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Book Of Negroes: A CBC-TV Event
So far this has been a terrible TV season for Canadian scripted drama.Each year as more foreign cable networks get licensed the number of Canadian dramas gets a bit smaller.This year mighty Rogers...
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Sunnyside: Bringing Laughs Back To Canadian TV
Something strange has happened to the state of Canadian TV comedy this season.The laughs stopped coming.Think of it --the number of brilliant Canadian sketch TV comedy shows which dominated the medium:...
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Schitt's Creek: Far Better Than Its Name
I wasn't even sure I wanted to watch the previews of Schitt's Creek which CBC sent my way.I mean the title is terribly off putting but eventually curiosity got the better of this TV critic and I...
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Sex, Fame & Murder: Scary And Compelling
There's a lot of anticipation involved in the compelling new documentary Sex, Fame & Murder which premieres Friday night at 8 on Investigation Discovery.Originally set to air last August the...
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19-2: Back For A Compelling second Season
I had a bunch of friends over for dinner and asked them to serve as TV critics for the second season premiere of 19-2.I was floored no one had even heard of the Montreal based series even after it...
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A Fond Farewell For Justified
The best thing about the wonderful U.S. cable drama Justified is how deliberately slow the dramatic proceedings usually are.One of my favorite American imports begins its sixth and final season on...
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Fortitude Is A Crack New British TV Thriller
Latest bundle from British TV is Fortitude a scary thriller set in a world of perpetual darkness.The classy miniseries revs up Thursday January 29 at 10 p.m. and stars Michael Gambon from The Singing...
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I Remember Don Harron
I was fortunate to meet and interview Don Harron on several occasions during my decades long run as a TV critic.Harron died age 90 on January 17 after a great career as a noted satirist.He occupied a...
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Manhattan: Must See TV
Just a month after its launch and CraveTV --the new premium subscription service --presents a mini-series that is virtually a must see.Manhattan directed by brilliant nine-times Emmy Award winner...
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The Great Human Odyssey: TV To Shout About
The latest Nature Of Things mini-series The Great Human Odyssey is about as good as TV gets.It's the kind of broad spectrum show that TV networks once used as prestige items before ratings erosion...
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Hard Rock Medical: Welcome Back
A British friend of long standing was recently visiting me so I asked her after a week what Canadian TV drama series she particularly liked.It was, of course, a trick question and she wandered right...
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Bosch: Compelling New Cop Thriller
Bosch is a terrific new U.S. cop series whose first series can be streamed on the new service CraveTV.The fictional star is the slightly jaded and weary Los Angeles detective Hieronymus "Harry:" Bosch...
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CBC's X Company: True Life Canadian Exploits
Thank goodness few Canadian rely on TV for any knowledge about their country's past.Canadian TV dramas these days are carefully crafted to seem as American as possible when exported to the U.S.So it's...
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The Antibiotic Hunters: Must See TV
I just had to preview the new CBC documentary The Antibiotic Hunters because I'd recently come down with a suspected case of C Difficile after a well meaning ER doctor doused me with competing...
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Cold Water Cowboys : Reality TV Canadian Style
I can explain why I missed the entire first season of the delightful reality series Cold Water Cowboy.I was recuperating from triple bypass surgery and my place of residence Toronto's Baycrest Hospital...
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Is Canadian TV "Fundamentally Broken"?
Two big new items both affecting the future of Canadian TV clashed this week for our attention.First up the president of Bell Kevin Crull told a TV audience in Ottawa that the current model for...
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TV's Deluged By Data Deluges The Senses
I think it was last summer that I suddenly realized my insular little world was fast changing.There I was walking in my neighborhood one afternoon when I met up with an old friend who said she'd just...
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CRTC Just Plain Wrong On New Canadian Content Regulations
Anybody I talk to about the state of Canadian content says the same thing.Canadian TV seems to be in its death throes.Over at CBC the budget has been slashed annually and there no longer is any...
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What If...Veronica Mars Became A Zombie?
For years now I've been demanding equal treatment for TV zombies.Various vampire TV series star a lot of male beauties but women simply do not get fair treatment.And then along comes the new series...
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Songbirds SOS Is Must-See TV
I'll have you know I staggered out of a sick bed (spring flu) to catch a preview of Sue Rynard's dazzling documentary SongbirdsSOS and I'm glad I did.In fact I feel a whole lot better for having the...
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