Canada Sings Is Back

No doubt about it Global's Canada Sings is the perfect example of a sturdy spring time Canadian hit.
Plopped into the competitive schedule in fall or winter and the show would surely go unnoticed.
But now that heavy hitting U.S. series are going into reruns until September Canada Sings gets the break it deserves.
Last spring was the first year it was on and I surely enjoyed talking up unpretentious Jann Arden who is back as one of the judges along with Vanilla Ice and Laurieann Gibson who replaces Pierre Bouvier.
Arden made the point she came onboard particularly because this is not a Northern version of American Idol.
The judges are sympathetic, they proffer wise advice and there's no career on the line because the performers every week are rank amateurs toiling for various charities.
This year there are 12 new teams from among the Children's Aid Society, the Canadian Automobile Club, GO Transit, Ontario Science Center, Purdy's Chocolates, Stampede Casino.
I mean how mainstream is that?
All groups strut their stuff to perform the best song and dance acts to win $25,000 for the charity of their choice.
No doubt about it the message is very upbeat. It's all so Canadian, eh?
I previewed the first new episode although Global deliberately blacked out the ending which gives the first round winners.
Opposing groups are West Jet and the OPP police force.
We get introduced to some of the West Jet group including Jennie, Dan, Jesse, Dean --make no doubt about it they've never performed as a group before such a large crowd and they're might nervous.
we see them assembling and getting singing and dancing lessons from professionals and some want to quit because it's very hard work and they don't want to be starred at.
But if they win the money goes to the Alberta Children's Hospital and some have had children who received excellent treatment there.
They're a big group, highly motivated and they come together marvelously well as a group called "Cabin Pressure".
The "OPPers" are equally determined --they got together as a tribute to a fallen officer, a real hero to all, and they include a 911 dispatcher as well as a veteran police detective. If they win it's be able  to purchase a defibrillator for rural usage.
You watch their routine and then look at the judges all of whom have tears in their eyes and that's the difference between Canada Sings and American Idol.
Insight Productions made it and every show seems to pack a similar punch.
CANADA SINGS PREMIERES ON GLOBAL TV TUESD. MARCH 15 AT 10 P.M.
MY RATING: ***.

Farewell To Wisteria Lane

Was it really eight long years ago that I sat down to High Tea at Toronto's Windsor Arms hotel  with the three gals from the fledgling series Desperate Housewives --Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria?
All were in town to tub thump for their new ABC show which CTV had picked up as its extra for the season meaning it was not originally simulcast but shown Sunday afternoons at 4.
Also present in the hotel was Teri Hatcher but she refused to be part of any mass interview.
And later that afternoon I also interviewed Ricardo Antonio Chavira who played Eva's long suffering husband Carlos.
If that wasn't enough weeks later I was in Los Angeles on the TV Critics' tour and bussed along with dozens of other TV scribes to the actual set on the Universal backlot.
I immediately noticed the street in question had also served as the main street in the short lived NBC soap Providence.
Dressed up and repainted it became an entirely different venue for a series that was a roaring hit at least for its first few seasons.
Promoting the farewell the other night on David Letterman and Longoria was all sweetness and light assuring TV viewers that rumors of feuds were just that.
Yeah, right.
One of the gals who decidedly did not return to bid adieu was Nicollete Sheridan who even launched a lawsuit against creator Marc Cherry alleging he'd whacked her on set. The lawsuit was dismissed for want of evidence.
In fact it was Sheridan's presence that made me realize the whole thing was a comedic take off on Sheridan's old series Knots Landing.
Nobody I ever spoke to on the show ever disputed my contention this was the gayest series ever permitted on prime time U.S. television.
And at first I enjoyed watching the series but after a few seasons my ardor cooled somewhat. As happens with all ground breaking shows it started stealing from itself, becoming common place and very tired looking.

Sunday night's two-parter had no oomph as it tied up neatly all sorts of plot convolutions. For the first time the girls seemed fairly bored by the proceedings. I'm not giving away much plot but all the girls had moved awaty by the end of the show.
At first it was just plain crazy wonderful to have a buried body --that of suicide Mary Alice (Brenda Strong) --guide us through the weekly episodes as narrator.
ABC hyped the show relentlessly --there even were laundry bags with the name of the show plus the motto "Everyone has a little dirty laundry."
And don't forget the 2005 Vanity Fair cover with the girls fighting over who would be front and center!
At first 25 million Americans were turning in but this season the figure hovers at 8.5 million, an indication the show had run its course.
ABC announced the series' cancellation a full nine months ago to give creator Cherry enough time to plot an intricate last season.
Real Housewives is another unfortunate example of Reality TV aping a scripted series but hey let's not think of that right now.
And who knows painted over and refurbished the studio street of Wisteria Lane may rise again in yet another new series.

Living In The Shadow Is Must-See TV

I'm just not sure how much attention the fine new documentary Living In The Shadow will get before its premiere on OMNI 1 Sunday night at 9.
For me it's must-see TV, a stark, uncompromising look at the horrors of Chornobyl that contains images both frightening and awesome.
Directed and produced by James Motluk it offers horrifying scenes of the nuclear devastation that ravaged the Ukrainian landscape after the explosion on April 26 1986.
The videos were taken by Toronto-based photographer Lu Taskey about four years after the disaster and are startling. We see whole apartment blocks which are completely abandoned ---it's like a scene from the fictional movie On The Beach only these scenes are completely true.
Evergreens are stunted.  Entire villages are eerily silent. Troops wear white masks in a wholly inadquate clean up campaign.
Whole areas --villages, farms, schools were ordered shuttered by the Soviet government in a cover up campaign of monstrous proportions.
That the videos were shot at all is a testament to Taskey's courage --the authorities would surely have detained him and confiscated the film if they had known about it.
Director Motluk  was shown the boxes of videos some 20 years later and instantly realize what a treasure trove of history he had in his possession.
Some 150,000 Ukrainians had been forced to relocate from the surrounding area leaving much of what they owned. What ensured was a cover up of monstrous proportions.
But the human cost was never properly understood.At one hospital that's visited we see the beautiful children who are the true victims --leukemia cases were rampant and young patients were treated with old bandages because of supply problems. Orphanages were overcrowded and the consequences decades later are enormous.
Survivors such as Nadoa Zastavna tell their stories of survival. And there are lessons to be learned about the consequences of dealing with nuclear power.
The Soviet system covered over the inadequacies of government inspectors in so many fields.
New footage shot near the site shows hard hatted  inspectors still on duty there.  But what can they do other than keep people away?  The land will be polluted for generations to come. --the water table is still toxic, children are still dying from the after effects.
But the story is also one of hope--Taskey and his close friend Jerry Shudrak are shown reminiscing about the powerful organization they set up Children Of Chornobyl Canada Fund and the way aid was marshaled among the Canadian Ukrainian community.
And the theme at the film's end is simply stated: we are all connected and unless we learn from the mistakes of Chornobyl then they could be repeated  in other nuclear facilities closer to home.
Motluk made the compelling documentary for his boutique company Guerrilla Films.

It will also air in Ukrainian on May 29 at 8 p.m. and on OMNI Alberta May 20 at 9 p.m. and on OMNI BC May 20 at 10 p.m.
LIVING IN THE SHADOW PREMIERES ON OMNI 1 SUND. MAY 13 AT 9 P.M.
MY RATING: *** 1/2

CBC Fall TV: No Retreating!

That was quite a fancy dancy shindig CBC vice president Kirstine Stewart threw for thousands of potential advertisers at CBC 's Toronto Broadcast Center.
In recent years the shenanigans became downright shabby with platefuls of day old sandwiches and CBC executives hastening to explain away the Corp's downward spiral.
Stewart in her first full year as head of English language programming is riding a new wave of boastfulness and told the overflow crowd "We're not retreating."
To bolster her boast of CBC's unique status she had such important producers as Christina Jennings and Robert Lantos talk about CBC's mission of providing top notch local talent.
And despite federal funding cuts the occasion was quite lavish with seats in bleacher style arraigned around a mock ice rink through which CBC stars walked and greeted the crowd.
CBC does have much to crow about.
First up there's the acquisition of The Murdoch Mysteries from CITY-TV for its fifth season.
Star Yannick Bisson (who I first interview in 1984 for the TV flick Hockey Night) told me "Maybe we should have been at CBC all along, it's that kind of show. We're re-energized and hopefully we can last even beyond this season."
The season will end with the turn of the 20th century. And there'll be a new cast addition in Dr. Emily
And how about the second season of Arctic Air. Star Adam Beach told me "Yes, we do shoot mostly in summer and fall. Why shoot in Yellowknife in the dark of winter --nobody could see what was happening.
"This series hit it with Canadians everywhere. It deals with issues of environmental concerns, pollution, the rights of our aboriginal peoples. Nothing could be more Canadian."
For the new series Cracked executive producer Peter Raymont (The Border) says he tracked down two fine Canadian actors living in L.A. and convinced them to come home: David Sutcliffe (Private Practice) and Stefanie von Pfetten (Battlestar Gallactica).
Sutcliffe plays a veteran Toronto cop suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and Pfetten is a psychiatrist working with the T.O. force on mental issues.
"We already have sets up," jokes Raymont --he inherited the police offices used in the TV series King which won't be coming back for a third season --the offices and cells will be redressed for Cracked.
Then it was on to Over The Rainbow CBC's entrance in the live performance shows (think The Voice). This one is all about the search for the perfect Dorothy to star in Andrew Lloyd Webber's revamping of the classic movie Over The Rainbow.

 It kicks off with a documentary on the choice of 10 potential Dorothys by the judges and Lloyd-Webber --the stage production opens at the Mirvish theatre in Toronto beginning in December 2012.
CBC has snatched talented MTV personality Daryn Jones away from MTV.
Says Jones "I told them (MTV) last Wednesday and we made the farewell a week long event." CBC sources are saying Jones' defection could lead to other CBC gigs including his own comedy series.
CBC's other buys include the British made Titanic: Blood And Steel, technically a Canadian co-production starring such Canadians as Neve Campbell and Kevin Zegers along with Chris Noth and Derek Jacobi. The question is: will TV audiences take to another Titanic tale?
Other news: George Stroumboulopoulos moves to 7 p.m. replacing Jeopardy --can he provide a strong enough lead-in for CBC's prime time., industry insiders are asking.
But Stewart is co confident CBC is on a roll she's also having fall previews in Vancouver and Calgary early next week.
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Eat St. Returns For A Third Season

I'm full and I haven't eaten anything in hours.
It's previewing the first new episode of the fun series Eat. St. which has done it for me.
The Canadian made eatery show always leaves me feeling satiated --and then some.
I've been avoiding shows recently on Food Network Canada because they make me feel hungry.
With Eat St. it's exactly the opposite.
Not that I'd consume any of the food proffered up in the first new show of the season. I'm already on a diet you see.
Eat St. looks at the curb-side revolution in cookery across the world but it's wholly appropriate that Toronto is the jump off point for this season --Paperny Entertainment is a Vancouver-based company, you see.
There are 16 new half hours and looks at 60 eateries including an hour long salute to British street eats.
First stop is the food truck for Caplansky's which revs up Jewish classics into confections that are definitely fattening just to look at.
Zane Caplansky is the maker of this Jewish soul food and all of it from his food truck which exists independently of the restaurant. And there are even comments from Toronto Star foodist Jennifer Bain about the wonderful eats.
Like the WZE Sandwich with grilled kosher-style salami, schmaltz-laced chopped liver and Russian honey mustard.
You'll ascend to smoke meat heaven if you ever try that combo.
At Los Angeles' Lake Street Creamery, also in a truck,  we see how the Don Draper special is made --it has a distinct bourbon taste.
There are flavors based on donuts would you believe it, another with Earl Grey tea flavoring side walk customers rave over.
In Nashville it's time to sample Yayo's OMG.
"People in Nashville are really excited by food trucks" the mayor assures us.
Gourdoughs in Austin, Texas has a monster donut injected with jalapeno jelly and topped with cream cheese and Canadian bacon.
At around this time as the preview DVD unspooled I suddenly felt completely full. In fact I reached for some handy dinner mints.
Every half hour is the same wild food ride. Host James Cunningham also does the comedy clubs and it shows. It surely helps that he also has a cast iron stomach.
I just feel simply watching this foodathon has caused me to put on weight.

EAT. ST. RETURNS TO FOOD NETWORK CANADA WED. MAY 9 AT 10 P.M.
MY RATING: ***1/2.



'

The Fall TV Season Starts Right Now

I know May is traditionally the time for TV cliffhangers galore.
But as far as TV programmers go this season is finished and the next one, fall '02, has already started.
On Thursday CBC unveils its schedule which will be somewhat diminished by federal budget cuts.
And this upcoming Monday last place U.S. network NBC struts its stuff before thousands of advertiser buyers in New York.
And, yes, it all affects Canadian viewers, too.
Right after the "Upfronts" the Canadian network executives wing their way to Los Angeles to begin the complicated business of forking out over $600 million on the new product.
It didn't exactly play out the way our Canadian execs thought it would.
But hey I remember when CTV bough the first season of Desperate Housewives as its extra show to plop in when something else failed. It originally ran Sunday afternoons at 4.
Within weeks it was being simulcast with ABC Sunday nights at 9 as a contender for first place in the ratings.
And last year Global outbid everybody for rights to the remake of Prime Suspect calling it the season's best. And predictably it tanked.
CTV had high hopes for Pan Am which was supposed to take off like Mad Men and it sank ever lower in the ratings by the week.
This year NBC gets to go first and the predictions are pretty dire.
True, The Voice was a big new hit. But it's lonely at the top.
NBC's Smash has morphed into a respectable soap opera but ratings have gone down.
Other NBC series I'm trying to forget include Are You There Chelsea?, The Playboy Club, Bent, Rock Center, Best Friends Forever.
The Thursday comedies are all in decline because of advancing age.

But on Monday NBC chief Bob Greenblatt gets to unveil his first full schedule. I already know he's picked up a Ryan Murphy sitcom titled The New Normal with Ellen Barkin and the J.J. Abtrams prtoject Revolution.
NBC is in a ratings trough that finds it trending below many basic cable networks.
I'm interested in the strategy of how to get out of that hole. But it may prove impossible.
Earlier, CBC trots out its fall schedule.
I remember when I started covering the TV business in 1970 CBC staged gala parties up at Studio 7 with all its big stars holding court.
Juliette threatened to throw her shoe at me --I'd reported she was aloof and forbade press to her TV set.
One western TV critic was all gaga at finally meeting the Friendly Giant, another just had to sit down with the star of Chez Helene.
All those stars and those series are long gone now.
The era of big parties has gone and so have the hordes of regional TV critics.
Most papers ditched TV critics long ago in a crazy cost cutting move.
These days CBC --and NBC --are both fighting for their corporate lives.

You Should Read Richard Stursberg's New Book

I'm not recommending Richard Stursberg's new book The Tower Of Babble about his time as CBC's top programmer merely because he mentions me.
But I admit I looked up my name in the Index, saw it, and only then bought the book.
I think anybody who wants to understand the very peculiar state of Canadian broadcasting can find a lot of information here.
Simply stated Stursberg was parachuted in by CBC President Robert Rabinovich in  October 2004 in a somewhat desperate attempt to turn around the battered public broadcaster.
I first met him at the CBC's fall launch of that year where I interviewed him and found him a very well informed chap indeed with a high reputation from his years heading Telefilm Canada.
And at first Stursberg seemed to take a measured approach --Slawko Klymkiw briefly stayed on as chief TV programmer even though he'd been expecting the job Stursberg got.
But things go tricky when Stursberg peremptorily shut out CBC's unions in August 2005 because he rightly expected they were about to strike and disrupt the new fall CBC TV season.
In a later confrontation with The Star's Directorial Board which I attended Stursberg was unapologetic in his thesis he had saved the season even though ratings initially plummeted.
And the more he probed and pried he came across a culture at the CBC that was defiantly anti-ratings.
The reason Stursberg was so adamant at getting better numbers for CBC shows on both radio and TV was apparent --dwindling federal government subsidies meant CBC was more dependent than ever on advertising revenues.
But without stronger TV audiences those revenues were slowly crumbling.
On TV Stursberg steered a number of fine drama series like Intelligence, The Border and Being Erica. I liked them all but only Being Erica lasted more than two seasons. However the blandest one, Heartland, became a real winner with the younger set.
I still think dumping RCAF was a big mistake. It was a CBC franchise like NBC's SNL and look how NBC has nurtured SNL over the decades with infusions of fresh talent.
Little Mosque On The Prairie was a monster hit but two co-productions with Moses Znaimer (Rumours and Sophie) were unalloyed duds.
And Stursberg caused much gnashing of teeth by shutting down entirely Opening Night, the weekly two-hour high arts series that usually got low ratings.
I thought this was unnecessary --all he had to do was move the show to Sunday afternoons six or seven times a season, use mainly reruns from the CBC archives, toss in Veronica Tennant as host and keep the artistic community on CBC's side.
CBC did exactly that in 1979 during similar cost cutting sprees and the show named Rear View Mirror kept the Corp going for several years.
Importing such U.S. shows as Wheel Of Fortune and Jeopardy was actually a ratings windfall but went against former president Pierre Juneau's promise to cut out imported American schlock.
In the CBC news room Stursberg was similarly maladroit. There were bruising confrontations with news head Tony Burman who eventually left (as did Klimkiw). Stursberg says he merely wanted a desk and chair in the newsroom to observe proceedings. Really, that's all?
Bringing in Magid Associates from the U.S. to brighten up CBC news was silly--these days an uncomfortable Peter Mansbridge seems to be winding his way through a dated wine bar and the emphasis on hard news has been softened.
But Stursberg's wish to move the National on CBC to 11 remains an excellent idea --it would blast CTV out of its ratings complacency and allow CBC to broadcast adult dramas at 10. Plus The National would still run on CBC's News channel at 10.
His ruminations about getting rid of CBC's antiquated transmitter systems makes a whole lot of sense as does his wonderment that big cities like London and Hamilton have absolutely no CBC TV or radio coverage while New Brunswick with far less population sports three CBC affiliates.
Look, the book is very readable especially when he's dealing with his legion of enemies including Peter Herrndorf or CTV's Ivan Fecan who grabbed away the Vancouver Winter Olympics --but paid such a price CTV finances were in ruin.

I disagreed with a lot of the Stursbergian philosophy but he began a debate about the future of public broadcasting that just will not go away.
And besides he quotes me which I like.