Executive producer John Brunton says The Amazing Rave Canada is one reality show that doesn’t need a villain. “It’s a hero show,” says Brunton. “It’s a show where you want to root for people. It’s not a ‘Pick my villain’ show, pick the bad guys.” Brunton should know–he also produces Big Brother Canada and did Canadian
Random highlights from CTV’s really big shew for advertisers Wednesday night at Toronto’s Sony Centre: The venue was the same but the cast has changed. Just last year, Phil King was centre stage at the CTV upfront, changing T-shirts between clips. This year Phil got to sit out front; he’s now on the supply side, having
Day Two of Upfront Canada Week began bright and early Wednesday at 8 a.m. in Toronto. CTV likes to get journalists fresh off a punishing commute along the Gardiner before turning them loose on their executives. The reward was some Canadian bacon (nice) and artery-choking sausages and plenty of fresh fruit. There were some delicious
On Thursday, when the news broke, there was a temptation to blame the sudden shuttering of Canada AM to loosening Canadian content requirement requirements. These were implemented last year by the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission. One of the results of that “Let’s Talk TV” pow-wow in Ottawa was a gradual reduction in the number of hours Canadian Over-The-Air
The dust has settled and–contrary to an early report here–CTV has won the Sutherland sweepstakes. The most sought after network series at the Hollywood screenings this year turned out to be Designated Survivor. The ABC political drama stars Kiefer Sutherland and a man who becomes the president of the United States, pretty much by a
All this love for Justin Trudeau from Trevor Noah and the rest of the Daily Show gang (see previous post) got me thinking–is there some secret Canadian Karma connection with this series? Then I found it. Right next to the West Side Manhattan soundstage for The Daily Show, at 52nd Street and 11th Avenue, there is
NEW YORK–We all knew Trevor Noah had big shoes to fill last September when he took over from Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show. Nine months later, overall domestic ratings have slipped a bit. On a trip to the show’s West Side Manhattan studios last month–the same soundstage where Stewart reigned–the spin was
NEW YORK–If you’ve got a few hours before that Broadway show, try and book yourself into a taping of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. I attended the taping Thursday afternoon, where Ricky Gervais was the guest. The studio is way over on the West side, on 11th Avenue and 52nd Street, in the exact