If you live in the ‘burbs you’ll recognize the family at the heart of Run the Burbs, the second new sitcom to launch this week from CBC. It stars and was co-created by Andrew Phung, best known for his five seasons as Kimchee on Kim’s Convenience. Co-creator is Scott Townend, with Canadian TV veteran Laszlo
Watching the first two episodes of Son of a Critich brought me right back to the first time I saw The Wonder Years, the original, ABC version which premiered in 1988. This was back when I was working at TV Guide Canada. That show seemed so based on my own suburban childhood I expected residuals.
In a career that spanned 40 years, Anne Murray has sold more than 55 million records. Billboard ranks her 10th on their list of the biggest-seeling adult contemporary artists ever. The Nova Scotia native was such a force on television in Canada in the ’80s she set records for viewership in terms of entertainment specials
The pandemic forced many of us into lockdown in 2020. As humans retreated, did other species come out to party? That’s one of the questions raised in “Nature’s Big Year,” a timely and fascinating documentary premiering Friday on The Nature of Things (9pm ET on CBC and CBC Gem). Writer, director and executive producer Christine
Sometimes a show comes along and critics are stumped. We love it, it’s refreshingly different, but it seems like a bingeable streaming or pay-cable show instead of something on a traditional broadcaster. It isn’t about FBI agents or first responders. It’s on opposite The Bachelorette. It ticks every box in terms of diversification and inclusion.
Canada’s longest-running scripted entertainment series is not The Beachcombers or Wayne & Shuster or even Murdoch Mysteries. It is This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Premiering in 1993, the Halifax-based sketch comedy made stars out of brash Newfoundlanders Mary Walsh, Cathy Jones, Greg Thomey and Rick Mercer. Turnovers in the cast and writing talent – a
NOTE: This story has been corrected below to clarify that the decline in Canadian ratings is true for all broadcast networks, not just CBC. How tough has it been for new broadcast network shows to crack through the clutter this fall? Tougher, so far this season, than trying to root for The Toronto Maple Leafs.
As my late ex-mother-in-law Teresa Darrah usd to say, Mark Critch is as ‘busy as a dog licking two pots.” He’s back tonight on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, snapping into wigs and costumes and behind the desk and in his 18th season on the Halifax-based sketch series. That places him second in time served