First, here is what I liked best about the 2026-27 Bell Media Upfront that took place Thursday in Toronto at Meridian Place: that it still happens.
These big, showy, ad agency programming-paloozas are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Some networks, including what’s left of CBS, have gotten out of the rent-a-hall business and simply put out a press release.
In Canada, CTV has been the dominant Canadian television network, ratings wise, over the past quarter century — although Global, handicapped with a shallow sports bench, probably had the bigger scripted and reality draws these past 12 months. Hosting a few thousand young ad buyers at Meridian Hall, as Bell does, keeps the tradition of a winning atmosphere alive, especially once the show is over and the bar is open.
As for the show itself, Thursday’s was too long. It started late, breaking legendary Canadian comedy performer Dave Broadfoot’s cardinal rule: never let an audience get cold. It also meandered close to two hours. You could feel it in the hall. Tepid applause for show clips, and impatience when videos projected on the giant screen went too long. Yes, Hayes, Noodle and the O-Dog are a winning trio on TSN and the radio but the boys needed to have their stage video segment cut in half Thursday. We can see them at home. People were scrambling for a remote tucked into the Meridian seat cushions.
The show opened kind of low key. Tom Green and his adorable pooch came out and promoted The Tom Green Farm show, which premiered last week on Crave. The had-to-be-there joke was that these two were not the hot guys from Heated Rivalry. Green has pals such as Dan Aykroyd, Steven Page, and Priyanka on his series.
Etalk hosts Tyrone Edwards and Lainey Lui did an excellent job throughout, just as they did last year. Edwards especially at the very end when he shone setting up surprise Saturday Night Live special guest James Austin Johnson. The comedian/impressionist had the crowd roaring back to life as he leaned into his killer Trump shtick. Now THERE was your opener.
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Thursday’s show did seem to lack a little big name star power. These shows are all about the glamour. The ad kids now expect to see A-Listers in their town in hopes of lining up for photo ops later. In the past, CTV would airlift half the Sopranos or West Wing casts northbound, or even the occasional Big Bang-er. This year we got the ensemble players from the new Big Bang Theory spinoff Stuart Fails to Save the Universe: Kevin Sussman, Brian Posehn, Lauren Lapkus and John Ross Bowie. Hey, they’re fun, but they are not the dudes from Heated Rivalry.
The encouraging sign is that it was the Canadians who were the big name draws. Hudson Williams from Heated Rivalry took a bow and helped promote his next series, Yaga, another steamy drama with Noah Reid, Carrie-Anne Moss and Clark Backo helping to hype the upcoming Crave streamer. Williams joked that it was in his contract to get to kiss several more people in this series.
Another big Canadian name: The Littlest Hobo! Seeing the iconic Canadian canine on the big screen got one of the biggest wows of the afternoon. From executive producers Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, this dog will fetch a new generation of viewers. The deal just came together I gather, or Bell would at the very least have set up a sing-a-long of the iconic theme song from the Meridian stage.
Another tasty bit of Canadian Intellectual Property, “Meatballs,” is getting the series treatment. Like the 1979 Ivan Reitman feature, it will be set at a summer camp.
Clips from upcoming imported shows starring Glenn Close and John Hamm looked intriguing. An NBC comedy pickup starring Tea Leoni and Tim Daly and middle-aged newlyweds is somewhat ripped from their real life love affair. Jamie Lee Curtis stars as Daly’s character’s ex-wife.
When Bell wasn’t promoting American imports or Canadian originals it brought American talent from Canadian shows to the Meridian stage. Remember Snooki from The Jersey Shore? Three kids later, the 38 year old in headlining a paranormal unscripted series called Snooki: The Paranomal Rookie.
