Canadian Crossing

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

You ready?

Stream Shoresy Season 2 starting September 29 on @CraveCanada and October 27 on @hulu. From @newmetricmedia. pic.twitter.com/qvE7TraOLW

— Shoresy (@ShoresyHockey) September 15, 2023

Fall TV premieres are normally an over-the-air concept in the early fall. Well, we are in a different world thanks to the writers and actors strikes.

We do have some premiere news for Canadian TV fans on both sides of the border. While Letterkenny debuts are a day apart (Christmas Day in Canada, Boxing Day in the United States), Season 2 of Shoresy had a longer wait time in the United States.

Canadian streamers of Crave can start watching Shoresy on September 29 while Hulu subscribers have to wait until October 27. Crave subscribers via satellite will have to wait for the show to appear on its schedule. Crave used to issue a monthly schedule but Bell Media scrapped that back in May. (Boo!!)

Season 2 will have 6 episodes, just like Season 1.

You could plan a trip to Canada and find an Airbnb that has Crave. A worthy road trip, especially since you can buy ketchup chips and butter tarts, snacking while you binge on Jared Keeso and the cast.

We begged and begged (and begged) for NBC to finally let us know when the U.S. network would air Season 3 of the CTV show Transplant. The last implication we had was a longer wait, like spring of 2024.

We have better news: NBC will run Season 3 of Transplant on Thursday nights beginning October 12 at 9 pm Eastern.

CTV or CTV2 might simsub those episodes, depending on its own mostly U.S. TV lineup. Season 3 ran on CTV in Canada last fall and winter. There are 13 episodes. Here's hoping NBC will air them in a row instead of screwing up, like the network did for Season 2.

Canadians can catch up via CTV.ca while Americans can watch episodes (after they have aired on NBC) on Peacock.

Canadians can watch Season 4, the final season, on Fridays at 9 pm starting October 6 on CTV. There will only be 10 episodes in Season 4. This would free up NBC to air Season 4 next winter, though there are no guarantees.

"I'd always intended a four-season window into Bashir's life as he completes his medical residency for a second time, sets down roots in Canada, and learns to shed some of his past, and it's incredibly fulfilling to be able to tell his complete story,” said Joseph Kay, Transplant creator, executive producer, and showrunner. We expect CTV would want more of Dr. Bashir Hamed (Hamza Haq) and the group.

We are not talking out of school to say John Hannah (Dr. Jedediah "Jed" Bishop) is not back for Season 3. We still miss Grace Lynn Kung as Viv, the social worker who only appeared in Season 1.

The CW finished its runs of Season 2 of Family Law (from Global) and Season 1 of Moonshine (from CBC). The network is running through its comedy lineup with Son of a Critch, Run the Burbs, and Children Ruin Everything.

Those comedies are running on Monday nights instead of the intended switch to Tuesday nights. The shows will switch to Thursdays on October 19.

The U.S. network will run Sullivan's Crossing at 8 pm Eastern and The Spencer Sisters at 9 pm Eastern on Wednesdays starting October 4 on the CW. Both dramas aired 10 episodes last winter and spring on CTV.

Son of a Critch has 2 seasons, 13 episodes each season. Run the Burbs has 2 seasons, 12 in the first and 13 in the second. Season 3 for both shows will air this winter on CBC.

The Season 3 premiere of Children Ruin Everything on CTV airs Wednesday evenings, starting September 27 at 9 pm. The Bell Media release says Season 3 of Children Ruin Everything will premiere on The CW, though with no set date.

2023 CBC television fall preview

Son of a Critch fans should know VOCM is a real radio station in St. John's

Actors and writers strikes could bring some advantage to Canada but others are suffering

CW announces summer schedule filled with Canadian television

Canadian TV notebook: A much longer wait for Season 3 of Transplant on NBC

SurrealEstate Season 2 will finally air on SyFy in the United States and CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada on October 4.

You might recall that the drama, which was cancelled and then renewed, starred Tim Rozon and Sarah Levy as heads of a real estate agency dealing in haunted houses. The cast also features Adam Korson, Maurice Dean Wint, Savannah Basley, and Tennille Read.

We had little expectations of the show beyond a Season 2. Anything else would be gravy though we feel the show deserved a Season 2.

2023 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

We mentioned Little Bird, a 6-part series about a young Indigenous woman raised by a Montréal Jewish family. The show ran on APTN Lumi and Crave. 

Now the show will have a run on APTN in Canada and PBS in the United States. The debut date on those platforms is October 12.

FNX was a great outlet for Indigenous programming in the United States, though the outlets are scattered. Glad to see PBS filling a needed gap south of the 49th parallel.  

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

CanadianCrossing.com CBC coverage

Let us know if we missed an upcoming premiere date for a Canadian TV show.

Twitter capture: @ShoresyHockey
video capture: Crave
photo credits: CTV (x2)

2023 Canada Day notebook

CANADA IS... pic.twitter.com/biazACVHgB

— Brittlestar (@brittlestar) June 2, 2023

Welcome to Canada Day 2023. Older people might remember this day as Dominion Day, which is essentially the same thing. Our Quebec friends know this more as Moving Day, especially in Montréal.

Our Newfoundland friends celebrate Memorial Day on July 1 for losses of approximately 700 soldiers of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment from the Dominion of Newfoundland at Beaumont-Hamel in 1917 during World War I.

If you are checking in from the United States, you might have the impression that Canada is on fire. The wildfires season started really early. Quebec, Ontario, and Alberta were the major sources of the smoke that went south into the United States. The fact that the smoke went into New York City and Washington, DC makes anything more significant since the cable news channels are there.

Chicago got a significant dose of smoke this week. Those cable news channels report on smoke but not the actual fires in Canada.

Nova Scotia isn't usually on the Canada wildfires list but there were plenty of smoke and fire around Halifax.

Canada says "sorry" for being on fire so much and spreading that smoke across the border.

If you do like Canada, and why would you read this if you don't, we suggest following @brittlestar on Twitter. This is the kind of stuff (at the top of the column) we enjoy from him.

This is our annual Canada Day notebook so you can keep up. With the U.S. holiday, we may not post much until mid week.

Grocery rebate is helpful for Canadians while Americans struggle without help

The grocery rebate we mentioned earlier this year will start going out to Canadians on July 5.

Eligible families of 4 will receive up to $467; single people without children get up to $234; and seniors will get up to $225.

Speaking of smoking, Canadian cigarette packages have been more obvious about the evils of smoking than any U.S. cigarette packaging. The Canadian push will get a boost starting August 1. Health Canada is introducing new warning labels on the cigarettes themselves. Some of the messages include:

• Cigarettes cause cancer
• Cigarettes cause impotence
• Cigarettes damage your organs
• Tobacco smoke harms children
• Poison in every puff

Canada will become the first country to put warning labels on individual cigarettes.

This also might be a deterrent for smuggling cigarettes. While the packaging has been different, the nuance between individual cigarettes from the U.S. vs. Canada has been virtually zero. Now American cigarettes can be identified because they don't have warning labels on the actual cigarette.

If you smoke in the United States and thinking your cigarettes are expensive, Canadian smokers are like, "hold my beer."

39,999,998… 39,999,999… 40,000,000!

Canada’s population has officially reached 40 million people! 🎉 https://t.co/dR46gGFq8x #40millionCDNS #40MillionAndGrowing pic.twitter.com/V4PzrN9tHN

— Statistics Canada (@StatCan_eng) June 16, 2023

Statistics Canada has Canada at 40 million and growing. Canada's population grew by a record 1.05 million in 2022 with 96% of that increase due to international migration.

The housing shortages in several major Canadian cities, not just Toronto and Vancouver, means even more housing needs to be built. Even Windsor is struggling with housing shortages.

The American Dream is alive, just in Canada. To be fair, even the American Dream is struggling in Canada.

I Am Canadian was the long-time slogan of Molson Canadian beer. The time was 1994-1999 and again in 2000-2005. Canadians are fairly humble about (aboot?) their own country. This was a nice reminder of the reasons why Canadians should be proud of what they have. Canada Day feels like a good day to watch that commercial.

USCG presser about the lost submersible

Odd

The thing was discovered by CDNs

Using a CDN ROV

From a CDN ship

The effort was supported entirely from St John's .. with Canadian Coast Guard ships

RCAF Auroras constantly dropping sonobuoys

AND yet "Canada" was never mentioned

— robert lavigne (@robertlavigne) June 23, 2023

Canada is a helpful country but U.S. journalism goes out of its way to not acknowledge Canada's help. Still blows my mind that they ignored what Canada did on 9/11 with airplanes, and not just in Newfoundland.

Olivia Chow will be the next Toronto mayor

We did report on Toronto's next mayor. Olivia Chow knows her way around Toronto. There is a lot of work that needs to be done and we couldn't think of anyone better to do this difficult work.

U.S. makes progress on same-sex marriage, but still short of Canada (2013)

While Canada legalized same-sex marriage in 2005, Ontario is celebrating 20 years of same-sex marriage since the first ceremony was performed on June 10, 2003. There was a time where some people went to Canada to get married before they could in the United States. 

Love is love.

CW announces summer schedule filled with Canadian television

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

The CW debuts of Canadian TV shows air later this month:

• Family Law July 7
• Moonshine July 7
• Son of a Critch July 24
• Children Ruin Everything July 24
• Run the Burbs July 31

We have details on times for those debuts. There is also some lovely reading on what Paramount + is doing with Canadian film and Canadian television. Variety looks into the difficulties of making Canadian TV.

Your humble narrator has seen 19-2, the English language remake of the Quebecois show of the same name. The French version was created by and stars Claude Legault and Réal Bossé. Now Netflix in the United States has the original French-language version of the show. That version has 30 episodes over 3 seasons.

Acorn TV carries the English language version with Adrian Holmes and Jared Keeso.

CBC Saturday night Canadian film schedule for late June 2023

CBC normally runs Canadian films on Saturday nights in the summer. Canada Day falls on a Saturday so the CBC will run Canada Day festivities. The films resume on July 8 and we will have an update next Friday.

CBC News Special: Canada Day 2023 runs at 11:30 am local time (noon in most of Newfoundland) for 2 hours. The 2-hour prime time celebration Canada Day in the Capital featuring the annual Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill runs at 8 pm local time.

CBC will also air Tower of Song: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen, a star-studded tribute concert honouring the Canadian musician and songwriter. Times differ depending on where you are in Canada.

2023 CFL Week 4 preview

The CFL smartly schedules a Canada Day game, though in the CFL city least likely to celebrate the holiday. Winnipeg is in Montréal for the 7 pm Eastern kickoff. The BC Lions are in Toronto for a July 4 eve (July 3) game on Monday night.

The Saturday and Monday games are on TSN in Canada and the CBS Sports Network in the United States.

The league also gave 3 of the 9 teams the weekend off so they can celebrate in style: Calgary, Hamilton, and Saskatchewan.

Rogers Centre renovations help but Canada still needs a really good baseball stadium

2023 Toronto Blue Jays preview

The Blue Jays play on Canada Day at 3:07 pm against Boston. Toronto is wrapping up a homestand on Sunday that featured both Bay Area teams — Oakland and San Francisco. The Blue Jays then travel to Chicago and Detroit before the All-Star Game break.

Rogers Sportsnet will have the Canada Day game. MLB Network usually carries the Canada Day game but not in 2023. The channel is not even carrying a Saturday afternoon game. MLB Network will have Sunday's matinee game, hopefully with the Blue Jays feed.

The Toronto Blue Jays have a 45-38 record so far in 2023, 11 games out in the AL East Division. Alek Manoah is not coming back soon. The Blue Jays will not have a position player starting in the All-Star Game (July 11 in Seattle) for the first time since 2019.

The NHL celebrates free agency day on July 1, which is Canada Day. Hope your team gets better players, providing your team is in Canada.

Twitter capture: @brittlestar; @StatCan_eng; @robertlavigne
photo credit: Health Canada
video credit: Molson Canadian beer

CW announces summer schedule filled with Canadian television

We knew the CW network would have a lot of Canadian television this summer. Now we know when those shows will debut.

Season 2 of Family Law starts July 7 at 8 pm on the CW followed by the U.S. premiere of Moonshine at 9 pm (all times Eastern).

The CW runs back-to-back episodes of Son of a Critch (8 pm) and Children Ruin Everything (9 pm) on July 24. Run the Burbs debuts the following Monday at 8:30 pm in between the other Canadian TV comedies.

Those comedies will run in those time slots on Tuesdays for the CW fall schedule.

The CW summer schedule also includes reality shows from north of the border. Season 4 of the Great Chocolate Showdown (8 pm) debuts August 5 followed by the U.S. premiere of Recipe for Disaster (9 pm).

Makes us miss Fridge Wars which the CW and CBC carried in 2020. Emma Hunter, who is in Moonshine, hosted Fridge Wars.

Moonshine has 16 episodes over 2 seasons, 8 for each season. We don't know when the CW will run Season 2.

As we have noted, the CW will have Sullivan's Crossing and The Spencer Sisters on Wednesday nights this fall.

The CW has acquired 4 new shows for this summer#Bump S2 (Australia)#FamilyLaw S2 (Canada)#Moonshine S1 (Canada)#RunTheBurbs S1 (Canada) pic.twitter.com/0AQDllmfeZ

— The CW news (@CWshows) May 10, 2023

Canadian TV notebook: A much longer wait for Season 3 of Transplant on NBC

2023 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

2023 CBC television upfront preview

2021 CBC television upfront preview

Your humble narrator has seen the opening episode for Moonshine, Son of a Critch, Children Ruin Everything, and Run the Burbs. All of them offer promise and interest to see where they go in terms of character development. 

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

You can find your local CW station in your area for our American readers. We are not sure how this works for those in Canada who can access a CW affiliate from the States, given the territorial rights in Canada.

photo credits: Moonshine/CBC; Run the Burbs/CBC
Twitter capture: @CWshows

Canadian TV notebook: A much longer wait for Season 3 of Transplant on NBC

We sort of know a bit about Season 3 of Transplant for our exhausted American readers wanting to know when (if) Season 3 will air on NBC. The headline says "Transplant Is Coming Back to NBC: Everything to Know." Well, not everything.

The NBC story says "episodes will air some time during NBC's midseason/summer 2024." What the actual [bleep]. Why are U.S. viewers waiting 12-18 months for Season 3? The text does say Season 3 and Season 4 are coming. That may be some consolation.

For those asking about Peacock, the story says Transplant episodes will air on NBC followed by airings on Peacock. Plenty of U.S. viewers wouldn't mind Peacock airings now.

There is a slight possibility that this decision is reflective of the U.S. writers strike, meaning NBC wants to make sure there is content in the winter of 2024. The longer the strike goes, the more likely those episodes will air sooner rather than later.

This is not the result anybody on the U.S. side wanted. We do have information and a hope that someday, American viewers can watch Season 3 of Transplant.

Canadians can catch up on Season 3 now via CTV online at CTV.ca.

Canadian TV notebook: Workin' Moms final season is on Netflix

Son Of A Critch, Run the Burbs, and Moonshine will make their way to the CW summer lineup. We will write more about this when we have their premiere dates for the U.S. network.

The equivalent of the traditional CW upfront has CBC shows Son of a Critch and Run the Burbs and the CTV show Children Ruin Everything airing on Tuesday nights in the fall.

Wednesday nights this fall on the CW will feature a couple of new CTV dramas. We mentioned Sullivan's Crossing earlier. The Spencer Sisters will also be on the CW with American actor Lea Thompson and Canadian actor Stacey Farber as a mother-daughter duo investigating crimes.

Speaking of CW shows, Season 2 of Family Law debuts Monday on Global (also available on StackTV). The cast features Jewel Staite, Victor Garber, Zach Smadu, Genelle Williams, and Lauren Holly. I confess to being pleasantly surprised as to how good the show was in Season 1. The shots of Vancouver are stunning enough that I consider them to be a co-star.

Season 2 of Family Law will air possibly this summer or later on the CW. Details available when we know them.

I wondered if Departure was done but Season 3 of Departure will air later this summer on Global on August 7. Eric McCormack joins the cast, possibly replacing the late Christopher Plummer. Each season is a new transportation related disaster. We had a plane (Season 1) and a train (Season 2). Season 3 involves the sinking of a sea ferry from Boston destined for Newfoundland. Like the Toronto-Chicago train of Season 2, we wish this was a real thing.

Departure airs on Peacock in the United States. No word on the dates for Season 3 on Peacock, though Season 3 of Departure will likely air on Peacock before Season 3 of Transplant.

Getting ready to watch a new episode on @CraveCanada and @hulu this weekend. pic.twitter.com/JTs4s6Xsm2

— Letterkenny Problems (@LetterkennyProb) May 17, 2023

The extra episode from Season 11 of Letterkenny drops today on Crave and Hulu. Episode 7 from Season 11 is entitled May 2-4 as the hicks celebrate the long weekend.

The 2-4 is that Victoria Day is technically May 24 yet celebrated on whatever Monday is closest and that 2-4 is Ontario (maybe Canadian) slang for a case of beer.

I have a friend who has Crave via cable or satellite. I had to explain to him that he will get the episode eventually, the episode is available on the streaming version of Crave.

Canadian presence on 2022 U.S. TV upfronts

Canadian presence on 2021 U.S. TV upfronts

We have been keeping track of Canadians in the U.S. TV upfronts for the last few years. The task has become more difficult because:

1) TV releases have been more vague in terms of adding shows and not listing the casts.

2) The pandemic changed the approaches of broadcast TV in a lot of ways.

3) Canadians also end up on streaming shows and they don't have a set time of year to make debuts.

The other major reason we won't do a 2023 version is to show solidarity for the writers strike. Regular readers will not be shocked we are on the writers side. The fact that more Canadian TV might end up on U.S. TV as a result of the strike is icing on top of icing. Getting a good deal for the writers is way more important.

We only reported Canadian shows from the U.S. TV upfronts and will report more when we hear of any news.

We are very excited about the prospect of the new Canadian drama television series Little Bird, debuting on Friday on Crave and APTN lumi.

The 6-episode series centres on an Indigenous woman reconnecting with her birth family and heritage after being adopted into a Jewish family during the Sixties Scoop.

Jennifer Podemski and Hannah Moscovitch created the show. Jeremy Podeswa is serving as an executive producer.

Darla Contois stars as Esther Rosenblum/Bezhig Little Bird; the cast also features Ellyn Jade, Osawa Muskwa, Joshua Odjick, Imajyn Cardinal, Mathew Strongeagle, Eric Schweig, and Michelle Thrush. Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Zoe Hopkins are directing episodes.

When we talk about Canadian stories being told, this is a great example. Seeing Birth of a Family (2017) really brought home the Sixties Scoop in ways I did not understand. The fact that Jennifer Podemski is behind this project is even more of a reason to watch.

2023 CBC television winter preview

We are waiting for the CBC upfront. Unlike the U.S. upfronts, we will gladly report on upfronts from CBC, CTV, Global, Citytv, and relevant cable offerings since they are not affected by the U.S. writers strike.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

We expect more news of Canadian TV shows becoming more tempting to U.S. networks based on the writers strike. Would be fun to see ABC run Shelved (from CTV) this fall if there aren't new episodes of Abbott Elementary.

photo credits: NBC; Crave/APTN
Twitter capture: @LetterkennyProb

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.

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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