News of the death of Chad Stuart — one half of the British soft-rock ’60s duo Chad & Jeremy — provoked for me yet another memory from the Television Critics Association press tour. Nearly nine years ago, in January of 2012, me and Bill Harris — another former Toronto Sun scribe — wound up at
In an age of endless searching and typing and trying to remember what channel is where I just love simple voice commands. That’s why I love Rogers Ignite. Now, full disclosure: as a Rogers Ignite influencer, I enjoy a complimentary subscription to the service. Nonetheless, I’m happy to sing its praises. It’s the best way
Television has long been a borderless business. This is true when it comes to producing big budget dramas. Recent efforts such as the recent War of the Worlds miniseries, Vikings and, going further back, The Borgias and even The Indian Detective, required financial contributions from two or more countries in order to realize storytelling on
What are the best Christmas-themed sitcom episodes of all time? I change this list up every December. Since it’s been a strange year, I’m throwing a couple of strange choices into the mix. Here, in chronological order (and heavy on the ’60s) is my 2020 Twelve Sitcoms of Christmas list: The Honeymooners (1955). In “T’was the
Did you know that there were horrible remakes made of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Christmas in Conneticuit”? And that one was made in the ’70s and one in the ’90s? Yes, nothing is sacred at Christmastime, even evergreen originals. One just has to look at all the horrifying re-boots of Dr. Seuss’ How the
Would there be an uproar in Canada if Marx Brother movies, or the works of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd were blocked at the border? What about films featuring Abbott & Costello, The Three Stooges or W. C. Fields? The question comes up as, for the second Monday this month, Canadians are robbed
Tonight on CTV Comedy channel, Corner Gas Animated premieres its very first Christmas episode. “It has that nice, feel-good, Christmas thing that you want to have,” says creator-executive producer Brent Butt. “It warms your cockles, but it also has that Corner Gas snide bent to it.” The episode, titled, “Tinsel-itis,” follows the usual multiple story
In 1975 I had a summer job as a linepiler at a Kimberly-Clark warehouse in Etobicoke. It is burned in my memory that the Bee Gees had an enormous hit with “Jive Talkin’” that summer. As those large, heavy boxes filled with rolls of 2- and even 3-ply toliet paper came chugging down the line,