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TV, the Military, and Canada

© John Lovett

There is a dirty little secret Hollywood is not telling you. A good majority of modern television production is now being done in Canada. The whys of this are simple economics. Production companies find TV work in Canada cheaper than in Southern California. The whys of that are outside my areas of discussion.

Consider, if the production company goes to Canada they hire Canadians to do things like costuming, art direction, and scene design. I have nothing against the individual talents of these people. I do have a problem with the representation of the U.S. military in these productions. Let me set out something straight, I am not Canadian bashing here. I am blaming the U.S. production companies for allowing these mistakes to occur.

One of the great offenders of this misrepresentation is the X-FILES. While Chris Carter has done a good job in creating a moody TV piece on interstellar conspiracy, his production team has done a poor job of creating authentic U.S. military style uniforms. I have witnessed upside ranks, young actors representing senior NCOs, and senior grade officers that act like miniature Hitlers.

I think that these inaccuracies can be chalked up the lack of military experience in Canada. Canada has a very small, but professional military. There is not a large number of Canadians who have served with their military. Correspondingly, I don't believe there are any great numbers of people who have served in the military and work in the TV industry and therefore can share their experiences.

Another offender of misrepresenting the U.S. military is THE OUTER LIMITS. Again, produced in Canada this show has also compiled an assume record of incorrect uniforms, incorrect jargon, over - bearing officers, and generally lax attitudes about the military.

Now, I am not arguing that in a fictional story that involves some future period you can mix and match uniforms, jargon, what - have - you to your heart's content. What I am arguing is that if are producing a contemporary story with contemporary characters you should at least try to get the uniforms, jargon, ranks, etc correct. Does this involve more work on the part of the production companies? You betcha Red Ryder. Is that work worth the effort? Yes, certainly.