Watch Junk Raiders 2!

Welcome to the wonderfully wacky world of Reality TV.
And if half backed Las Vegas starlets can have a reality series based on their exploits why not one based on green concepts?
That's where totally relevant Junk Raiders 2 comes in.
It's an irresistibly watchable Toronto-based series taking us step by step through a process whereby a crack team of contractors build a public space clubhouse out of nothing more than discarded materials. Or garbage and junk if you must be
specific.
The series contains all the elements of reality TV: there's tension as the deadline day approaches. There's conflict among a burly gang of contractors each of whom has a separate opinion how this thing is going to look and function.
In the first season the seven professionals attempted to renovate an old steel factory in downtown Toronto and turn it into a high tech loft on a budget of only $5,000.
How could they possibly do this? By urging Torontonians to donate anything and everything they wanted to throw out.
The series' creators even sought an exemption from police so they could sort through curbside garbage --looking through other people's garbage is usually a criminal offense in T.O.
This time out the builders have exactly a month to build a futuristic clubhouse out of discarded steel shipping containers. How they do this while all the time trolling streets for the necessary steel underpinnings makes for some very tense moments.
At the center is the tough but fair taskmaster Geoff Woodmanesey --yes that's actually his name,
He has to cajole, order, intimidate, threaten, lead and manage a highly volatile team of workers and cradftsmen --he must know all the tricks of the trade of leadership to keep his project from floundering.
There are times he has to crack his whip and times he doles out praise. And that forms the irresistible human drama at the core of this six-episode show.
It's the human element that kept me watching. Like Gordie Wornoff who is an ace salvager. Or the tough blacksmith Tom Mourgas. Merv Lane is the iron maker, Katrina Tompkins the expert furniture maker, Paul Graham the tech expert, Andy Berry handles design and John Johnson is the handyman/inventor.
How they interact and improvise makes this hour fairly whizz by. I can't wait to watch more episodes --I previewed the first new hour and found it exciting.
And relevant, too, with its emphasis on recycling and reinvention.
JUNK RAIDERS 2 PREMIERES ON DISCOVERY CANADA MON.. MARCH 21 AT 10 P.M.
MY RATING: *** 1/2.

Magical Mystery Cures Is Funny And Scary

It takes an amiable host like Quirks And Quarks' Bob McDonald to guide us through all those modern snakeoil claims about reversing the aging process.
The documentary is called Magical Mystery Cures and is made specifically for people like me --an aging Babny Boomer who is fighting old age with everything I've got.
And McDonald has a wonderful batch of bogus products to rail against.
He's specifically after those products not considered drugs or pharmaceuticals but rather "nutraceuticals". Meaning they don't have to prove anything and have never been tested in clinical studies.
They only have to be non-toxic --the labels can make the most outrageous claims and get away with it.
I think in the old days we'd call them "patent medicines".
McDonald has a deceiving low-voltage charm that enables him to go along with some of these practitioners and all the while he's showing just how deceiving they really are.
And anti-aging is a huge growth industry generating sales in excess of $20 billion annually.
He finds the perfect venue at a packed convention in Las Vegas where every sort of device is on sale to gullible consumers.
At one booth he takes a 30-minute ionic foot bath which supposedly detoxifies the body by drawing poisons out through the feet.
And the water does indeed turn into a putrefying sludge very quickly --but it also turns that way without feet placed in the water.
The sludge looks like it's coming from Bob's feet but it's actually rust from a whirling machine placed in there.
A maker of a rejuvenating cream claims the product has active horse cells in it and the action of your skin trains your cells to be younger.
At another booth he is made to stare at a video screen of mathematical patterns called fractals. A psyoanalysist says the mathematical formulas will surely balance his quantum codes.
A young man in a white coat and a pennant looking like that of the medial association says that consuming the water he's peddling can help cure anything from gout to cancer.
In this case McDonald goes right back to the company spokesman who admits the man may have been overly dramatic.
And at the end McDonald says it all goes back to grandma telling you to eat healthily and exercise every day.
And he accosts one woman at the convention who has had one side of her face rejuvenated but it's hard to tell which side. With her beautiful smile and personality she's a winner to begin with.
And McDonald asks why this isn't enough.
Because if it is why is the convention packed with desperate people willing to pay almost any price to look a few years younger?
MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR PREMIERES ON CBC-TV'S DOC ZONE THURSD. MARCH 10 AT 9 P.M.
MY RATING: *** 1/2.
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Can 2 1/2 Men Survive Charlie Sheen's Departure?

"Have you ever seen a situation like this before?" huffs my taxi driver
"I mean a network firing the star of one of its biggest rated series?
Well, sure I have. Lots of times.
CBS and Charlie Sheen are playing a particularly deadly r form of entertainment brinksmanship.
Stars depart TV series all the time and many of these shows have continued to prosper.
Take M*A*S*H (1972-83) for example.
Wane Rogers departed as Trapper John after the first season and was replaced adequately enough after a bit by Mike Farrell.
Then McLean Stevenson decamped after three seasons. to be replaced by Harry Morgan.
And the series continued and prospered. Now if Alan Alda had ever quit --and why would he since it was his show --then the series might have floundered.
When Valerie Harper left the sitcom Valerie after but one season (1986-87) NBC was in a quandary. How to replace the star of the show when her name is in the title?
I remember discussing the situation with Harper in her trailer while she made a TV movie in Toronto.
Somebody joked the sitcom might be renamed Where's Valerie but the new title was Valerie's Family and her character got bumped off.
In as the new lead was a wary Sandy Duncan --I had lunch with her and she said she hoped it might all come off.
In 1988 the series became Valerie's Family. And the series lasted --if it hardly was a rating champ --until 1991--renamed again as The Hogan Family.
Co-starring as one of Valerie's sons was Danny Ponce and his sister in 1990 got a gig on a short lived CBS sitcom called City starring --you guessed it --Valerie Harper.
"I'll bet dinner conversations at the Ponce household are something," Harper joked to TV critics..
Even farther back there was a rating blip when Pernell Roberts elected to leave Bonanza in 1965 after six seasons.
Star Lorne Greene once told me he'd told Roberts who wanted to return to stage work that if he'd only stay a few more seasons he could own his own theater.
Bonanza soldiered on --it was only in 1972 that the series faltered when Dan Blocker suddenly died --the show ended abruptly in 1973.
When Raymond Burr died in 1993 one would have thought NBC would conclude its Perry Mason TV movie mysteries.
But, no, NBC tried again with two new lawyers played by Hal Holbrooke and Paul Sorvino --but also featuring as Della Street stalwart Barbara Hush. NBC was forced to cancel after anemic ratings.
In 2002 Michael J. Fox was forced to leave the cast of Spin City because of complications from Parkinson's disease. He was successfully replaced by --Charlie Sheen!-- and the show ran another season.
Cheers survived the defection of Shelley Long in 1987 after five seasons by Kirstie Alley who stayed onboard for six more seasons.
And after one season Farrah Fawcett left in 1977 to be successfully replaced by Cheryl Ladd.
In 1994 David Caruso was dumped from NYPD Blue after one season and Jimmy Smits successfully took over.
But when David Duchovny left The X-Files after seven years Robert Patrick proved Duchovny irreplaceable --the show sputtered along for two more seasons of anemic ratings.
So the verdict is out on whether Charlie Sheen can really be replaced.
It all depends on the calibre of the actor replacing him.
CBS has already offered a ton of dough to John Stamos but Stamos quite rightly backed away.
Similarly NBC is trying to entice Will Ferrell to take over on The Office.

Kirk Douglas Isn't Old, Is He?

Everywhere I go this week people have been bombarding me with comments about the dull Academy Awards.
Yeah, it was virtually starless. Yeah, there was no excitement.
But everybody is unanimous on one subject.
"Kirk Douglas was great!" said a little old lady on the subway. "And please no old jokes. That guy had more zip than those young Oscar hosts that's for sure."
Kirk Douglas gave a startling demonstration of star power. And the evergreen super star is "only" 94.
What's more there a lot more stars like him out there and some of them are working as hard as ever.
In fact I just watched a great Kirk Douglas classic, 1950's Young Man With A Horn --and both his female co-stars are still thriving --Doris Day (b. April 3, 1922) and Lauren Bacall (b. Sept. 16, 1924).
Another of Kirk's co-stars Eleanor Parker is still around too (b. June 26, 1922).
Before she was America's First Lady Nancy Reagan was a promising MGM starlet (b. July 6, 1921).
And for sheer durability what about funster Betty White on the current hit Hot In Cleveland (b. Jan. 17, 1922).
Recently she welcomed former co-star Mary Tyler Moore for a aep --but Mary is still a kid next to Betty (b. Dec. 29, 1936).
However another MTM alumnus, Cloris Leachman, was strong enough two years back to go out on Dancing With The Stars (b. April 30, 1926).
If you're thinking there are more female oldies out there than males you're totally correct.
Don't forget those two Oscar winning sisters. First up there's double winner Olivia de Havilland (b. July 1, 1916).
And there's younger sister Joan Fontaine(Oct. 22, 1917).
Even today they're not speaking!
And any age list must be double Oscar winner Luise Rainer who later acted on TV's Love Boat (b. Jan. 12, 1910).
The best that the male side can offer is singer Tony Martin, Cyd Charisse's widower --they were married 60 years (he was born Dec. 25, 1913).
Also appearing at this year's Oscars was a winner for achievement --Eli Wallach (b. Dec. 7, 1915).
The oldest female singing sensation I can recall is Dame Vera Lynn (March 20, 1917) --and yes, she did make some movies along the way.
I fondly remember the times on the TV critics' tour when I'd slip out the back door of the Century Plaza hotel in L.A. and onto the Fox lot to have lunch with M*A*S*H's Harry Morgan (b. Apr. , 1915).
And later I did his last ever interview in Toronto on the set of Outer Limits.
And last season Broadway had the occasion to once again witness the artistry of Angela Lansbury (in A Little Night Music) (b. Oct. 16,1925).
She was replaced in the long run by another shimmering veteran Elaine Stritch (Feb. 2, 1925).
I could go on and on: Michael Gough is 95, Jerry Lewis 85, Jack Klugman 89, Liz Taylor and Debbie Reynolds two young sprigs of 79 each.
But I've made my point I think.
It's how young you feel not how old the calendar says.
Don't believe me? Just ask Kirk Douglas.

The Event Is Back

If you've been watching NBC shows over the past few weeks you'll have noticed all those ads telling us The Event is coming back.
Just what exactly is "the event" has not as yet been explained.
When I sat down last fall to sample all the new series I thought the Event was about as good as it gets.
And so did NBC which poured vast amounts of dough into its ad campaign.
And it's not as if nobody watched. The Event initially drew strong numbers only to have viewer interest trickle away in succeeding weeks.
The plot is another conspiracy thingy starring Jason Ritter --looking exactly like late great father John --as Sean Walker who stumbles into this nationwide mystery after the disappearance of his pert girlfriend Leila (Sarah Roemer) during a Caribbean cruise.
Over at the White House Blair Underwood channeling Barack Obama as President Elias Martinez must deal with the problems of a group of detainees kept at a far away Alaskan camp. They are led by freedom fighter Sophia Maguire (Laura Innes).
Sturdy national security chief Blake Sterling (Zeljko Ivanek) completely disagrees with the decision --he knows more about this situation than viewers do.
Think Lost. Think Flashforward. Or The 440. Or V. The intial conception of The Event as a meandering strand of two separate stories that rarely meet became a turn off for potential fans.
Conspiracy stories on TV go right back to The Fugitive. This story wastold almost entirely in retroversions and later episodes will offer flashbacks to "solve" some of the plot questions.
Reviewing the first episode which was titled I Haven't Told You Anything was next to impossible because NBC hadn't really told us anything.
I think "potential" was the word I spotted in so many of the initial reviews. And as the ratings began seeping away NBC panicked and put the show on hiatus. Which is better than cancellation,right?
Now NBC has sent out review copies of the first two new episodes. The series is taut and exciting in places, still confusing as all out heck in some scenes.
So far acting honors go to Blair Underwood as the recently elected president (here a child of Cuban refugees) and he becomes our guide through the mysteries of this terrific story.
If Underwood is all cautious diplomacy Ivanek is a real pepper pot of a security adviser (possible based on vice president Cheyney). He sees conspiracies everywhere and even gets to battle the baddies in a vicious gunfight inside the secret alaskan compound.
Also adding dramatic clout is Virginia Madsen as the new senator from Alaska who has inherited the seat from her late husband, a veteran of sex terms. She suspects something isn't right at the containment center.
Strong acting also comes from Scott Patterson as Leila's father and Clifton Collins Jr. as an alien turned guerrilla.
In a telephone conversation with TV critics Ivanek laughed off suggestions he is having a terrific career playing a wide assortment of extremely creepy characters. I think he said something like it keeps him busy. It also keeps him scene stealing right and left.
On the same call Underwood said, sure, it was strange continuing to work on a series nobody was really aware of. He supported NBC's decision to reboot the show in the New Year and said the network had promised to run the series for nine weeks straight without any pre-emptions.
That way there's the hope momentum can be carefully built. To get into the series one must have patience and a long memory --this is one series not designed for casual viewers.
Technical details including cinematography and a spectacularly staged stunts are up to the standard of any current movie hit.
Now all The Event needs is adequate viewer support to be picked up for a second event. That and some explanation sooner than later what "The Event" really means.
THE EVENT PREMIERES ON CITYTV SUNDAY MARCH 6 AT 9 P.M. AND ON NBC MONDAY MARCH 7 AT 8 P.M.
MY RATING: ***.

Inside Hana's Suitcase Comes To TV

Having been a TV critic for 40 years I don't often get to the cinema these days --I'm sure most readers like me prefer to wait for the TV premiere of exceptional movies.
So I'm happy to report CBC-TV has snagged the broadcast TV premiere of the exceptional 2009 documentary Inside Hana's Suitcase.
It's on CBC Sunday night at 8 and marks a welcome return to form for CBC in its role as a public broadcaster.
Brilliant and moving but never exploitative, Larry Weinstein's documentary seamlessly blends dramatic recreations with reminiscences by the few remaining eye witnesses who help him recreate the extraordinary life and times of Hana Brady, born May 16, 1931, killed by the Nazis at Auschwitz in 1944.
This 90-minute true story is must viewing for every young viewer who cannot envisage the horrors of the Holocaust that exterminated six million Jews and millions of others.
But concentrating on one victim instantly personifies the story, makes it real and vivid.
And Weinstein had a lot of luck along the way.
Brady might have been forgotten by all but a few friends and her surviving brother were it not for the extraordinary efforts of a teacher Fumiko Ishioka, director of the Tpkyp Holocaust Education Resource Center, who asked museum authorities at Aushwitz to donate items that might illustrate what the Jewish refugees went through while at the slave labor camp.
They send a suitcase clearly labelled with Hana Brody's name and destination as well as a canister of the deadly Cyclone B gas used to kill inmates in the "showers".
Weinstein gets all these details near perfect: how the Japanese pre-teens studying the Holocaust with Ishioka bond with this little girl leading the teacher to research what if anything else could be learned about Hana Brody.
By luck she actually finds in the archives drawings by the little girl when first imprisoned and reminisces from school friends who say Hana had a brother.
In fact he is George Brady who is still alive and now living as a white-haired grandfather in Toronto. Plagued by guilt, he reaches out to the teacher and the children, even journeying to Japan for an emotional meeting.
Weinstein very cleverly recreates key scenes in the childhood of George and Hana in Moravia (part of Czechoslovakia) where they were the only two Jewish children in town. We come to care about their fate as first the mother and then the father are taken away by the Nazis. And finally the two children are sent to Aushwitz in cattle cars.
In some scenes the docudrama recreations merge with the reality of the actual present day events --as we are taken through Hana's prison her childish drawings seem to spring to life and fill the screen.
And as George, the boy, opens a present from his jailed mother, George, the old man, shows these little slices of dried bread still preserved in a tin box all these decades later.
An old Japanese woman, a survivor of Hiroshima, meets George in Japan, a stark reminder that many suffered in the war and that Japan had her own war crimes which still need confronting.
Inside Hana;' Suitcase is especially relevant for the pre-teenagers who are near Hana's age when she was killed. As long as they react so emotionally to her fate then Hana and her suitcase will not be forgotten.
INSIDE HANA AND HER SUITCASE PREMIERES ON TV ON CBC SUND. MARCH 6 AT 8 P.M.
MY RATING: ****.

All Hail The WB Archives!

Being an old movie buff from way back I'm still feeling there aren't enough great vintage films on TV to satisfy my needs.
It took me more than a decade of columns at the Toronto Star to get the CRTC to budge and allow Turner Classic Movies onto the Canadian cable TV universe.
But lately TCM has been running far too many current movies for my liking.
And then along came a solution: the WB Archives.
Now let me hasten to report Warners currently owns rights to three gigantic old movie collections: Warners, MGM and RKO.
How it got hold of those thousands of titles is a story in itself. At one point MGM even owned all the Warners titles --except in Canada.
Lately DVD sales have been dwindling in retail outlets across North America. One problem I'm sure is the high price tags on many items.
So Warners created its own way of dealing directly with vintage movie fans: it set up a website where you can order directly --the promise has been made to get all the films it owns onto the site.
Instantly there was trouble from this side of the border: the site did not accept Canadian orders for various copyright reasons. I understand that:up to seven percent of all TCM films shown in any given week are substituted for others on the Canadian feed.
To get around that restriction I asked a buddy in the U.S. to buy three titles for me --he could watch them first and then send them onto me.
The parcel quickly came: Cain And Mabel (1936) is an overstuffed but enjoyable Depression musical starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable.
I've always looked for it on TCM but never could find it and now I'm glad I've got it in my DVD library. Trouble is there are no extras not even scene selections --a few titles have the original trailers.
The second title I chose was We Were Dancing (1941) with Norman Shearer and Melvyn Douglas. It rightly gets only two stars but I wanted to catch it to find out why Shearer chose it over Gone with The Wind and Mrs. Miniver.
And it's not all that bad --it had the misfortune to be released right after Pearl Harbor and moviegoers were no longer interested in the adventures of a bogus Russian countess.
My third choice was Goodbye My Fancy (1952) because I knew director Vincent Sherman and wanted to see this strange venture into comedy by the usually melodramatic Joan Crawford.
Each DVD cost $29.99 but the price has since come down to $19.99. I have one friend who rents a Buffalo post office box and orders from Warners that way.
But now the WB collection is also available through amazon.ca, tcm.com and moviesunlimited.com, And a few titles from the WB archive have actually been appearing the the downtown Toronto DVD outlets: The Mortal Storm (1940) and Forsaking All Others (1934) --but these in store treats are selling as high as $32.99!
I tried ordering three more from amazon.ca and I got Cry Havoc (1943), a good all-female war story with Margaret Sullavan and Ann Sothern, Son Of The Gods (1930) with Richard Barthlemess in a strange tale of racial insensitivity and When Ladies Meet (1941): Crawford, Greer Garson, Robert Taylor all looking mighty uncomfortable in a teacup drama/comedy of infidelity.
My WB sources say next month's "premieres" will include June Allyson in the Opposite Sex (1956), Olivia de Havilland in My Love Came Back (1940), Bette Davis in That Certain Woman (1937), Barbara Stanwyck In BF's Daughter (1948) and the 1923 and 1933 versions of The Whte Sister.
The alternative is to sit patiently for years until TCM shows these gems again.
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