Canadian Crossing

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent has advantages to show Canadians the real Toronto

People who live in Toronto like to note when their city is being used as "Washington" or "New York City" in an American film. The old joke was that the crews had to deposit trash onto the streets so the scene would be more realistic.

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent debuted last Thursday on Citytv. Toronto didn't look like New York City yet some might think that wasn't the real Toronto.

The Filmores Hotel didn't seem believable yet is in the downtown area. The hotel (with a "gentleman's club" on ground level) rests right at George and Dundas with the Dundas streetcar going by the detectives.

The walk around with the crown attorney at Nathan Phillips Square was likely more memorable to people with casual knowledge of Toronto. The Toronto Islands and Billy Bishop Airport were around the boat in the open of the pilot episode.

We could cite a number of films such as Take This Waltz and the non-Canadian film Scott Pilgrim Versus the World as examples of showcasing Toronto. Twitch City, Baroness von Sketch Show, Orphan Black, Sensitive Skin, Private Eyes, Workin' Moms, Sort Of, and Kim's Convenience are some of the many Canadian TV shows showing Toronto in the spotlight.

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent has 2 advantages in showing off Toronto that most other Canadian TV shows and Canadian films do not have.

• Based on the pilot episode, the show looks very slick and professional. Compare the look of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent to Sullivan's Crossing, The Spencer Sisters, Wild Cards, and Hudson & Rex.
• The Law & Order reputation means Canadian audiences will pay more attention to the show, given its love affair with American TV shows.

Those other shows had the regular Toronto on display, not terribly exciting for those viewers who want to see the underbelly in motion.

Showrunner Tassie Cameron created Pretty Hard Cases, set and filmed in Toronto, and was the head writer and executive producer on Rookie Blue (Global/ABC) also set and filmed in Canada's largest city. The Canadians behind this show know locations to make Toronto seem more like New York City in an underbelly kind of way.

Take This Waltz showcases a real Toronto neighborhood

Twitch City is where my love for Canada started

Toronto sports cornucopia is a small portion of what makes Toronto a worthy destination

Toronto stories from a resilient city

Those in Canada and outside of Toronto can grumble about this obsession with the largest city in Canada. TSN is sometimes referred to as Toronto Sports Network. Frankly, Toronto is the gateway to Canada, English Canada, for most people outside Canada. We recently looked at how good Wild Cards and Family Law made Vancouver look on television.

Montréal is a more difficult city for English Canada to view. Transplant is shot in Montréal while pretending to be Toronto. Jacob Tierney's films (The Trotsky; Good Neighbours) showcase Montréal but mostly the anglophone neighbourhoods, such as Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

Canadian TV notebook: Saying goodbye to Sort Of

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The absolute irony in all of this is Americans and those not in North America aren't the toughest audience when it comes to Toronto on Canadian TV. The toughest audience is English Canadians, people who would watch boring, mundane American television than adventurous, intriguing Canadian television.

As a Rogers executive explained about this show: "It's the most Rogers has ever spent on an original drama." It's "a hell of a lot of money" for a Canadian series.

Rogers used valuable Hockey Night in Canada time to promote Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. Citytv runs the fewest number of original Canadian television in prime time among the private networks in a sea where those networks work hard to show very few Canadian shows. Yet Rogers and Citytv have put a lot behind Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent.

Episode 2 of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent runs tonight, Thursdays at 8 pm Eastern on Citytv, Channel 57 in Toronto. We are still hoping at some point that the show will run in the States.

photo credit: Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent/Citytv

Canadian TV notebook: Saying goodbye to Sort Of

3 seasons. 18 episodes. The tales of Sabi Mehboob and the people in their lives has come to a close, at least in this form. Sort Of taught us about love in many forms. An overall safe space for everyone involved from 7ven (Amanda Cordner) all the way down to the Kaneko-Bauer children: Violet (Kaya Kanashiro) and Henry (Aden Bedard).

The star was Bilal Baig as Sabi Mehboob; Baig and Fab Filippo were the show's creators. They gave us some amazing characters in a wonderful world that was Toronto. Definitely Toronto.

The father character had mostly an invisible presence on his wife Raffo (Ellora Patnaik) and Aqsa (Supinder Wraich). They broke away for themselves and saw Sabi in very different ways from the paternal presence. Aqsa and Sabi had a strong sibling relationship. The show allowed Aqsa to have her own feelings separate from Sabi, something lesser shows struggle to feature. Aqsa was comfortable in her body, a strong female character who isn't part of the primary cast.

Raffo showed a lot of growth over the course of the show, especially in understanding Sabi, supporting Aqsa, and learning about herself in widowhood.

Your humble narrator can't come up with a word to describe the relationship between Sabi and Bessy Kaneko (Grace Lynn Kung). The biking accident impacted her existence through a lot of the show. A mother and a wife, yet not wanting the constraints of those "titles." They had a love of some kind that was glorious and should serve as an example for future TV and film projects.

Paul Bauer (Gray Powell) — husband to Bessy and father to Violet and Henry — anytime you thought you had Paul figured out, you learned more was below the surface.

A show that allowed a quiet character such as Henry to exist without ridicule or overt concern.

Sort Of gave us wonderful characters that we will think about for a long time. A gracious thank you to Baig and Filippo for showing us love in 18 episodes.

Canadians have only been able to watch on CBC Gem. There hasn't been an airing on CBC. Sort Of debuted on January 18 on Max in the United States. We have empathy for the Americans who watch CBC through cable over a long wait for Season 3.

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent finally comes to Citytv on Thursday (February 22) at 8 pm Eastern. How excited is Citytv about an actual Canadian show? Rogers, owner of Citytv, had Kyle Bukauskas interview Aden Young and Kathleen Munroe before the beginning of the 3rd period of the Toronto Maple Leafs game Saturday night.

The amusing part was that the interview ran on the CBC game while Citytv had the game from Montréal. Oh well: Citytv viewers are used to seeing CBC promos when the 2 networks carry the same Hockey Night in Canada game.

Your humble narrator figured Season 1 would have a take on the murders of Barry and Honey Sherman. However, showrunner Tassie Cameron (Pretty Hard Cases) said the episodes will have a mix of scenarios, so the obvious ones might have to wait for Season 2.

Unlike some of the Law & Order shows overseas, this show will feature original episodes drawn from Canadian stories.

Transplant has finished its 4-season run on CTV in Canada. The U.S. viewers watching NBC have finally seen the end of Season 3. Not the best season for the show, if we are being honest.

The core 4 of the series had a rocky time in Season 3. Dr. Bash Hamed (Hamza Haq) and Dr. Magalie "Mags" Leblanc (Laurence Leboeuf) finally got together romantically. The tension in the first 2 seasons was more fun than the actual relationship in Season 3. Mags also had physical struggles with her pacemaker and the life decisions she has to make.

Mags and Dr. June Curtis (Ayisha Issa) made odd roommates yet they fit together well. June's struggles with her stepsister added to a full plate of problems at work with surgery and professional relationships.

Dr. Theo Hunter (Jim Watson) had the worst of Season 3. Yes, he was emotionally recovering from the helicopter crash. Dr. Hunter grew a beard and had his life collapse. Your humble narrator kept saying to the screen that if he only shaved his beard, his life would get better. If Dr. Hunter is clean shaven in Season 4, his life will improve. Dr, Hunter's Season 3 beard woes did remind us of this classic Kids in the Hall sketch.

We were overjoyed to see one of our favourite Quebecois actors in Pascale Bussières, who played a doctor in the camp where Bash goes to help out near where he is from. We have seen a large number of films featuring Bussières, including August 32nd on Earth | Un 32 août sur terre (1998) from Denis Villeneuve and When Night is Falling (1995) from Patricia Rozema. Bussières appears mostly in Episodes 10-12 and briefly in the season finale.

To no one's surprise, NBC has not issued a start date for Season 4. There are only 10 episodes in Season 4.

Canadian film review: August 32nd on Earth

Canadian film review: When Night Is Falling

The CW putting Wild Cards and Family Law back-to-back on Wednesday nights is serving as a tourist campaign to come to Vancouver. Both series are shot there, filled with wonderful scenery in and around downtown Vancouver. The city is that beautiful even in the rain, which somehow never gets on the shows. I think Vancouver is that beautiful even in the rain.

Wild Cards is pretty good. 2 steps above The Spencer Sisters and still below Pretty Hard Cases. Chemistry is surprisingly good. Never hurts to have shots from the boat where Cole Ellis (Giacomo Gianniotti) lives. The recap scenes with Max Mitchell (Vanessa Morgan) and Cole's cat on the boat are often the highlight of the episode.

If there is a criticism, the supporting characters need to be more human. Chief Li (Terry Chen) tends to be stuck on the "play it by the book" note. Perhaps that will come out in time but better sooner than later.

Each show has 10 episodes in its current season. Though Global will air Season 3 at a later undetermined date, there will be a Season 4 of Family Law.

Peter Keleghan did an episode of Family Law in Season 3. For those used to Keleghan in comedic roles, he does a wonderful job in a dramatic role.

For those who don't know Vancouver, Stanley Park is at the bottom of the photo, looking southeast into the rest of the downtown area.

Speaking of the Vancouver metro area, Allegiance launched on CBC television on February 7. The police drama focuses on Sabrina Sohal (Supinder Wraich) as a rookie police officer in Surrey, British Columbia also dealing with the arrest of her father Ajeet for political corruption. Vince Brambilla (Enrico Colantoni) serves as Sabrina's supervising officer.

Canadian TV notebook: 2024 CW premiere dates

2024 CBC television winter preview

The CTV drama Sight Unseen will debut on the CW Wednesdays at 9 pm Eastern on April 3. This is also a CW co-production, along with Wild Cards.

CTV has been running Sight Unseen on Monday nights at 10 pm Eastern since January 22.

The CW tinkered slightly with the Thursday schedule, moving Son of a Critch up to 9 pm ET on Thursdays leading into Children Ruin Everything. The Connors reruns are still the lead-in to the Canadian comedies. SMH. Run the Burbs is on Hulu in the United States and CBC Gem in Canada.

By my count, the CW will run out of new Children Ruin Everything episodes in mid-March. Interesting, Canadian filmmaker Kelly Fyffe-Marshall directed a couple of Season 3 episodes: (7) Spontaneity and the season finale (10) Careers.

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Watched the pilot episode of One More Time, the new comedy on CBC this winter. Sometimes, Canadian comedy is a lot softer and this show definitely qualifies. Have to love the cast. Is is better than Strays? Both are softer comedies. I can imagine a Season 2 for One More Time, even if it isn't on the cutting edge.

Talk that American streaming service Tubi is bringing back Wynonna Earp as a 90-minute special. The core cast members Melanie Scrofano, Tim Rozon, Dom Provost-Chalkley, and Katherine Barrell are on board.

Speaking of Rozon, we got through Season 2 of Surrealestate on Syfy and CTV Sci-Fi Channel. Loved Season 1 but having Rozon's character lose his powers and Sarah Levy mostly gone for a few episodes didn't make for interesting TV. Rare to say a show should have stopped after a single season. Great characters stuck in less than honourable episodes.

photo credits: Sort Of; Rogers Sportsnet; Transplant; Family Law

Bell Media making deep cuts to W5, CTV local newscasts

Update from changes to local news at Bell Media pic.twitter.com/tCrK7O6uwt

— jonah (@yyzsportsmedia) February 8, 2024

We wrote back in June about Bell Media wanting the CRTC to reduce (even more) local newscasts. Well, Bell Media decided on its own to reduce those local newscasts.

• Weekday noon newscasts at all CTV stations will end, except for Toronto.
• 6 pm and 11 pm newscasts on weekends will end at all CTV and CTV2 stations, except for Toronto, Montréal, and Ottawa.

W5, the CTV News crowning glory, is being cancelled as a standalone documentary series and reduced to a "multi-platform investigative reporting unit" for the various CTV News properties.

Bell Media will implement "multi-skilled journalists" to replace news correspondents and technician teams reporting to CTV National News in Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada. The translation into English is that journalists will run their own cameras instead of having a team go on assignments. They will also make correspondent changes in Ottawa.

The company is making other dramatic changes to CTV News Channel, including the cancellation of evening programs The Debate, This Hour, and Top 3 Tonight. The channel will run a 4-hour news broadcast weeknights at 6 pm. The company determines local newscasts are too expensive yet newscasts are cheaper than programs that give depth to the day's news.

Bell Media wants CRTC to allow reducing local news

CanadianCrossing.com journalism coverage

Weekday daytime programming at BNN Bloomberg is "being streamlined," reducing the number of separate broadcasts.

On top of all those changes, Bell Media is selling 45 of its 103 regional radio stations in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada.

This comes on the heels on cutbacks at CBC and Radio-Canada to their news departments, among other cuts.

Local news counts as "Canadian content" for CRTC requirements. Given the olé and/or laissez-faire approach the CRTC uses in its regulation, somehow Bell Media will get away with the local news cuts.

The CTV stations generally run a local newscast following the CTV National News at 11:30 pm. That would comprise 2.5 hours for the entire week, since the local weekend newscasts would be cut. Bell Media petitioned the CRTC last summer to allow its stations in major markets to no longer have to broadcast at least 6 hours of weekly locally reflective news. Bell Media petitioned to broadcast fewer than 3 hours of locally reflective news each week for its non-metropolitan stations.

The company also announced that it would pay a quarterly dividend of 99.75 cents per common share, up from 96.75 cents per share. So this isn't about money, despite their cries.

W5 as a stand alone program is eliminated by Bell. More than 50 years of fine current affairs journalism on CTV at an end. A tremendous legacy. A sad day for Canadian television. https://t.co/OvNqtTzrKT

— Tom Harrington (@cbctom) February 8, 2024

W5 is older than the Super Bowl and 60 Minutes. The program debuted on CTV on September 11, 1966. The idea that W5 would be part of the budget cuts is a gut punch even among cynics. The program's loss also reduces the Canadian content in CTV's prime-time schedule, likely not to be replaced with other Canadian content.

W5 ran on Friday nights at 10 pm on CTV and the program was also run on other Bell Media properties, including CTV2, CTV News Channel, and Investigation Discovery.

Bell Media insists the content will be on CTV News platforms yet not even close to the same level as we've seen on television. The potential ratings of running crappy American content in a terrible timeslot is going to make that much money for Bell Media? Especially given the ability to run the episodes multiple times on its properties.

Omar Sachedina, the current CTV National News anchor, contributed to W5 and was a long-time reporter. Bell Media has cut back on its reporters at home and abroad. Having those correspondents is how you build news talent. The Bell Media news bench has been weak and will now be weaker with these latest cuts.

Bell Media benefits greatly from the profits made running American TV shows that dominate the prime time lineup. They have cut back on Canadian content and will likely get away with those moves.

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Broadcast media in Canada, of which Bell Media is the dominant force financially in this category, will get $30 million from Google as part of the $100 million every year. Even if somehow the money is divided evenly among CTV, Global, and Citytv, that is $10 million that could go to news coverage. A reminder that the companies will get huge amounts of money, even though they aren't required to spend the money on news.

The idea is that these companies are in debt, which isn't true. The company's news division is reportedly losing more than $40 million a year on its own. They want the news to succeed on its own financially instead of taking profits from running the American shows to pay for news. That isn't viable, leading to these cuts.

Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge weighed in on the cuts in a news conference. "I am extremely disappointed in Bell Canada's decision for many reasons."

"In the past decade, when acquisitions were allowed for those big companies to acquire television stations or radio stations, it came with the promise that they would deliver on news content. And today, they are backing [away] from that promise," said St-Onge.

The minister pointed out that Bell Media received more than $40 million in annual regulatory relief. That amount would cover the alleged debt of the news department.

No offence to the heritage minister but Bell Media (CTV), Corus (Global), and Rogers (Citytv) aren't scared of the Trudeau Government. Things will get worse for Canadian journalism until the private companies are scared to make such cuts.

Twitter captures: @yyzsportsmedia; @cbctom
photo credits: Bell Media (x2)

The art of making Canadian burgers

Our friends at our sibling blog, BalanceofFood.com, are a little obsessed with medium-rare burgers and how they virtually don't exist in Canada. 

Mary Berg demonstrated on how to make a Canadian burger in her TV show: Mary Makes It Easy on CTV Life Channel in Canada and Food Network in the United States. Berg showed the TV audience how to make hamburgers "juicy" in Season 2, Episode 24: Back to the BBQ.

She made a fancy version of a panade, typically milk and bread. If you are thinking "this sounds more like meatballs or meatloaf," you are on the right track.

The law in Canada requires an outcome of 71°C (160°F), defined as well-done, with minor exceptions.

How to make Canadian burgers (BalanceofFood.com)

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They suggested a Canadian burger could go well with poutine, a combo of French fries, squeaky white cheese curds, and brown gravy over the top of both.

You can check out the column for yourself. Might pick up a few tips, even if that is for meatloaf or meatballs instead of hamburgers.

photo credit: CTV Life Channel/Food Network

Canadian film review: Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe

As much as I learn about Canada, there are some impressions, memories that you can't experience as an outsider. I certainly knew of Mr. Dressup in many conversations with Canadians. The warmth was there but I didn't know much about the show.

Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe is a straightforward documentary about the life of Ernie Coombs aka Mr. Dressup. The documentary points out that Coombs wasn't originally Canadian, born and grew up in Maine.

Coombs meets Fred Rogers, yes that Fred Rogers, working with him in Pittsburgh. Rogers was invited to work in Canada for the CBC and asked Coombs to join him in Canada. Coombs worked as a puppeter for Rogers on Misterogers. When Rogers went back to Pittsburgh, Coombs stayed in Canada.

Butternut Square featured Coombs from 1964-1967. This is where Coombs created Mr. Dressup and met the puppets Casey and Finnegan. Mr. Dressup was the spinoff of sorts. Coombs would go into the Tickle Trunk to put on costumes. Judith Lawrence, who created Casey and Finnegan, featured prominently in the prime years of the show. Casey was a child whose gender wasn't clear in a time where boys and girls were very specific. Finnegan was Casey's dog.

Robert McCallum interviewed prominent Canadians who have memories of growing up with Mr. Dressup, including Eric McCormack, Michael J. Fox, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Bif Naked, Scott Thompson, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, and the Barenaked Ladies. There is an unfortunate practice in documentaries to rely too heavily on these types of celebrity mentions. Fortunately, McCallum knew a little was good and avoided too much, which would have been bad. Sometimes, the art of editing is knowing when to stop.

Often, you could argue about the use of shorthand that Mr. Dressup was the Mister Rogers of Canada. Similar in tone: not talking down to kids, using puppets to deal with friendship and similar values. Mr. Dressup did more with crafts, which reminded your humble narrator of Ray Rayner on WGN-TV in Chicago, Rayner making children feel better about being imperfect.

Coombs also did a traveling live show. You can imagine a child's excitement at seeing Mr. Dressup live in person.

Mr. Dressup lasted 3 decades (1967–1996), 32 years when you count Butternut Square. Coombs became a Canadian citizen in 1994.

How Mister Rogers got his start on camera in Canada on the CBC

The appeal of the documentary is obvious to those Canadians who grew up watching the show. The film does a good job at telling this wonderful story. The children of today don't have the same kind of relationship with television.

Americans should watch this documentary because of the parallels between Coombs and Rogers, their friendships, and similarities of the shows. You also should watch this documentary to find out elements of Rogers career missing from Won't You Be My Neighbor?. We have noted that when famous Americans have Canadian chapters, somehow those chapters aren't told (e.g., Jackie Robinson).

2023 TIFF wrapup

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2023 TIFF Canadian film preview

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Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe won the People's Choice Award for Documentaries at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.

Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe is available on Amazon Prime Video in Canada and the United States.

video credit: Prime Video Canada
photo credit: Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe

Canadian TV notebook: 2024 CW premiere dates

We recall the "large" gap between the CBC debut of Schitt's Creek, as in about a month, versus the Pop TV debut of that same show for Season 1 way back in 2015.

Wild Cards debuts on CBC on January 10 and the CW on January 17. We wrote about the show for the CBC winter preview. The show runs in the same timeslot in both countries, though the CBC feed runs at 8 pm within each time zone, except for Newfoundland.

Giacomo Gianniotti, Vanessa Morgan, and Jason Priestley are well-known on both sides of the border.

The CW is also picking up Sight Unseen from CTV. We don't have a CW debut date. We found this paragraph compelling for a Deadline article on the shows:

"The CW says its creatively involved in all aspects of production and developed both series from scratch in partnership with CBC and CTV. While they will also be airing on CBC and CTV, they are fully CW original series, the network added."

We like the idea of sharing television between the countries. We do think shows end up better if they are not too influenced by the Hollywood mentality.

The Spencer Sisters felt more like a CTV show that aired on the CW. Sullivan's Crossing felt like a CW show that happened to air on CTV.

Sight Unseen will air on Monday nights on CTV at 10 pm Eastern starting January 22. CTV will air the pilot early at the same time on January 21 following the NFL Divisional Playoffs.

2024 CBC television winter preview

The 2 surviving Canadian TV comedies on the CW have Season 3 debuts this month. Season 3 of Son of a Critch debuts January 9 on CBC and January 25 on the CW. Season 3 of Children Ruin Everything ran this fall on CTV and debuts January 11 on the CW.

Son of a Critch stays at 8 pm while Children Ruin Everything shifts to 9:30 pm. The CW, in lieu of not having Run the Burbs on its schedule, is showing reruns of The Conners, a program that airs on ABC. WTAF?

Hulu picked up Run the Burbs as of New Year’s Eve, a wonderful holiday present. While we prefer Run the Burbs to Children Ruin Everything, we would have fought for either show. The CW halted airings after Season 2, Episode 3. Season 3 of Run the Burbs is on CBC (and CBC Gem) this winter.

If you thought "didn't we just see Season 2 of Family Law," you might wonder why we are getting Season 3 of Family Law so quickly. Season 3 of Family Law debuts January 17 following Wild Cards at 9 pm Eastern and Pacific. We don't have a debut date for Season 3 on Global, the show's network in Canada.

Season 1 of this show was a lot more fun than Season 2. Let's hope for more entertaining/less depressing episodes in Season 3.

Hamza Haq gives the inside scoop on the viral ambulance scene from season 3. Stream #Transplant now on https://t.co/yKJiHIYIjM and the @CTV App, and don’t miss all new episodes starting Jan 5th on CTV pic.twitter.com/oQivTkWnWY

— Transplant (@TransplantCTV) December 8, 2023

There are 3 more Transplant episodes on the Canadian side on CTV for Season 4, the final season. The show returns tonight on CTV.

Those on the American side are more than a bit behind. Transplant took a holiday break and finally came back last week. Here is where things get tricky, not that we are surprised. The show currently airs on NBC on Thursdays at 9p/8p Central and is moving to Fridays — starting January 12 — at 8p/7p Central. The NBC release says that timeslot is in place "until its finale." This means either the Season 3 finale or the Season 4 finale, which would be the series finale.

Time placement doesn't mean as much as it once did but Transplant is not a first-hour prime time show. Ugh.

The U.S. audience would rather not wait too long between Season 3 and Season 4 of Transplant. There are 13 episodes in Season 3 and 10 episodes in Season 4 of Transplant.

Citytv will debut Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent on February 22. There will be 10 episodes in Season 1. Rooting for an eventual deal in the States.

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We primarily cover more film than television on the blog. We recognize that Canadian stories are just that: stories. A nice The Globe and Mail story talks about 3 popular Canadian TV shows that are ending on their own terms: Sort Of, Letterkenny, and Transplant. All 3 have been impactful and have a home on the U.S. side.

photo credits: Family Law/Global; Wild Cards/CBC/CW
Twitter capture: @TransplantCTV
video credit: Citytv

2024 CBC television winter preview

.@cbc unveils its winter 2024 slate on @cbcgem and CBC TV featuring more than 20 series from Canadian storytellers, including One More Time (Jan. 9), Wild Cards (Jan. 10), For the Culture with Amanda Parris (Jan. 30) and Allegiance (Feb. 7). Read more: https://t.co/DSpyWXzuJw pic.twitter.com/80OV5Aw44S

— CBC PR (@CBC_Publicity) December 4, 2023

Unlike the fall 2023 CBC schedule, we have a slightly better sense on what the lineup actually looks like for the CBC winter 2024 schedule.

Returning Canadian TV shows for the winter looks like these:

Murdoch Mysteries (Monday); This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Son of a Critch, and Run the Burbs (Tuesday); Dragons' Den and The Nature of Things (Thursday); Marketplace and The Fifth Estate (Friday); Hockey Night in Canada (Saturday); as well as Bollywed, Push, and feature documentaries (Sunday).

As for the new shows, here are the titles and descriptions:

Wild Cards will air on CBC in Canada and the CW in the United States. The Vancouver-set drama features Giacomo Gianniotti, Vanessa Morgan, and, as a recurring guest star, Jason Priestley. Allegiance has Supinder Wraich and Enrico Colantoni in the cast.

The lone new Canadian comedy on the list is One More Time, featuring stand-up comedian D.J. Demers in a workplace comedy about a hard-of-hearing manager of a second-hand sporting goods store.

CBC will air CBC News Explore About That with Andrew Chang segments on Friday nights. The new reality show The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down stars Jennifer Robertson (Schitt's Creek). Ghosting is listed as a factual entertainment series.

In amazing news, KP comic D.J. Demers is getting his very own TV show! On @CBC! WHAT?! Yeah, on CBC! It's a sitcom about a used sports store—in other words, a recipe for crushing victory! One More Time: let's go D.J.! 🏒🏓🍁https://t.co/08YuLWtIv1

— KP Comedy (@KPComedy) December 5, 2023

Sort Of has had Season 3 on CBC Gem yet there is no announcement on when Season 3 will run on CBC (or Max in the United States). Winter 2024 seemed logical yet as we are learning, logic and the CBC schedule run parallel, not perpendicular.

Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo — co-creators, executive producers, and showrunners — deserve a better fate.

Canadian TV notebook: CBC Gem only place to watch Sort Of in 2023

2023 CBC television fall preview

The schedule is filled with non-Canadian programming such as Miss Scarlet & The Duke, Belgravia, Trigger Point, and Di Ray.

Monday
Murdoch Mysteries, 8p
Miss Scarlet & The Duke/Belgravia, 9p

Tuesday
This Hour Has 22 Minutes, 8p
Son of a Critch, 8:30p
One More Time, 9p
Run the Burbs, 9:30p

Wednesday
Wild Cards/Trigger Point, 8p
Di Ray/Allegiance, 9p (starts 2/7)

Thursday
Dragons' Den/The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down, 8p
The Nature of Things, 9p

Friday
Marketplace, 8p
About That with Andrew Chang, 8:30p
The Fifth Estate, 9p

Saturday
Hockey Night in Canada, 7p

Sunday
Bollywed, 7p
Push, 7:30p
Feature Documentaries/Ghosting, 8p

3 of these Canadian documentaries featured on Sunday nights were at the 2023 Windsor International Film Festival. Satan Wants You; The Man Who Stole Einstein's Brain; and Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella.

January 7 Satan Wants You (Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams)
January 14 Malcom Is Missing (Robert Osborne and Jari Osborne)
January 21 The Man Who Stole Einstein's Brain (Michelle Shephard)
January 28 Coven (Rama Rau)
February 4 Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella (Barry Avrich)
February 18 Cynara (Sherien Barsoum)
February 25 Skymaster Down (Andrew Gregg)
March 3 I Am Sirat (Deepa Mehta and Sirat Taneja)

2023 CBC television upfront preview

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Watching the CBC cancel shows such as Frankie Drake Mysteries and Tallboyz seems rather foolish, given the lack of depth the public broadcaster has. The CBC padded its fall lineup with limited series based on Canadian films such as BlackBerry, Bones of Crows, and Swan Song. We need more Canadian comedies. Hoping One More Time makes an impact yet the public broadcaster didn't have a Tuesday 9 pm comedy this past fall, going with an American show in a key timeslot.

BREAKING: The CBC is cutting 10 percent of its workforce. 200 jobs that are vacant will not be filled. 600 other jobs will be cut. Cuts are coming to staff & to programming in English & French. The Corporation will need to find $125 million in cost savings for 2024/2025.

— Tom Harrington (@cbctom) December 4, 2023

The Tom Harrington tweet is worth repeating with the announcement of cutbacks at the CBC. The CBC winter 2024 schedule was announced before the cutbacks were disclosed.

Enjoy this while you can??

Twitter captures: @CBC_Publicity; @KPComedy; @cbctom
photo credit: Wild Cards

Happy Holidays 2023 includes the final Letterkenny season

Final Season Cold Open.

You can stream the final season of Letterkenny on @CraveCanada December 25th and on @hulu December 26th if you want to.

From @newmetricmedia. pic.twitter.com/hEJUzia4wB

— Letterkenny Problems (@LetterkennyProb) November 27, 2023

Season 12 of Letterkenny might be the best present you get or the only present you receive. That said, this is the last time you will be able to unwrap a season of the Canadian television, well, let's call it, a classic. This is the final season. Details, very limited ones, are available. If you read the press release, ask if your fellow fans want to know before telling them. Good to be polite.

Same rules apply as in the last few years: Christmas Day on Crave in Canada and Boxing Day on Hulu in the United States.

Finished Shoresy Season 2. The final 2 episodes were way better than the first 4 episodes. Hopefully, Season 3, which is coming, has more Laurence Leboeuf.

There is a new "multi-year creative partnership" with Crave and New Metric Media. "The deal encompasses 49 new episodes for Crave, including LETTERKENNY spin-offs, and the development of all-new series with multi-hyphenate talent, Jared Keeso."

We love the idea of a Bonnie McMurray (Kamilla Kowal) spinoff. Our, well, unusual idea has Katy (Michelle Mylett) in a spinoff with Mylett's (Jamie) co-stars from Four in the Morning: Daniel Maslany (Bondurant), Lola Tash (Mitzi), and Mazin Elsadig (William) and Michelle Mylett as Jamie. We can get that series' creator Ira Parker involved. Mylett starred in that comedy just before Letterkenny.

Four in the Morning would benefit Canadian television with a Netflix boost

BREAKING: The CBC is cutting 10 percent of its workforce. 200 jobs that are vacant will not be filled. 600 other jobs will be cut. Cuts are coming to staff & to programming in English & French. The Corporation will need to find $125 million in cost savings for 2024/2025.

— Tom Harrington (@cbctom) December 4, 2023

Bad enough that the CBC is undergoing significant cuts, especially around the holidays. The idea that executives would still get bonuses in light of the cuts or that those bonuses are tied to those cuts is truly terrible. Adrienne Arsenault's interview of Catherine Tait on The National is vital watching.

CBC resorting to an American show (Animal Control) in a key timeslot in its fall schedule happened before the cuts so we don't want to imagine how much worse things can get for the public broadcaster.

The fact that the cuts will also hit French language programming is also horrible.

Our original plan was to run this segment (below) from This Hour Has 22 Minutes on the opposition leader Pierre Poilievre's hypocrisy on the CBC. The CBC needs to be strong as it can be (if that means fewer executives, so be it) in case Poilievre becomes prime minister.

Canadian content means Canadian jobs. Someone should explain that to the Poilievre, the federal opposition leader.

Some thoughts on CBC a news, Pierre and defunding the CBC https://t.co/MLAaNtq0Lv

— Mark Critch (@markcritch) November 10, 2023

Pierre Poilievre also wants to defund the CBC

If aliens ever came to visit Earth, they would question why humans consider physical health and the health of their teeth to be separate entities. "Aren't your teeth part of your body?"

Few Americans seem to have dental insurance. The ones that do find dental insurance doesn't do all that much. Canada is slowly introducing a dental program for its citizens. Very slowly.

While Justin Trudeau could take credit for this improvement, the true leader in this is Jagmeet Singh, the NDP leader. The threat of taking down the government might have been theoretical, yet arms were twisted to get this going.

The one thing I've learned about Canadian politics is that more gets done with a Liberal minority government where the NDP is the difference. This is also how Canada got a single-payer health care system.

This is yet, when the program gets fully implemented, another way Canada will be better than the United States.

🚨The inaugural PWHL game will take place New Year's Day in Toronto. pic.twitter.com/8pnx2TAagn

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 28, 2023

We applaud the debut of the new Professional Women's Hockey League. We have cities yet not nicknames. The league is very eastern focused with Minnesota being the outlier.

We have heard bits and pieces about TV, all on the Canadian side. We will update when we find out more. The action gets underway on January 1.

Given the violent nature of men's hockey, watching women's hockey may be better for my blood pressure.

TSN and the NHL Network have the 2024 World Juniors from Gothenburg, Sweden starting on Boxing Day. The Scandinavium and Frölundaborg arenas are in play in Gothenburg. The gold medal game is on January 5, 2024. Canada has won the last 2 titles.

Rojek misses the Oscars shortlist cut for Best International Feature Film

TIFF selects Top 10 Canadian films of 2023

Canadian film case study: What Walaa Wants

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Rojek somehow missed the Oscars shortlist for the Best International Feature Film. Seriously, Telefilm Canada might as well nominate a film that is visibly Canadian that may not win over a film that people will struggle to find or watch if they can find the film.

Odd that the Oscars nominee didn't make the TIFF Top Ten list of 2023 Canadian films. That is a bit sarcastic. Only 2 films in the last 7 years have been the Academy Awards nominee and made the TIFF list: Antigone (2019) and Drunken Birds | Les Oiseaux ivres (2021). There is a difference between Telefilm Canada and TIFF.

Shockingly, To Kill a Tiger made the shortlist for Best Documentary Feature over a year after playing at TIFF. Canadians can (hopefully) access the film via the National Film Board of Canada. Your humble narrator tried accessing the film in November and that wasn't an option. Perhaps making the shortlist can increase the chances of those outside Canada watching the film.

We try reasonably hard for someone in our position to see as many from the TIFF Top 10 list that I can. Booking a trip to the Bell Lightbox (which might get a new name in 2024) in Toronto January 25-28 would be easier. We've seen 6 from the 2023 list and have 6 more to see from the 2020-2022 lists.

We have finally seen every film from the 2017, 2018, and 2019 lists. The final one we saw from 2018 was What Walaa Wants.

The lists are mostly good films. Allure (2017) is a great example on how not to make a film where Adventures in Public School (2017) is a well-woven film.

You might be able to find some of TIFF's best films from recent years and eventually catch up on the 2023 list.

CanadianCrossing.com music coverage

Chad Allan (Guess Who) and Myles Goodwyn (April Wine) recently passed away.

Allan was 80. He was a founding member of what was the Guess Who out of Chad Allan and the Reflections (later Expressions). Allan sang a cover of Shakin' All Over that got a boost when a promo copy of the single went to radio stations with "Guess Who?". Burton Cummings, who eventually became the lead singer, joined the band in 1965. Allan left the band in early 1966.

Goodwyn was the lead singer for April Wine and had recently left the band. He was 75. Just Between You and Me is one of those songs that is in my sweet spot. For years, I didn't know April Wine was Canadian. I liked them because they were good.

We didn't write about Matthew Perry when he died. Not everyone gets an obituary. Sorry. Perry seemed like a really interesting person outside of Chandler. He will be missed. RIP.

On Christmas Eve (sometimes New Year's Eve), in many French-speaking areas of Canada, Réveillon is celebrated!

This celebration dates back to the 1700s, so let's learn more about it!

Réveillon was first documented in the 1700s in France. Back then, it was a night-long dinner… pic.twitter.com/xi2owYix8C

— Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx (@CraigBaird) December 5, 2023

I know nothing about Réveillon yet definitely enjoy a tourtière (meat pie). Je ne parle pas Francaise bien. I do try to incorporate the French-Canadian approach when possible. Happy Réveillon to those who celebrate.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

We are running what we know about the CBC winter 2024 schedule over the holidays. No obvious over-the-top American shows airing on the winter schedule as far as we know. CBC has decided to air Season 3 of Best in Miniature next week from December 26-29. If that is your jam, you are in good fortune. The show will also stream on CBC Gem.

We got last-minute news that Hulu is picking up Run the Burbs. The program had been dropped by the CW after Season 2, Episode 3. The first 2 seasons are set to be on Hulu on New Year’s Eve. A beautiful present.

The fine folks at CanadianCrossing.com are taking a holiday break. The CBC winter schedule preview runs on December 29 while the NHL January month in preview runs on January 1. The year to come in travel and politics will run that first full week in January. Breaking news will run as needed, such as if a famous director passes away over the holidays. Schedules are subject to change. We have a lot of archive material to read over the holidays, including many film reviews.

Twitter captures: @LetterkennyProb; @cbctom; @markcritch; @TSN_Sports; @CraigBaird
photo credits: Four in the Morning; Professional Women's Hockey League

Hoping the CW brings back the rest of Season 2 of Run the Burbs

Son of a Critch, Run the Burbs, and Children Ruin Everything have been peas in a pod as Canadian comedies on the CW this summer and fall. They were supposed to be on Tuesdays in the fall, started on Mondays, and switched to Thursdays in October.

Unfortunately, the CW made a change this week, benching Run the Burbs and moving Children Ruin Everything into that 8:30 pm Eastern timeslot on Thursdays this past week.

The CW ran 15 episodes of Run the Burbs, all 12 episodes from Season 1 and 3 episodes from Season 2. There are still 10 more episodes from Season 2. The network is running reruns in the 9-10 pm Eastern block on Thursdays.

The U.S. network has run 17 of the 26 episodes for Son of a Critch and 17 of the 24 episodes for Children Ruin Everything covering the first 2 seasons.

The 10 remaining episodes could return to the CW later in the year, such as during a non-sweeps month. Funny how we leaned toward Run the Burbs over Children Ruin Everything while the CW audience went in the other direction.

We would fight for all of these shows, maybe not Sullivan's Crossing.

Canadian TV notebook: CBC Gem only place to watch Sort Of in 2023

Canadian TV notebook: Fall 2023 premiere dates on both sides of the border

CW announces summer schedule filled with Canadian television

Several U.S. reports have used the word "cancelled" or "ax" to reflect the CW change on Run the Burbs. We can agree to disagree about not carrying further seasons but the U.S. network should air the remaining episodes in the near future or allow fans to stream them through the CW Web site. The ratings could not have been that bad for that specific show.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

We realize that divorce from a U.S. network can come quickly. Private Eyes and Mary Kills People have seasons unseen in the United States but the U.S. outlets finished the seasons they aired.

We figured that the CW running shows with strikes all around would gamble to stick with shows rather than running reruns over original programming. Apparently, we were mistaken. Sigh.

Canadians can catch up with Run the Burbs on CBC Gem. Season 3 airs this winter on CBC and CBC Gem.

photo credit: Run the Burbs
video credit: CBC Comedy

Canadian TV notebook: CBC Gem only place to watch Sort Of in 2023

The news that Sort Of will be over after this upcoming Season 3 also brought information on how this show will be delivered in Canada and the United States.

We were puzzled by many CBC decisions about the fall schedule, such as not announcing an actual fall lineup. There was shame in having a new Fox show in a key CBC timeslot but not enough shame to cancel running the program.

Sort Of has aired on CBC in the fall and Max shortly afterward in the States. CBC Gem gets exclusivity for Season 3 of Sort Of for awhile at least. 2 episodes are available each week starting November 17 with the series finale set for Friday, December 8.

CBC (Canada) and Max (United States) will air the 8 episodes from Season 3 in winter 2024.

We will have more thoughts on the whole amazing series from Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo once we see Season 3. We want to note that Canadian films have risen up to cover these communities in recent years. Soft was a little intense but delightful in many ways.

There are a lot of poorly written films that involve straight people doing lame things, so other audiences should have that right. That said, those audiences deserve more content such as Sort Of and the Canadian film Soft and less of Canadian films such as Something You Said Last Night and Solo.

If you are new to Sort Of or didn't think this was "my kind of show," start with Season 1 and you will be pleasantly surprised. You can catch Seasons 1-2 now on CBC Gem in Canada and Max in the United States.

Canadian film review: Soft

Canadian film review: Something You Said Last Night

You can watch the final season of Letterkenny on @CraveCanada December 25th and on @hulu December 26th if you want to.

From @newmetricmedia. pic.twitter.com/a1dJ44bI3i

— Letterkenny Problems (@LetterkennyProb) November 2, 2023

Letterkenny will bow out after Season 12, coming up on Christmas Day on Crave in Canada and Hulu in the United States. The show gave us a viewfinder to see multiple elements of Canadian society. An English Canadian show that celebrated French speaking Canadians and Indigenous people. Rare indeed.

Having 12 seasons is noteworthy and Jared Keeso, Jacob Tierney, and the whole cast and crew should be understandably proud. Bonnie McMurray could have a spinoff. Just thinking out loud.

Shoresy gets a Season 3 though that will not air until 2024.  

We have an all-Canadian starting lineup for Citytv's new show Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent.

• Detectives: Aden Young and Kathleen Munroe
• Supervisor: Karen Robinson
• Deputy Crown attorney: K.C. Collins
• Forensic pathologist: Nicola Correia-Damude
• Tech expert: Araya Mengesha

The consensus is that the Canadian cast has considerable Canadian and American content on their CVs. Karen Robinson, who is best known to us, might have the fewest non-Canadian credits.

Robinson played a similar role in Pretty Hard Cases. Munroe played a detective in Birdland but will play a more conventional detective on this show.

Tassie Cameron is the showrunner. Cameron co-created (with Sherry White) Pretty Hard Cases (CBC/Freevee) and was the head writer and executive producer on Rookie Blue (Global/ABC).

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent has 10 episodes airing on Citytv in winter 2024. We have no word on a U.S. home at some point. NBC/Peacock is a logical pick given the Law & Order shows on NBC. The CW is always an option.

Speaking of Cameron's old show, you can watch Season 3 (the final season) of Pretty Hard Cases on CBC Gem and Netflix in Canada. Freevee in the United States will finally show Season 3 — all 10 episodes — on November 29.

Canadian film review: Birdland

Canadian TV notebook: Fall 2023 premiere dates on both sides of the border

Speaking of the CW and Canadian TV shows, Wild Cards will be a part of the CBC lineup in winter 2024 and air sometime next year on The CW. The "crime-solving procedural with a comedic twist" features Vanessa Morgan and Giacomo Gianniotti, Canadian actors with plenty of cred south of the 49th parallel.

We weighed in a bit on the Canadian comedies running on the CW. Son of a Critch is a very good show. Run the Burbs and Children Ruin Everything are very similar and air back-to-back in the States yet on rivals (CBC vs. CTV) in Canada. Both shows are good; we have a preference with Run the Burbs because the children are better defined as characters and people than the kids on Children Ruin Everything.

Both shows are good at giving love to secondary characters featuring Ali Hassan and Samantha Wan (Run the Burbs) and Ennis Esmer and Nazneen Contractor (Children Ruin Everything).

The comedy block switched over from Monday to Thursday nights in late October on the CW.

Your humble narrator didn't have much hope for the CTV dramas running this fall on the CW. The Spencer Sisters is sufficiently campy for a low-key watch. Stacy Farber is underappreciated and Lea Thompson is surprisingly good. Their chemistry together helps.

Sullivan's Crossing has a few problems. Getting Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan) out of Boston and back to Nova Scotia should have been so much simpler. The first 15-20 minutes of the pilot episode (the Boston part) was such horrendous television that a weaker person would have given up completely. As a parallel example, Lidia Bennett (Jennifer Finnigan) is in a similar path that was handled much smoother and more realistic on Moonshine (CBC/CW).

The fake drama conversations between Maggie and her lawyer are so terrible that you can fast forward past them. Maggie's boyfriend Andrew (Allan Hawco) is another problem, and not just because he is on CTV (ha ha). We love Hawco but he seems creepy here, which isn't necessarily bad. We know television is full of long gaps in age with a much older man and a young woman. Lynda Boyd, who plays Maggie's mother, was Hawco's stepmother on Republic of Doyle but that was a lot less creepy.

Also, feel free to mute the theme song. The lyrics are bad like poetry you would write if you were really stoned and not talented.

When the show is in Nova Scotia, the program isn't that bad. We were concerned about the American actors Chad Michael Murray (Cal Jones) and Scott Patterson (Harry 'Sully' Sullivan) and they have been fine. Our new favourite couple is the Cranebears: Frank (Tom Jackson) and Edna (Andrea Menard). TV rarely shows a really good couple and they are that couple (pictured above).

The Nova Scotia shots are gorgeous. We love that the U.S. has 2 over-the-air dramas filmed and set in Nova Scotia (Diggstown should have been the third). We think Moonshine is the much better Nova Scotia import to the CW but Sullivan's Crossing is pretty good, as long as the story stays in Nova Scotia.

2023 CBC television upfront preview

CBC will have a Season 2 of Plan B but with a different cast. Season 1 featured Karine Vanasse and Patrick J. Adams while Season 2 will have Vinessa Antoine, Vincent Leclerc, and Sarah Booth.

The Radio-Canada version, the original, is in Season 4 with the same story. Antoine became a big deal when she was the first Black female to be the star in a Canadian TV drama (Diggstown). We know Leclerc more from the Denys Arcand Canadian film La chute de l'empire américain | The Fall of the American Empire. Leclerc did appear in both the English and French language versions of 19-2. We know Booth from Three Pines, where she did well with a small part.

The release does not list a debut timeframe for Season 2 on CBC.

We saw the Season 1 pilot on CBC Gem during our time on Canadian soil. Strong potential there.

Jessye Romeo as Robyn Loxley on Robyn Hood also qualifies as a Black female in a starring role on a Canadian over-the-air drama. Robyn Hood aired on Global TV this fall.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

CBC Gem has a separate area within its umbrella called CBC Comedy. We saw a lot of CBC promos for CBC Comedy during Hockey Night in Canada games.

There are few outlets on the U.S. side to pick up a Citytv feed. The Toronto and Montréal signals might have a small audience in different parts of New York state. CKVU-DT-2 out of Victoria, Channel 27, might get to Port Angeles, WA.

You can find your local CW station in your area for our American readers.

Let us know about a cool Canadian TV show we may not know.

photo credits: Sort Of/CBC; Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent/Citytv; Sullivan's Crossing/CTV
Twitter capture: @LetterkennyProb