Music: {allcanada} Argos take on Giants for TV ratings

Friday, July 1, 2011

{allcanada} Argos take on Giants for TV ratings

The Toronto Argonauts and the San Francisco Giants are in competition with each other.

Not for football or baseball championships, but for TV ratings.

Both the Argos and the Giants have behind-the-scenes reality-documentary shows debuting in the next few days.

First up is the original Canadian series The Extra Yard: Inside the 2011 Argos, which premieres Sunday, July 3 on TSN.

Then on Wednesday, July 6, The Franchise: A Season with the San Francisco Giants premieres on The Movie Network (Eastern Canada) and Movie Central (Western Canada). The Franchise originates on the cable network Showtime in the United States.

The Extra Yard is a four-part series that tells the story of this year's Toronto Argonauts by following the lives of the players and coaches, both on and off the field. The first episode focuses on the Argos' training camp.

The Franchise is a seven-part series that follows the Giants as they attempt to defend the World Series title they won last season. Cameras will be embedded with the team through the Major League Baseball trade deadline.

Both The Extra Yard and The Franchise come on the heels of previous forays into this genre such as Hard Knocks and 24/7 Penguins/Capitals: Road to the NHL Winter Classic.

Hey, remember when the quickest way to gauge how a team was faring was by glancing at something called the standings?

That is so 20th-century thinking.