Nestled side-by-side, the two countries have mostly had a one-way TV relationship.

American networks are happy to use Canadian talent and Canadian settings. Still, they've tended to avoid Canadian productions.
Now that gap is being closed. CBS bought "Flashpoint" during the writers' strike and has more Canadian-produced series on the way; now NBC debuts "The Listener" on Thursday.
That's logical, said Christina Jennings, the "Listener" producer. "There really isn't a cultural divide between the countries."
Besides, Americans like strong-and-silent heroes; that's a Canadian specialty.
One example is Toby Logan, the central character in "The Listener." He can hear thoughts; that frightened him as a child, isolates him now.
"He's an outsider, by virtue of his ability," said Craig Olejnik, who plays him. "He lives a safe life."
This is what appealed to Jennings when she first heard the idea from writer Michael Amo. "At the center is a reluctant hero," she said.
It's a role that fits Olejnik, she said. "There's a look about Craig, an introspection in his eyes."
That might come with the territory. Olejnik grew up around his family's apple orchard in Annapolis Valley, a rural section of Nova Scotia. It's a beautiful area, he said, a place where daydreams come easily.
As a teen-ager, he played Helena Bonham Carter's son in "Margaret's Museum," a 1995 movie filmed in Nova Scotia.
There were stretches after that when Olejnik drifted away from acting, often traveling and doing photography. But in 2006, he was a regular in the "Runaway" series. "I played a 16-year-old skateboarder; they told me I had the biggest story arc coming up."
That would never happen. For the CW network, "Runaway" was both the first new show added and the first show canceled; it filmed eight episodes and showed three.
Two years later, Olejnik was cast in "The Listener." It started as a Canada-only project, but Jennings' company -- which had previously sold some kids' shows to American networks -- sold it to NBC.
In "Listener," Toby is an emergency medical technician who is fairly isolated. There's his EMT partner; there's also a doctor who is his ex-girlfriend and a stunning cop (played by Lisa Marcos) who both attracts and battles him
Then there's the college professor he confides in.
"I was aware they were looking for a quality actor to play him," Olejnik said. "When it turned out to be Colm Feore, I realized I've seen a lot of his roles."
Feore won raves and awards playing eccentric, real-life Canadians in "Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould" and "Trudeau." He keeps doing film and TV roles (most recently, the president's husband in "24"), while working often at the famed Stratford Festival in Ontario, where he currently has the "Macbeth" title role.
"He has a home in Stratford, only an hour-and-a-half from us," Jennings said. "That's one reason we were able to get him; we did have to bunch his shooting days a bit."
So Feore's visits became an event. "He's an absolute character," Olejnik said. "He is a complete stage actor ... He just has a presence when he walks into the room."
The bigger-than-life guy from Stratford met the quieter-than-life guy from an apple orchard. Combine them, add some solid scripts and you see why Canadian shows appeal to Americans.