Here's a TV trivia question: Who appears in over half of all television programs? Commercial don't count, so Beyoncé, Peyton Manning and those annoying beavers aren't the right answer.
Give up?
It's the viewer.
According to Sudbury resident Lyle Burwell, webmaster for Viewer Participation TeleVision (VPTV), a website that provides application information for almost 350 North American TV shows, "reality TV, talent competitions, game shows, makeovers, cooking, fashion, relationships, lifestyles, talk shows, dating, and wedding shows make up 53 percent of the 500 channel digital universe, according to a review VPTV conducted of TV Guide listings earlier this year."
The "VPTV Canada" page lists 59 made-in Canada viewer
participation programs, from Global's Are You Smarter Than a
Canadian 5th Grader, to the Comedy Network's You Bet Your Ass.
"Both of which are no longer in production," Burwell said.
"In fact, that's one of the reasons VPTV has become so popular, so quickly. Too much information is the Internet's biggest problem. VPTV's focus is very narrow. We are only interested in shows that are still in production. If a show has ended its run in the past year, we let people know. After that, we drop the listing entirely, so the search engines don't get confused. Unlike most websites, we intentionally do not archive any data."
Sudburians that have made their mark in the VPTV world include April Whalen, a 34-year-old marketing co-ordinator and wife of a nickel miner, who was a contestant on Are You Smarter Than a Canadian 5th Grader; Val Caron resident Cori MacKinnon., who competed on Canada's Next Top Model, as well as Matthew Craggs and Becki Danson, who recently had their wedding filmed for Wedding SOS.
"Canada's success in the viewer participation field isn't
widely known," Burwell added.
"We see Canadian versions of shows we first watched on U.S.
stations, like Canadian Idol, or Canada'a Next Top Model and
think we are just copying the Americans.
"In fact, viewer participation television is a global phenomenon.  Survivor is a Scandinavian import, Big Brother started in Holland, Idol was British. Something over seventy countries have versions of the Idol franchise. Canadian viewer participation shows airing in the U.S. include Debbie Travis' From the Ground Up, Restaurant Makeover and the Gemini winning Bathroom Divas."
Burwell's VPTV web site answers three questions: First, is a show accepting applications? Second, if not now, when? And third, how do I apply? To find the answer to these questions for about a favorite show, visit www.vptv.blogspot.com .
"With the number of shows we cover," Burwell concluded, "a lot of visitors just come to browse."
