Today andPOP presents our very own special report in honour of CBC’s unnecessary wedding coverage of two local reporters. We investigate what colleague Jordan Darville ate for lunch. Groundbreaking. Then we have a heated discussion about whether cats or dogs are better.
In gratuitous wedding coverage of the day, we present CBC Toronto’s prank report on two local reporters getting hitched. The broadcasters treat Steven D’Souza and Nisha Patel’s nuptials like they’re Kate and William, dispatching reporters all across town to investigate what they refer to as “Breaking News” and a “developing story.”
One reporter is sent to the magical party room where the two met, before airing emotional interviews with close friends. Apparently the momentous day is felt across Canada and — wait for it — EUROPE. We know this because the CBC talked to a market analyst on the Lang & O’Leary Exchange to confirm that their marriage might be the turning point that the economy needs.
We’re not done. The CBC called on a correspondent located in the East Coast to retrace Steven’s former life, though all the reporter can talk about is girls in bikinis. Instead of a weather report, they forecast what will happen each year of the couple’s marriage. They’re forecasting twins in year three.
They save their star reporter for the last bit, when they call on an unwilling but game Peter Mansbridge. You can tell the whole thing is obviously just a prank or wedding gift for the happy couple. Either that, or it was a slow news day.
Only in Canada!
Watch the developing story below:
What happens when an 18 year old couple, who come from completely different backgrounds, get married and need to have their families mesh? HILARITY (their words not ours). Yes this is just another new show from the CBC and the lovely Jenn spoke with one of the stars, Michael Seater.
At the heart of Evening Hymns is Jonas Bonnetta, a soft-spoken songwriter from rural Ontario. “Spirit Guides”, Bonnetta’s first release under the name Evening Hymns, is a heartbreakingly beautiful record. Its no surprise that not only the blogosphere has caught on to this excellent act, but his praises are sung by more than just dudes with macbooks – look no further than the CBC, who predict that Evening Hymns will “break” in 2010.
[Special thanks to SouthernSouls.ca for the live footage!]
After solid ratings throughout its first two seasons, Heartland, the sprawling family drama set against the vistas of the Alberta Rocky Mountains, has become one of CBC’s biggest shows in its third season, drawing in over a million viewers every week.
“It kind of freaks you out,” Graham Wardle, who plays Ty Borden, tells andPOP. “You try not to think about it though. I just get up there and do my job.”
Ty is a man guilty of having a checkered past. Working closely with his girlfriend Amy Fleming (Amber Marshall), Ty’s life is seemingly back on track.
Legendary Rush drummer, Neil Peart, recorded a new rock version of ‘The Hockey Theme” last month.
His rendition of the song made its television debut Thursday night on TSN, kicking off the Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs game. The new track will be heard during select TSN broadcasts throughout the remainder of the NHL season.
In the video accompanying the new song, Peart showcases his custom drum kit that features the logos of all 30 NHL teams.
Peart was more than thrilled to combine two of his favourite interests.
And then there were three.
Janna Polzin, Elicia MacKenzie and Jayme Armstrong are the three women left “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” which sees performers competing for a chance to play Maria von Trapp in the upcoming Toronto production of “The Sound of Music”.
The CBC reality T.V. contest is co-produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who also worked on the original BBC contest of the same name.
The three women will perform next Sunday with the one receiving the most viewers’ votes a guaranteed spot in the top 2. The two remaining finalists will perform an elimination duet and Webber will eliminate one of them. The two remaining Marias, the voter’s choice and Webber’s, will then sing for the nation’s vote.
“People forget that ‘The Sound of Music’ is a daring show,” Webber told CBC News. He believes the performer who lands the role will be launched into stardom. “The Sound of Music” will make its Toronto debut at Princess of Wales Theatre on October 3.
CBC Television saw its audience grow this past season, thanks in part to the American writers’ strike.
The public broadcaster placed second, surpassing private network Global for the spot, the Globe and Mail reports.
“[We are] thrilled Canadians are enjoying our programs in such large numbers. We’ve built a schedule with new shows and returning favourites, and we’ve really hit our stride,” Kirstine Layfield, CBC’s executive director of programming, said in a press release.
Global shot back, saying they were on top in the first half of the season – when American network television shows premiered, before the writers strike.
CBC also credits shows such as The Border and the Rick Mercer Report, the latter which saw its ratings rise this year, for the network’s climb.
CTV remained in first place, despite the writers strike.
Dec. 31 of this year will be the final new episode of the long-running CBC comedy Royal Canadian Air Farce.
The Toronto Star reports that the CBC has cancelled the show, which has been on television since 1993 but existed in one form or another ever since the 1970s.
The season finale of the show airs this Friday. Many say that giving the show the end date of Dec. 31 is honouring the series which is well known for its annual year-end extravaganza airing annually on Dec. 31.
“Everybody realizes there comes a day when it’s time to end something. Mary Tyler Moore, Seinfeld and Johnny Carson all knew when was the perfect time to go,” Roger Abbott, veteran performer with the group, said.
The show is one of the most popular shows on CBC.
Award season appears to be as never-ending as the snow, as the Writer’s Guild of Canada announced its nominees for the 2008 Canadian Screenwriting Awards on Monday.
CBC reports that two episodes of “Corner Gas” made the cut for the half-hour drama series category, as did an episode of “Robson Arms.”
The Writer’s Guild doesn’t just honour film and television; the CBC radio drama “Afghanada” scored three nominations.
The ceremony will take place in Toronto on April 14, and will be hosted by Gavin Crawford of “This Hour Has 22 Minutes.”
Other nominations include:
Documentary: China’s Sexual Revolution (Miro Cernetig, Josh Freed); Dubai: Miracle or Mirage? (Ted Remerowski); Jonestown: Paradise Lost (Jason Sherman); Toxic Trespass (Barri Cohen).
One-hour drama: “Happy Birthday Mr. President” from Across the River to Motor City (Denis McGrath, Robert Wertheimer); “What Lies Beneath” from Durham County (Laurie Finstad Knizhnik); “Down But Not Out” from Intelligence (Chris Haddock); “Pilot Episode” from Sabbatical (Peter Mitchell).
Feature film: Normal (Travis McDonald); Poor Boy’s Game (Chaz Thorne, Clement Virgo); The Green Chain (Mark Leiren-Young); The Stone Angel (Kari Skogland).
Movie of the week or miniseries: Dragon Boys (Ian Weir); Shades of Black (Andrew Wreggitt); The Robber Bride (Tassie Cameron).
Children or preschool: “Max Invader, Scourge of the Universe” from Captain Flamingo (Suzanne Bolch, John May); “Everybody Was Tofu Fighting” from Captain Flamingo (Vera Santamaria); “Electricity” from Dinosapien (Thérèse Beaupré); “Petition Impossible” from Iggy Arbuckle (Kenn Scott); “Yam Ween” from Ruby Gloom (Carolyn Bennett).
Youth: “In or Out of Africa” from Naturally Sadie (Brent Piaskoski); “Blackout” from renegadepress.com (Sara Snow); “The Third Wheel” from renegadepress.com (Jordan Wheeler).
Forget Blame Canada, the song should be changed to Blame the Leafs.
According to the Canadian Press, CBC shows that were cancelled this week – including “MVP,” “Intelligence,” and “jPod” – were told if the Leafs did not make the playoffs, the shows would not be renewed due to lack of revenue from advertising dollars.
“It’s just another good reason to hate the Leafs,” Mary Young Leckie, creator of “MVP,” told CP.
Leckie said she was told by the CBC in February if the Leafs did not make the playoffs, the CBC would face $10-million in cuts to arts and entertainment programming.
“Maybe the on-air product was not very good,” Peddie said yesterday. “Maybe they shouldn’t be blaming us. As for the other shows, you should ask the CBC,” Richard Peddie, president of the Maple Leafs’ parent company, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, told the Toronto Sun.
A CBC spokesperson maintains the shows were cancelled due to their audience, not because the Leafs will most likely not be making the playoffs for the third straight year.
Canadian music fans can now cast their votes for CBC Radio 3′s second annual Bucky Awards.
Voters get to have their say in a number of unconventional categories, including “Best Song To Listen To In A Fetal Position,” “Musician Most Likely To Have A Future Career In Television,” “Best Falsetto” and “Best Reason To Learn French (Excluding Giselle Webber).”
To vote, head over to http://radio3.cbc.ca/. You can vote once a day in each category until Nov. 30.
The Bucky Awards were created to celebrate and promote independent Canadian music.
In case you’re wondering, Bucky is the network’s unofficial mascot, a cartoon animal with the body of a duck and the head of a moose.
Here are the nominees for this year’s Bucky Awards:
Song Most Likely To Be A Future Classic:
- Arcade Fire — “Intervention”
- Feist — “1 2 3 4″
- Handsome Furs — “Cannot Get Started”
- The New Pornographers — “My Rights Versus Yours”
- The Weakerthans — “Civil Twilight”
Best Song To Listen To In The Fetal Position:
- Camaromance — “28 Balloons”
- Dustin Cole with The Specialest — “Oh! My Captain”
- Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton — “Doctor Blind”
- Lightning Dust — “Listened On”
- Octoberman — “Run From Safety”
Best Rap:
- Abdominal — “Pedal Pusher”
- Grand Analog — “I’ll Walk Alone”
- Josh Martinez — “Last Train”
- Notes To Self — “Lifelines”
- Politic Live featuring Rochester AKA Juice, Shad, Jerys and Oozeela — “Block O RMX”
Best Yacht Rock:
- Andrew Rodriguez — “Astonished Heart”
- Krief — “What We Wanted”
- Patrick Watson — “Drifters”
- Peter Elkas — “Fall Apart Again”
- Young Galaxy — “Swing Your Heartache”
Best New Band Name:
- Better Friends Than Lovers
- The Got To Get Got
- The Rural Alberta Advantage
- Said The Whale
- The Sweet Homewreckers
Best Gang Vocals:
- The Besnard Lakes — “Devastation”
- Carbon Dating Service — “Starbeat Academy Graduation March”
- The Choir Practice — “Red Fox”
- The Junction — “Components Of Four”
- Tokyo Police Club — “Your English Is Good”
Best Video:
- Bend Sinister — “Time Breaks Down”
- Cadence Weapon — “Sharks”
- Chad Vangaalen — “Flower Gardens”
- The Joel Plaskett Emergency — “Fashionable People”
- Malajube — “Etienne D’Aout”
Sexiest Canadian Musician:
- Grand Analog (Odario Williams)
- Melissa McClelland
- Maygen Kardash (from The Blood Lines)
- Peter Elkas
- Rufus Wainwright
Musician Most Likely To Have A Future Career In Television:
- Abdominal
- Joel Plaskett
- Ryan Guldemond and Kenton Loewen (from Mother Mother)
- Scott Ross (from The Dudes)
- Shane Nelken (from The Awkward Stage)
Best Lyric:
- Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton — “The Bank”
“Whatever it is, spit it into a bottle and sell it to me/ I’m looking to buy freedom from my sobriety/ Just like Huey Lewis, I need a new drug”
- Great Lake Swimmers — Your Rocky Spine
“I traced my finger along your trails/ your body was the map, I was lost in it/ Floating over your rocky spine/ the glaciers made you and now you’re mine”
- J-Bru featuring Classified and White Mic — “Put My Work In”
“Excuse me, are you from Canada?/ Oui, yes sir/ I got the heart of Trudeau/ but look like Guy Lafleur”
- The Two Koreas — “U-Boat Commander”
“You rushed the stage at the Morrissey show/ but you only touched the bassist”
- The Weakerthans — “Civil Twilight”
“For the most part I think about golfing and constantly calculate/ all the seconds left in the minutes, and so on, etcetera/ Or recite the names of provinces and Hollywood actors/ Oh, Ontario, oh, Jennifer Jason Leigh”
Most Unpronounceable Name:
- Anemones
- Basia Bulat
- Camaromance
- 9Nyne
- The Phonemes
Best Road-Trip Song:
- Jason Collett — “Reunion”
- Maybe Smith — “Hearts Like Bears”
- Po’ Girl — “9 Hrs To Go”
- Stars — “Take Me To The Riot”
- Two Hours Traffic — “Backseat Sweetheart”
Best Falsetto:
- Caribou — “Melody Day”
- The Joel Plaskett Emergency — “Fashionable People”
- Miracle Fortress — “Have You Seen In Your Dreams”
- Patrick Watson — “Luscious Life”
- Two Hours Traffic — “Nighthawks”
Best Song Title:
- The Consumer Goods — “Looking For Love (While) In(vading) The Muslim World”
- Donovan Woods — “My Cousin Has A Grey Cup Ring”
- The Got To Get Got — “No One Riots In Winter”
- Tacoma Hellfarm Tragedy — “True Love Killed My True Love’s Love For Me”
- The Wet Secrets — “Grow Your Own Fucking Moustache, Asshole”
Best Reason To Learn French (Excluding Giselle Webber):
- Les Amis Au Pakistan — “Mon Soldat De Plomb”
- Karkwa — “La Fuite”
- Numero# — “J’amie La Bourgeoisie (Vive Le Rock)”
- Omnikrom — “NaNaNaNah”
- We Are Wolves — “Magique”
Best Sweatin’ To The Indies Workout Song:
- Champion — “Keep On (Champion’s Alternate Take)”
- Chromeo — “Fancy Footwork”
- Numero# — “J’aime La Bourgeoisie (Vive Le Rock)”
- Pride Tiger — “Let ‘Em Go”
- The Wet Secrets — “Secret Match”
Best Bass Line:
- Pride Tiger — “Sweet Dreams”
- Tokyo Police Club — “Your English Is Good”
- Two Koreas — “U-Boat Commander”
- The Western Investor — “If You Wanna Go”
- The Wet Secrets — “Secret Match”
Catchiest Hook:
- Akido — “Dancing In Chains”
- Buck 65 — “Indestructable Sam”
- Feist — “I Feel It All”
- The Saint Alvia Cartel — “Don’t Wanna Wait Forever”
- The Western Investor — “If You Wanna Go”
The fictional town of Mercy (small town Canada with a little Muslim twist) is featured again in the second season of Little Mosque on the Prairie, airing Wednesdays on CBC.
Little Mosque on the Prairie is an unabashedly comedic look at a small Muslim community living side by side with the residents of a little prairie town. This entertaining, witty comedy is a humorous look at relationships, family, love, the generation gap and balancing Muslim beliefs and traditions in a prairie setting.
andPOP spoke with members of the cast of the hit show.
Sports host Ron MacLean will be the face of Hockey Night in Canada for at least another seven years.
MacLean and CBC agreed Monday to a new contract that extends through the 2013-2014 season. This coincides with the television deal reached by the CBC and the NHL in March.
In a statement, the executive director of CBC Sports, Scott Moore, said MacLean is “the best in the business and has played an integral role in building CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada into the most influential and popular sports brand in Canada.”
MacLean joined CBC in 1986, hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs’ telecast on HNIC. He became the full-time national host the next year.
An eight-time Gemini Award winner, he has also hosted CBC’s coverage of the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games, world track and field championships and Calgary Stampede.
He is nominated for another Gemini this year in the category of Best Host or Interviewer in a Sports Program or Sportscast for HNIC.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation picked up the most awards during Monday night’s Gemini Awards, honouring the best in Canadian news and sports television.
It was no surprise that CBC walked away with nearly everything last night, as CTV News didn’t participate in the Canadian awards show.
CTV president Robert Hurst announced earlier this year that CTV News would not participate in the awards because the time involved in preparing entries was not worth the effort.
Winners in other categories were to be announced Tuesday and Wednesday nights with a complete broadcast on Global on Nov. 4.
List of winners of the documentary, news and sports awards:
Best history documentary program: Breaking Point, CBC Television; Jacqueline Corkery.
Best biography documentary program: Braindamadj’d, Take II, Apartment 11 Productions, CBC Newsworld; Jonathan Finkelstein, Allan Joli-Cur.
Best science, technology, nature, environment or adventure documentary program: Being Caribou, National Film Board of Canada; Tracey Friesen, Rina Fraticelli.
Best performing arts program or series or arts documentary program or series: Prisoners of Age, the Eyes Project Development Corp.; Stan Feingold.
Best sports program or series: Hockey Brawl: Battle on Thin Ice, Ocular Productions Inc., Behind the Brawl Inc., Numan Films, Ocular Productions; Jeff Newman, Robert Sauvey, Shawn Watson.
Best live sporting event: 2006 World Junior Hockey Championship: Gold Medal Game, TSN; Mark Milliere, Jon Hynes.
Best news special event coverage: CBC News: 60th Anniversary of V-E Day; Mark Bulgutch, Tom Dinsmore, Fred Parker.
Best direction in a news information program or series: Michael Gruzuk, CBC News: Marketplace,for Chasing the Cancer Answer.
Best direction in a documentary program: Paul Nadler, Braindamadj’d, Take II.
Best direction in a documentary series: David Rabinovitch, Secret Files of the Inquisition — Tears of Spain.
Best direction in a live sporting event: Paul Hemming, 2006 World Junior Hockey Championship: Gold Medal Game.
Best photography in an information program or series: J. P. Locherer C.S.C., Damir Chytil C.S.C. for Forensic Factor, Betrayed.
Best photography in a documentary program or series: François Dagenais C.S.C. for No More Tears Sister.
Best picture editing in an information program or series: Aileen McBride, CBC News: Marketplace, for Chasing the Cancer Answer.
Best picture editing in a documentary program or series: Howard Goldberg, How William Shatner Changed the World.
Best sound in an information/documentary program or series: Steve Cupani, Extreme Weather: Wind and Water.
Best original music score for a documentary program or series: Bertrand Chenie, Perreault Dancer.
Best news magazine segment: CBC News: The National for Suzanne; Paul Kennedy, Eric Foss, Catherine McIsaac, Alex Shprintsen.
Best sports play-by-play or analyst: Chris Cuthbert, Glen Suitor, CFL on TSN: Wendy’s CFL Live: Calgary at Saskatchewan.
Outstanding technical achievement: OpenGear Multi-Definition/Multi-Function Terminal Equipment Platform.
Despite initially standing by “The One” franchise even after it failed in the U.S., the public broadcaster has decided not to air a Canadian version this season.
The Canadian Press quotes a CBC spokesperson as saying a Canadian version would not be airing on the CBC any time in the near future.
“We can confirm that it’s not going to be fall of 2006. We’re going to be looking a little bit further out than we may have been before,” Jeff Keay said to CP yesterday.
He said that the show’s failure in the United States has made the CBC look very carefully at whether it wants to do a Canadian version of the show or not. The U.S. version was cancelled after mere weeks of debuting.
According to Canadian Press, Peter Mansbridge isn’t the only one a little disappointed at CBC’s decision to pre-empt “The National” on Tuesday nights in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
ACTRA, which is the union which represents Canadian actors and performers calls the move to delay the show in order to simulcast ABC’s “The One,” a “sell-out.”
ACTRA’s national executive director Stephen Waddell, says while he approves of the CBC?s decision to air programming which will appeal to viewers, “but to spend money simulcasting a U.S. talent show in search of ratings and revenue is a sell-out of its mandate as Canada’s national public broadcaster.”
Waddell added the CBC has to start fulfilling its “obligation to promote Canada’s national identity with quality Canadian programming.”
The CBC made the move to simulcast “The One” with the U.S. in hopes of getting a piece of the reality show?s franchise to create “The Canadian One” to air in the 2006-07 season.
“The National” on CBC will be broadcasting an hour later on Tuesdays in Ontario and Quebec beginning in July, according to the National Post.
The move is to make way for “The One,” an “American Idol” type program searching for the next big singing sensation. It will be broadcast at 10 p.m. on ABC in the U.S.
CBC officials deemed it necessary to simulcast the show with the U.S., in hops of getting their own version of it, “The Canadian One” for the public broadcaster?s 2006/07 season.
Peter Mansbridge, host of “The National,” expressed his concerns with the move.
“Obviously, I would prefer it if we were never delayed. If you look around the other networks they don’t seem to delay their flagship newcasts with any frequency. We do and it’s not good for us,” he says, noting he realizes if “The One” is a ratings smash, it will only help the CBC in the long run.
“The National” will continue to air in its regular timeslots in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia and will air at 9 p.m. in Halifax and at 9:30 p.m. in Newfoundland-Labrador. “The One” begins on July 18.
In a report to be released Wednesday, the Senate will recommend that CBC Television become a commercial-free and truly public broadcast outlet.
Currently, the CBC brings in about $400 million per year from ads. The report, obtained by the Canadian Press, recommends the advertising be gradually phased out.
The proposal would mean that funding to the CBC from the federal government would have to be signicantly increased to make up for the loss of revenue.
The report also recommends steps to prevent private media organizations from dominantly controlling newspaper, radio, and television outlets in a single market.
The report, prepared by the Senate’s transport and communications committee, was put together over a more than three year period. Members of the committee, headed by former journalist Senator Joan Fraser, travelled the country and heard from witnesses.
The final, two-volume report makes more than 40 recommendations.
The Red Green Show will film its last episode on Nov. 5 in Toronto, bringing an end to its 15-year run on CBC.
Comedian Steve Smith created and starred in the show featuring a repairman whose philosophy is that ?if the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.?
It attracts one million viewers every Friday night, and is filmed in Harbourside Studios before a live audience, many of whom wear plaid shirts and bring rolls of duct tape to fit in with the Possum Lodge atmosphere. A fan club boasts 100,000 members.
Even after 300 episodes, Smith insists he won?t miss his beloved Red Green.
?I won’t miss him, not even slightly,? he said in an interview with the Hamilton Spectator. ?It’s been so great, honestly, it’s all positive memories for me, and if I felt sad, it would be kind of like I’m greedy, that I wanted more of that. I don’t think there is more. I don’t think there could be more and I sure don’t need more or expect more.?
Smith added that the final episode will reveal what happens to the characters long after viewers have bid farewell to Possum Lodge.
?It will be a kind of where-are-they-now thing where we fast-forward 10 years ahead,? Smith says. ?I really want the fans to feel satisfied and know what happened to the characters, and that everybody’s OK and the lodge still exists somewhere. It’s just not on TV anymore.?
The last show will air in March.
