“Comedy is tragedy plus time.” Over the years, that famous quote has been attributed to several people: original Tonight Show host Steve Allen; Carol Burnett; Bob Newhart; even Woody Allen. All knew funny, that is for sure. The quote came back to me when I happened upon a YouTube video from the 82nd Annual Academy
I first met Ray Bennett way back when I could barely spell, which is why I started out in the art department at TV Guide Canada. When I lucked into living in LA in the mid-’80s as the magazine’s photo editor, Ray was there, well established and writing many of our cover stories. I sought
The streaming service britbox celebrated nine years of service this week with the launch of On The Box: The BritBox Podcast. To help sink your teeth into it, they even sent cookies in the shape of the heads of their hosts, Edith Bowman (BBC Radio 1, Soundtracking) and US comedian Michelle Collins (The View). Hey,
What’s up, doc? Well, for one thing, they are now showing classic Bugs Bunny cartoons on Turner Classic Movies. I first saw these seven-minute miracles back in the 1960s on The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Hour. By the time I was in high school, I used to take the subway downtown in Toronto to check out
On March 3, Prime Video in Canada started streaming all six seasons of one of Canada’s most groundbreaking and influential sketch comedy series, SCTV. And just like everything else on TV a half century ago, not all of it holds up. There are, however, plenty of laughs. There is also great joy in seeing these
Some Tuesday TV news and notes: This morning started with a visit with my pals Howard Glassman and Fred Patterson of Humble & Fred fame. Every two months I talk to the lads only to find out they are watching more TV than me. Howard is big on the new Jason Bateman series DTF St.
It takes more than 22 Minutes to amass 700 episodes of a Canadian TV series — or any North American series for that matter. Saturday Night Live, after 50 years, is inching towards 1000 episodes. (It’s at 991.) The Ed Sullivan Show, from 1948 – ’71, was a really big variety shew for 1,068 Sundays.
After a brief theatrical run, the documentary “Paul McCartney: Man on the Run” premiered Friday on Prime Video. If you are a fan of McCartney’s post-Beatles band Wings, this is the story of that group, which sold a lot of records throughout the 1970s. American director Morgan Neville has distinguished himself with several compelling docs