• 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.

• 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.

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.



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.

• 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.

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.

CBC TELEVISION’S FALL 2010 PRIME TIME SCHEDULE

(All times local; thirty minutes later in Newfoundland.)

SUNDAYS (beginning September 26)

7 p.m. HEARTLAND

8 p.m. BATTLE OF THE BLADES

9 p.m. ALL FOR ONE WITH DEBBIE TRAVIS

MONDAYS

8 p.m. BATTLE OF THE BLADES – RESULTS (begins October 3)

8:30 p.m. MEN WITH BROOMS (begins September 20)

9 p.m. JUST FOR LAUGHS (begins September 20)

TUESDAYS (beginning September 21)

8 p.m. RICK MERCER REPORT

8:30 p.m. 22 MINUTES
9 p.m. BEING ERICA

WEDNESDAYS (beginning September 22)

8 p.m. DRAGONS’ DEN

9 p.m. THE TUDORS

THURSDAYS (beginning September 23)

8 p.m. THE NATURE OF THINGS

9 p.m. DOC ZONE

FRIDAYS (beginning September 24)

8 p.m. THE RON JAMES SHOW

8:30 p.m. RICK MERCER REPORT – Encore

9 p.m. THE FIFTH ESTATE

SATURDAYS

6:30 p.m. ET CBC’s HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA

WEEKNIGHTS

10 p.m. THE NATIONAL, with Peter Mansbridge (on-going)

10:55 p.m. CBC NEWS LATE NIGHT (on-going)

11:05 p.m. THE HOUR with George Stroumboulopoulos (begins September 20)

DAYTIME

7 a.m. KIDS’CBC (on-going)

2 p.m. STEVEN AND CHRIS (begins September 20)

3 p.m. BEST RECIPES EVER (begins September 20)

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

(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.