It has been a 24-hour MTM marathon ever since the news broke Wednesday that Mary Tyler Moore has passed away. I was honored to be asked to share memories of watching and, on a few occasions, meeting Moore. The first time I met Moore was in January of 1986 at a TCA press tour gathering in
It’s both an honor — and another indicator I’ve been doing this a long time — to find myself a go-to obit guy. This year, it seems, every day or two, another entertainer from my youth passes away. Bewitched‘s Dr. Bombay — Welsh actor Bernard Fox — was paged for good Wednesday at 89. That was a day
It has been a few weeks since I last spoke with Scott Thompson at Hamilton’s CHML. The AM900 host wanted to check in this week regarding the passing of Florence Henderson, the actress who played TV mom Carol Brady on the early ’70s series The Brady Bunch. Henderson died Thursday at 82. Read more about Henderson
This week, Scott Thompson at Hamilton’s CHML wanted my take on a thorny issue stirring up plenty of controversy in Canadian TV circles: changes to the CRTC regulations regarding funding. The rule change that rankles many in the Canadian writing, directing, acting and production communities: shows now only need to achieve a 6 out of
Summer being a season of upside down schedules, it had been a while since I last spoke with CHML’s Scott Thompson. We got back together on the radio this week to talk about the big TV audience last Saturday night for The Tragically Hip. Which gave me an opportunity to take issue with the CBC’s
“Alec Baldwin is a good host for Match Game. When the first episode was over, he showed Rosie O’Donnell his blank.” Yes, the former 30 Rock star is hosting ABC’s new Sunday night version of Match Game, and CHML’s Scott Thompson wanted to know why. Probably because they offered him a blank-load of money. It also helps
For me, one of the highlights of last week’s Banff World Media Festival was getting to chat with Brampton’s own Russell Peters. The comedian was awarded the Sir Peter Ustinov Award for comedy at the Rockie Awards and quickly admitted he’d never seen a Ustinov film. “He did make films, didn’t he?” Peters asked the
The Toronto Star has jumped out front on a story many of us have been keeping an eye on for weeks–George Stroumboulopoulos’ future with Hockey Night in Canada. A few weeks ago when I spoke with Sportsnet president Scott Moore at the Rogers upfront, he seemed to duck around the Strombo question. HNiC’s ratings were