When we think of mom’s, we think of apple pie and picnics, lunches made before being shipped off to school – basically everything it takes to make a house a home. Mothers, however, haven’t always had it so easy on television. They are often portrayed as witches or villains or simply the butt of all
My Television Critics Association pal Alan Sepinwall is the main voice behind the latest list of the Best TV shows of all-time as compiled by Rolling Stone magazine. Before he became Rolling Stone’s TV critic, Alan used to work for the New Jersey Star-Ledger. That’s the same newspaper that was always thrown at the bottom
Think casting The Sopranos was easy? Fagetaboutit. Tony Sirico originally read for the part of Uncle Junior on the award-winning HBO series. After the audition, creator and executive producer David Chase called the actor at home with a “good news, bad news” scenario. The bad news was that Sirico did not get the part of
NOTE: The following looks at mom’s from TV’s golden age. For a more contemporary (and diverse) look at TV mom’s, follow this link to a feature I wrote for Rogers Ignite. When we think of mom’s, we think of apple pie and picnics, lunches made before being shipped off to school – basically everything it
A few weeks ago I was invited back to Mike Boon’s Toronto Mike podcast, this time to kick out the TV theme song jams. I played it pretty close to my wheelhouse for all things ’60s and ’70s, so it had quite a retro vibe, for which I make no apologies. The brassy, audacious theme
CHML mid-morning host Bill Kelly called Friday to talk about the 20th anniversary of The Sopranos. The landmark HBO series launched in January of 1999. Did we fagetaboutit? Fagetaboutit! The two Bills agreed that the late, great James Gandolfini had a lot to do with the success of the series. While others may have been
It was 20 years ago today that The Sopranos grabbed TV by the Paulie Walnuts. In January of 1999, executive producer David Chase’s groundbreaking drama about a mob boss, his shrink (Dr. Melfi, played by Lorraine Bracco) and his two “families” took the antihero into a whole new direction. Emmy winner James Gandolfini kicked down
CTV’s gambit to blunt CBC’s Rio Summer Olympic Games coverage with their broadcast premiere of Game of Thrones is off to a bloody start. In Monday’s head-to-head matchup, CBC’s primetime Olympic coverage drew an overnight, estimated 2,021,000 viewers vs. the 667,000 who watched the very first episode of the sword-and-sandal fantasy epic. It was about the