It was 65 years ago on today’s date back in 1961 – October 3 – that The Dick Van Dyke Show premiered on CBS. The half hour sitcom, which also aired on CBC in Canada, was not an instant hit. Itstruggled in the ratings between Marshal Dillon (a half-hour version of Gunsmoke) and Bachelor Father
Proof that Saturday Night Live is still appointment television in Canada came this past weekend. In much of the country, the 52nd season premiere of the series — and first ever on Bell/CTV — was bumped 16 minutes by a college football game overrun in the US. Hard to say if that will tackle CTV’s
As a TV beat reporter with an eye on the ratings, I never could understand why the Global television network walked away from their top-rated Canadian original hit Private Eyes in 2021. This breezy, stylish detective series, reminiscent of past romantic hits such as Hart to Hart, was vaulting well over the million mark in
Shocking revelation time: I was once a contestant on Big Brother Canada. Granted, it was a PR stunt where members of the press were gathered in the Big Brother house, so not for days and days although it seemed like it for the seven-and-a-half hours it took to kick me out. One of the other
Back in the ‘70s there was this hippie musical Godspell that ran for over a year in Toronto. The cast was mainly unknown at the time but wouldn’t stay that way for long. Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, Victor Garber, Jayne Eastwood, Rudy Webb, and future Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer
Sad to hear of the untimely death of the Toronto’s Sun’s iron man of editorial art, Andy Donato. The man spent a lifetime drawing cartoons. I met Andy many years before I worked as the Sun’s television columnist from 1999 to 2007. Back when I was a student at the University of Toronto I used
I don’t think CTV News Channel anchor Marcia MacMillan was ready for my assessment of Emmy presenters Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey when we spoke Tuesday morning about the 78th Annual Emmy Awards. Hey, I call them the way I see them, and I can’t wait to see them both when Brothers premieres next Wednesday
We like her. We really like her. That would be Sally Field, who took her Emmy-winning moment Monday night at the 78th Annual Emmy Awards to single out the country where her series was shot. “It’s Canada, blessed Canada, our neighbours, our friends.” Field picked up her fourth career Emmy for her role as lead