jPod
Posted by Skrud at Thursday, January 31st 2008 at 7:32pm
I’ve been watching the jPod TV series since it starting airing on CBC a mere four weeks ago. I remember seeing the ads for it and thinking “I should probably watch that show … it was a great book!” but of course I never bothered to take notice of when it was showing. The first episode caught me off guard since I stumbled home one night and it had just started, and it was actually funny. I was entertained throughout the first 10 minutes, but then I had to leave to meet some friends and just watched the episode later when it was finally “available” for download. Compared to the book as I remember it, the TV show is pretty close adaptation. It’s better by far than any book-to-movie adaptation I’ve seen.
jPod or Microserfs?
I enjoyed jPod a lot, since it felt to me like an updated Microserfs, but I didn’t like it nearly as much as I loved Microserfs. Both are written by Douglas Coupland, but Microserfs is easily one of my all time favourite books. I first read it (according to my blog) in January 2004, and I’ve re-read at least 4 times since then. Each time I read Microserfs I get so much more out of it. The book is chock full of references to nerd culture and geekdom, yet all tied together in such a meaningful way. When I read Microserfs, I felt like it was a book that understood me.
jPod was a similar style of novel to Microserfs, but it never resonated with me as strongly. I always felt that jPod was simply too over-the-top and exaggerated for me to relate to the characters. jPod is also full of nerd references, but I think it’s to a fault. At one point it feels like the references are simply there for the sake of paying lip service to something that the readership will recognize, chuckle silently to themselves and shrug. Basically, jPod felt to me kind of how xkcd feels to Nick.
jPod on TV is so much better!
The funny thing is that I’m completely taken by the TV show. I love it! I’ll watch an episode over breakfast with my morning coffee and be in an enlightened mood for the rest of the day. I think part of the reason is that the wackiness and over-the-top-ness work so much better in live action than in prose. The same things that turned me off from the novel make for a lively and entertaining television-viewing experience. It’s as if jPod were meant to be televised. The novel lends itself easily to the kinds of amusing, unlikely scenarios that make sitcoms work, but at the same time it’s infused with the social commentary and searching for meaning that Coupland’s characters do so well.
This is the first TV show that I’ve followed in ages. I’ll keep watching. :)
I have yet to read/watch Jpod but Microserfs was my JAM! Loved that book! Douglas coupland iis my man!
I just watched 8 episodes in two days. Golden. Agreed, book was good, but better on TV. The crazy pages from the book work better as animations between scenes on TV as well. I’m just wondering if Americans are liking this very Canadian show.
Hi all, Raugi Yu here. I play Kam Fong on jPod. Okay, so you may have heard that jPod has not been picked up for a second season by CBC. I got the call a couple of days ago about it.
At first I was upset and disappointed and immediately thought of the great times and experiences I had shooting jPod and how much I would take from that…There was one problem though…I kept wondering why. Why not have a season 2? I started to hear what others were saying. I heard anger, resentment and frustration. So many of you my friends along with thousands, yes thousands, of strangers have expressed outrage over the cancellation of jPod.
I got angry too.
One may think that, “Sure, I’d be angry too if I lost a steady gig like that”. Well that’s not what I’m angry about. Gigs come and go. It is no huge hardship for me to go back to auditioning and booking and living my life as an actor. It is my passion. No. It angers me that the CBC our nation’s television station (yes I know among other things) chooses to cancel a show that is so cutting edge, fun, smart and CANADIAN. So many viewers have gleaned joy from watching jPod week after week. We look forward to it; I dare say we yearn for it.
I’d like to go down swinging. Many of you, who know me well, know that I am quite a loner and I don’t ask for help often even when I need it. I guess I‘m asking now.
I’m a pretty chilled out go with the flow kind of guy, but I recognize that there are times in my life when I’ve got to fight. In surveying the land I recognize that I need a lot of help.
If you feel you can, please call CBC at: 1-866-306-4636, choose option 1 for English programming and choose option 1 again for the “Attendant” then ask for “Audience Services”. Audience Services will answer and at that point tell them how you feel about jPod being cancelled and how you would like to see a season 2.
OR E-mail them at http://www.cbc.ca/contact/
I alone can reach out to all of you and if all of you can reach even 2 people and we get that people ball rolling…we could possibly be jamming up some phone lines at CBC. Am I being naïve and hopeful? I hope so; it feels better than lying down and taking it.
Thanks everyone! I really appreciate all of you for watching the show and for all the great things you’ve all been saying about it.
Longevity and persistence is the key. Phone or e-mail, if you can do it everyday.
I send my love to you all and just to be clear, that love stays whether you phone, e-mail, write or not.
Thank you all! Raugi Yu A.K.A Kam Fong
[...] only TV show I’ve watched recently, is being cancelled by CBC. Why? I can’t imagine. jPod is a phenomenally amazing and hilarious show. It’s deep and it’s funny, and I even like [...]
jPod is one of the best comedies i’ve seen in a while. Aside from Tudors, its probably the best show on CBC. I think The Border is ok, but not nearly as good as jpod. I can’t believe the brought back the border and not jpod. What were they thinking? Are they trying to act like FOX?