The CBC held its “Winter 2025” Media Day Thursday in Toronto. It was, as usual, well run and smartly organized, with plenty of access to the talent associated with shows either launching or returning starting early in January. Plus, yes, there was lunch. The public broadcaster’s No. 1 hit comedy Son of a Critch, which
Because Donald Trump was once host of a reality show called The Apprentice, I was able to meet him on a couple of occasions. Once in his office on the 25th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan, but that’s a story for another day. The story below is a little more urgent. Today, Tuesday, November
The tributes to Bob Newhart last week were universal in tone. A great comic, great sitcom star, great guy. If there was anyone who had a bad word to say about Newhart, I didn’t hear it or read it. The passing of Newhart brought back memories for those of us lucky enough to remember his
Monday night on CBC viewers were treated to the network’s best drama. The surprise was it occurred on The National. The public broadcaster ran an interview with its CEO, Catherine Tait. The top executive admitted the CBC was, like her hair, deeply in the red. The headline was that, faced with a $125 million budget
On February 22, it was announced that CBC’s The Porter led all shows at the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards with 19 nominations. Two days later came news that this same well-reviewed series about Black Canadian railway workers fighting for job protection in 1921 was cancelled. The series was co-created by and featured veteran actor and
My Television Critics Association pal Alan Sepinwall is the main voice behind the latest list of the Best TV shows of all-time as compiled by Rolling Stone magazine. Before he became Rolling Stone’s TV critic, Alan used to work for the New Jersey Star-Ledger. That’s the same newspaper that was always thrown at the bottom
It takes about ten days to get final broadcast TV numbers. We won’t know until Tuesday, May 29, therefore, how many viewers watched the Toronto Maple Leafs get eliminated Saturday night by the Tampa Bay Lightning in their seven-game opening round series. What we can predict, however, is that the audience was somewhere between three
The folks at Newstalk 1010 in Toronto — CFRB to us oldtimers — called and asked if I would weigh in on an important election matter. The issue they wanted my expert opinion on: which Gilligan’s Island character does each of the Ontario party leaders most closely resemble? Mark Towhey is the host of a