Original U8TV: The Lofters cast members (L-R): Smith, Cox, Hedger, Haymen, Gagné, Chantelois, Meideros, and Keystone.
The Original Season Two cast (L-R: Crowder, Ruta, Thongs, Basciano, Fraleigh, Ruiz, Guillo, and Jarvis.
Season Two cast after the twist Lofter-replacement (MacDonald, second from left).
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U8TV: The Lofters was a Canadian reality television series which aired on Life Network and online through its website, U8TV.com. The show followed the lives of eight young Canadians who moved into a loft in Toronto, Ontario for a period of one year and had to host television programs for Life Network, other Canadian specialty channels, and U8TV.com.
Shows hosted by the Lofters usually took place within the loft and were quite interactive, with the U8TV chat rooms. Some U8TV-hosted shows are still aired as repeats.
The CRTC approved a license for a U8TV Category 2 digital television channel in 2000, but nothing more came of it.
In the second season, a Big Brother-like twist was added to the show. Every ten weeks, the producers would select two Lofters whose hosting skills were sub-par or who didn't share enough of their lives, and nominate them for eviction. Fans of the show could then go to U8TV.com and vote for the Lofter they wanted to evict. The first (and only) occurrence of the twist saw Jason Ruta and Annie Guillo nominated for eviction. Fans voted Ruta off the show, and he was replaced by Stephen MacDonald.
The show also began exercising a degree of self-censorship in the second year. During the first season, Internet viewers were able to view the residents having sex, showering, etc. During the second year, the show instituted a policy that whenever possible the cameras would be turned off during such private moments.
Cancellation
Mid-way through the second season, however, the show was cancelled. Although the show's ratings on television were excellent, the costs to broadcast over the Internet were far too high for the show to survive.
A few former Lofters have gone on to successful television gigs. Season one's Jennifer Hedger is now a successful anchor on TSN's popular "SportsCentre", and Arisa Cox has been featured on the now-defunct Toronto 1 channel and the A-Channel networks as an on-air reporter. The Second season's Carolyn Jarvis anchored newscasts on The Weather Network and now on Global Television Network, and Dan Fraleigh has been seen in many Canadian and international television commercials, independent movies, and stage productions.
Jason Ruta currently works for Corus Entertainment as a Radio Host on 95.3FM. He has been seen in TV commercials (http://www.boardsmag.com/screeningroom/commercials/1794/), and Is also working on a few Feature Film projects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U8TV:_The_Lofters#Season_One:_2001
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The Lofters was a great show better then Big Brother as it was more real and fun to watch on TV or the Internet where you could also talk to the Lofters in a chat room for free unlike Big Brother where you had to pay for Internet access..
The show started to slide in it's second season too bad because the concept was better then Big Brother will ever be..
