In a year full of amazing televison and all sorts of brilliant new ideas in marketing and development, a year in which we saw quality programming go head-to-head in a showdown between Netflix, HBO, AMC, and the like, there’s one essential piece of programming that has been overlooked, a tour-de-force of burning passions and hot, steamy wood.
Damn right, I’m talking about The Fireplace Channel on Rogers.
I know what you’re probably thinking: last year’s season wasn’t quite as good. The guy who stoked the fire looked vaguely like a repeated loop, the warm tidings brought by an 18-hour marathon of watching wood burn slowly disintegrates into you ripping apart the technical failures of what was the Fireplace Channel’s first foray into HD, and the jump was…ashy.
The technology to create authentic, quality reproductions of something you could easily make in your own fireplace just wasn’t there.
For a show that has spawned countless imitators (I’m looking at you, Flag Channel) and even a movie (Fireplace for your Home: Crackling Fireplace), the Fireplace Channel really seemed to hit a low point reminiscent of the last season of The West Wing.
Sure, it was all there on paper, but it just seemed to miss that split between searing drama and the poised beauty of its once warm, ember-y heart.
That’s gone this year, it really is. Even though the show has no credits (amazing creative choice—really sells the illusion of docudrama reality), one would imagine the creators shuffled up the regular crew and instituted a new show-runner and technical team.
There’s a smokey, smoldering quality to the mise-en-scene now, a golden sheen that reflects the licks of light off the redesigned fireplace.
Like the Doctor’s TARDIS, a change of scenery means a breath of hot, fresh air. Emotions run high as the kindling is stoked and the smoke rises into a cloud of Pompeii-level tension.
And the sound, oh the sound. The pops have never sounded more present, the crackling and fluttery hum of the flames rising and falling is crystal clear. This is some 5.1 Dolby shit. For a moment, I thought my house was on fire. I still do. And I’ve had this on repeat for a month.
It’s a bit of an investment, but you could marathon the key arc in about a three-day stretch. I’ll be honest; it starts off slow, but as the flames rise, so does your interest.
There’s a hypnotizing quality to the drama, a scintillating sense of oxidation and an incandescent array of visual language that demonstrates an Orson Welles-esque quality.
Sandwiched between the Aquarium Channel and the Free Preview Channel on Rogers, this is some must-watch TV for the new year. Catch it before the season ends.
A more stunning fire there was not.
