sounds and hashtags, and uniquely interact with their fans.
ByteDance Ltd. is a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Beijing and incorporated in the Cayman Islands.
TikTok, whose mainland Chinese counterpart is Douyin, is a short-form video hosting service owned by ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 3 seconds to 10 minutes.
Charli Grace D'Amelio is an American social media personality. She was a competitive dancer for over 10 years before starting her social media career in 2019, when she started posting dance videos on the video-sharing platform TikTok. She quickly amassed a large following and subsequently became the most-followed creator on the platform in March 2020 until she was surpassed by Khaby Lame in June 2022.
Addison Rae Easterling is an American social media personality and actress. In August 2020, she was ranked as the highest-earning TikTok personality by Forbes. In 2021, Addison Rae made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for social media influencers.
Your Two Cents is a Canadian non-fiction web series, which premiered in 2019. Hosted by Jonathan Torrens and essentially a revival of his earlier CBC Television series Street Cents, the series blends information and humour segments to educate teens and young adults on financial literacy and consumer awareness topics.
America's Funniest Home Videos: Animal Edition is an American video clip television series that first aired on Nat Geo Wild on June 11, 2021. It is based on the Japanese variety show Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan and is a spin-off of America's Funniest Home Videos. The show features humorous and wondrous homemade animal videos that are submitted by viewers, from pets to wildlife and everything in-between. It is hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro, who is also the current host of its parent show.