I’ve read and listened to a few think pieces about the state of television lately. One was an excellent piece in the New York Times, suggesting we are in an era of “mid TV” (TLDR: everything is good, everything looks great, but few shows rise above “pretty good”). The other piece of content was Derek
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,
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