No, that’s not Wilford Brimley on the right in the tie. That is me, in 2018, back when I was invited by executive producer Peter Mitchell to lark about Murdoch Mysteries for a few lines as an early 20th century ticketmaster. The fake stomach was, well, all me at the time. The Lanny McDonald moustache
One actor/comedian I have had on my most sought-after list since this venture began in 2019 is my guest this week on brioux.tv: the podcast. Jonny Harris just happens to be a very busy guy working two CBC series at once. On Murdoch Mysteries, now in its 19th season, his character Constable Crabtree has been a fan
Very few scripted dramatic TV shows have ever attempted to mount a full-blown musical episode. Certainly Dallas never did it. Mad Man sent off Bert Cooper in style when, in a fantasy sequence, Robert Morse took a career-ending bow singing, “The Best Things in Life are Free.” Even Don Draper was speechless. But full blown
Never say Murdoch Mysteries does not take chances. In its 17th season, the popular CBC series presents, as far as I can remember, a first for a Canadian TV drama — an all musical episode. Writer Paul Aitken had had the idea for years. Helene Joy (Dr. Julia Ogden) always wanted to do it. Yannick
It takes a village to turn me into an actor. A heritage village, in fact, such as Westfield Heritage Village just outside Hamilton, Ontario. It was there last September where I shot a scene opposite Jonny Harris and Charles Vandervaart on Canada’s top-rated drama series, Murdoch Mysteries. The episode, “Annabella Cinderella,” airs (and streams) tonight
The third week of September is still when stuff gets real in any new TV season. Several shows launch this very week, including the new version of Magnum,P.I. and the Lost-in-reverse drama Manifest (Monday), FBI and the hospital drama New Amsterdam (Tuesday), the This is Us/”Big Chill” wannabee A Million Little Things (Wednesday), the Murphy
Do you have Canadian Screen Week fever? Yes, the annual Canadian TV and film industry salute to itself is knee-deep in statue swapping. Very practical awards that double as ice scrapers are being distributed to everyone who over-paid for tickets to attend the multiple nightly galas. It all culminates Sunday at the main gala, broadcast on
In Canada, the annual television network “Upfronts” are a few weeks later than they are in the States. Our Upfronts are really “Uplaters.” They also don’t draw anywhere near the same amount of advertising revenues. Canadian advertisers tend to commit less of their budgets in the spring, playing more of a wait and see game. Since