If only The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was still around to help us through another tumultuous US Presidential election. Pat Paulsen — where are you when we need you? A key writer/producer back on that 1966-69 comedy variety show was a Canadian — Allan Byle. Before the Smothers, he worked for Fred Rogers as well
It seems as if I’ve been waiting years for two streaming favourites to return: The Diplomat (Netflix) and Somebody Somewhere (HBO/Crave). It has actually only been a year and a half. Those actors and writers strikes from 2023 contributed to the delays. Both shows feature intriguing leads at their best, surrounded by other interesting characters.
Is Martha Stewart’s new Netflix documentary Martha a good thing? Prolific documentarian R.J. Cutler (The War Room; Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry) delivers a brisk (even at one hour and 55 minutes), visually-dazzling chronicle of Stewarts dizzying highs and devastating lows. Cutler has access to many exclusive photos from the entrepreneur’s personal archives,
Teri Garr was a unique and welcome personality who shone in any role, big or small. She passed away Oct. 29 at 79 after dealing for decades with multiple schlerosis. The daughter of a comedic actor father and a dancer/wardrobe mistress, Garr’s showbusiness roots ran deep. In the 1960s, the California native danced her way
In Part Two of my conversation with Ken Levine, more evidence that the Emmy-winner is one of TV’s top storytellers. One of my favourite episodes from his excellent podcast, Hollywood & Levine, is the one where he told listeners exactly what he thought of the recent reboot of Frasier. Some might see this as sour
Halloween is one week away — scary close to the date of the US presidential election. Still undecided? About a Halloween costume that is? Come on out to The Westdale theatre in Hamilton Saturday afternoon for inspiration. The folks at this elegant, circa 1935 neighbourhood cinema have asked me to program an afternoon of 16mm
What hasn’t Ken Levine done? He’s an Emmy-winning screenwriter who has — with writing partner David Issacs — written for some of television’s best comedies. You may have heard of M*A*S*H, Cheers and Frasier. In his spare time (!) he has also been a disc jockey, a major league baseball play-by-play announcer, a cartoonist, a playwright, a director,
So far this fall TV season, I’ve checked out Matlock (a passable non-remake of the original), High Potential (gimmicky tripe), Rescue: Hi-Surf (standard beautiful-people-doing-heroic-things drama) and Murder in A Small Town (where there is a murder in a small town every week, until I assume the entire population is murdered). All of these programs are,