June 12, 2025

2025 CFL Week 2 preview

Cfl-field-logo-sideThe Winnipeg Blue Bombers finally get their season started with the home opener on Thursday. The BC Lions and Blue Bombers have played some crucial games in the last couple of years so we are a bit surprised they end up playing so early in the season. In fact, they play next week and that is the season series.

The idea that Zach Collaros is sitting this game out over miscommunication over a drug test is rather ridiculous, given on-field behaviour — deserving an actual suspension — doesn't get punished.

Chris Streveler starts for the Blue Bombers, coming off a horrendous knee injury off a cheap shot back in September.

Montréal hits the road for the Ottawa home opener on Friday night. The typical Thanksgiving opponents get a chance to renew this rivalry early in the season. Last Thanksgiving was one of the few times in recent years where the game was for playoffs significance. The teams don't play again until Thanksgiving Monday.

Matthew Shiltz gets the start for Dru Brown as the Ottawa quarterback. Brown reportedly suffered a hip injury last week. Brown had 413 passing yards and 2 touchdowns in the loss in Regina.

Calgary is far from home for Toronto's home opener at BMO Field in a late Saturday afternoon contest. The Argonauts should get some Grey Cup championship love after its win over Winnipeg last November.

Those hoping to attend the games in Toronto and Hamilton need a teleporter or a helicopter as the Tiger-Cats home opener follows the Argos. Saskatchewan, with its new running back Ka'Deem Carey, travels to Hamilton for the Saturday nightcap at Tim Hortons Field. The latter game is on CTV/TSN in Canada.

CBS Sports Network has the Thursday game in Winnipeg and the Saturday doubleheader.

The Edmonton Elks get to rest up after their opener in Vancouver last week and to come down from the Snoop Dogg high.

CTV

Saturday
Saskatchewan @ Hamilton, 7p

CBS Sports Network

Thursday
BC @ Winnipeg, 8:30p
Saturday
Calgary @ Toronto, 4p
Saskatchewan @ Hamilton, 7p

TSN

Thursday
BC @ Winnipeg, 8:30p
Friday
Montréal @ Ottawa, 7:30p
Saturday
Calgary @ Toronto, 4p
Saskatchewan @ Hamilton, 7p

Bye week: Edmonton

How good was this Tre Ford play? We knocked Snoop Dogg off the top of this part of the story. Sure this was in a losing cause but what a play for the Elks quarterback.

As for the game, the Lions woke up in the second half (or they were less affected by the pot smoke).

Snoop Dogg drew 52,837 to BC Place. The BC Lions had something to do with that. The mark is slightly below the 53,788 with 50 Cent in the 2024 home opener. Still impressive numbers all around.

There is always talk about fans who came for the concert and then left. The concerts create a buzz inside BC Place and outside the stadium.

The Montréal Alouettes put up 354 yards of offence and forced 4 takeaways over Toronto. Davis Alexander is now 5-0 as a CFL starting QB. You might factor in the loss of Chad Kelly from this game but the Alouettes got off to a good start.

Felt very silent watching the game. The sight lines are so beautiful at Molson Stadium.

2025 CFL Week 1 preview: Opening weekend

Ottawa had a rather good comeback in Regina, fulfilling the obligation of a possible win within the last 3 minutes. Saskatchewan had a well-rounded game and gt off to a 24-7 lead. Samuel Emilus had 8 catches for 133 yards and a touchdown. Thomas Bertrand-Hudon was a force on the ground in for AJ Ouellette with 14 carries, 57 yards, and a touchdown. Jameer Thurman was all over the place with 10 tackles and a sack.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders signed veteran running back Ka'Deem Carey, given Ouellette's injury. Carey, like Ouellette, used to play for Toronto.

2025 CFL preview

No matter the optimism, 3 CFL teams don't make the playoffs each season. Calgary won because the Stampeders beat Hamilton. Edmonton lost to BC.

Vernon Adams Jr. led the Stampeders to an offensive touchdown in the first drive, something the Tiger-Cats couldn't do until late in the 4th quarter. Calgary went from playing well to not so well while Hamilton kicked field goals, rouges, and got a kickoff return for a major.

Calgary was celebrating 80 years as a franchise, including a visit to the TSN booth by Doug Flutie.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats general manager Ted Goveia hasn't been a part of the team for long, having come over from Winnipeg. We found out this week that Goveia has been diagnosed with "a serious form of cancer that's spread." We hope for a full recovery.

2025 CBC television upfront preview

The CFL and CBC are mixing but not in the usual manner. CFL All-Star and two-time Grey Cup winner Brady Oliveira (Winnipeg Blue Bombers) and his partner, realtor-rescue influencer Alex Blumberg, are involved in Must Love Dogs, a reality show about rescuing dogs across Manitoba. The date in the release is set for 2026.

2025 CFL preseason schedule

Toronto Argonauts win yet another Grey Cup over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers

CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage

The new graphics look good.

Since we don't have the CBS Sports Network feeds, we can't keep track of the studio crews. This is new territory for your humble narrator. My OCD and partial ADHD will struggle with this yet I will manage.

Saw a 3-person crew in Regina and Montréal and LaPolice joined the panel on Saturday.

TSN generally likes to have one of its broadcast crew on site the day before in covering the games. Using Paul LaPolice on colour each week gives Duane Forde and Glen Suitor more time and flexibility to get ready for a game.

Nielson and LaPolice worked a game for the first time ever in Montréal on Friday night. Marshall Ferguson rarely goes west but did a game in Calgary.

Ottawa @ Saskatchewan: Rod Smith/Glen Suitor/Brit Dort
Toronto @ Montréal: Dustin Nielson/Paul LaPolice/Matthew Scianitti
Hamilton @ Calgary: Marshall Ferguson/Duane Forde/Tom Gazzola
Edmonton @ BC: Rod Smith/Glen Suitor/Farhan Lalji

logo credit: @CFL
Twitter captures: @3DownNation; @BCLions; @TheJCAbbott; @3DownNation; @TSN_Sports

Posted at 06:50 AM in cable TV U.S., CFL, TSN | | Comments (0)

|

June 11, 2025

Canadian film review: Who by Fire

Having now seen 3 of the last 4 films from Philippe Lesage, you are in for an extensive, low-key presentation of the subject matter at hand. A lot of things unsaid and Who by Fire | Comme le feu follows that pattern.

Jeff (Noah Parker) has 3 primary reasons to be excited about this upcoming trip to the middle of nowhere. Jeff gets to hang out with his best friend Max (Antoine Marchand Gagnon). He gets to flirt with Aliocha (Aurelia Arandi-Longpré), Max's older sister, with whom he is in love. Jeff also gets to hang out with Blake Cadieux (Arieh Worthalter), a director Jeff looks up to in terms of filmmaking.

Blake is a crossroads with Albert Gary (Paul Ahmarani), a director himself and father of Aliocha and Max. They used to work on documentaries while Blake now works on features. Helps to know Lesage used to do documentaries before switching to features.

Those 3 reasons start to fizzle shortly after they get to this remote cabin in the Quebec woods. Jeff doesn't hang out with Max, even if they share a room. In fact, at one point, they have a conversation in the dark where you don't know who is speaking. Lesage has very little use for Max as a character; most of what he comments on is observing that his sister is being inappropriate.

Jeff does get to fanboy a bit about film with Blake. Again, Lesage has little need for that element of the plot after that early scene. Instead, the writer/director focuses a lot on the touchy relationship with Blake and Albert. 2 long dinner scenes concentrate on the acrimony between the long-time friends and colleagues.

There is a lot going on within Jeff but, per Lesage's style, we learn very little except that he is in love with Aliocha and doesn't know how to express that with her.

Jeff and Blake have their own acrimony after Jeff sees Blake taking Polaroids of Aliocha. We assume that Blake finds out about the fact that Jeff knows but it's not like there is dialogue to back this up.

Who-by-fire

Lesage takes 161 minutes to dance around male frustration in friendships: Jeff-Max and Albert-Blake, even Jeff-Blake. Like Genesis | Genèse, Lesage's last film, you might think the film is over but somehow we have 30-40 minutes left.

The last 30 minutes adds more confusion if you weren't already lost. A minor character might have died but the audience isn't sure and we gather that Lesage cares even less than we might.

The women in the film get little attention: way more could have been done with Aliocha figuring out her sexuality. Émilie (Sophie Desmarais) is Blake's editor and hostess on some level. Lesage shows food being brought to the table, presumably by Émilie, but we never see her serving food other than random arms within the frame. Irène Jacob, one of our all-time favourite French (and Swiss) actors, has a small role as Hélène. Jacob is famous for being the lead in Three Colours: Red, as part of the Trois Colours series from Polish film director Krzysztof Kieślowski. They also worked together in The Double Life of Veronique.

The music is mostly haunting with titles that would feel comfortable in the music collection of Phillip Glass. The grand exception is a dance sequence in the middle of the film to most of the B52's Rock Lobster. This actually makes sense on some level.

2024 Windsor International Film Festival preview

If you loved Les Démons (2015) and Genesis | Genèse (2018), you will enjoy Who by Fire | Comme le feu. If either of these films confused you or you wonder why Genesis went so long, you will have similar questions about this film.

Interestingly, the one film in this sequence that we haven't seen is Copenhague: A Love Story (2016). That film is 100 minutes long, which would have been a better running time for Genèse and Comme le feu.

Who by Fire has significant moments surrounded by anguish scenes that you could literally fast forward and not miss a beat. You likely don't need 150 minutes to realize that men can be toxic at times. There are parts worth watching, hopefully with a remote in your hands.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Who by Fire has had theatrical releases in Canada and the United States. The film played at the 2024 Windsor International Film Festival but we had a conflict.

video and photo credit: Who by Fire | Comme le feu

Posted at 06:50 AM in film, film reviews | | Comments (0)

|

June 10, 2025

The TIFF story in 50 films features 9 Canadian films

HWY61-Website-Photo

The Toronto International Film Festival is celebrating its 50th year in part with The TIFF Story in 50 Films. What does this mean? Have no real idea and won't spend time asking ourselves this question.

Getting 9 Canadian films into TIFF's 50 films is rather impressive. This is not sarcasm or a knock at TIFF. Films from around the world and 9 is an impressive number.

What might be more interesting is why these 9 films.

If you are visiting Toronto or, dare I say, live in the GTA, you can check out these films live and in person. Let's look at the list of 9 Canadian films with title, year, and director.

June 21: Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013) Jeff Barnaby
June 24: Next of Kin (1984) Atom Egoyan
July 4: My Winnipeg (2007) Guy Maddin
July 10: Away from Her (2006) Sarah Polley
July 20: Dead Ringers (1988) David Cronenberg
July 27: Highway 61 (1991) Bruce McDonald
August 7: Maelström (2000) Denis Villeneuve
August 10: Water (2005) Deepa Mehta
August 23: Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993) Alanis Obomsawin

(My Winnipeg is a special presentation with live narration as well as a Q&A.)

Your humble narrator has seen all of these films, except for Next of Kin. Atom Egoyan was on Season 3 of the Maple Popcorn podcast talking about his debut film. This made me want to see this.

Maelström is available on Fandor but otherwise is difficult to find. 

Canadian film review: Highway 61

Canadian film review: Rhymes for Young Ghouls

Canadian film review: My Winnipeg

Canadian film review: Away From Her

Canadian film review: Maelstrom

The TIFF Story in 50 Films (in order by screening date)
June 13: The Princess Bride (1987) dir. Rob Reiner, USA (People's Choice Award winner)
June 14: Memories of Murder (2003) dir. Bong Joon-ho, South Korea
June 15: Antonia’s Line (1995) dir. Marleen Gorris, Netherlands (PCA winner)
June 18: In the Cut (2003) dir. Jane Campion, USA/Australia
June 19: My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) dir. Stephen Frears, United Kingdom
June 21: Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013) dir. Jeff Barnaby, Canada
June 22: Viva Riva! (2010) dir. Djo Tunda Wa Munga, Congo - Kinshasa
June 22: The Shawshank Redemption (1994) dir. Frank Darabont, USA (*special presentation, Q&A with James and Roger Deakins moderated by Cameron Bailey)
June 24: Next of Kin (1984) dir. Atom Egoyan, Canada
June 28: Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) dir. Werner Herzog, France/Canada/USA/Germany/United Kingdom (*special presentation/ shown in 3D)
June 28: Jennifer’s Body (2009) dir. Karyn Kusama, USA
June 29: Love in the Time of Hysteria (1991) dir. Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico
July 2: Lady Macbeth (2016) dir. William Oldroyd, United Kingdom
July 4: My Winnipeg (2007) dir. Guy Maddin, Canada (*special presentation/live narration with Q&A)
July 5: Revenge (2017) dir. Coralie Fargeat, France
July 6: I Am Not Your Negro (2016) dir. Raoul Peck, France/USA/Belgium/Switzerland (PCA TIFF Docs winner)
July 10: Away from Her (2006) dir. Sarah Polley, Canada
July 11–13: Boogie Nights (1997) dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, USA (*special presentation/70mm print)
July 12: The Big Chill (1983) dir. Lawrence Kasdan, USA (PCA winner)
July 15: Phoenix (2014) dir. Christian Petzold, Germany
July 17: Matador (1986) dir. Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
July 18: Saint Maud (2019) dir. Rose Glass, United Kingdom
July 19: A Brighter Summer Day (1991) dir. Edward Yang, Taiwan
July 20: Whale Rider (2002) dir. Niki Caro, New Zealand/Germany (PCA winner)
July 20: Dead Ringers (1988) dir. David Cronenberg, Canada
July 24: Braindead (1992) dir. Peter Jackson, New Zealand
July 25: Drugstore Cowboy (1989) dir. Gus Van Sant, USA
July 26: The Killer (1989) dir. John Woo, Hong Kong
July 27: Highway 61 (1991) dir. Bruce McDonald, Canada
July 29: Sexy Beast (2000) dir. Jonathan Glazer, United Kingdom
August 1: The Raid: Redemption (2011) dir. Gareth Evans, Indonesia/France/USA (PCA Midnight Madness winner)
August 2: Eve’s Bayou - Director’s Cut (1997) dir. Kasi Lemmons, USA
August 2: After Life (1998) dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu, Japan
August 3: Let Each One Go Where He May (2009) dir. Ben Russell, USA
August 7: Maelström (2000) dir. Denis Villeneuve, Canada
August 8: Leaving Las Vegas (1995) dir. Mike Figgis, USA
August 9: Slumdog Millionaire (2008) dir. Danny Boyle, United Kingdom (PCA winner)
August 10: Roger & Me (1989) dir. Michael Moore, USA (PCA winner)
August 10: Water (2005) dir. Deepa Mehta, Canada/USA/India
August 14: A Soldier’s Story (1984) dir. Norman Jewison, USA
August 15: Maqbool (2003) dir. Vishal Bhardwaj, India
August 16: The Fabelmans (2022) dir. Steven Spielberg, USA (PCA winner)
August 17: Near Dark (1987) dir. Kathryn Bigelow, USA
August 19: Brothers (2004) dir. Susanne Bier, Denmark
August 21: The Secret in Their Eyes (2009) dir. Juan Jose Campanella, Argentina/Spain
August 22: Jallikattu (2019) dir. Lijo Jose Pellissery, India
August 23: Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993) dir. Alanis Obomsawin, Canada
August 24: Thank You for Smoking (2006) dir. Jason Reitman, USA
August 26: Harlan County USA (1976) dir. Barbara Kopple, USA
August 27: The Boy and the Heron (2023) dir. Hayao Miyazaki, Japan

Roger & Me (1989) is a classic that holds up in many ways. Just recently saw Drugstore Cowboy (1989) and was surprised how pathetic their lives were without being self-aware. The lone Pedro Almodóvar film is one I do not know: Matador (1986).

2 of the films are directed by Canadians: A Soldier’s Story from Norman Jewison and Thank You for Smoking from Jason Reitman.

Coralie Fargeat only has made 2 feature films: The Substance and her debut Revenge. I would be interested in seeing Fargeat's debut.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

There will be Canadian content, though not a Canadian film, in the TIFF opening night film this fall with the documentary John Candy: I Like Me. TIFF-related news: a rare Ste. Anne showing with a Q&A on June 17. Really wish I lived in Toronto.

photo credit: Highway 61
Twitter capture: @TIFF_NET

Posted at 06:50 AM in film | | Comments (0)

|

June 09, 2025

Canadian TV notebook: Where we are after the upfronts

Private-eyes-west-coast

Trepidation. The American upfronts weren't that exciting with new shows but there were new shows. On the Canadian side, few losses yet even fewer gains.

Private Eyes West Coast (Global) was the exciting news from last week, even if we had known this for a few weeks. A new show that isn't so new. CBC and Citytv had no new scripted shows. CTV had one, a conversion of a Web series. Bell Media, as a whole, has a lot of new programming, most of it on Crave.

CBC had new energy a year ago with North of North, Saint Pierre, and Small Achievable Goals. This year, zilch. Zero.

Bill Brioux reported that CBC’s executive vice president Barb Williams had more on future dramas at the upfront last Wednesday. The public broadcaster had "a number of brand-new dramas but we’re not quite ready to say anything about them yet."

The major complaint about those who want to make Canadian TV is finding spaces to have those shows. CTV (mostly), Global and Citytv released actual fall schedules. CBC hasn't done that because they want to downplay Animal Control (Fox), an excellent example of a Faustian bargain, and British fillers. If CBC came out and said, "we can run thoughtful Canadian TV but have to run a show from Fox in the prime comedy spot in the fall lineup — Tuesday at 9 pm — then we have to do that deal." Unfortunately, there is only one end of that "bargain."

CBC is ashamed to run a fall lineup. And we are ashamed of their fall lineup that we don't even know.

Update: CBC finally released a fall lineup, complete with Animal Control and other fillers. 

2025 CBC television upfront preview

2025 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

The CW isn't having an upfront. We anticipate lone releases about shows for the summer as well as the fall schedule in late summer. The network is in transition. As much as we think of the network as a safe haven for Canadian TV, we have no vision about their vision (that is not a crack at Sight Unseen).

We implied or inferred that The CW would be an excellent landing spot for the new Private Eyes West Coast. The CW online catalog would greatly benefit from the original series. Ion and Private Eyes were never a good fit because the network is staunchly conservative with its programming.

Let's run through our theoretical questions for The CW:

  • Son of a Critch (CBC) is coming back for Season 5 in Canada. The CW chose not to run the show this winter and, so far, summer. The network is losing the other remaining Canadian comedy — Children Ruin Everything (CTV) — this summer. The network is not know for comedy, traditionally. When will the U.S. audience finally get to see Season 4?
  • Will the network broadcast Season 2 of Sight Unseen? Co-producing a show should make the season a no-brainer since they have the rights. We don't know if there is less incentive — without a Season 3 announcement — to air Season 2 in the States. The network could make that season available online like it did for Moonshine (Season 2, yet not Season 3).
  • The CW picked up the first 2 seasons of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent to start running this fall. If you think of The CW as Santa and Canadian dramas as residents of the Island of Misfit Toys, we think Private Eyes West Coast, Allegiance, and Saint Pierre as solid contenders. Can we have some more?
  • Small Achievable Goals isn't a drama but if they need a companion comedy with Son of a Critch. We can't ask The CW to adopt them all but some would be nice. Comedies, anyone?

None of these upfronts spell out which shows are cancelled or not coming back. Reading between the lines. If a show isn't mentioned, it's not coming back.

We have blasted CBC for airing Animal Control (Fox) and Crime Scene Kitchen (Fox) on the public broadcaster. Since there is very little visibility that these programs even air on CBC, we should point out this Wikipedia page that says the shows are not coming back to CBC. Turns out Animal Control is back but not Crime Scene Kitchen.

Canadian TV notebook: The CW to air Season 4 of Family Law before Global

We would get exhausted running through Canadians on American series these days. There were some intriguing tidbits from last week. The Copenhagen Test (Peacock) is a new science fiction show. Simu Liu is the lead with Mark O'Brien further down the callsheet and Saul Rubinek in a recurring role. Showcase (Corus) gets this show in Canada.

Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek) will play E.D.I.T.H. (Even Dead, I’m The Hero) in Marvel‘s Vision series for Disney+ in the WandaVision spinoff. Tatiana Maslany played Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk in the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

Maslany has earned the right to take her career in the direction she does. We miss her doing content of substance, such as the films she did before Orphan Black.

Canadian TV notebook: Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent comes to The CW

Rogers, parent company of Citytv, is pushing for a more flexible definition of "Canadian program." The proposal is for any content commissioned or produced by a Canadian-owned broadcaster to automatically qualify without a complex points system.

Canadian TV notebook: NBC finally gives U.S. the final season of Transplant

We have written of potential shows that don't get made. The Donut (CBC and Fox) leaps to mind. This happens to television, even in good times.

Prejudice is a potential new series starring Emily VanCamp, who is Canadian yet well known on the American side. VanCamp plays a "rising litigator" whose world is in turmoil "as her life and career are thrown into upheaval when her past as a sex worker is publicly exposed."

The deal is with CTV/Bell Media and Fox on the U.S. end, though recent speculation has noted that Fox may not be the U.S. outlet carrying the potential show.

The subject matter has great appeal to treat sex work as more legitimate, especially if the show is set in Vancouver, and the success of Anora at the Academy Awards. If this were a pure Canadian production, we think the subject matter would be handled better than a co-production. Canadians (outside Quebec) might think they're prudes but Americans are the best at being prudes. 

Though VanCamp is better known in the States, her film debut was as Jessica Paré's younger sister in Léa Pool's Lost and Delirious. The actor is also bilingual in French and English.

2025 Canadian Screen Awards wrapup: television

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

A reminder for our U.S. readers and fans: some key dates this summer.

  • June 12 Revival (CTV Sci-Fi Channel and Syfy) Season 1, debut of the series
  • June 18 Children Ruin Everything (The CW via CTV) the last 8 episodes of Season 4, conclusion of the series
  • July 23 Family Law (The CW via Global) Season 4 

We believe the private networks should be more creative and resourceful in securing Canadian scripted programming. Take a cancelled show on another network, such as Shelved. Share a show like what CBC and Citytv did with Mr. D. and Young Drunk Punk. Convert Web series, such as Slo Pitch coming to CTV and Crave or My Dead Mom.

photo credit: Private Eyes West Coast/Global
Twitter captures: @canadian_xing; @CBCNews

Posted at 06:50 AM in Canadian TV, television | | Comments (0)

|

June 06, 2025

2025 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

Slo-pitch

While CBC carries more Canadian TV shows than the 3 Canadian private networks combined, we also cover what CTV, Global, and Citytv have for the upcoming 2025-2026 TV schedule.

CTV/Bell Media

Sullivan's Crossing is in Season 3 currently on CTV and also The CW. The show will be back for Season 4. CTV ran Season 2 of Sight Unseen over the winter. The show is apparently over after 2 seasons (no one ever says cancelled). The CW is a co-producer of the latter show and we haven't heard of when (if?) that network would run Season 2. Maybe through the Web site, like with Season 2 of Moonshine.

CTV dumped Mark McKinney Needs a Hobby after 1 season, though the Kids in the Hall alum has a new movie on Crave: Hoser: The Movie.

The network lost Children Ruin Everything and Sight Unseen (maybe) without new shows on the broadcast network. Well, there is Slo Pitch, an already established Web series that is coming to CTV and Crave with 10 episodes. Elliot Page is a key producer of the project. The Bell Media description: "A queer underdog slo pitch team chases their dreams of making it to the beer league championships. Beer. Baseball. Lesbians. Something for everyone."

We are surprised that we haven't seen more Web series being bumped up to CBC or the private networks.

Sight-unseen

CTV has a new season of The Traitors Canada (Season 3). CTV Comedy greenlit Season 4 for Acting Good, which I found somewhere in the States. The Good Stuff with Mary Berg (daytime on CTV) is back for Season 3 though we miss Mary Makes It Easy on CTV Life Channel in Canada and the Food Network in the United States.

CTV is running more CFL games with Saturday night games through most of the summer and then switching to Saturday afternoon games. We would like to think this is honourable but more like cheap programming, already produced in house by TSN.

SurrealEstate (CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada and SyFy in the United States) has barely ended Season 3. I loved Season 1 but the show has not been that good of late. We don't figure to know any status for Season 4 for some time.

Children Ruin Everything is done on CTV after 4 seasons while The CW finishes its run in the United States later this month. Transplant is long done after 4 seasons on CTV though NBC finally is showing Season 4 in the United States.

Super-team-canada

On the Crave side of things, Shoresy is renewed for Season 5. Late Bloomer and The Trades will have a Season 3. Super Team Canada and The Office Movers are back for Season 2.

Somehow, there is a Season 2 of The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs barely made the playoffs and won 1 playoff game in 2025. So maybe they are still rebuilding?

There are so many new Crave shows that we are posting a link, since some of these shows are way down the line. There is an untitled Jared Keeso show coming but we know nothing about the show. Tom Green has a new show coming to Crave.

Bell Media and the USA Network are working on Anna Pigeon, "a former city slicker who became a park ranger" who solves "crimes that have taken place within national park grounds." This is primarily worth noting since the showrunner is Canadian Morwyn Brebner, who created and produced Rookie Blue and Saving Hope. and developed and produced Coroner.

Though the newly renamed USA Network in Canada isn't connected to the U.S. version of USA Network (NBCUniversal).

There is no mention of Don't Even (Crave and APTN), an urban Indigenous coming-of-age story in the late 1990s in Winnipeg. You can watch the show on Crave and APTN in Canada and Tubi in the United States. We don't know if APTN will produce more seasons.

2025 CBC television upfront preview

Global/Corus

Private-eyes-west-coast

Just when we wonder if Global wasn't going to get ambitious about producing new Canadian television, we find out about a return to Private Eyes as in Private Eyes West Coast. Jason Priestley and Cindy Sampson will reunite for a spinoff series. The original series ran 5 seasons from 2016-2021 on Global with the first 2 seasons on Ion in the United States.

Spinoff series are rather rare in Canada, officially or unofficially. The idea that Strays was a spinoff but not Run the Burbs was more about licensing of characters. Shannon (Nicole Power) was not part of the original Ins Choi play Kim's Convenience.

The show will move from Toronto to Victoria, British Columbia. Priestley is a semi regular on Wild Cards (CBC/The CW) that films in Vancouver. Shawn Piller and Lloyd Segan – who worked on Private Eyes and Wild Cards – are producing the new show.

We know the new show will cast new supplemental characters. Would be fun to see them cast people from the old show as new characters or even as cameos: thinking about Ennis Esmer, Samantha Wan, Jordyn Negri, and Clé Bennett. Esmer did more comedy on Children Ruin Everything and Wan took on a nice role on Run the Burbs. Bennett and Negri haven't done as much of late.

The show will likely run this winter on Global in Canada.

If you just think of Priestley as "that guy" from that Fox show 30 some years ago, Priestley has taken risks in such Canadian TV shows as Call Me Fitz, Private Eyes, and Wild Cards. he also directed a feature film — Cas & Dylan (2013) — with Tatiana Maslany and Richard Dreyfuss.

Mollys-reach

Murder in a Small Town is back for Season 2 on Global and Fox. We think Fox is doing the heavy lifting yet the show is rather Canadian. Gibsons, BC and Molly's Reach are iconic north of the border thanks to The Beachcombers, a Canadian TV series that ran on the CBC from 1972-1990.

Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk have decent chemistry though we wish they would either be friends or flat out significant others. The hesitation and anxiety is the weakest part of the show. They are not building tension, aka Sam and Diane.

Season 2 gets 10 episodes, up from 8 in Season 1. The show gets a token American in Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden as the town's new mayor.

Doc, starring Canadian actor Molly Parker, is not a Canadian show, though there is a bit of Canada in the show. A rare show where the fun is the guest stars plucked from Canadian CVs. Both series will run this fall on Global and Fox. The latter series has a full run of 22 episodes.

Global has shifted those shows on its schedule. Both shows air on Fox back-to-back on Tuesday nights with Doc at 9 pm Eastern. Doc airs at 10 pm on Wednesdays on Global and Murder in a Small Town runs on Sunday nights at 8 pm Eastern.

Global runs 60 Minutes from the start at 7 pm Eastern since Global, unlike CBS, doesn't have the NFL. Global is definitely not simsubbing those shows so Canadians with cable or satellite can just watch them on Fox on Tuesdays.

Global finally showed Season 3 of Family Law this winter. Season 4 runs this summer on The CW and is scheduled for the winter of 2026 on Global. We liked Season 3 more than Season 2.

If we see a Canadian original scripted series on Global, the show is almost always a drama. I don't know if The Jane Show was the last one to qualify. Canadians are known for comedy but the only outlets that are consistent about comedy (on this level) are CBC and Bell Media.

We don't count Crime Beat for a boatload of reasons but Americans can watch on Hulu. Canadians can catch up on Global programming on Stack TV.

2024 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

2023 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

2022 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

2021 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

Citytv/Rogers

Fillmore-toronto

Hudson & Rex (fall) and Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent (winter) appear to be the entirety of scripted shows. Hudson & Rex runs at 8 pm Mondays with weekend repeats at 10 pm. Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent is coming off the glory of winning Best Drama Series at the 2025 Canadian Screen Awards.

Hudson & Rex gets a new human actor in Luke Roberts, who will play Detective Mark. Roberts starred in Seagrass, one of my favourite Canadian films in recent years.

This will be Season 8 for Hudson & Rex and Season 3 for Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. The CW will start with Season 1 of the latter show this fall in the United States.

Rogers is promoting its association with the Toronto International Film Festival with a live 1-hour red carpet special on Citytv. We would be curious, as measured in seconds, about whether they will mention Canadian films.

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

The other drama starting in October is Hockey Night in Canada. We know Rogers signed a fresh new contract that starts in the fall of 2026. Even if CBC goes along and runs the NHL without compensation and ad revenue, Rogers still needs Citytv as an outlet in the fall and winter.

Most Saturdays, Citytv simulcasts a game from a Rogers Sportsnet cable feed at 7 pm Eastern. Occasionally, that game is a simulcast of CBC. The Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver affiliates usually carry a second game at 7 pm Pacific.

Those in the States can catch Hudson & Rex episodes on UPtv, a "wholesome" family type channel you might have on U.S. cable.

We don't count Canada's Got Talent, but the show is going on "hiatus." Family Feud Canada (CBC) likely won't be jealous, but a Canadian version of The Price is Right is coming to Citytv. The working title is The Price is Right Tonight with Canadian Howie Mandel to air next spring. Here is the odd part: 12 1-hour episodes. A weekly game show isn't as enthralling.

Citytv does mostly dramas in Canadian scripted programming but has a slightly better track record for comedy than Global. Seed was sort of based on the Quebecois film Starbuck while CBC and Citytv shared Young Drunk Punk. Comedies also fill holes easier on a TV schedule since they are 30 minutes.

2025 Canadian Screen Awards wrapup: television

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

The TV-eh.com Web site is a great resource on Canadian TV. We like promoting them because they are such a valuable resource on this topic. There is no relationship of any kind; we are just generous.

Please let us know any corrections or updates to this list.

photo credits: Slo Pitch; Sight Unseen/CTV/The CW; Super Team Canada/Crave; Private Eyes West Coast/Global; Murder in a Small Town/FOX/Global; Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent/Citytv

Posted at 06:50 AM in Canadian TV, Citytv, CTV, Global, television | | Comments (0)

|

June 05, 2025

2025 CBC television upfront preview

North-of-north

We have the new and returning CBC shows for the 2025-2026 season. Let's see what we have in store.

Murdoch Mysteries (Season 19), This Hour Has 22 Minutes (Season 33), The Fifth Estate (Season 51), and Marketplace (Season 53) run in the fall and winter.

Update: Here is the fall schedule with an American show and other fillers.

Comedy

CBC could certainly generate more comedies, but has no new ones. So we have been stuck with a dominant American show (that runs on Fox) and British fillers in the fall. Even the abandoned Snotty Nose Rez Kids or Season 2 of One More Time or borrowing Tallboyz from APTN are better options.

Winter brings North of North (Season 2), Small Achievable Goals (Season 2) and the return of Son of a Critch (Season 5).

The comedy fillers are from the Halifax and Winnipeg comedy festivals, Just for Laughs Galas, and The New Wave Of Standup.

Drama

Last year, we got one single new CBC scripted drama, 1 more than we got this year. As in zero.

Heartland (Season 19) is back in the fall. The winter entries are Allegiance (Season 3), Saint-Pierre (Season 2), and Wild Cards (Season 3).

Plan B returns late in the summer on CBC Gem for Season 3. Carolina Bartczak stars as "the host of a top morning TV show who turns to the Plan B Agency in an effort to alter the past following the tragic death of her daughter."

There were no mention of SkyMed (3 seasons). Update: Paramount+ will produce an 8-episode Season 4 and will exclusively distribute the show globally.

Other

Dragons' Den (Season 20), The Great Canadian Baking Show (Season 9), The Nature of Things (Season 65), Still Standing (Season 11), and The Passionate Eye (Season 11) are back in the fall. For The Culture With Amanda Parris (Season 2) runs outside prime time.

Hockey Night in Canada runs on Saturday nights starting in October. Canadian films run through the summer until the final Saturday before the NHL season starts.

No mention of Bollywed and Stuff The British Stole.

2025 CBC television winter preview

2024 CBC television fall preview

2024 CBC television upfront preview

New Stuff

Locals Welcome, from food writer and expert Suresh Doss, was scheduled to debut last winter but will be here this fall. Described then as "a celebration of the lesser-known food places that make up the fabric of our rich communities."

The Assembly is the Canadian version of a global program featuring interviewers, all on the autism spectrum, talking with Canadian celebrities and public figures. Examples they give are Jann Arden, Allan Hawco, Howie Mandel, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. This is on the fall schedule.

Also this fall is a doc miniseries called Diamonds & Plastic about Montréal-based Maria Meriano, "one of the top Tupperware product sellers on the planet."

Winter will bring Must Love Dogs involving dog rescues in Manitoba featuring CFL All-Star and 2-time Grey Cup winner Brady Oliveira of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

2 more docuseries scheduled to come this winter: Cirque Life about the Cirque du Soleil and Running Smoke, about Derek White, a Mohawk from Kahnawà:ke who was the first Indigenous driver to compete in NASCAR’s premier Sprint Cup Series.

Not exactly new but CBC is running episodes of Chuck and the First Peoples Kitchen via APTN on Sunday nights this fall. Chuck, as in Chuck Hughes, is a Montréal-based chef.

Olympics and Paralympics

The Milano Cortina (Italy) 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will impact winter programming on CBC with the Olympic Winter Games running February 6-22 and the Paralympic Winter Games going from March 6-15.

These were the Games that could have been in Calgary, except the majority of those who voted chickened out.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

CanadianCrossing.com CBC coverage

The Canadian TV landscape for the upcoming season is "take no chances." The only new scripted Canadian TV program on CBC or any of the private networks is an update on a Global TV hit (Private Eyes West Coast). New programs put pressure to make older programs better.

Burying Plan B to just CBC Gem defeats the purpose of having programming. A delay to give CBC Gem an exclusive run and then run the show on the CBC and fill gaps in programming would make sense.

We will have the private network upfronts tomorrow.

photo credit: North of North
Twitter capture: @LoudHummingbird

Posted at 08:50 AM in Canadian TV, CBC, television | | Comments (0)

|

2025 CFL Week 1 preview: Opening weekend

Cfl-field-logo-sideThe CFL decided that the opening night matchup of the 2025 CFL season should be the East semifinal loser traveling to the West final loser. Red Riders vs. Green Riders in ancient times (through 1996). Ottawa makes its only trip to Regina on Thursday with a later start than we usually get for the league opener.

Toronto and Montréal renew their rivalry right away in Week 1 with the Friday night game in La Belle Province. Nick Arbuckle is scheduled to start for Toronto as the team wants to make sure Chad Kelly is ready to go.

The Saturday doubleheader stays out west with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with Bo Levi Mitchell traveling to his old grounds in Calgary. CTV carries this game alongside TSN as the CTV games are not exclusive this season.

The nightcap has the revitalized Edmonton Elks traveling to Vancouver for an actual night game at BC Place. Snoop Dogg may be a distraction.

CBS Sports Network has the league opener and the Snoop Dogg game in Vancouver. CFL+ is the option for Americans when CBS Sports Network is not airing a game.

Winnipeg is used to having a prominent role in the opening week but gets to rest before starting the season.

CTV

Saturday
Hamilton @ Calgary, 7p

CBS Sports Network

Thursday
Ottawa @ Saskatchewan, 9p
Saturday
Edmonton @ BC, 10p

TSN

Thursday
Ottawa @ Saskatchewan, 9p
Friday
Toronto @ Montréal, 7:30p
Saturday
Hamilton @ Calgary, 7p
Edmonton @ BC, 10p

Bye week: Winnipeg

The BC Lions, under owner Amar Doman, love to throw a party at BC Place for the home opener.

Snoop Dogg is the 2025 headliner for Saturday's opener against Edmonton. No. kickoff is not 4:20 pm. So how high could the crowd get? Well, the number of people, anyway.

Here are the opening acts in recent years and their attendance marks.

BC Lions recent home openers
Artist Crowd Year
Snoop Dogg 52,837 2025
50 Cent 53,788 2024
LL Cool J 33,103 2023
OneRepublic 34,082 2022

We will update the attendance numbers for this year's Lions home opener. 

Wab Kinew becomes first First Nations premier with NDP win in Manitoba

We noted when former CFL offensive lineman Obby Khan won a seat in the Manitoba legislature in the Fort Whyte riding in southwestern Winnipeg in the 2023 election. Now Khan is the new opposition leader as the new leader of the Progressive Conservatives in Manitoba.

Khan scored 2,198.8 points (50.4%) under a weighted ballot system over Wally Daudrich with 2,163.2 points (49.6%). Khan succeeds interim leader Lac du Bonnet MLA Wayne Ewasko. Former Manitoba premier Heather Stefanson stepped down as party leader in early 2024.

Khan defeated Willard Reaves (Liberal), father of the NHL's Ryan Reaves of the Toronto Maple Leafs, to win the Fort Whyte riding in 2023.

2025 CFL preview

Dave Naylor of TSN has a nice take on the Canadian parts on the CFL field. This week's quarterback matchup of Nathan Rourke (BC) and Tre Ford (Edmonton) is the first time Canadian quarterbacks had opened a season against each other and the first time in almost 60 years to have 2 starting Canadian QBs to open the season.

2025 CFL preseason schedule

Good to get a reminder about what we like in this league. Unusual ways to score. This got a bit lost at the end of the CFL regular season in 2024. I was deep into Canadian films in Windsor.

Toronto Argonauts win yet another Grey Cup over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers

CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage

The majority of games are out west yet the west guy is out east on Friday. This makes sense with Rod Smith and Duane Forde expected to call the game on Thursday.

Also, you can't tell the players without a scorecard.

Local stations in the United States bid for the rights to carry NFL preseason games that aren't nationally televised. The CFL dynamic is very different. Local TV stations in Canada have little autonomy to break away from network programming.

The video from the non TSN and RDS games was a bit crude but pretty good, complete with the home radio feed of the games. The RDS game that wasn't on TSN meant French language graphics with an English language radio call.

As for the TSN games, Marshall Ferguson and Paul LaPolice called the Toronto game in Hamilton. LaPolice will do a game a week in the booth to replace Matt Dunigan. Rod Smith and Duane Forde called the Montréal game in Ottawa. Dustin Nielson and Glen Suitor didn't get a game.

The sound for the latter game was really low where you could barely hear the call as well as the studio.

logo credit: CFL
Twitter captures: @BCLions; @SickosCommittee; @nielsonTSN1260; @JohnDHodge

Posted at 06:50 AM in cable TV U.S., CFL, TSN | | Comments (0)

|

Running 2 stories today: CFL and CBC TV upfront preview

We normally like to run only a story per day. The CFL season starts later today in Regina so we have our weekly preview just before at 8 am Eastern. The CBC television upfront is also important and that will run just before 10 am Eastern.

2025 CFL preview

2025 CFL preseason schedule

CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage

We will wrap up the private network upfronts (CTV, Global, Citytv) on Friday.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

CanadianCrossing.com CBC coverage

Posted at 01:50 AM in Canadian TV, CBC, CFL, television | | Comments (0)

|

June 04, 2025

2025 CFL preview

Cfl-logos-2022

There has been the fun and joy of writing about a purely Canadian based sports league, even if most of the players are American. The idea of American players discovering milk bags or a 2-4 or even a bit of French in Ottawa and Montréal.

Like our NHL coverage, we will be doing a lot less CFL coverage in 2025. The weekly updates will stay in place yet have less information of note. Some of that is a need to shift resources to other areas of the blog. Some of that is giving up cable and not being able to watch the CBS Sports Network games live. A reminder that CFL has video recaps of games, regardless of the signal. I would have cable if I lived in Canada or would stream TSN.

There are no special regular season games aka Touchdown Atlantic or Touchdown Pacific. Momentum is a good thing and sometimes the CFL struggles with that concept. Still hoping Touchdown Windsor is a possibility someday.

Randy Ambrosie was a player who later became CFL commissioner. The league selected long-time Bell Media executive Stewart Johnston to be the league's 15th commissioner.

I would be an excellent pick for a CFL ambassador, maybe not having the business skills to be commissioner. Then again, I had a quality idea to have a 2020 season, unlike Ambrosie.

We will see a lot fewer Sunday night games, just weeks 4-8 as well as Winnipeg and Saskatchewan on Labour Day weekend. More Saturday afternoon games are on tap in 2025.

The CFL usually schedules the Toronto Argonauts at home during the Canadian National Exhibition to boost home attendance. A ticket to BMO Field allows people to enter the exhibition grounds for free. The league has deliberately not scheduled the Calgary Stampeders at home around the Calgary Stampede. This year, we have the Stampede Bowl in Calgary on July 3, the day before the start of the Calgary Stampede.

If you bemoaned watching a game from Percival Molson Stadium in Montréal because of the air horns, you might find watching an Alouettes home game much easier in 2025. The team is banning the use of "compressed air trumpets, megaphones and other mechanical noise instruments."

The 8 other CFL stadiums had already banned the use of compressed air noisemakers aka air horns.

Toronto has had Winnipeg's number in the Grey Cup. The Blue Bombers won 2 straight Grey Cup title games (2019, 2021) but have lost 3 straight Grey Cup games (2022-2024). That is proficiency and frustration. The Montréal Alouettes, under Anthony Calvillo, had similar frustration.

Winnipeg would love to get back to the Grey Cup that will be in Winnipeg and win it this time. The BC Lions now have the second longest streak without a Grey Cup, dating back to 2011 when the Lions won on home soil. Hamilton is waiting to win the Grey Cup for the first time in the 21st century; the wait extends back to 1999.

The Blue Bombers will be without Buck Pierce as the offensive coordinator. Pierce is the new BC head coach. Rick Campbell went back to Ottawa as the special teams coordinator. Former Calgary assistant Mark Kilam is now the head coach in Edmonton.

The CFL has 5 Canadian head coaches: Mike O’Shea (Winnipeg), Corey Mace (Saskatchewan), Bob Dyce (Ottawa), Dave Dickenson (Calgary) and Kilam (Edmonton). Dickenson became a Canadian citizen in 2024.

Montréal and Edmonton flipped veteran QBs to be backups in their new cities: McLeod Bethel-Thompson goes east while Cody Fajardo goes west. Jake Maier traded from Calgary to Saskatchewan as the backup to Trevor Harris as Vernon Adams Jr. is now in Calgary.

TSN goes in depth on the CFL's quarterback depth in 2025.

We aren't going extensively into transactions. Sorry. Here is the CFL tracking on this topic. See if your favourite player switched teams.

2025 CFL preseason schedule

2024 CFL preview

You can find more details about the upcoming CFL season. This may be relevant to the CFL at some point but the Vancouver Whitecaps FC (MLS) team is looking to build a soccer stadium at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) grounds on the city's east side.

The new stadium is contingent on the ownership situation, since the current owners are selling. The Whitecaps currently play their home games at BC Place, also the home of the CFL's BC Lions. The Whitecaps' current lease is up at the end of 2025.

You might recall that the Lions and Whitecaps played at a temporary Empire Field in 2010 and 2011 while BC Place underwent renovation. Empire Field and the old Empire Stadium were on the PNE grounds.

Based on what they did with Empire Field, you would imagine they could do something similar in Halifax to give Atlantic Canada a CFL team. #AtlanticSchooners

CFL+ provides an outlet for regular-season games outside the CBS Sports Network in the United States. The service has playback capability up to 48 hours after the game. This can be helpful in watching the last 3 minutes of an exciting game.

The Canadian side has TSN and RDS while the American side has CBS Sports Network once again for 34 CFL games for the U.S. cable audience.

The package includes the season opener tomorrow night, Labour Day weekend games in Regina, Hamilton, and Calgary, as well as the Thanksgiving game in Montréal. Only 4 games after Labour Day.

The CFL has had 8-minute wrapup videos for games you may have missed.

Cfl broadcast information 2024

Turns out Matt Dunigan is 64 and not coming back to the CFL on TSN. Is that his choice? We hope so.

Dunigan had a rather good playing career in the CFL and worked for TSN since 1999 (minus the season as Calgary head coach in 2004). I recall fondly the studio crew of Dave Randorf, Jock Climie, Dunigan, and the late Chris Schultz. Not literally the OG but the crew when I first followed the CFL. I get that Climie has a successful career as a lawyer but you got the impression that Climie and Dunigan could sit in recliners at home and still nail thoughtful analysis.

As for the panel in 2025, Kate Beirness will host the panel with Henoc Muamba and Davis Sanchez. Milt Stegall will be off until further notice after the sudden death of his 20-year-old son Chase. The panel will hit the road this season. Current players will also be in the mix for the panel, either in bye weeks or if they are in the Toronto area to play either Hamilton or Toronto.

3 Down Nation is reporting that while Paul LaPolice will be on the panel, he will provide colour commentary for one game per week. Bell Media is reporting that TSN football analyst Luke Willson will be on the panel for Friday Night Football games.

The usual people are still in place with play-by-play people: Rod Smith, Dustin Nielson, Marshall Ferguson, and occasionally Farhan Lalji. Colour analysis come from Glen Suitor, Duane Forde, and LaPolice.

Dunigan and LaPolice, outside of brief Henry Burris appearances, have been the only supplemental colour analysts to Duane Forde and Glen Suitor in years. Chris Walby was calling the Grey Cup on CBC but TSN never hired anyone on camera — well, Brian Williams — from the CBC crew.

We figure Bo Levi Mitchell will make a transition to TSN after he ends his CFL career. Trevor Harris is interested in TSN for a post CFL career.

TSN had a more penny-pinching approach to the panel last summer. Regulars getting plenty of time off and going with 2 analysts on Sunday night games instead of 3 analysts. The Dunigan scenario would fit into that approach. 

Former coaches Jim Barker is available for panel duty. Dave Naylor and Lalji will report CFL news.

The CFL sideline reporters, not mentioned in any release, should be unchanged and are as follows:

Matthew Scianitti (Toronto, Hamilton); Claire Hanna (Ottawa); Kenzie Lalonde (Montréal); John Lu (Winnipeg); Brit Dort (Regina); Ryan Rishaug (Edmonton); and Farhan Lalji (Vancouver). Calgary doesn't have a regular TSN reporter: Dort and Rishaug help out. Shantelle Chand fills in for Lalji when the latter is on play by play.

The CFL deal with TSN and RDS expires after the end of 2026.

On the local radio side, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats rebuilt their radio broadcast team with familiar pieces. Rick Zamperin, who called Ticats games from 2007-2014, is back on play by play on Ticats Audio Network and Y108 along with long-time Tiger-Cat star Simoni Lawrence on colour analysis.

They replace RJ Broadhead and Luke Tasker, who called games from 2021-2024.

You can find radio outlets for each CFL team.

Cfl-on-ctv

The CFL on CTV (still a fun phrase) has more Saturday games. The schedule has a new pattern: Saturday night games (7 pm Eastern) in June and July, moving to Saturday afternoons starting in August through the end of the regular season except for Labour Day weekend and the revenge weekend.

Those games will not be exclusive to CTV so Canadians can still watch them on TSN.

CTV and TSN will carry the East semifinal, East final, and the Grey Cup in Winnipeg.

Few Americans can access a CTV signal. We would be curious if there is an issue on the U.S. side when CBS Sports Network carries a CTV game as to whether those viewers could watch the game on CTV on U.S. cable. None of the CTV games last season appeared on the CBS Sports Network but they will in 2025.

Toronto Argonauts win yet another Grey Cup over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers

2025 CFL preseason schedule

CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage

The 2025 Grey Cup will be at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg while Calgary will host the 2026 Grey Cup. The long-time pattern had been Grey Cups in the east. In the last decade or so, the west has dominated the title game, though Hamilton hosted in 2021 and 2023 and Ottawa hosted in 2017.

The 112th Grey Cup is only the 5th time in the history of the league where the game will be at the Manitoba capital. Winnipeg Stadium hosted the Grey Cup in 1991, 1998, and 2006. The other Grey Cup at the new Winnipeg stadium was in 2015.

Montréal has hosted 8 Grey Cup games but none since 2008. Olympic Stadium roof issues are to blame. Montréal has gone the longest without hosting the Grey Cup, hosting at Olympic Stadium in 2008. The structure hosted the Grey Cup 6 times in 1977, 1979, 1981, 1985, 2001, and 2008.

The only other Montréal stadiums to host the Grey Cup were the Autostade (1969) and the Alouettes current stadium, Percival Molson Memorial Stadium (1931).

Our weekly previews start tomorrow.

logo and photo credits: CFL
Twitter captures: @CFL (x2)
video credit: CFL

Posted at 06:50 AM in cable TV U.S., CFL, TSN | | Comments (0)

|

June 03, 2025

2025 Stanley Cup notebook: Edmonton advances once again to the Stanley Cup finals

We've seen this battle before. Gary Bettman, well, he doesn't sweat. Bettman is nervous over having a Canadian team win the Stanley Cup.

The rematch starts tomorrow night. Edmonton has not had home ice but will in the Stanley Cup finals.

The Oilers have 2 good goalies going into the finals. No Zach Hyman, unfortunately.

Winning in 5 over Dallas was masterful. The only true blip was giving up 5 goals in the 3rd period in Game 1.

The NHL and almost certainly the blacks and whites will root for the other team. Many Canadians outside of northern Alberta will do the same. Nothing new about any of these elements.

Let's hope the series gets decided in a truly fair fashion. Not likely but maybe.

Edmonton-outdoors-25

Edmonton went 0-2 with Florida this season.

December 16 Florida 6, @ Edmonton 5
February 27 @ Florida 4, Edmonton 3

2025 Stanley Cup notebook: Edmonton advances to the conference finals

2025 Stanley Cup notebook: Winnipeg, Toronto, Edmonton advance to the second round

Jeff Skinner played 1,078 NHL games before playing in a postseason game. Skinner, no relation to Stuart Skinner, was with Carolina (2010-2018) when they weren't good and Buffalo (2018-2024) before joining the Edmonton Oilers this season. 

Skinner has barely played in the NHL playoffs this spring. He got an assist on a Mattias Janmark goal in Game 1 in Los Angeles. Skinner then was a healthy scratch until Game 5 in Dallas, where he helped out after Zach Hyman's injury. Skinner scored his first career playoff goal.

This would be an incredible story if Skinner made a significant impact for the Oilers in the Stanley Cup finals.

2025 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs preview for Canadian teams

Edmonton Oilers fans got a rarity: Their hometown announcers for a second round in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That doesn't happen in Canada normally and almost never in the United States. The Winnipeg Jets fans would love to have that. Okay, the Toronto Maple Leafs fans get that often but the #1 crew does a lot of Leafs games.

Did the fans appreciate the special treat? Perhaps. Did the fans understand when Cuthbert and Simpson moved west for the conference finals? Not really.

Sportsnet has given Jack Michaels more HNIC games this past season with Louie DeBrusk. Likely because of money issues more than recognition. Michaels is great if you are an Oilers fan but not as much outside northern Alberta.

ABC carried Game 3 and finished the playoffs with 3 telecasts. The over-the-air U.S. network would have carried Game 6.

As for the Stanley Cup finals, the Rogers Sportsnet pattern is set for the finals with Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson (Gene Principe). This way, there is some Edmonton colour on the telecasts. TNT had its top crew of Kenny Albert, Eddie Olczyk, and unfortunately, Brian Boucher. Jackie Redmond serves as the reporter and Darren Pang in an unmentioned role.

The Minnesota Frost are repeat PWHL Walter Cup champions. The Frost defeated the Ottawa Charge 3-1 in the best of 5 series.

Ottawa took Game 1 by a 2-1 score in overtime. All 4 games were decided in overtime by a 2-1 score. Game 3 stood out since Minnesota won in triple overtime.

Ottawa won over Montréal 3-1 in the semifinal series. The lone Victoire win came in Game 2 in 4 overtimes. The Frost got past the Toronto Sceptres 3-1 in the other semifinal series, where Toronto won Game 1.

Minnesota beat Boston in 5 games to win the Walter Cup in 2024.

Currently reading Sarah Polley's memoir book Run Towards the Danger. Came across Polley delivering the dialogue behind a Hockey Night in Canada open. She is an amazing storyteller on screen and, so far, in print. Hope this feels inspirational.

The Stanley Cup finals is the interesting part.

Gene Principe has certainly had more attention this spring as the Edmonton Oilers host. With Scott Oake cutting back on his workload out west, Principe has had a lot of extra camera time as the Oilers make their push.  

So this is a good chance to soak up even more of the atmosphere behind the scenes for Edmonton Oilers coverage on Sportsnet.

CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage

Difficult to think ahead to the next Hockey Day in Canada. Yet Moncton, New Brunswick will be an exciting location for the 2026 version of the event. I enjoyed my time in Moncton when I was there for the Touchdown Atlantic many years ago.

45% of the Stanley Cup finals appearances by Canadian teams since 1980 have come from Edmonton. This is even more remarkable because Calgary and Montréal played each other in 1986 and 1989.

Twitter captures: @EdmontonOilers (x2); @SNstats; @JesseBlake; @SNstats; @EdmontonOilers; @dstaples; @SportsnetPR; @PWHL_Ottawa); @Sportsnet (x2); @Bob_Stauffer
photo and video credit: Rogers Sportsnet

Posted at 06:50 AM in NHL | | Comments (0)

|

Next »

Canada's Maple Leaf

 

Follow Canadian Crossing on Twitter
Subscribe to this blog's feed

Categories

Archives

More...

June 2025

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30          

About

Blog powered by Typepad