The 30 Rock finale: always go out with a Hitler joke On this week’s podcast, CHML’s Scott Thompson asks if I’ll miss 30 Rock, which goes out with an hour-long finale Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and City.The honest answer is no I won’t. Never a consistent viewer, I found the series… Read on

The Americans premiere tonight at 10 p.m. ET on FX and FX Canada. I find the series takes a while to find its stride but that’s typical of pilot episodes, especially one where so much has to be explained at the start. There’s too much exposition, with scenes flashing back and forth. It gets better… Read on

Mark Burnett was in Toronto this week to do a little Bible thumping. The reality TV czar and his actress wife, Roma Downey, blitzed the city to promote their miniseries The Bible, which will premiere March 3 on History. The 10-hour, five-part miniseries was shot in southern Morocco last summer at a cost of $20… Read on

Williams, Damon, Kimmel and Garcia: bound and gagged For ten years and over 1200 shows, Jimmy Kimmel has been goofing on Matt Damon. They were engaged in a showbiz tradition as old as Jack Benny and Fred Allen or W.C. Fields and Charlie McCarthy and even further back into radio days–a feud.Unlike Letterman and Leno,… Read on

“All’s Fair in Love and Cold War” reads ads for The Americans BROOKLYN, N.Y.–I’ve been deep undercover this week with The Americans.The Cold War spy series, starring Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell, premieres Jan. 30 on FX and FX Canada. There are already bus shelter ads for the series all over Manhattan.The series shoots in… Read on

Did you know that PVR penetration is now up around 40% in Canada? Or that, despite that, 95% of all TV content in this country is still viewed “live”? Here’s another stat: high-definition viewing now counts for about 42.7% of the market share.These are three of the things I learned this morning at a breakfast… Read on

Purefoy and Bacon: hide the kiddies Way, way back last June, when all the 2012-2013 screeners arrived from the networks, many critics felt the mid-season entry The Following was the best of the bunch. That series premieres tonight at 9 p.m.The crime thriller is dark and gritty, with Kevin Bacon in the lead as a… Read on

Take that, puck haters. NHL hockey roared back Saturday as CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada enjoyed a record return. An overnight, estimated 3,317,000 viewers watched the Leafs defeat the Canadiens in the prime time 7 p.m. game, with 1,473,000 watching the afternoon tilt between the Winnipeg Jets and the victorious Ottawa Senators. Later, another 1,471,000… Read on