Once upon a time, back in the long-ago era of the 1980s, there were two ‘pay TV’ stations that started life on the high road. One was named Arts & Entertainment, or A&E. It specialized in theatre, plays, foreign films … artsy stuff. The other was called The Learning Channel, or TLC. Its goal was
Chances are that Donald J. Trump, the now and possible future President of the United States, has never heard of the CBC. He probably thinks the first two letters refer to Cheese Burgers. But the ‘very stable genius’ may have handed our embattled national broadcaster a lifeline. Canadians are in a patriot fervor these days,
Any debate over the best show in TV history would have dozens of candidates. But there is no debate over the single worst program in television history – The Jerry Springer Show. For 27 seasons and 3,891 lurid episodes, Jerry Springer lowered the TV bar, then dug a ditch and lowered the bar to hell.
The new CBC series North of North has a lot going for it. The setting, a hamlet in the Arctic, is unlike anything we’ve seen on Canadian TV, and it is coldly beautiful. The cast is mostly Inuit, as are the creators and the writers, giving it a point of view unique from anything else
Hollywood Suite is offering a free month of its movie-centric stations this month. As a longtime subscriber to the channel, I can attest to its depth of catalogue, from genuine classics to, well, less-than classics. While there are just too many movies to recommend (or whatever the opposite of recommend is), there are a few
Is it possible that there is just too much television? Of course there is, and with that in mind, may I offer up a few suggestions to help you find a few gems for your viewing pleasure. No guarantees, mind you. Fans of The Beatles – and that would be, well, everyone – will love
Near the end of Bill Brioux’s podcast interview with legendary TV writer Ken Levine, Bill asks his guest what TV he’s watching these days. Levine – whose writing credits include M*A*S*H, Frasier, The Simpsons, Everybody Loves Raymond and many others – could only come up with baseball and Jeopardy! I feel your pain, Ken. The
So far this fall TV season, I’ve checked out Matlock (a passable non-remake of the original), High Potential (gimmicky tripe), Rescue: Hi-Surf (standard beautiful-people-doing-heroic-things drama) and Murder in A Small Town (where there is a murder in a small town every week, until I assume the entire population is murdered). All of these programs are,