If you think Blue Ant refers to your aunt Betty who lives in Los Angeles and voted for Kamala Harris, have we got an episode for you. One of the top execs at Canada’s Blue Ant Media is my guest this week at brioux.tv: the podcast. If you work in this industry you know how
Today is my mom Margaret Brioux’s 100th birthday. I love my mom, and am amazed at her longevity, but this website being about television, what’s the tie-in? Well, there have been a few, so allow me to get a bit personal this post. Maragret Rose McCarroll Brioux pretty much pre-dates television. Even in her native
If you believe that those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it, this is probably a very good time to watch Churchill at War. You can’t help but watch and not think: with dictatorships would-be kings and other autocratic leaders ascending to power around the world, where is the Churchill of today?
Charlie Brown and Snoopy and the original Peanuts gang have survived nerly 60 years in television. The original animated half-hour holiday special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, premiered on Dec. 23, 1965. I was eight that Christmas and already a devoted Peanuts follower. I used to clip Charle’s Schultz’s comic strip out of the Toronto Star
As we head into another frigid Canadian winter we bring you a podcast about a series that is set and shot in the hottest part of Australia. The series is called Troppo, a term used in north Queensland that means going mad from the heat. Troppo is based on the best selling novel from Candice Fox titled
I’ve always been a big fan of Albert and David Maysles. The “direct cinema” documentatians went on to make Gimmie Shelter (1970) and Grey Gardens (1975). Before those films, the brothers captured lightning in a bottle with their black and white record of The Beatles first visit to America in February of 1964. Unlike The
There aren’t many stars who never wear out their welcome. One is Ted Danson, who I believe now has the record for most episodes in prime time for a leading actor on television. The 76-year-old broke out on Cheers over 40 years ago and helped define a golden age of TV sitcoms. Becker followed and
Charlie Brown and Snoopy and the original Peanuts gang have survived nerly 60 years in television. The original animated half-hour holiday special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, premiered on Dec. 23, 1965. I was eight that Christmas and already a devoted Peanuts follower. I used to clip Charle’s Schultz’s comic strip out of the Toronto Star
Early last month, when I wrote about the death of Canadian talk show host Mike Bullard, it reminded me of a turning point for one of the biggest late night stars in America: Conan O’Brien. Now 61, O’Brien was 40 early in 2004 and after a decade at 12:35 a.m. secure enough in his job
Teri Garr was a unique and welcome personality who shone in any role, big or small. She passed away Oct. 29 at 79 after dealing for decades with multiple schlerosis. The daughter of a comedic actor father and a dancer/wardrobe mistress, Garr’s showbusiness roots ran deep. In the 1960s, the California native danced her way
There was a time when Mike Bullard was the King of comedy in Canada. His death from a heart attack Saturday at age 67 brings to an end a complicated legacy, one I had a window seat on for many years. Bullard, who grew up in Mississauga, Ont., had a day job at Bell Canada
Bill Vigars would not want this to be a sad story. He lived an amazing life, had friends across Canada, and Robert Duvall once played him in a movie. Oh yes — he also helped raise a billion dollars to find a cure for cancer. Still, Bill Vigars has died, and that is terribly, terribly
In the summer of 2012, Ethel Kennedy — who died October 10 at 96 — made an appearance in Los Angeles at a Television Critics Association press tour. She was accompanied by her daughter, Rory Kennedy, who directed “Ethel,” the HBO documentary about her famous mother, the widow of slain senator and presidential candidate Robert