First of all, this is how you do a broadcast network upfront headline in 2024: “Star-Studded New Series, Returning Hits, and Live Events to Anchor CTV’s 2024/25 Schedule” Notice the words “buzzworthy” or “overflowing” do not appear anywhere. Kudos to CTV’s PR team for breaking with tradition and toning down the mega-hype. Despite challenging times
Two Canadian broadcast networks host upfront presentations this week. First up: Corus Entertainment, home to Global, specialty channels such as History, HGTV and Food Canada, and W as well as FAST channel Pluto TV, among other platforms. To paraphrase Neil Young, Hype never sleeps. Among the press release headlines: GLOBAL ANNOUNCES 2024/25 BROADCAST SEASON LINEUP
The release Wednesday detailing Corus Entertainment’s Media Upfront for 2024-25 did not have many surprises. There was news of an NCIS spinoff prequel, plus the re-boot of Matlock with Kathy Bates, an imported series that is finally premiering a year after it was originally hyped. There was one glaring omission, however: no new season of
Over the weekend, CBC opted not to cover two close, deciding games in the third round of the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup. Their priorities instead: the annual Canadian Screen Awards Friday and the final two hours of the reality competition series Canada’s Ultimate Challenge. The results are in and they are about as punishing as
Here is another conversation I had in May at the CBC Media Upfront on Toronto. Allan Hawco and Josephine Jobert — stars of the upcoming CBC series Saint-Pierre — talk about shooting the series, which will premiere in 2025. Currently in production on the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, the police procedural finds an out of favour
The only Canadian team left in the Stanley Cup playoffs continues to draw as they battle deep into the third round. Wednesday’s 4th Game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Dallas Stars drew an overnight, estimated 1,028,000 on CBC and another 1,183,000 on Sportsnet National for a combined overnight estimate of 2.21 million viewers ages
Over this Memorial Day weekend in the United States, TCM has been running a marathon of war-themed movies. There have been many obvious choices, including “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957) and “Sergeant York” (1941), scheduled for tonight, Monday, into early Tuesday morning. Kudos to my favourite cable network, however, for programming some spectacular
One of the new shows on CBC’s 2024-25 schedule is called Small Achievable Goals. It is a scripted comedy about female podcasters going through menopause. Those three words, however, coulld also describe, in a fiercely competitive and crowded media landscape, the only way forward for CBC. On this episode of brioux.tv: the podcast, I speak with Executive