What are the best regular series Christmas episodes ever? I wrote a story this week for The Canadian Press listing 10 of the best-ever Christmas-themed episodes. The hook was Monday’s episode of Murdoch Mysteries, a two-hour Christmas special featuring guest stars Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey) and TV legend Ed Asner. Even Peter Mansbridge gets in on
Good grief! Has it really been 50 years since I first watched, along with millions of others, A Charlie Brown Christmas? I was already, at eight-years-old, Charlie Brown crazy. I would read the Peanuts comics in the Toronto Star every day and cut them out and paste them in a scrapbook. My mom would take
CHML’s Scott Thompson starts things off this week by mentioning the death of All My Children star David Canary. The white-haired soap star passed away Nov. 16 at 77. He won five Emmys for playing twins–one good, the other evil–on the daytime series and is also remembered by some of us for his role as
There’s no Blue Jays game today, no need to vote, just head on down to Bloor and Jarvis for today’s TV on Film Project screening. It’s a 50 year step Back to the Future as we revisit 1965 in two blasts from TV’s past–both shown on the big screen in glorious 16mm. The two main
In 2012, when Route 66 was restored and released in a DVD box set from Shout Factory, I was offered an opportunity to interview George Maharis. I was surprised. Maharis was the older of the two leads, the other being Martin Milner, who passed away Sept. 6 at his home in Calsbad, Calif. He was
Yvonne Craig was introduced at the start of the 1967-68 ABC season as Batgirl on Batman. I would have been 10, so I would still probably have been more excited to meet Adam West, but Lordy, Craig helped rush a lot of us through puberty. The actress died Monday at her home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., from
Terrible news Tuesday about the sudden death of CBC personality Chris Hyndman. Early news reports suggest there is no on-going police investigation. CBC has pulled the daytime style series Steven and Chris, which began in 2008, for the time being. Born in Ottawa and raised in Newfoundland and Labrador, Hyndman was 49. Condolences to his husband and
Looking for something smart on TV this weekend? Try your local movie theatre. “Best of Enemies” opens in selected cinemas—including Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox—this Friday, July 31. The documentary, from filmmakers Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon (“Respect Yourself: The Staxx Records Story”), looks at a fascinating footnote to the explosive year 1968. William F. Buckley