APTN January programming

MIXED BLESSINGS / Tuesdays at 9 pm repeating Wednesdays at 2:30 am, Fridays at 8:30 pm and Sundays at 8 pm ET/PT

World Premiere

Mixed Blessings is a dramatic comedy series that explores the lives of a blended family in small town Canada. Hank, a third generation Ukrainian with two teenagers, and Ruby, a Cree woman with four kids, ages 6 to 16, set up house together in a northern Alberta community. As they fumble to fuse their lives together, will the kids and the town rip them apart?

CLOSER TO HOME / Tuesdays at 9:30pm repeating Wednesdays at 3 am and Saturdays at 2:30 pm and 9 pm ET/PT

World Premiere

This television series takes us onto reserves across Canada to experience housing from a First Nations point of view. Hosted by acclaimed First Nations actor and home builder, Wayne Baker, six new half-hour episodes deliver relevant “how-to” advice on a range of housing issues catered to Aboriginal people living on-reserve.

RABBIT FALL / Fridays at 7:30 pm repeating Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 1 am and 8:30 pm ET/PT

World Premiere

Tara Wheaton (Andrea Menard) is assigned the town of Rabbit Fall’s most benign cases – from noise violations to neighborhood pranks – but instinct tells her that the bizarre lurks in the everyday. Her nagging intuition leads her from ordinary crimes into the darkest corners of Rabbit Fall, where she uncovers the town’s gravest secrets and begins to suspect there is an underlying mystery at work.

renegadepress.com / Wednesdays at 5 pm, Fridays at 5 pm and Sundays at 6:30 pm ET/PT

2006 Gemini Award winner and 2007 ACT Award of Excellence winner!

renegadepress.com follows the story of Aboriginal teenager Jack Sinclair (Bronson Pelletier) and his best friend Zoey Jones (Ksenia Solo) who are determined to expose what’s really going on in the lives of today’s youth by using their teen-generated e-zine ‘renegadepress.com’ as their platform.

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Air Farce New Year’s Eve

A CANADIAN TRADITION CONTINUES!…

Coming up Monday, December 31, 2007 @ 8:00 PM (8:30 NT) on CBC Television:

AIR FARCE NEW YEAR’S EVE

Our annual 1 HOUR send-off to the year that was, with special guests Carlo Rota and David Suzuki. Featuring: the return of Ad Absurdum and the Confused Philosopher, more absurd and confused than ever, checking in with Britney Spears, the Canadian Dollar proves its real worth, the all-new sequel to Dancing with the Stars, a visit to Cougar’s Corner, Stephen Harper tries psychic powers, and crashing the hottest line-up outside the hottest New Year’s party in town. It’s an all-new special … as always, available in HD!

Note: The special will be repeated the same night at 11:00 PM (11:30 NT) and include CBC’s official “Countdown to 2008” with special guest Suzie McNeil at 11:57pm (all time zones, including NL) as we ring in 2008.

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The year in TV

Alex Strachan of CanWest News Service lists the best of TV, including Intelligence, Corner Gas, and Robson Arms:

  • Cheer up, television has never been better
    “Good grief. So that was the TV year that was. A writers strike. Catfights, celebrity spats and family feuds — and that was just The View. Here’s a look back, through the prism of the stages of grief, as defined by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, author of On Death and Dying.” Read more.

Joel Rubinoff of the Waterloo Record isn’t as optimistic about the state of TV, and gives Falcon Beach and Whistler the dubious distinction of being among the worst of 2007, while Degrassi is one of his best:

  • TV’s Year of Living Dangerously
    “Degrassi: The Next Generation (CTV): The greatest teen show on the planet rediscovers its mojo with a same sex romance between control freak Paige and teen rebel Alexa. The year’s most compelling — and bittersweet — love story.” Read more.

Rob Salem of the Toronto Star includes Little Mosque on the Prairie in his best of 2007:

  • We’re crazy about TV’s Mad Men
    “A provocative premise, a terrific cast … and, however unlikely and unprecedented, a large and loyal Canadian audience. (Runners-up: Durham County, Across the River to Motor City.)” Read more.

The Globe and Mail names Zarqa Nawaz of Little Mosque on the Prairie one of their people of the year:

  • Arts Person of the year runners-up
    “The public broadcaster gambled that Little Mosque would be the breakout hit it so desperately needed. Turns out, it placed the right bet. In its first season, roughly 1 million viewers tuned in weekly. This season, the average was 785,000 — a respectable turnout for a show that managed to lure away two top writing guns from its comedic rival, CTV’s Corner Gas, the most-watched Canadian comedy on TV.” Read more.
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In the news: Peter Raymont of The Border

The Canadian Press has a profile on documentary filmmaker Peter Raymont, executive producing his first TV drama with CBC’s upcoming The Border:

  • Longtime documentarian Peter Raymont in spotlight with new film, TV show
    “‘I think we’re getting closer to the truth with The Border than we could do with a documentary on the subject, I really do. Documentaries are all about access – the types I do, anyway. And you can’t get inside those types of national security issues in the post-9-11 world. This is the way to do it, with dramatizations that are informed by and drawn from reality.'” Read more.

TheBorder4

Photo from The Border courtesy CBC: American-Canadian differences in policy are personified in the relationship between American agent Bianca LaGarda (Sofia Milos) and her Canadian counterpart Major Mike Kessler (James McGowan).

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