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
If you missed the theatrical release, tonight is the television debut of Blackberry. This is the rags to riches story about the people behind Canada’s once essential smartphone. Catch it on CBC and CBC Gem. The story of Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie is about two men who created the perfect smartphone and then saw
Forget, for a moment, that many of us, if we’re watching broadcast at all so far this fall, have been binge-ing baseball, football or hockey. Set aside the fact that non-sports fans are finding their primetime fix on Netflix, Disney+, AppleTV+, Prime Video or Paramount+. Disregard the utter chaos from the strikes that has left
If you’ know who’ve heard of Casey and Finnegan, you likely are over 30 and grew up in Canada watching Mr. Dressup. The gentle children’s series, hosted by Ernie Coombs, ran on CBC from 1967 to 1996. The documentary “Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe” won the People’s Choice award at last month’s Toronto International
Many thanks to all who attended the first two TV on Film screenings at the historic Westdale theatre in Hamilton, Ont. It was great to meet the very enthusiastic TV buffs who braved the, well, really great weather to join these afternoon TV parties. I threw away my notes and just took questions at the
A big thank you to CHCH Morning Live hosts Tim Bolen and Annette Hamm as well as producer Tansy Ko for inviting me on Wednesday to talk about my latest pet project — a special “TV on Film” 16mm screening. It premieres this Saturday at 1 p.m. at The Westdale Theatre in Hamilton and repeats
Marie Clements grabs your attention with the opening scenes of her new series version of Bones of Crows (premiering September 20 on CBC, CBC Gem and APTN). A pyramid of caribou skulls are stacked high as crows circle overhead. It is a not so subtle symbol of the decades of horror, abuse and genocide that took place
The power and enduring legacy of a children’s television show was on full display Saturday night at a gala screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. “Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe,” is the heartfelt new film from director Robert McCallum. He was embraced by a packed house Saturday at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Theatre.