From James Fallows of The Atlantic:
Lorne Michaels’s Other Show
I was on the road during the SNL 40th Anniversary celebration and will have to dig it up online some time. Meanwhile, here is the Lorne Michaels-backed show I wish had lasted for 40 years, or at least more years than it did: the Toronto-based Kids in the Hall. For these reasons. Continue reading.
From Isabelle Khoo of Parentdish.ca:
Best kids TV: 10 things you didn’t know about ‘The Friendly Giant’
For 27 years, The Friendly Giant asked us to look up — waaay up — so that he could tell us fascinating tales and play us charming tunes with his puppet friends Rusty and Jerome. In that time, Friendly’s charisma captivated kids across the country, making his show a staple for generations. Continue reading.
From John Doyle of The Globe and Mail:
So farewell then, Sun News. Gone on Friday the 13th with a wee whimper.
How to classify the closing? It is tempting to mock. Shortly after Sun News went dark came a release from Fox announcing that 10 more episodes of World’s Funniest Fails had been ordered. Tempting to throw Sun News into World’s Funniest Fails. Tempting, but wrong. Continue reading.
From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail:
Five TV reasons to be cheerful in mid-February
Songs of Freedom, (Vision TV, Fridays, 10 p.m.) is glorious. The Canadian opera singer Measha Brueggergosman performs an immensely powerful selection of spirituals – “music that emerged from Africa out of the slave trade to America.†Brueggergosman is one of our great cultural assets and here, in a program made by Rhombus Media and directed by Barbara Willis Sweete, she unleashes sublime interpretations of such material as Amazing Grace, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Go Tell it on the Mountain and Go Down Moses. Continue reading.
Marketplace, CBC – “Food Fiction”
No doubt you’ve spotted them in the grocery store: foods with labels claiming to be healthier choices. But are those claims supported by the facts – or are they really just Food Fiction? Hosts Tom Harrington and Erica Johnson hit the grocery store to check out some popular foods covering a whole day’s worth of meals. With the help of nutritional watchdog Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, we break down the foods, revealing what’s really inside, and tell you what the labels don’t.
The Fifth Estate, CBC – “After the Cameras Went Away”
This week, After the Cameras Went Away looks at the latest developments in four of our recent episodes. Three weeks ago the fifth estate told the twisted tale of Antonio and Francesco Carbone, two brothers from Toronto with big plans to build a gambling empire financed by Hamilton billionaire Michael DeGroote. Antonio Carbone now finds himself trapped in the Dominican Republic, in more trouble than ever before. Canadian ski cross racer Nikola Zoricic died in March 2012 when he suffered a spectacular crash at the finish of a World Cup event in Switzerland. A new interview with Nik’s parents details their push for an investigation into the conditions of the course. Shin Dong-hyuk is reputed to be the only known prisoner to have escaped from one of North Korea’s most notorious internment camps. But last month, it was revealed that parts of his story were untrue. The fifth estate speaks to North Korean defectors who knew Shin to gain insight into what might have happened. This week an Italian court will render its verdict on the actions of disgraced captain Francesco Schettino, who is charged with the deaths of 32 people in the January 2012 sinking of the Costa Concordia cruise liner. Watch Schettino’s exclusive television interview from December 2012 in The Captain’s Fate, for a first-hand account of why he did what he did.
