Canadian TV candour

I recently finished writing a story on a pair of TV writers who work on a Canadian show. Now, one thing about the world of Canadian television: it's tiny. People are hesitant to say the most mildly offensive things, in case they, well, offend someone and lose out on some hard-to-come-by work.

So it was refreshing to hear the exchange below, between the pair of writers I was interviewing. One note: the show they are referring to runs on the same network as the show they work on -- a good reason to play nicey-nice. Congrats to Writer 1 for being candid. I'm removing any references though, in fairness to the publication for whom I wrote the story (it hasn't appeared yet).

Writer 1: ... a crappy [popular Canadian program]-type show.

Writer 2: Not that we're calling [the show] crappy.

Writer 1: I am.

Writer 2: You're going to do that?

Writer 1: Yes. I'm going to go out on a limb and call [the show] crappy. It's crappy. It's garbage. I hate it.

It may seem relatively mild to you, but for Canadian broadcasting and production, this is a nearly revolutionary level of sedition.