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CBC announces winter 2023 slate

From a media release:

Today at the industry event CBC Live at Massey Hall, CBC previewed its winter programming and made a series of announcements focused on reaching new audiences in Canada with more relevant and engaging news and entertainment on all platforms, including the launch of free streaming channel CBC NEWS EXPLORE. CBC’s winter storytelling includes over 40 original series, podcasts, specials and documentaries from Canadian creators, producers and storytellers across all genres, reflecting more people, perspectives and lived experiences across the country.

NEW PROGRAMMING ANNOUNCED TODAY

CBC NEWS EXPLORE

PUSH (8×30, Fenix Film & Television and Small Army Entertainment)
Starring Benveet “Bean” Gill, PUSH is a new original unscripted series that takes audiences into the inner world of the “Wheelie Peeps,” an unlikely group of friends and wheelchair users, bonded by their shared experience of navigating life on wheels. They are self-proclaimed rednecks, former exotic dancers, mothers, concert pianists and more. Whether it’s growing a family, fighting social stigma, or jumping back into the dating pool, this determined group of friends is working together to prove that even though their mobility may be limited, their lives and dreams are most certainly not.

“This show is what I needed when I was first paralyzed,” said Gill. “To see that having a disability doesn’t define you. We’re regular people, striving like everyone else to live our kickass lives to the fullest. But Push is not simply a show about lives. It’s about really seeing and hearing us as people, just as we are.”

PUSH premieres Friday, February 24 at 8:30 p.m. (9 NT) on CBC TV and CBC Gem. Shot in summer and fall 2022 in Edmonton, Alberta, PUSH is executive produced by Sean De Vries and produced by Kaitlan Stewart, with consulting producer Gill.

CBC KIDS

New original live-action preschool series MITTENS AND PANTS, featuring best friends Mittens the kitten and Pants the puppy as they embark on adventures in the all-animal town of Kibble Corners, launches Monday, February 6 on CBC Gem and Monday, February 13 on CBC TV. Episodes of new preschool animated series GISELE’S MASHUP ADVENTURES launch Wednesday, February 1 on CBC Gem and Monday, February 6 on CBC TV, inspired by the creative ideas of children ages six to nine from across Canada which are turned into hilarious adventures for animated versions of each child and host Gisele.

CBC SPORTS

CBC SPORTS will continue to keep Canadians connected to the world of high-performance sport through its weekend broadcasts CBC SPORTS PRESENTS, hosted by Scott Russell and Andi Petrillo and available on CBC TV and CBC Gem, as well as live streams of key competitions on cbcsports.ca and the CBC Sports app. Upcoming events include: FIS World Alpine Ski Championships (February 8 – 19), FIS Freestyle Skiing World Championships (February 19 – March 4) and FIS Nordic World Ski Championships (February 23 – 26).

CBC’s winter broadcast and streaming schedule launches Monday, January 2 on CBC TV and the free CBC Gem streaming service.

*All following times local with the exception of Newfoundland, please add half an hour to all times.

MONDAYS:

7:30 PM – FAMILY FEUD CANADA with host Gerry Dee continues Mondays to Thursdays, kicking off the new year with celebrity episodes on January 2 and 3, featuring the PRETTY HARD CASES detectives vs. the legal team from DIGGSTOWN, and the BOLLYWED Singh family vs. the sporty CANADA’S ULTIMATE CHALLENGE group. For more information on the “Celebrity Special” episodes, click here.

8 PM – MURDOCH MYSTERIES Season 16 continues January 2.

9 PM – The new adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic novel, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, starring David Tennant, debuts January 2. Adapted from the popular French-language series, time travel drama PLAN B premieres February 27.

10 PM – THE NATIONAL CBC News’ flagship program with Chief Correspondent Adrienne Arsenault continues Sunday to Friday each week.

TUESDAYS:

8 PM – THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES 30th anniversary season continues January 3.

8:30 PM – The most-watched original Canadian comedy during its first season,* SON OF A CRITCH returns for Season 2 on January 3.

9 PM – WORKIN’ MOMS returns for its seventh and final season on January 3, as the women explore lasting friendships, ambitious careers, raising families, and growing up.

9:30 PM – Season 4 of comedy CATASTROPHE, written by and starring Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan, debuts January 3. Season 1 of CASUAL, starring Michaela Watkins and Tommy Dewey as a sister and brother who coach each other through the crazy world of dating while raising her teenage daughter, premieres February 14.

WEDNESDAYS:

8 PM – STILL STANDING lands Season 8 on January 4, starring host Jonny Harris as he visits a new set of towns across Canada from Ucluelet and Gibsons, B.C. to Wabush, Newfoundland, and everywhere in between.

8:30 PM – RUN THE BURBS Season 2 premieres January 4, with new cast member Sharjil Rasool and an array of guest stars including Dakota Ray Hebert, The Great Canadian Baking Show’s Ann Pornel, and multi-award-winning comic and actor Gavin Crawford.

9 PM – PRETTY HARD CASES returns for Season 3 on January 4, with a miserably demoted Samantha Wazowski (Meredith MacNeill) and a deeply undercover Kelly Duff (Adrienne C. Moore) reuniting to win their way back into the OCE after eight long months apart. Award-winning actor Wendy Crewson joins the cast as the new and exacting Unit Commander. The WINNIPEG COMEDY FESTIVAL, featuring some of the most dynamic performers on today’s comedy circuit, brings the laughs beginning March 15.

THURSDAYS:

8 PM – BOLLYWED debuts January 12, introducing Canada to the Singh family, who have been operating Chandan Fashion in Toronto’s Little India for the last 37 years. New competition reality format CANADA’S ULTIMATE CHALLENGE turns the nation into a cross-country obstacle course on February 16, featuring Canadians mentored by superstar coaches Donovan Bailey, Waneek Horn-Miller, Clara Hughes, Gilmore Junio, Jen Kish and Luke Willson.

9 PM – CBC News’ award-winning investigative series THE FIFTH ESTATE continues January 5. British drama-thriller TRIGGER POINT debuts February 16. THE JUST FOR LAUGHS GALAS headlined by Ronnie Chieng, Hannah Gadsby and Marc Maron begin March 30.

FRIDAYS:

8 PM – Canada’s award-winning consumer watchdog MARKETPLACE continues its 50th anniversary season on January 6.

8:30 PM – ABC/CBC co-production STUFF THE BRITISH STOLE, based on award-winning journalist Marc Fennell’s chart-topping podcast, debuts January 6. New original factual series PUSH, exploring the lives of a group of friends “the Wheelie Peeps” in Edmonton, begins February 24.

9 PM – THE NATURE OF THINGS Season 62 premieres on January 6 for David Suzuki’s final season with fascinating science and nature documentaries each week. The season launches with Last of the Right Whales, telling the story of the magnificent North Atlantic Right Whale and the passionate people trying to save this intelligent and social animal from extinction.

SUNDAYS:

7 PM – Season 16 of HEARTLAND continues on January 8. BEST IN MINIATURE, hosted by Aba Amuquandoh, returns for Season 2 on February 19.

8 PM – CBC Docs will spotlight compelling feature-length documentaries, from Canada and around the world, beginning January 8 with the following Canadian originals:

THE CASE AGAINST COSBY (directed by Karen Wookey, 2022) premieres January 8

DOUG AND THE SLUGS AND ME (directed by Teresa Alfeld, 2022) premieres January 15

OFFSIDE: THE HAROLD BALLARD STORY (directed by Jason Priestley, 2022) premieres January 22

UNLOVED: HURONIA’S FORGOTTEN CHILDREN (directed by Barri Cohen, 2022) premieres January 29

DEAR JACKIE (director Henri Pardo, 2022) premieres February 5

9 PM – Limited series ESSEX COUNTY, based on Jeff Lemire’s graphic novel, premieres March 19.

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Featured, Podcast

TV, Eh? Podcast Episode 256: Holiday memories

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Welcome back to another bi-weekly (ish) chat about the latest news in Canadian TV!

With the holidays coming up, and very little TV news to talk about, the podcast is taking a break until January. But before we do that, we’re celebrating the upcoming holiday season by talking about holiday programming. It doesn’t have to be Canadian, necessarily, just the things that have become a staple of our seasonal viewing.

This podcast brought to you by Waitrose Mulled Wine and egg nog.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Aliya Jasmine and Teddy Wilson celebrate the world’s mega machines in Discovery’s The Mightiest

First, there was Mighty Ships. Then, Mighty Planes, followed by Mighty Cruise Ships and Mighty Trains. Now, there is simply The Mightiest.

Debuting on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery, the latest in the Mighty franchise takes viewers on a six-episode adventure into some of the mega-ist of mega machines around the planet. Hosted by Teddy Wilson (Mighty Trains) and environmental journalist Aliya Jasmine, each installment focuses on one main machine surrounded by smaller stories. Each segment is tied together by Aliya Jasmine and Wilson, who converse while standing in Hanger 1 at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.

“It’s the latest and the greatest in the Mighty franchise,” Wilson says, on the line during a recent media day with his co-host. “They wanted to take this amazing franchise and really kick it up a notch. This series focuses on planes, trains and ships. We’re going to take viewers on some amazing and epic adventures.”

For environmental journalist Aliya Jasmine, The Mightiest offered her many tales to tell.

“So many of these stories deal with nature and some of the world’s most destructive natural forces,” Aliya Jasmine says. “We were able to fly into the eye of a hurricane and over wildfires. [We’re] not only looking at these mighty machines and the innovation in science and engineering but also the actual humans behind them. There are incredible people who put their lives at stake to operate these machines.”

The adventure begins on Wednesday with “Launch Day,” where Wilson is aboard the U.S. Navy’s newest and largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford. Updated with the latest in technology—including a switch from steam to electricity to launch and land aircraft—the Gerald R. Ford is a small town on the sea, to which The Mightiest crew were given unprecedented access.

“It was a mind-blowing experience,” Wilson recalls. “It was incredibly loud, incredibly dangerous… the deck of an aircraft carrier is one of the most dangerous places on earth. And, we had to arrive and leave the carrier via a military transport plane landing and taking off, which was one of the coolest experiences of my life.”

In addition to highlighting the USS Gerald R. Ford, Wednesday’s debut looks at the massive Airbus A-380’s first landing into a major North American hub, the re-launch of a flying telescope after being grounded for months, and final touches on a cruise ship three times bigger than the Titanic. And while Wilson says as cool as the aircraft carrier assignment was, he believes his co-star got a plum Season 1 assignment seated inside an F-18 as a member of the Blue Angels.

“The Blue Angels are the only F-18 pilots in the world that don’t wear G-suits and don’t have oxygen masks,” Aliya Jasmine says. “When you see Tom Cruise in Top Gun, he has a G-suit on that helps him stay conscious, keep his eyesight, help him breathe and not be nauseous.

“It takes them years to train, and they trained me in two minutes,” she continues with a laugh. “They did warn me that it’s not uncommon for people to pass out, momentarily go blind, pee or defecate themselves, or puke. My body has never gone through anything like that before.”

So, how did she do?

“We pulled 6Gs, broke the sound barrier, did a couple of loops and I did puke four times on camera.”

The Mightiest airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.

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Featured, Podcast

TV, Eh? Podcast Episode 255: More Canada’s Drag Race and Lilly Singh hosting for CTV

Welcome back to another bi-weekly (ish) chat about the latest news in Canadian TV! First, Greg and Amy go through debuts and returns on the Canadian TV calendar.

Then, we cover the latest Canadian TV news, which includes The Porter, Sort Of and The Hardy Boys winning DGC Awards, Lilly Singh hosting Battle of the Generations for CTV and Crave ordering Season 4 of Canada’s Drag Race.

This podcast brought to you by Little Giant Adelaide Hills Chardonnay and Chateau Saint-Florin Bordeaux.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: History’s Our War combines genealogy with war veteran stories

I’m a huge fan of genealogy series. Whether it’s Who Do You Think You Are? or Finding Your Roots, I can’t get enough of the tales of family from peoples’ pasts. I was excited to learn more about Lark Productions’ latest, Our War, which follows the descendants of Canadian war veterans as they learn what their family members did during the First and Second World Wars. Many stories have been forgotten; even more, have never been told.

Debuting Friday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on History Channel, the four-part Our War is a real-life genealogical investigation that reveals the past through a younger generation.

In the first installment, we follow Stephanie Watts, who is on a mission to learn more about her great-great-grandfather Samuel. Other than some scant information about him serving as an Army band member in the First World War and some photos, his life, and his role in the war are a blank. The quest begins in Calgary, where Stephanie, who is Caucasian, reflects on learning, as a child, that Samuel was Black. Then it’s off to learn more about a missing Memorial Plaque, also known as a “Death Penny,” in his name and given to families of those killed in the First World War. With help from Militaria Auctioneer Linda Baggaley and War Memorabilia dealer Marvin Taylor, Stephanie learns the story of the Death Penny and how rare they are.

Meanwhile, in Winnipeg, Chris Black is looking for some answers of his own. His grandfather, Edward Walter Drost, was injured in Anzio while fighting in Italy during the Second World War. One of Chris’ last conversations with his grandfather has led Chris on a quest to learn more about a word Edward uttered: Camino.

Then it’s back to Stephanie, who learns Samuel’s birthplace, and the circumstances he grew up in before coming to Canada on the promise of land in the Prairies from history teacher Christian Mbanza (above right, with Stephanie). It’s fascinating to learn about Canada circa 1907, when Samuel arrived in small-town Alberta, determined to make a go of it and to see Stephanie’s reaction when she’s presented with documents she’s never seen.

In the second episode, airing Friday at 10 p.m. ET/PT, a teenage descendant of legendary Onondaga runner Tom Longboat learns of his ancestor’s valiant, yet little-known, actions during the First World War.

Our War is an incredible, and exciting way, of telling the stories of these Canadian heroes. Fingers crossed there is another season of Our War to come next year.

Our War airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on History Channel.

Image courtesy of Lark Productions.

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