TV, eh?

From Paul Wiecek of the Winnipeg Free Press:

• He can’t pitch, but CBC’s Mercer does a mean jig
  “And the boos? Mercer was prepared an hour before he threw out the first pitch. “I’m ready for it. I’ve been booed before,” the host of CBC’s Rick Mercer Report said in an interview. “My baseball experience is basically zero. I played softball as a kid, but I basically spent the whole time in the oufield, picking dandelions and doing cartwheels.” Read more.

Bill Harris of QMI Agency breaks down the fall premiere dates, including Canadian shows:

• Fall TV getting weird
  “Our official fall TV preview section will appear in a few weeks, as the majority of shows are set to debut or return toward the end of September. But a significant number of programs will burst out of the gate before that, some even before Labour Day.” Read more.

Episode 3: Listen or download here or subscribe via iTunes or with any other program via the TV, Eh? feed

Co-hosts Anthony Marco and Diane Wild discuss the CBC fall schedule, including arguing about the merits of Battle of the Blades, deciding Rick Mercer and the gang at 22 Minutes should never have holidays so we can have a Daily Show/Colbert type show in Canada,cheering Being Erica‘s renewal, and cynically deciding CBC had nothing better in development. In other news, 18 to Life was picked up by The CW, Haven got decent ratings, Degrassi introduced a transgendered character, and The Pillars of the Earth premieres Friday on The Movie Network/Movie Central.

Plus, a 20-minute interview with Gordon Pinsent about his role in The Pillars of the Earth, his 80th birthday celebration at the opening of his new play, Due South, the new series he has in development with son-in-law Peter Keleghan, what progress he’s seen in the Canadian TV industry over the years, his relationship with Sarah Polley, and how he’s been in every Canadian TV show and movie ever made.

Your links

• The CW picks up CBC’s 18 to Life
• Haven hits 300,000 viewers
• Degrassi introduces a transgendered character – controversial or same old, same old?
• The Pillars of the Earth premieres Friday, July 23
• The incredible career of Gordon Pinsent
• The CBC fall schedule
• Is Battle of the Blades a case of Schadenfreude or cheesy fun? You decide. (But it’s totally cheesy fun.)
• The Christina Cox vampire show whose title I couldn’t remember is Blood Ties. Last week, I couldn’t remember the Chris Leavins movie The Hanging Garden. Next week, maybe I’ll forget the name of this podcast!
• For information on specific shows, check out the sidebar of TV, eh? under Categories, or search for the show title in that little search box

Your hosts

• Anthony can be found at Dyscultured and lovehatethings, and on Twitter here and here.
• Diane can be found here at TV, eh? and here, and on Twitter here and here.



Condolences to his family and friends.

From the Montreal Gazette:

• Comedic sharpshooter Irwin Barker dies
  “One of the most intelligent, inventive and unique voices in Canadian comedy has been silenced. Comedian/writer Irwin Barker died early Monday in Toronto after a lengthy battle with leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of soft-tissue cancer.” Read more.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Mercer Stays Out Of Sun, Sticks With CBC
  “It’s no bedtime story–Rick Mercer turned down an offer to headline Sun TV News. Spoke with the comedian Wednesday and he confirmed that, yes, newly appointed Quebecor vice president Kory Teneycke–until less than a year ago Stephen Harper’s director of communications–called him up, met with him for drinks and made a pitch for Mercer to join the proposed right wing news channel. Have the full story here at The Canadian Press.” Read more.

From a media release:

CBC TELEVISION CELEBRATES CANADIAN STARS, ICONS & HOMEGROWN HITS AT FALL 2010 SEASON PREVIEW

• Battle of the Blades is Back!
• Debbie Travis Comes to CBC Prime Time!
• Men With Brooms Brings Fresh Laughs for Fall! (pictured)

Kirstine Stewart, General Manager of CBC Television, previewed the network’s Fall 2010 schedule that features the highly anticipated new season of BATTLE OF THE BLADES, the debut of a brand-new format for ALL FOR ONE WITH DEBBIE TRAVIS on prime time television, a new half-hour comedy based on the popular Canadian movie MEN WITH BROOMS, and the return of several established CBC hits.

PAUL GROSS, DEBBIE TRAVIS, ERIN KARPLUK, RICK MERCER, PETER MANSBRIDGE, GEORGE STROUMBOULOPOULOS, DAVID SUZUKI, KURT BROWNING, DON CHERRY and RON MacLEAN, along with many other CBC celebrities, participated in the announcement for the Fall schedule that also includes THE RON JAMES SHOW, BEING ERICA, THE TUDORS, RICK MERCER REPORT, HEARTLAND, THE FIFTH ESTATE, DRAGONS’ DEN, the 50th season of THE NATURE OF THINGS, and CBC’s winning daytime lineup that includes STEVEN and CHRIS, BEST RECIPES EVER and KIDS’CBC.

(more…)

From Wade Hemsworth of the Hamilton Spectator:

• Audio clip: Mercer will try to leave grads with a lesson in laughing
  “This type of thing is not what I expected,” he said. “I went into show business, which is probably not a very good decision to make in the first place.” Read more.

From Gayle MacDonald of the Globe and Mail:

• If numbers are what count, CBC’s made prime-time progress
  “Four of the public network’s TV shows drew million-plus audiences this season, but critics wonder if there are costs in quality.” Read more.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• 22 Minutes Down to 13 Amid CBC Cuts for Fall
  “The most dramatic cut could come at the expense of the network’s longest-running entertainment series, 22 Minutes. The Halifax-based comedy may be down to a half-season, with just 13 episodes ordered, down from 18 last season and 20 the season before that.” Read more.

20:00

(Season Finale) Tonight Rick is at the Paralympics. In Vancouver, he checks out the action with Rick Hansen, joins the sledge hockey team, and goes ziplining with former mayor Sam Sullivan. He’s also in Whistler with gold medalists Brian and Robin McKeever and meets Canada’s paralympians in the Athletes’s Village.

Rick goes to the Toronto Bike Show and visits the Spread the Net Student Challenge winners at Simon Fraser University and the University of Ottawa.

Tonight Rick finds out first hand how the Toronto Marine Unit makes harbour ice rescues and later goes to an Outdoor Adventure Show where he does some white-water rafting, rock climbing, and learns to scuba dive.

Rick is in The Pas for the annual Northern Manitoba Trapper’s Festival where he tries out events from moose-calling to flour-packing, and then he has lunch with NDP leader Jack Layton at his eco-friendly Toronto home.

From the WGC:

• Finalists Announced: The Writers Guild of Canada congratulates the 2010 Finalists

From BBM Canada:

• Top Programs – Total Canada
  #13 Dragons’ Den (1.529 million)
  #25 Flashpoint (1.046 million)
  #29 Heartland (1.028 million)
  #30 Rick Mercer Report (1.009 million)

Rick visits Calgary’s hotbed of Olympic training with Olympic medalist Kyle Shewfelt to find out how the cutting-edge ‘Own the Podium’ science program is preparing our athletes to win a record number of medals in Vancouver.

From BBM Canada:

• Top Programs – Total Canada
  #15 Dragons’ Den (1.645 million)
  #25 Rick Mercer Report (1.098 million)
  #28 Test the Nation (1.048 million)

Tonight Rick goes west to check out bobsled action–he’s in Rossland, BC for Canada’s longest-running winter carnival and partakes in the homemade bobsled race down the frozen main street. Then he is in Calgary where our Olympic Women’s Bobsled team, headed by Kailie Humphries, shows him how it’s really done.

20:00
Tonight Rick is at the National Figure Skating Championship in London, ON. He tries synchronized skating and national Olympic-bound champs Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir give him an ice dance lesson. Later he’s off to Alberta’s Elk Island National Park for the annual bison round-up.