First reaction: tremendous sadness. The great Garry Shandling passed away Thursday at 66 after suffering a heart attack. Second reaction: thank goodness he got to take that one last ride with Jerry Seinfeld. Go to Crackle.com now and watch the Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee episode from the most recent season featuring Shandling. The episode is
According to showrunner and writer Terry Winter, Vinyl bad boy Richie Finestra is “a pretty accurate amalgam of a lot of different record executives.” Finistra is the character at the centre of the set-in-the-’70s drama. A lot happens to Finestra in the first two hours–he even has a building fall on him. The series premieres Feb. 14
John Oliver sees the endless U.S. election coverage as the gift that keeps on giving. The host of Last Week T0night with John Oliver also says the Trump and Cruz circuses and all the other primary concerns bring their own unique challenges for a TV satirist. “Sometimes it’s hard to joke a joke,” says Oliver. “If people are
CHML’s Scott Thompson wanted to know what I was doing in New York this week. I tell him about my visit with John Oliver, gearing up for the third season launch of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (returning Feb. 14 on HBO and HBO Canada). The interview was conducted around a boardroom table with five other
Mick Jagger’s giant face was among the disturbing images from my first day at the winter 2016 TCA press tour. I timed my arrival at the Langham in Pasadena to coincide with the afternoon HBO sessions. Among them was a panel for Vinyl, HBO’s big-name rock ‘n’ roll drama coming in April. The panelists sitting in
The past four or five years I feel like I’ve been a researcher for the HBO series Getting On. The dark comedy, based on a British series, is airing its final short season on HBO Canada (Sundays at 10 p.m.). I’ve had my dad pass away during those years and my mom has recently transitioned to a
Wednesday on our weekly CHML radio chat, Scott Thompson asks about Jon Stewart’s new deal with HBO. The former Daily Show host has signed an exclusive, four year production pact focused on short-form digital content. Brilliant move. Like Jerry Seinfeld, Stewart is smart to avoid competing against himself with a series or format he has already
John Oliver weighs in on Canada’s federal election and nails it. Makes Oliver’s dissection of the bumbling Fords look like a valentine. Consider this gem: “Canada is America’s next-door neighbour, and Stephen Harper is her dick-head boyfriend.” The host of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver seizes on an obscure, lame-ass law forbidding outsiders to weigh in