The Stroumboulopouli

The Stroumboulopouli

The place to get the latest news on what’s coming up on #Gtonight. Find out what Canada’s boyfriend is up to. Share stories, pictures, favourite tv and radio episodes.

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

600 shows!

Thursday October 29th marks the 600th episode of The Hour!

We wanted to share some moments or experiences related to The Hour that touched our lives in some fashion.

April 25th 2006 I was watching The Hour. It was live on the air back then.
George, who is known for his swearing, was presenting a feature about the "F" word. It was the kind of story The Hour would do that made me growl.
I was living in Montreal at the time and the F word was not in my vocabulary. I was a bit of a snob about it so I wrote the show, via email, right away. To my great surprise George read my email, that was critical of him, on that very show.
I think I wrote something to the effect of the "F" word was low class and if I have to swear, I would swear in French. He countered that swearing in French was just as bad. He had a point, and I wish I had a copy of that clip because that was the magic moment where my bad language skills were sharpened with my exclamation

"Oh Fuck he is reading my email on the air!"
That was the magic moment of corruption. Thanks George, now I can't stop!
Happy 600th episodes! I have enjoyed many many moments from The Hour.

Barbara W.


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Barb provided me with the perfect segway...the magic moment.

When we discussed doing this post, I thought to myself that it would be tough to pick just one highlight. But then I thought about it and decided to go with an event that occurred after the cameras stopped rolling. If you have ever attended a taping of The Hour, then you are aware of the Q & A session that takes place at the end of production. Audience members take this opportunity to chat and have photographs taken with George. On this particular night there was a large group of young adults in the audience. In talking with one of their chaperones (a father of one of the kids) I discovered the group consisted of 'unique' (special needs) students on a field trip to Toronto. Seeing The Hour and meeting George was a highlight. When their turn came, the group gathered around George as he signed autographs, smiled for photos and answered questions. While this was going on, the dad was telling me that his son idolizes George and had spent hours learning how to spell S-T-R-O-U-M-B-O-U-L-O-P-O-U-L-O-S in anticipation of their meeting. The highlight for me was watching this meeting unfold...a magic moment that meant SO much to someone else...the happiness of a father seeing great anticipation in his son...watching a television personality who possesses an extraordinary gift in dealing with people.

Congratulations on 600 episodes! Steph A.

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I'd have to say that choosing just one memorable moment is practically impossible. Should I choose an "aha" moment from one of my favourite interviews? Or a behind the scenes moment from one of the many in studio tapings I've attended? It was a tough choice, but I have to say the extremely long conversation that George had with my niece and nephew at the very first taping we attended was a pretty cool moment in time. After one really awkward conversation with him before the show started and then taping the show and then doing meet and greets with an entire audience, I was amazed at the time he took to chat with them, knowing the extremely busy schedule he keeps. For months after that, George asked how they were doing and when they were coming back to the studio.

Congratulations to everyone at The Hour on the 600th show thus taking the title of longest lasting late night talk show in Canadian television history. -Mich

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A Jenuine Moment
For many reasons, since catching my first few episodes of The Hour, I have become a fan of the show and to me, it's just one of 'those shows' that offers interesting diversity with what it has to offer. It has the ability, through it's guests, topics, viewer interaction, news coverage, humour, culture, etc, to challenge your way of thinking, inspire you to delve further or to participate in something you may not have been exposed to before. It's lighthearted at times, intensely thought-provoking at other times & can be just plain old geeky fun.
I, like most people I know, have an extremely busy life with family, friends, hobbies & career, however, it's nice to find something on TV at the end of the day, that I can unwind with while keeping my brainwaves active & depending on the show, run me through a gamut of emotions while watching. Which brings me to a very memorable moment, the kind to literally make me fall off of my couch.
There was a past episode with Ron James, where he comes up with a new opening line for George to replace, "I'm your boyfriend, G.S." to "I'm G.S. in your pants!" It made me laugh & for some twisted reason I kept picturing George in a pair of ladies pants. So, after a bout of insomnia, I began playing with my paint application on the computer & did up a picture of exactly that and for kicks sent it to George's Facebook. To my complete & utter surprise, The Hour showed it on air the following night, which ended up with me, on my floor, laughing my head off. It's nice to know that others sometimes share your brand of humour, I guess.



To everyone involved with The Hour, past & present: Thank you & congratulations on your 600th episode. Yay!

Jenuine
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Milestones are funny things...we mark our time to show us where we've been and to give us licence to pause, look back and reflect. For 'The Hour' - 600 of those Hours have been marked. Quite an accomplishment! For me, it's the eclectic array of guests that makes me a fan. George's convo with Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was that guest where I knew this was a show committed to bringing important information to a demographic thirsty for a broader perspective on the world. The father of the microcredit movement, Yunus believes in everyone's right to a hand up, not a handout. Brilliant.

A fave in studio moment occurred when George, who is attached to his Blackberry, glanced at it quickly during a taping and announced to the audience that a certain American Idol's 'people' were trying to book this person & asked the collective what they should do, all the while knowing he'd be giving a rousing Hells No to any American Idol BS. 'We' said -uh-uh- and the thumbs were in motion, giving this reality show winner the virtual kiss off.

My "I did NOT just see that" moment was at the David Foster taping. An audience member didn't turn off their cell phone which rang loudly during taping - prompting Foster to ask if they should answer it. Yikes. At the end of the interview, Foster's gaggle of groupies almost rushed the stage and in process, a rather large girl's pants dipped frighteningly low. Crack. Definite crack. It made the cut (no pun intended) that night but has been erased from replays. Scary. Buy a belt please. Especially if you might be on television.

So, since music is a huge part of things on The Hour and all things Strombo, I thought a fitting ending to this effort would be with the lyrics to Sloan's 'The Good In Everyone', the current theme to The Hour. Happy 600 kids, you don't look at day over 30!!! ~ Tracy

First off, here's what you'll do to me. You'll get rough, attack my self esteem. It's not much, but it's the best I've got. And I thought you saw the good in everyone. Oooooohhhhh...The good in everyone,You see the good in Everyone Oooooohhhhh...the good in everyone.

I close my eyes, I can't give it up. I close my mind, I can't get enough. I'm in no shape, I gotta turn it off. Just let it play, 'The Good In veryone'. ooooohhhhh...The good in everyone,You see the good in everyone Oooooohhhhh...the good in everyone.

2 comments:

Trudy said...

I wasn't able to catch the 600th episode, I hope to later, online.

I really don't watch alot of talk shows, but last night saw some of the new Leno show.

Maybe it's just me - but has anyone else noticed some odd similarities between it and The Hour? They did a bit on those pilots who can't land... and the actor playing the pilot was sitting down at facebook!
Kinda reminded me of Mile a Minute the night before....

Barbara said...

I know the American shows are paying attention... Word gets around.