The second season of the slick procedural crime series Allegiance begins January 15 on CBC and CBC Gem. The shot-in-Surrey, B.C., drama stars Supinder Wraich (Sort Of), Enrico Colantoni (also great of late in English Teacher) and Samer Salem (The Expanse). I spoke with all three in Toronto at the CBC Winter Media Launch in
Ever since the US presidential election in November, news viewership has taken a hit. Ratings data reveals that primetime viewership for MSNBC is down 54 per cent. On The Late Show Tuesday, talk show host Stephen Colbert pointed out that the news burnout goes way beyond one network. He referred to a poll which suggests
Allan Hawco, he of Republic of Doyle, has been visiting Saint-Pierre and Miquelon for decades. It is a little slice of France in the Atlantic not far from where he grew up, in Newfoundland. He was there not too long ago and thought, dammit, this would be a great place to set a police procedural
The new CBC series North of North has a lot going for it. The setting, a hamlet in the Arctic, is unlike anything we’ve seen on Canadian TV, and it is coldly beautiful. The cast is mostly Inuit, as are the creators and the writers, giving it a point of view unique from anything else
No man is an island. Allan Hawco’s new series, however, is shot and set on an archipelago of eight islands represented by the French government off the coast of Newfoundland. Hawco, who played a detective on Republic of Doyle and was also on Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, plays Donny “Fitz” Fitzpatrick. He’s a cop who gets too nosy
There were some terrific dramas on television in 2024. Shogun (FX Networks/Disney+ in Canada) was a big budget movie a week, an impressive, uber subtitled effort and an example of Vancouver crew work at its finest. Kudos as well to Golden Globe nominated Hiroyuki Sanada as lead actor. Franklin, on AppleTV+, was another international, historical
At one point during CNN’s cocktail coverage on New Year’s Eve, Anderson Cooper sobered up long enough to salute a news network mentor and friend: Aaron Brown. Brown, 76, an award-winning ABC and CNN news anchor and journalist, died December 29 in Washington. Part of a deep bench led by Peter Jennings at ABC News
In the year 2025, reviewing New Year’s Eve programming is still alive. Last night, hunkered down after an incredible dinner and with bubbily at hand, we flipped around like Canadian World Junior Men’s hockey fans jumping off the Team Canada bandwagon. First up was 22 Minutes: New Year’s Eve PreGame Special on CBC. The highlight