The Hour

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The Hour
Also known as	CBC News: The Hour
Genre	Newsmagazine
Presented by	George Stroumboulopoulos
Opening theme	"Use It" by The New Pornographers
Country of origin	Canada
Language(s)	English
Broadcast
Original channel	CBC
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 720p (HDTV)
Original airing	January 17, 2005
Chronology
Related shows	The National
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

For the hour-long bicycle race, see Hour record.

The Hour is a Canadian television newsmagazine broadcast on CBC Television. It first aired on January 17, 2005 as CBC News: The Hour, and is currently broadcast Monday to Thursday on the CBC at 11:00 p.m. and at 8:00 p.m. ET on CBC Newsworld. The program is hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos, a former MuchMusic host.

In October 2006, The Hour began repeating at 11:00 p.m. local time, 11:30 Newfoundland Time, on CBC Television's owned-and-operated stations (participation by CBC's privately owned stations may vary), replacing the 11:00 p.m. replay of The National. Repeats on Newsworld moved to 3:00 a.m. ET. With the move, the program shortened its name (although the show's website retained the longer name for some time) and added a small live studio audience. The basic format has not changed drastically, although the news elements have been de-emphasized by mixing serious issues and satire.

Since the start of Season Three, the show's main title theme has been "Use it" by Canadian band The New Pornographers.

1 Format
2 Timeslot history
3 Taping locations
4 See also
5 External links
- 5.1 Related Video

[edit] Format

Typically, the show begins with a short skit, usually starring George and some of his behind-the-scenes colleagues, parodying high-profile current events or discussing features of the upcoming show. Stroumboulopoulos then narrates a video collage of what's coming up in the next hour.

Generally, the show consists of two or three interviews with a wide spectrum of guests, including (but not limited to) politicians, rockstars, writers and actors. Occasionally, interview spots are filled with recurring correspondents such as Jian Ghomeshi, Hilary Doyle and Yasir Khan. Some of these interviews are pre-recorded, but many others are conducted live on-air (live-to-tape). During the in-studio interviews, guests sit across from Stroumboulopoulos in the signature red furniture on the set. Before the interview begins, there is a short briefing on the upcoming guest(s) often referred to as The Set-Up or Bio. Aside from the larger interview segments, there are several fast-paced and shorter segments in which George runs through daily national and international news headlines adding his own unique brand of witty commentary and retort.

These segments include:

Mile a Minute quickly touches on current events around the world, with video or images accompanied by Stroumboulopoulos' commentary.
Canada is similar to Mile a Minute, but limited to current events in Canada. This segment aired only during Season One and Two.
Time Capsule shows CBC footage from past events that relate to current events or the date, sometimes it is both video and audio, at other times George will comment on the video footage.
The List is a primarily satirical Top 5 list concerning a current event.
The News briefly informs viewers of news in the entertainment industry.
The Newsstand is a one-on-one interview between Stroumboulopoulos and a guest, taking place at a newsstand, discussing issues that appear on various magazine covers.

On some programs, Stroumboulopoulos reads aloud viewer correspondence.

The final segment of the show was called "The Closer", a monologue by Stroumboulopoulos about a particular current event. Since January 2007 this segment has been replaced by "The List".

[edit] Timeslot history

First and Second Season (2005-2006)

First Broadcast	Monday to Thursday 8 p.m. ET	CBC Newsworld
Repeat	Monday to Thursday 11 p.m. local time (11:30 p.m. NL)	CBC Newsworld

Third Season (October 2006-present)

First Broadcast	Monday to Thursday 8 p.m. ET	CBC Newsworld
Repeat	Monday to Thursday, Sunday 11 p.m. local time (11:30 p.m. NL)	CBC Television

As of season 3, the CBC began airing a Sunday format of the show labeled the Special Edition, which highlights the best-of the previous week's content. Most parts of the Sunday show are not taped live. The highlight show is now also aired Fridays.

[edit] Taping locations

The primary location for show tapings is the CBC Broadcast Centre in Toronto. The regular taping time is from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m in front of a live studio audience.

The show has gone on location for a short series of shows in Vancouver, British Columbia, Calgary, Alberta, Montreal, Quebec, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and most recently London, England.

One move came out of an interview with enterprising trader Kyle MacDonald who said the only limitation to his activities would be that he would not make any trade with the citizenry of a small village called Yahk, British Columbia. When the citizens protested the exclusion by writing letters to the show, the trader accused Stroumboulopoulos of hypnotizing him into making that statement and he would only go to that town if the show went there first. On February 9, 2006, the producers broadcast an episode from that village.

The show has also travelled to Las Vegas, in connection to a contest in which four viewers (2 trips for 2) won trips to "escape winter."

George will broadcast an episode Friday June 6 2008 from London England and will feature a full hour of interviews with the British Band cold play and is very excited about the show.