The most Canadian network in America closed the recent Television Critics Association winter press tour last Thursday in Pasadena. The network was The CW, which is programmed by a former Toronto lad, Pop TV president and brioux.tv: the podcast guest, Brad Schwartz. “It’s so great to be back here at TCA and see you all
Winter finally arrived in much of Canada Tuesday night. The good news is so has CBC’s trio of Tuesday night comedies. I interviewed the casts of all three shows last month at the Winter Media launch at CBC’s downtown Toronto broadcast centre. Later this month over at brioux.tv: the podcast, you can listen as the
Tonight, one of my favourite Canadian shows makes its debut in America: Son of a Critch (The CW, 8 p.m. ET). Critics stateside are already raving about this nostalgic look back at growing up in Newfoundland in the 1980s. John Anderson in the Wall Street Journal drew the obvious connection to a similar American sitcom
Here is something I’ve been sitting on for months: the CBC sitcom Son of a Critch is about to join an American network schedule. The St. John’s, Newfoundland, based series, currently on production on a third CBC season, will debut on The CW this summer. In our podcast episode from January of this year, Brad
Guest stars can often add a little zing to a sitcom. Think of all the terrific people who were showcased for an episode or two on, say, Arrested Development or even The Big Bang Theory. Adding a big name or two, however, can’t turn “Ka-KA!” into gold. This week: two contrasting examples. On Tuesday night’s
This ain’t your parents CBC. That seemed to be the message Wednesday in Toronto as Canada’s public broadcaster hosted an industry event they called “CBC Live at Massey Hall.” The hour-long stage presentation was youthful and vibrant, showcasing a Millennial-and-under vibe that made it seem more like a re-launch of Vice than a traditional broadcaster’s
Tonight, with a special episode, CBC celebrated the 30th season of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. They really should have made it an hour-long special at least. Imagine trying to crunch over 600 episodes down to one 22-minute episode. That was the task handed to Matt Charlton, who has been associated behind the scenes with
Monday night, the cast and crew of This Hour Has 22 Minutes took over the Glenn Gould Theatre at the CBC Broadcast Centre. The occasion was the first-ever Toronto taping of the sketch series, which normally is based each week in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Toronto episode airs tonight at 8/7c on CBC and CBC