Remember how September came and went and there were hardly any new Canadian TV shows in the mix? Global decided long ago not to throw a raw Canadian series into the wood chipper that is the fall TV season. Other broadcasters now also hold their Canadian brownie points until the beginning of a new calendar year.
Tonight’s annual Air Farce New Year’s Eve special is all about anniversaries. It was 40 years ago this week that the Royal Canadian Air Farce performed their first New Year’s Eve gig–on CBC radio. This year’s show marks 10 years of “Farce Films.” The short, one-camera on-location bits now make up 30% of the hour-long
Wednesday night, CBC airs the final regular season episodes of Republic of Doyle. The two-hour Doyle-fest begins at 8 p.m. This was a series that was easy to embrace for me right from the beginning. For one thing, it wasn’t another formulaic, procedural, Canadian cop show mimicking a formulaic, procedural, American cop show. It screamed St.
Thursday in Toronto, a comedy Who’s Who packed into the Bell Lightbox to celebrate 22 years of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Half of Newfoundland seemed to make it down to the Bell Lightbox for the salute. The Pope (Gordon Pinsent) and the ex-premier (Danny Williams) were both in the house, as was every 22
Wednesday, Republic of Doyle airs in its regular CBC timeslot (9 p.m.). Then, next week, Dec. 10, comes the two-hour finale to the brawlin’, tire-squealin’ six year old detective series. I was out in St. John’s last summer when they were putting the finishing touches to the series. So, naturally, I tried to steal Jake
Jian Ghomeshi popped out of his hiding place Wednesday in Toronto and saw his shadow–meaning six more months of intense media coverage. The former CBC Radio host was arrested and charged with four counts of sexual assault. He’s out on $100,000 bail and staying at his moms. Cops and cameras all over the place. Nobody’s
Anyone who still thinks Canada never had a “Golden Age” of television should have been at Sunday’s Canadian International Television closer. I had the great pleasure of hosting the Sunday afternoon “Out of the Vault” panels. Thanks to CITF organizer David Heath. Lindsey Vodarek and all at the Bell Lightbox for putting together 10 full days of
STOP READING THIS RIGHT NOW and get down to the Bell Lightbox. Sunday at 2:30, I have the great pleasure to host an afternoon of TV awesomeness from the ’60s and ’70s. Things kick off at 2:30 p.m. with a newly-transferred digital gem from my 16mm TV on Film collection: We’ve Got it All Together.