Canadian Crossing

Canadian film review: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On

Ahead of her time. Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On does a very solid job at showing who this person was as a singer, songwriter, and activist. You also learn of the many wonderful thoughts and ideas where Buffy Sainte-Marie was way ahead of the rest of us.

Or as Buffy Sainte-Marie tells us, sometimes you have to "carry the medicine for a long time."

She was way ahead on opiods, writing a song called Cod'ine in 1964. Sainte-Marie had been diagnosed with a bronchial infection and was treated with codeine. Robbie Robertson describes in the documentary about how you can get pain reliever from the drugstore that has codeine in Canada.  

Sainte-Marie was calling what happened to Indigenous people as a genocide decades before a lot of others weighed in on the topic.

She appeared in The Heritage episode of The Virginian in 1968. Sainte-Marie insisted that actual Indigenous people play the extras.

They say the strength of a songwriter is measured in how often others want to do a cover version of a song. The Universal Soldier became so popular than many (sadly) thought Donovan wrote the song. Until It's Time for You to Go was covered 157 times since its original release in 1965. Elvis Presley was a big fan of the latter song.

Sainte-Marie won an Academy Award for co-writing Up Where We Belong from An Officer and a Gentleman. During the time where she was blacklisted from having her songs on the radio, she became a frequent guest on Sesame Street. Sainte-Marie breastfed her son Cody on Sesame Street. She said it wasn't controversial then but would be now.

Later in her career, Sainte-Marie made music with computers, again ahead of her time.

We also learn about her activism. There is a teaching moment, as she points out, when someone in the crowd asks about the red dress hanging on stage. Sainte-Marie points out the dress represents the missing and murdered Indigenous girls and women.

Sainte-Marie was born on the Piapot 75 reserve in Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan to Cree parents. As part of the then government policy, she was taken as an infant and adopted by Americans in Wakefield, Massachusetts.

The documentary shows her in Yorkville in Toronto, playing the folk scene in Canada's largest city. 

Some of the Canadians in the documentary include Robbie Robertson, Joni Mitchell, and George Stroumboulopoulos.

CanadianCrossing.com Indigenous coverage

CanadianCrossing.com music coverage

My parents had Buffy Sainte-Marie records when I was a kid. I had no clue she was Canadian. The thought of her being Indigenous back then wasn't even a thought. They liked folk music and she was a significant artist in their collection. My father has been gone for 22 years and my mother has dementia. They would have loved to see a look at the life and career of Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Canadian rock and roll documentary makes Independent Lens debut on PBS

Sainte-Marie was in Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, a Canadian documentary that has also aired on PBS. If this documentary makes you more curious, this other documentary will help satisfy some of that curiosity.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Director Madison Thomas incorporates some reenactments in the film to show moments that weren't captured in the moment. Thomas has a lot of ground to cover. The documentary answers a lot of questions yet keeps the viewer curious to learn more, simply because a documentary, any documentary can only cover so much ground.

Whether you do or don't know much about Buffy Sainte-Marie, this documentary will teach you a lot.

The film premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8.

Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On debuts tonight on PBS as part of the American Masters series. Check your local listings for the PBS station in your area and when the station will show the film. Canadians can watch PBS through cable or satellite as well as antenna in limited areas. The PBS version may be censored in some parts, depending on the station. The film is available in Canada on Crave.

video credit: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On/PBS
photo credit: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On

2022 Toronto Blue Jays second half preview

.@bluejays messed up firing #CharlieMontoyo. Nothing against #JohnSchneider, the new interim manager. Should learn from @NHL teams too easy on the trigger. Montoyo had amazing rapport and connection. #nothisfault @MLB https://t.co/JHo2lLJa4C

— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) July 13, 2022

The Toronto Blue Jays fired Charlie Montoyo with a 46-42 record, a mark that would have earned a playoff spot had the season ended at that point. John Schneider is now in charge on an interim basis for the rest of the season.

The team has gone 4-1 since the move, all of those games at home. Too early to tell.

The Blue Jays played significantly better baseball once back at Rogers Centre in 2021. Many think the team's best baseball is yet to come. Having Hyun Jin Ryu out for the year with elbow surgery has not helped.

Pitching, starting and relieving, needs to be more steady. The offence is not offensive enough so far.

All Blue Jays players making their Opening Day roster are vaccinated, which may give them a real home field advantage. Unvaccinated players by current law r unable to travel to Canada to play immediately. Though vaccination rates r up, many players on other teams remain unvaxxed.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) April 5, 2022

We've seen teams "rest" a few players on the trip to Canada. Some players didn't make the first trip but did make a subsequent trip to Toronto. Teams outside the American League East Division would only make a single trip in 2022. Only a few National League teams are in Toronto, including Joey Votto and the Cincinnati Reds, in 2022.

The New York Yankees have taken a commanding lead. Boston, Tampa Bay, and Toronto are fighting for those wild card spots. Toronto has had so many disadvantages that a break or 2 feels fair. Besides, all the players need to do is get vaccinated.

Any player the Blue Jays would acquire at the trade deadline will have to be vaccinated, something that isn't necessarily true for any other MLB team.

This breakdown shows there isn't really an advantage for the Blue Jays.

The Toronto Blue Jays had 6 players represented at the 2022 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. George Springer was selected but injured. Starters Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk each went 0-for 2.

Pitcher Alek Manoah struck out 3 batters and hit another batter in a memorable 2nd inning. Santiago Espinal came in the game in the 4th inning, grounding out once and then taking a walk. Jordan Romano didn't get into the All-Star Game.

Manoah got to pitch to Kirk, as he requested. Very cool. Fox Sports put a microphone on Manoah.

Mic'd up for his first appearance in the All-Star Game, Alek Manoah didn't disappoint. The Blue Jays right-hander stole the show in many ways, showcasing his live arm and engaging personality in an impressive performance. (@ShiDavidi)https://t.co/Kf25Et7J0J

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 20, 2022

Rogers Sportsnet runs the international feed for the All-Star Game. While most Canadians didn't have access to the microphone part, there is one feature that Sportsnet always carries that MLB on Fox is always afraid to run on television.

2022 Toronto Blue Jays All-Star Game preview

Canadian Anthem actually televised! And sung by a Canadian actress/singer.

If only they didn’t have the organist playing. #ASG2022 pic.twitter.com/Py9RxySq5H

— Bex (@bex_pix) July 20, 2022

O Canada never seemed like a sinister song to ban from television. This sad little game with MLB on Fox, MLB, and Rob Manfred gets more bizarre. Happens every year for more than a decade. No one with power seems to notice or care. A few scattered people go on Twitter and ask, "Didn't we miss the Canadian anthem?"

Fox runs several commercials and promotion spots that serves as a disgrace and insult to Canada. We used to note that Fox Sports would run O Canada on MLS telecasts. Then again, English and Spanish national outlets in the United States won't carry MLS Canadian teams in the regular season.

Melissa O'Neil did a really nice job with the Canadian anthem. She sang the middle part in French. No reason for the ban.

2022 Victoria Day notebook: Alberta in the spotlight

Rarer than even a Canadian quarterback in the CFL is a Canadian manager in MLB. Rob Thomson, Philadelphia Phillies bench coach, is the interim manager for the rest of the season. Thomson was named to the post following the firing of manager Joe Girardi on June 3.

Thomson is from Corunna, Ontario and was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.

George Gibson (London, Ontario) was the last full-time Canadian MLB manager with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1934.

There have been fill-in moments for Thomson in New York and Philadelphia. Canadian catcher Russell Martin managed the Toronto Blue Jays in the team's final game in 2018 as a goodwill gesture from manager John Gibbons.

Ernie Whitt has managed the Canada team in the World Baseball Classic. Stubby Clapp could have been a good MLB manager. Maybe Joey Votto will go that route in his post MLB playing career.

Toronto Blue Jays should get creative in broadcast booth with Buck Martinez's cancer diagnosis

Rogers Sportsnet hasn't been reasonably creative with Buck Martinez being sidelined with cancer treatment. The fill-ins for Dan Shulman have been a combination of radio play-by-play Ben Wagner filling in on TV with a TV/radio simulcast or Matt Devlin, Toronto Raptors play by play person, on the TV side.

Joe Siddall has been helping out on days when Pat Tabler is not available.

Part of the idea of being creative is remembering when the Chicago Cubs had guest announcers fill in for Harry Caray years ago. The Cubs got a bit ridiculous with the replacements. If the Blue Jays had a second radio announcer, Wagner would be the logical go-to fill-in for Shulman.

2022 Toronto Blue Jays preview

2022 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage

The Toronto Blue Jays start the second half of the season at Fenway Park for a 3-game road trip. The Jays have a 6-game homestand starting on Tuesday with 2 games with St. Louis and 4 games with Detroit.

There may be a MLB Extra Innings preview. Maybe not.

Twitter captures: @canadian_xing; @JonHeyman; @Sportsnet; @bex_pix
photo credit: @BlueJays

2022 Toronto Blue Jays All-Star Game preview

A special moment for Espinal. ⭐️💙#NextLevel | @BlueJays pic.twitter.com/t7gK8OJbUa

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 16, 2022

The 2022 Toronto Blue Jays will have an extensive All-Star Game presence tonight at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for the 2022 version.

Catcher Alejandro Kirk will start in his first All-Star Game while 1st baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. starts in his second straight All-Star Game for the American League.

Pitcher Alek Manoah, 2nd baseman Santiago Espinal, and relief ace (and Canadian) Jordan Romano will attend their first All-Star Game. Romano and Los Angeles first baseman Freddie Freeman are the Canadian players on the National League and American League rosters.

Centre fielder George Springer was added to the American League roster but had to withdraw due to an injury.

Other Blue Jays did well in the voting process with Springer and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. finishing 4th and 5th among outfielders; Espinal finished second at 2nd base and Bo Bichette was the runner-up at shortstop.

Houston manager Dusty Baker said Guerrero would bat cleanup for the American League and Kirk will bat in the 9 spot.

Guerrero was invited to the Home Run Derby but declined the invitation. His 2019 performance was memorable even if most don't remember he didn't win. We think that messed up his 2019 second half performance. Team over a flawed derby setup.

2022 Victoria Day notebook: Alberta in the spotlight

Toronto Blue Jays should get creative in broadcast booth with Buck Martinez's cancer diagnosis

2022 Toronto Blue Jays preview

2022 Toronto Blue Jays spring training schedule

CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage

We will have much more about the 2022 Toronto Blue Jays on Friday when the regular season resumes.

The 2022 All-Star Game airs on Fox in the United States and Rogers Sportsnet in Canada. You'll know if you are watching the Canadian feed because the coverage will air O Canada. Fox has refused to run the Canadian anthem for over a decade.

Rob Manfred, if you reading this, share with our readers why you encourage such repulsive and shameless behavior.

Twitter capture: @Sportsnet
photo credit: @BlueJays

Canadian presence on 2022 U.S. TV upfronts

We keep hearing about the relevance of broadcast TV in the United States. The 2022 upfronts, where the networks announce their schedules, were somewhat back to normal yet missing a lot of information.

Shows are introduced without a cast. We only know the fall schedule and even that is a maybe.

Herding cats is easier than tracking down Canadians on U.S. television, even if you limit yourself to broadcast TV. This is a futile exercise on many levels but some information is better than zero.

This compilation does not include Canadian TV shows airing in the United States, such as Transplant on NBC. We should note that the CW network, which cancelled a lot of shows, has a Sunday night lineup of Canadian dramas: Family Law at 8 pm Eastern followed by Season 4 of Coroner at 9 pm Eastern.

Then again, several reports have Season 4 of Coroner debut on the U.S. network on June 2. Even if Family Law is part of the fall lineup, that show could start in what we would consider the summer.

Family Law airs on Global and Coroner on CBC.

To no one's shock or surprise, Fox had no news on Diggstown, the CBC show that Fox acquired in late January 2021. There are 20 episodes in the 3 seasons on CBC.

Canadian presence on 2021 U.S. TV upfronts

Let's start with what we do know on the over-the-air broadcast front.

Actor	Show	Network	Fate
Nathan Fillion	The Rookie	ABC	Season 5
Grace Park	A Million Little Things	ABC	Season 5
Bruce Greenwood	The Resident	Fox	Season 6
Emily VanCamp	The Resident	Fox	Left after Season 4
Colin Mochrie	Whose Line Is It Anyway	CW	Season 18/Season 10 for CW
Dwayne Johnson	Young Rock	NBC	Season 3
Tyler Labine	New Amsterdam	NBC	Season 5; final season
Kevin O'Leary	Shark Tank	ABC	Season 14
Thomas Middleditch	B Positive	CBS	Cancelled; 2 seasons
Wendy Crewson	Good Sam	CBS	Cancelled; 1 season
Megan Follows	The Republic of Sarah	CW	Cancelled; 1 season

 

Will Arnett serves as host and executive producer of Lego Masters on Fox. Season 3 will likely air this fall though no timetable is set.

Athena Karkanis is on Manifest, now on Netflix with Season 4 to come. Annie Murphy stars in Kevin Can F**k Himself where Season 2 will arrive but that will be the final season on AMC.

We noted earlier that SurrealEstate will be back for Season 2 on Syfy and the CTV Sci-Fi Channel. The program has been cancelled and then un-cancelled. Tim Rozon and Sarah Levy (Schitt's Creek) star in the show that will be back in 2023.

Mark O'Brien (Republic of Doyle) is a part of 61st Street on AMC. The Season 1 debut was April 10. There will be a Season 2.

Sarah Chalke stars with Katherine Heigl on Firefly Lane on Netflix with a Season 2 to come.

Amybeth McNulty (Anne with an E) is a recurring actor on Season 4 of Stranger Things on Netflix. Season 5 will be the final season.

Jill Hennessy and Mark O'Brien are on City on a Hill on Showtime. Season 3 is scheduled to premiere on July 31.

Rutherford Falls a first for Indigenous people on U.S. television

Rutherford Falls returns with Season 2 on Peacock on June 16. Michael Greyeyes is the most prominent Canadian on this show.

Season 2 of Reservation Dogs with several Canadian actors, including Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs, is scheduled to premiere in 2022 on FX on Hulu.

Canadian presence on 2020 U.S. TV upfronts

Canadian presence on 2019 U.S. TV upfronts

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee on TBS features the aforementioned Samantha Bee. Her husband Jason Jones is behind the scenes. Allana Harkin serves as a producer and correspondent on the show. The program is in Season 7 now airing Thursday nights at 10 pm Eastern.

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is the lead in the Netflix teen comedy series Never Have I Ever from co-creator Mindy Kaling. Season 3 is scheduled for August 12. Season 4, the final season, is scheduled for 2023.

Season 6 of The Expanse is out on Amazon Prime Video with a lot of Canadians in the cast. That was the final season.

Jennifer Robertson, Sara Waisglass, and Raymond Ablack are part of the main cast of Ginny & Georgia on Netflix. There are several Canadian actors in the recurring list. Season 1 is available and Season 2 will happen soon.

Noah Reid and Tamara Podemski are part of the cast of Outer Range on Amazon Prime Video. The show debuted Season 1 on April 15.

Emily Hampshire is linked to The Rig on Amazon Prime Video (sometime in 2022), the Epix horror series Chapelwaite (out now), Slip for the Roku Channel (still to come), and a reboot of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman with her Montréal buddy Jacob Tierney for TBS.

Sandra Oh was outstanding in Killing Eve, which has ended its 4-season run on BBC America. Martin Short is in Only Murders in the Building on Hulu. Season 2 is set to premiere on June 28.

Mike Myers is the star and creator of Pentaverate, a strange series on Netflix that involves a few lame jokes about Canada.

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

Almost everything is subject to change. Let us know in the comments section if we missed any Canadians on U.S. TV shows.

photo credit: The Rookie/ABC

Jeopardy! champion Mattea Roach finishes amazing run of 23 straight victories

There was, for a time, a difficulty for Canadians to register online to be on Jeopardy!. That was a while back. Mattea Roach just finished an incredible run and now the Canadian tutor is in the top 5 all-time for Jeopardy! contestants.

Roach narrowly lost on Friday, ending her run that resulted in 23 wins and $560,983 U.S. (approximately $722,498 Canadian).

While Roach lives in Toronto, she was also celebrated in her childhood home in Nova Scotia.

Roach talked about the beauty in and around Cape Breton Highlands National Park in response to Ken Jennings' question about her favourite place in Canada. "My mom grew up about a 10-minute drive from the entrance of this national park in Ingonish," Roach said. "My grandparents still live there so I've been lucky enough to visit the beautiful, beautiful scenery there at least once a year pretty much my whole life."

Back in the homeland so I had to pay a visit to some of my earliest hardcore supporters! pic.twitter.com/cOJw8ehi6L

— Mattea Roach (@mattearoach) May 5, 2022

This shot is from the grocery store run by her great-aunt and uncle in Marion Bridge on Cape Breton Island. Maybe there is a relationship to the fantastic Canadian film Marion Bridge.

Roach has called Toronto home for some time. Both areas are taking credit for Roach.

Cape Breton Island invokes Donald Trump to draw Americans to move there

Canadian film review: Marion Bridge

CanadianCrossing.com Nova Scotia coverage

The final Jeopardy question in win #21 had Canadian flair. The clue was "'Terre de nos aïeux' follows the title in the French version of this anthem." If you have watched the anthem before a Montréal Canadiens game, you would know the answer was O Canada.

Clue: The winner of 23 consecutive episodes of @Jeopardy. The youngest “super champion” in the show’s history. And the person who has made us so proud back here at home.

Answer: Who is @MatteaRoach?

Congratulations on your historic run, Mattea! We couldn’t be prouder.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 7, 2022

Roach, who is 23, had 23 wins and received congratulations from the 23rd prime minister of Canada.

Saying goodbye to Alex Trebek

Canadians able to go online to apply for Jeopardy!

Canadians can get on Jeopardy!, but it's not an easy path

Jeopardy! contestant comes up blank on Canadian cities

There was a kerfuffle over a NBC News account that referred to Roach as a "lesbian tutor." Roach is a lesbian but would seem to be a tutor who happens to be a lesbian as opposed to a lesbian tutor.

Ask Me Anything: Mattea Roach on competing in Jeopardy! (Cross Country Checkup)

In her 23 wins (not counting the 24th episode), Roach had 633 correct answers and 59 incorrect answers, 6th all time among Jeopardy! champions.

Canada's maple leaf flag turns 50

Watson may know many Jeopardy! questions, but doesn't know Toronto is outside United States

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

Only Ken Jennings, Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, and James Holzhauer won more games or money during their time on the show. Too bad Alex Trebek wasn't around to see this happen.

Roach will return to Jeopardy! for the Tournament of Champions this fall.

photo credit: Jeopardy! Productions/CBC News
Twitter captures: @mattearoach; @JustinTrudeau

Canadian TV notebook: CW picks up Season 1 of the Global TV series Family Law

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the date for the BET+ debut of The Porter.

The CW network in the United States has picked up Season 1 of the Global TV series Family Law. The 10-episode Season 1 does not have a start date.

The Canadian show premiered in Italy even before the show aired in Canada. The Nine Network carries the series in Australia.

Jewel Staite stars as lawyer and recovering alcoholic Abigail Bianchi. The premise is that she has to work at her estranged father Harry’s (Victor Garber) law firm as a condition of her probation. She also has to form relationships with her half-siblings (Zach Smadu and Genelle Williams).

Staite was the star of the not-so-great Canadian film A Frosty Affair and the much better Canadian film How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town.

Garber has a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Lead Actor, Drama Series for Family Law.

CW had carried Burden of Truth so the show could fit into a late spring or summer timeslot. The U.S. network also carries Coroner (CBC) and did carry CBC shows Trickster and Fridge Wars.

There have been Global shows that aired in the United States. Ion television carried the first 2 seasons of Private Eyes (5 seasons on Global) and Lifetime television carried the first 2 seasons of Mary Kills People. Hulu doesn't even have the final season of the show.

2021 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

Trickster coming to the U.S. on the CW in January

Transplant fans are used to subtitles with Bash (Hamza Haq) and other characters speaking in Arabic. In Season 2, Episode 3 (Sever), we heard the French language.

Dr. Mags Leblanc (Laurence Leboeuf) had a scene where she joins her sister Camille (Mylène Mackay) for lunch. They speak in French and English in the scene. Leboeuf crosses over easily from French to English and Canada and the United States.

Anglophones watching Transplant on CTV and NBC may not have known Mags is fluent in French. As we've noted, French speaking actors are more likely to cross over to English in Canada. Leboeuf has also worked in Montréal on the English language show 19-2. Even though Transplant is set in Toronto, the show is actually filmed in Montréal.

Leboeuf played one of the many Tremblays in French Immersion, a Canadian film co-written and directed by Kevin Tierney (Jacob Tierney's father). The elder Tierney also co-wrote and produced Bon Cop, Bad Cop, another film that plays on the French-English divide.

Letterkenny is one of the few anglophone shows that acknowledges French Canada. Jared Keeso, who co-created the show with Jacob Tierney, also starred on 19-2.

Mackay was the lead in Nelly.

Transplant Season 2 airs on CTV and NBC.

Canadian TV notebook: Transplant Season 2 debuts Sunday on NBC

Bilingual Canadian actors tend to flow from French to English

Ion Plus, a streaming service of sorts, may be a good resource for Canadian TV shows. According to the Wikipedia listing, Ion Plus "linear broadcast is found on Samsung TV Plus and Vizio WatchFree without advertisements."

The channel has Murdoch Mysteries, Hudson & Rex, Saving Hope, and Private Eyes.

The problem is that you have to know when the show is on; these programs are not available on demand. Unless we did something wrong. We consider ourselves to be reasonably technically aware and are confused by how this works.

If we can figure this out, we will update this story. If Ion Plus makes sense to you, let us know in the comments.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

The Porter will debut in the United States on BET+ on May 5. We wondered back in March as to when the show would arrive on the U.S. streaming service.

Season 1 has been running on CBC since February 21. The Season 1 finale airs next Monday (April 11) at 9 pm local time on CBC.

Canadians can catch up on past episodes through CBC Gem. There are 8 episodes in Season 1.

We saw the first episode and found the show gripping and well told.

photo credit: Family Law/Global

Canadian TV notebook: Transplant Season 2 debuts Sunday on NBC

Season 2 of Transplant starts up on NBC starting Sunday at 10 pm Eastern. Season 2 of Transplant is currently running on CTV with 8 episodes aired so far. Transplant runs on CTV on Tuesday nights at 10 pm Eastern.

CTV did a sim sub in Season 1 when the program aired on NBC. That sim sub later moved to CTV2. A sim sub may not be practical for Season 2.

The show did surprisingly well in the United States, ranking as the #2 new drama in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Transplant is nominated once again for Best Drama Series at the Canadian Screen Awards, one of 9 nominations for the show. Hamza Haq (Best Lead Actor, Drama Series), Laurence Leboeuf (Best Lead Actress, Drama Series), and Ayisha Issa (Best Supporting Actress, Drama) were nominated in individual acting categories. The show and Haq won awards for Season 1.

Transplant has been renewed for Season 3 on CTV and NBC.

2022 Canadian Screen Awards nominations: Television

Sort Of will be back for Season 2 on CBC and HBO Max. Season 1 was some of the best television we have seen in some time. Intrinsic characters and interaction. Children who didn't behave like TV children often do.

The 8 episodes in Season 1 left us wanting more about Sabi (Bilal Baig). Will Bessy (Grace Lynn Kung) be back to where she was before the accident? Will Sabi get to Berlin even just to visit?

The Toronto International Film Festival ran Season 1 episodes as a preview. CBC Gem had the episodes streaming before they even aired on Canadian TV. We will be curious if Season 2 runs relatively normal (by 2022 standards).

Sort Of received 13 Canadian Screen Awards nominations, including Best Comedy. Still stunned that there are no individual acting nominees.

Canadian TV notebook: Sort Of makes its CBC television debut

You might have seen Mary Berg on Mary Makes It Easy on the Food Network in the United States. If you have seen her before, that was likely on Season 3 of MasterChef Canada, which Berg won.

The Food Network is running episodes of Mary Makes It Easy on Saturdays at noon Eastern.

Your humble narrator surprised himself by watching more of MasterChef Canada because of Berg's charm.

In Mary Makes It Easy, Berg presents dishes as if they are easy. Novice and even decent cooks might need to tape the show and pause quite often because she goes very fast. She also has a knack of shortening words such as "parm" for parmesan.

Berg's relates well to cooks who want to learn. The show is good entertainment even if you aren't much into cooking.

One year after Fox acquires Diggstown rights, unknown when episodes will air

Missed the premiere? Stream it free on CBC Gem and see what everyone's talking about!

— The Porter (@ThePorterSeries) February 24, 2022

The Porter is off to a good start from all the reports we have seen. The series covers the world of Black porters on train lines from Chicago to Toronto to Montréal. Oscar Peterson’s father was a porter.

Got a chance to see the pilot episode. Wow. The story is intensive but very well done. As my friend Leroy pointed out, really nice production. He is definitely correct. Ronnie Rowe Jr., who was tremendous in Black Cop, is really good here. Always good to see Kevin Hanchard in the production.

The program is also a BET+ production. The issue is finding out what shows BET+ currently carries. A free trial might be worthy if we knew The Porter was currently running. If nothing else, you can take a free trial to see Diggstown since Fox isn't in a hurry to show the program to the U.S. audience.

Black History Month came and went quickly since somehow the shortest month (February) is attached to Black history. We should learn about that year round. Help us out BET+: we might even buy in for a month if we know what we can watch.

Canadians can catch up on The Porter on CBC Gem.

The Black Academy will have an awards show on CBC in 2022

Tom Power Q interview with Alfre Woodard on The Porter (CBC Radio One)

2022 CBC television winter preview

Got a chance to see the debut of Children Ruin Everything, running on CTV Wednesdays at 8 pm. Loved seeing Nazneen Contractor and Lisa Codrington work well against previous casting and Ennis Esmer in that great supporting role where he excels.

A pilot episode is such a rough way to judge a TV show. I would say closer to Run the Burbs than Strays. Meaghan Rath and Aaron Abrams are good as the parents and the children aren't annoying. Worth trying out from our perspective, especially if you are parents with children.

Children Ruin Everything has been renewed for Season 2 and the Roku Channel will pick up both seasons.

Canadians can stream CTV shows through the CTV Web site.

Got an opportunity to see the Son of a Critch debut. Promising. The public broadcaster said Son of a Critch scored its highest rating for a comedy premiere since the Kim’s Convenience debut in October 2016. That CBC show has also been renewed for Season 2.

Son of a Critch has a deal with Lionsgate for U.S. and international distribution rights. Netflix would be a nice landing spot, given that the streaming service carries fellow Newfoundland show Republic of Doyle.

Run the Burbs also renewed for Season 2.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

Brioux.tv is a good source of Canadian TV information. The Web site reported that Murdoch Mysteries is now Canada's longest running hour-long drama, beating out Heartland in number of episodes. Murdoch Mysteries aired its 233nd episode Monday night. Heartland has 232 episodes.

The key is hour-long drama. The Beachcombers, a 30-minute program, ran on CBC from 1972-1990 with 19 seasons and 387 episodes.

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

We love the folks at tv-eh.com and read them often. They used to have podcasts every so often. This particular break has been quite long. The newest podcast talks about season renewals for Transplant and Sort Of, among other topics.

photo credits: Transplant; Sort Of
Twitter capture: @ThePorterSeries
video credit: The Porter/CBC

60 Minutes tells the stories of the damage from residential schools in Canada

Editor's note: There is definitely language and stories that could be triggering to sufferers of the impact of residential schools in Canada.

60 Minutes and Anderson Cooper came to Canada in October to look into the unmarked graves found at residential schools. Last night, they told the U.S. audience of the atrocities north of the border.

Cooper spoke with Leona Wolf, Chief Wilton Littlechild, and Ed Bitternose. The idea was to speak inside the residential school buildings so they could point to rooms or places where these horrible incidents happened.

Wolf spoke of Father Joyal fondling girls, including her cousin, who was 8. Littlechild came to a residential school in Alberta, where his name was 65 as in "Sixty-five, pick that up stupid." "65, why'd you do that, idiot?" Bitternose said because of his experience, he didn't tell his wife he loved her until they were married about 40 years, "and then I was very careful how I said it."

Cooper covered the basics that have been reported. The exceptions were how the Catholic Church reneged on restitution money as well as how the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said there were thousands of graves long before they were discovered.

“That's where my house was. I would sit here and wonder why I couldn't be home.”

Ed Bitternose was taken to a residential school within view of where his parents lived. He says he was abused by other children and a nun, but began healing when he re-discovered his Cree culture. pic.twitter.com/6Mk8qEZNbZ

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 7, 2022

Archeologist Kisha Supernant weighed in on the multi-generational impact of residential schools, "Our communities still feel the impacts of these institutions in our everyday lives. We're way over-represented in child welfare and adoptions and foster care. We're way over-represented in the prisons. You can draw a direct line with that to these places and the pain of that, that has been passed on from generation to generation."

Wolf spoke to that with her mother and how she treated her and how she treated her children.

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The segment was about what happened in Canada. The piece did have a paragraph about what had happened in the United States. "The idea for the schools came in part from the United States. In 1879 the Carlisle Indian Industrial School opened in Pennsylvania, where this photo was taken of Native American children when they first arrived. This is them four months later. The school's motto was 'kill the Indian, save the man.'"

There is a trauma in having the interviews inside the buildings where these horrible deeds took place. The cruelty of having their hair cut, being assigned numbers or Christian names, as Littlechild put it, the motto was, "kill the Indian in the child": these are the small but painful traumas deliberately set into a system justified by the government.

Regular readers know we are destined to bring up Lynn Beyak's name in all of this. The former Conservative senator, one of many scandalous appointments by then Prime Minister Stephen Harper, spent a lot of political capital on the idea that residential schools weren't so bad.

Beyak retired just over a year ago from the Senate. She might have watched the 60 Minutes story and not learned a lot from the experience. While some Canadians may agree with Beyak's views, at least they aren't in the position of a senator.

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You can watch the 60 Minutes segment. The CBS News program runs on CBS in the United States and Global in Canada.

photo credit: 60 Minutes
Twitter capture: @60Minutes

One year after Fox acquires Diggstown rights, unknown when episodes will air

Your humble narrator got an unexpected birthday present last year: Fox acquired the rights to Diggstown, the CBC drama starring Vinessa Antoine.

Since then, your humble narrator has been doing Internet searches on when Fox was going to run at least the first 2 seasons. Season 3 finally aired on CBC this fall. So far, no news is no news.

The CBC drama has been available in the States on BET+. An airing on Fox would reach a wider audience.

Antoine is known in the States for her work on General Hospital. Diggstown has some actors whose faces may be familiar: Natasha Henstridge, Stacey Farber, Brandon Oakes, and Tim Rozon. The show also features fine acting talent in C. David Johnson, Shailene Garnett, Dwain Murphy, Mpho Koaho, and Kim Roberts.

There are 12 episodes over the first 2 seasons. Season 3 has 8 episodes.

New actors for Season 3 include Antoinette Robertson, Crystle Lightning, and Nicole Muñoz.

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Diggstown is a very liberal program in a sea of U.S. drama shows dominated by violent and conservative crime drama shows from CBS.  The connection with the show and the Black population in Nova Scotia will likely go over the head of most Americans.

U.S. produced network TV shows have few Indigenous actors so Brandon Oakes will stand out.

Yet Fox acquired the rights. When will the network air the show?

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Your humble narrator has seen 3 episodes from Season 1, 50% of that season. The 3 episodes were solid drama with a group of actors who seem genuinely happy to be in this space.

One fun tidbit was that Peter Keleghan played the father for Farber's character. Those on both sides of the border might remember that Keleghan played Farber's father-in-law on 18 to Life. You might not remember.

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We've seen the easy transition of Transplant, Coroner, Trickster, and Nurses from Canadian TV to U.S. over-the-air television. Diggstown could make that transition. The fact that Fox hasn't moved on Diggstown is not a good sign. The U.S audience would enjoy the show. If Fox doesn't want that audience, give the show to an outlet that will appreciate the show. 

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CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

Canadians can watch all 3 seasons of Diggstown on CBC Gem. Those on the U.S. side can watch on BET+ and maybe, someday on Fox.

photo credit: Diggstown/CBC

60 Minutes takes us to Fogo Island in Newfoundland

"… Fogo Island, a 90-square-mile patchwork of 10 minuscule fishing villages where clapboard houses the color of jelly beans cling to rock 400 million years old. Among its quirks, Newfoundland has its own time zone, half an hour ahead of the mainland. But wander through Fogo Island's villages and you might as well set your watch back to the 18th century."

This is how Jon Wertheim of 60 Minutes described this island, which is north northeast of Gander in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The story is about Fogo Island as well as Zita Cobb, who came back to the region where she grew up. The economic idea was to build a $40 million, luxury inn, a plan to diversify the economy in the remote part of a remote province.

Microloans were also part of the plan to enrich local business: furniture and quilts for the inn, hydroponics, even a local coffee shop.

The story also mentions cod, or as they call it in that part of the world, fish. Crab and shrimp are now more prominent than cod. Cod is back with limits.

Cobb noted that the idea is growth but not too much growth: "less market share." "We're optimizing for place. We're optimizing for community."

Wertheim tells the backstory of the cod industry in Newfoundland and Labrador. Most readers of our blog know that backstory but we remind ourselves that most people who watch 60 Minutes may not know or remember.

There was lots of talk about hospitality, as in "love of a stranger" and "come from away." There was a lovely scene where the people gather with a lot of Newfoundland music. The top photo comes from that place, a nice nod to the distinct time zone, the only one of its kind in North America.

That photo came from what Wertheim said the locals dubbed a "shed party," which seems like a kitchen party in a shed.

Canada only gets mentioned in terms of the cod fishing industry.

Canadians and Americans can travel to fancier places for cheaper than traveling to the Rock. You do get a very different perspective traveling to such a place that you wouldn't get from travel spots your friends are more likely to recognize.

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You can follow more of the 60 Minutes coverage of Fogo Island. 60 Minutes runs on CBS in the United States and Global in Canada.

photos credit: 60 Minutes/CBS