U8TV: The Lofters
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U8TV: The Lofters was a Canadian reality television series which aired on Life Network and online through its website, U8TV.com.
The show followed the lives of eight young Canadians whose task was to move in together into a downtown Toronto loft for a one-year period, while at the same time producing and hosting television programs for Life Network, other Canadian specialty channels or the website U8TV.com.
The show was unique in that it combined a Real World-style, fly-on-the-wall format with actual talk shows and documentaries hosted and produced by the cast members themselves. Shows hosted by the Lofters usually took place within the loft and were quite interactive, with the U8TV chat rooms. Some U8TV-hosted shows are still aired as repeats.
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[edit] Season One: 2001
The Lofters in season one were:
- Mathieu Chantelois
- Arisa Cox
- Valéry Gagné
- Kalen Haymen
- Jennifer Hedger
- David Keystone
- Sandy Meideros
- Trevor "Tre" Smith
Cast members Kalen, and later Valery, both left the show before completing their full year in the loft. Other notable events of season one were: Arisa meeting a half-sister she never knew, gay issues being addressed by lofter Mathieu (including grilling the health minister on the issue of blood donation by gay men), and a number of angry spats between lofters Jennifer and David.
[edit] Season Two: 2002
The Lofters who began season two were:
- Heather Basciano
- Danny Crowder
- Dan Fraleigh
- Annie Guillo
- Carolyn Jarvis
- Donnie "Chico" Ruiz
- Jason Ruta
- Tonya Thongs
In the second season, the show moved towards more of a Big Brother-style format when a new twist was added to the show. Every ten weeks, the producers would select two Lofters whose hosting skills were sub-par or who didn't share enough of their lives, and nominate them for eviction. Fans of the show could then go to U8TV.com and vote for the Lofter they wanted to evict. The first (and only) occurrence of the twist saw Jason Ruta and Annie Guillo nominated for eviction. Fans voted Ruta off the show, and he was replaced by Stephen MacDonald.
The show also began exercising a degree of self-censorship in the second year. During the first season, Internet viewers were able to view the residents having sex, showering, etc. During the second year, the show instituted a policy that whenever possible the cameras would be turned off during such private moments.
[edit] Cancellation
Mid-way through the second season, however, the show was cancelled. Although the show's ratings on television were strong, the costs to broadcast over the internet were far too high for the show to survive.
[edit] Post-show careers
A few former Lofters have gone on to successful television gigs, most notably season one's Jennifer Hedger who is now an anchor on TSN's popular SportsCentre. Also from season one, Arisa Cox has been a reporter for Toronto 1 and the A-Channel, Mathieu Chantelois has hosted programming for OUTtv and Sandy Medeiros sometimes appears as one of the guest judges on Much Music's Video On Trial. Tre Smith currently works for Toronto Animal Services as an enforcement officer.
The second season's Carolyn Jarvis anchored newscasts on The Weather Network and now on Global Television Network, Dan Fraleigh has been seen in many Canadian and international television commercials, independent movies, and stage productions while Jason Ruta currently works for Corus Entertainment as a radio host on CING-FM. He has been seen in TV commercials [1], and is also working on a few feature film projects. Season one's Trey Smith is an animal control officer with the City of Toronto and was featured on a CTV News report [2] that aired on January 13, 2007, about an animal shelter being closed down.
U8TV's ground breaking behind the scenes staff have gone on to become successful production executives in their own right. Camera Operator Reilly Saso has gone on to become a successful commercial director, Richard Barton has become a technical director at CHUM Ltd., Producer Leslie Lucas is currently a producer for Food Jammers, Zev Shalev is currently executive producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada after a run at Toronto 1, Amy Miranda the former Manager of Technology is a well-known online Executive Producer, John Turner has become a successful freelance writer and producer and Lofters Producer Jenna Keane is now a production executive at Alliance Atlantis
[edit] Trivia
- The loft had 21 cameras filming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in all rooms of the house including the bathrooms (although the bathroom camera was only broadcast if lofters went in there to talk).
- Some of the online shows or TV shows produced by the Lofters included "Fuel", "So Gay TV", "Male Box", "Spin the Bottle", "Love Shack", "Money Shot" and "House Party". The shows had regular weekly timeslots and were hosted regularily by one or two lofters, and usually centred on themes of interest to young people.
- The loft was located in Toronto's "Entertainment District", near the intersections of Peter & Richmond streets.
- Season two had extensive auditions and various combinations of possible lofters were sent into the house for trial runs to see which candidates had the right chemistry. The auditions were shown early on in season two.
- Season one lofter Kalen reappared on several occasions during season two, as he was dating season two lofter Annie.
- The CRTC approved a license for a U8TV Category 2 digital television channel in 2000, but nothing more came of it. [3]
