As briouxtv listeners know, executive producer Mitch Azaria loves to go Tripping. These past five years, he has taken us by mahogany lake boat up the Rideau Canal, sailing along the tip of The Bruce Peninsula, on a bird's eye view over the Niagara region and aboard a Budd train northwest of Superior to White River. This April, his latest immersive …

Stop doing whatever you are doing right now and listen to this podcast episode with Dave Thomas. The SCTV writer-producer-player looks back on his years working with the late, great, Joe Flaherty, who passed away April 1st at 82. Thomas and Flaherty produced the series in its second season, taking their cue from Harold Ramis and putting more of a s…

Terry Fox dipped his toe into the Atlantic off the coast of St. John's, Newfoundland, on April 12, 1980. And so began his historic crusade against cancer, the Marathon of Hope. Forty-four years later, nearly a billion dollars has been raised to help people with cancer around the world in Terry's name. On this podcast, the man who ran with him halfw…

Gotta sing! Gotta dance! Gotta watch the cast of Murdoch Mysteries do what no other scripted, dramatic Canadian TV series has done before -- present a full-blown musical episode. It happens Monday, March 25 on CBC (see it after the 25th on CBCGem) and April 6 on Ovation in the US. "Why is Everybody Singing?" finds our hero, Det. William Murdoch (Ya…

Trish Stratus is a WWE Hall of Famer, eight-time WWE Champion, and was recently named WWE's Greatest Female Superstar. Now she's heading into her third season as a judge on Canada's Got Talent, which has just been supersized with a million dollar payday thanks to Rogers. So if head judge Howie Mandel gets out of control this season on CGT, remember…

Back in 1974, fifty years ago, there was no streaming, no cable, no news or sports networks. What there finally was, however, was a third national Canadian broadcast network. On this episode of brioux.tv: the podcast, Corus Entertainment EVP Troy Reeb looks back at a time when Canada went Global. Once known as "The Love Boat network," it is the lon…

Have you seen The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down? The series is produced out of Grenville Island in Vancouver and among the executive producers is Seth Rogen. He is known more for pot than pottery but watch him get his hands dirty a few times on camera, making, of course, ash trays from behind a pottery wheel. Now, there is a lot to pottery. You…

The folks at AppleTV+ asked if I’d like a one-on-one with Eugene Levy. Before you could say Schitt’s Creek, I said yes! Levy – beloved in Canada for decades as part of the legendary SCTV cast – had just been inducted into the Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame. The interview took place in February in Pasadena, CA. I also took part in a press conference w…

TV shows don't just write and produce themselves. That takes showrunners! Two of the best in Canada have been Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern, the husband and wife team behind such hits as Flashpoint, X Company and Transplant. Their latest is the new Wednesday night CBC police drama Allegiance. The series stars Supinder Wraich as promising roo…

I had so much fun zooming with Karen Robinson, who lays down the law on the new Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. "Toronto is its own character in the show,” says Robinson, who loves that the city is representing itself for a change instead of somewhere else. “This is about us.” Robinson plays Inspector Vivienne Holness on this latest extension…

One of Red Green's favourite sayings is, "If the ladies don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy." Steve Smith may be the handiest fella ever in the history of Canadian television. Inspired by that ol' TV fishin' pal Red Fisher, Smith crafted Red Green out of duct tape and suspenders. The Red Green Show had humble beginnings out…

For years, actor/comedian Tim Progosh has wondered: with all the great comedians Canada has produced over the years, why is there no Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame? Progosh has done more than wonder. He's made it happen. For more than 20 years, his efforts have been stymied by celebrations cut short by the 9/11 attacks, by deals falling through durin…

I’m old enough to remember seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. That "really big shew" happened on February 9, 1964 – 60 years ago. I remember my dad going on about their long hair and those so-called Beatle wigs. I could not, however, take my eyes off them, and neither could a then-record 73 million other people who watched that night on te…

Of the 137 podcast episodes I've done here over the past four-plus years, the most amazing conversation might be the second one we recorded. That was with one of my favourite actors, Enrico Colantoni. The man has done very well since he left Etobicoke for the Big Apple as a student at the American Academy of the Dramatic Arts. Distinguishing himsel…

In this episode: two CBC Tuesday night comedies for the price of one. First up is Andrew Pfung and company from Run The Burbs (Tues. on CBC). The sitcom returns for a third season with Rakhee Morzaria, who plays Camille, joining Phung on this round-table chat, along with showrunners Jennica Harper and Nelu Handa. We start off talking yard sales, th…

Two actors known exclusively for their work in the horror genre step off script and into their own real-life thriller on their quest to decipher if Canada’s most ghostly places are truly haunted. Yes, Luke Hutchie and Matthew Finlan are the ghostbusters in this "factual" (CBC never uses the "R" word) series. Both have horror genre credits in their …

To see your way clear to a new spin on a cop show is not easy. Sisters Karen Troubetzkoy and Nikolijne Troubetzkoy, series creators who've proven themselves on hits such as Orphan Black and Transplant, looked within themselves for inspiration. Karen, or Kat, has struggled with vision loss requiring multiple surgeries since her twenties. Her story l…

Series creator and star Mark Critch needed to replicate the bridge of the original Star Trek Enterprise for a fantasy sequence on his St. John's-based sitcom Son of a Critch. The episode airs this Tuesday, January 16 on CBC. Who did Critch beam aboard to do the job? None other that my guest this week on brioux.tv: the podcast, Mark Steel. True, tha…

When you are casting a he/she series, chemistry is everything. The producers behind the new Vancouver-based cop/caper hour Wild Cards struck gold with their leads: Vanessa Morgan (Riverdale) and Giacomo Gianniotti (Grey's Anatomy). He plays a by-the-books, wrongfully accused cop trying to clear his name after being demoted to harbour duty. She play…

Two thousand and twenty-three was a challenging year in the TV business. Inflation and higher interest rates had consumers thinking twice about streaming subscriptions. The writers and actors strikes put a cork in the content pipeline. Peak TV seemed to slip back from the summit. The big success story in Canada, however, was the rapid growth of Plu…

Giddyap, pardner. This week's episode of brioux.tv: the podcast takes a deep dive into everything you need to know about collecting your favourite TV shows on DVD. My guest is archivist, curator and classic TV expert Andrew J. Klyde, executive producer of Bonanza: The Official Complete Series. For many boomers, Sunday nights were spent with your fa…

At brioux.tv, most podcasts deal with the people who make television memories. What about, however, people who collect TV memorabilia? We’re talking toys and games, trading cards, comic books, autographs and puzzles? Meet Canada keeper of every boomer’s childhood memories: Bruce Button. For close to 50 years, Button has been buying, selling and cur…

When he was asked to be president of the Toronto Film School a few years ago, Andrew Barnsley wasn't sure if he could take the job. After all, he was the executive producer of three network sitcoms at the time: Schitt's Creek, JANN and Son of a Critch. (A fourth, the reboot of Kids in the Hall on Prime Video, came later.) The Emmy and Golden Globe …

The strikes are over. How will this affect the future of television? Who better to ask than Mister John Doyle? The retired and distinguished Globe and Mail TV columnist returns to brioux.tv: the podcast to share his savvy and unfiltered take on the crazy business of television. On this episode we tackle the following topics: The impact of the write…

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for Canada's first lady of entertainment news, Cheryl Hickey. The big hit was learning that the series she has hosted for 18 seasons, ET Canada, was being shut down by Corus Entertainment. Hickey admits the move, which took effect Oct. 6, caught her as much by surprise as it did others in the industry. The na…

He's directed Drake, Rihanna, Kanye West, Justin Bieber and Jay Z. Now, Julien Christian Lutz, a.k.a. Director X, puts a Hip Hop spin on a legendary folk hero with Robyn Hood. The Young Adult drama airs Friday nights on Global and can also be streamed on Stack TV. This episode, we hear from two of the key players on the new series: Jessye Romeo, a …

Fire up the Tiki torches and pass the Doritos. With Survivor 45 upon us, who better to deliver the scoop than Murtz Jaffer. Murtz's day job is as Associate Producer of Global's The Morning Show. He's also well known as the world's foremost expert on reality TV, traveling to countless final episode tapings of many reality shows and attending and hos…

Marie Clements grabs your attention with the opening scenes of her new series version of Bones of Crows (premiering September 20 on CBC, CBC Gem and APTN). A pyramid of caribou skulls are stacked high as crows circle overhead. It is a not so subtle symbol of the decades of horror, abuse and genocide that took place in Canada in the wake of the resi…

"Still Laughing" is the title of George Schlatter's new book and if you read it, you'll be laughing, too. There are first-hand, hilarious stories on every page and he shares many of them on this podcast episode. Schlatter went from being a Las Vegas bouncer (although he prefers the title, "executive in charge of emergency departures") to being a ta…

As Kevin McGarry says on this episode, the odds seemed stacked against When Calls the Heart lasting into a 10th season. Yet last it has, with the 10th season now streaming on both Super Channel and Hallmark, and an 11th season already in production on the elaborate town set erected on farmland near Langley, B.C. The series has weathered the loss of…

Back in 1986, I had the good fortune to interview Joe Barbera at his corner office at the Hanna-Barbera Studio on Ventura Blvd in Los Angeles. The savvy TV producer/studio head was 75 at the time and had plenty to talk about. He was getting offers to make live-action feature films based on The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Jonny Quest. He had a new,…

Do you love watching classic films on TCM? Then if you live in the Los Angeles area, or will be there over Labor Day weekend, you'll love Cinecon. Described as a "7th heaven for cinephiles," Cinecon returns for a 59th year August 31 to September 4 with a playbill of rare goodies you can't even see on TCM. Among those programming the festival is thi…

Quincy Isaiah says his basketball game has improved by leaps and rebounds since suiting up for the role of Magic Johnson in "Winning Time: Rise of the Lakers Dynasty." The series is back for a second season on HBO Max and Crave. The Michigan native plays the early '80s version of Earvin "Magic" Johnson in the series, which was created by Adam McKay…

Me and hilarious actress/comedienne Sabrina Jalees connect over candy bars stolen from the CTV press launch as well as her two current TV gigs: hosting Farming for Love (Sunday nights on CTV) and acting as a judge on Roast Battle Canada (Mondays on CTV Comedy channel). The Toronto native jumped out to a fast start as a teenage correspondent for The…

It doesn't take long for Emma Hunter's frisky DJ Nora to jump back into action on Moonshine (CBC; The CW). As Season Three begins, she's having sex in a car with her police officer boyfriend (played by James Gilbert). Sorry, America. You won't see that scene in the U.S. Hunter's auto erotic antics, as well as the occasional obscenity, will be cut o…

When we left off in our two-part conversation with TV writer/creator Hart Hanson, he was make the career jump from Canada to Hollywood. Part Two is packed with stories from the U.S. TV trenches. After shepherding both Joan of Arcadia and Judging Amy, Hanson's decision to bail on Snoops baffled colleagues and managers. Not his boss David E. Kelley, …

Was he born in California or Canada? Even Hart Hanson's not 100% sure but here's what we do know: he has created hit TV shows in both countries, including the longest-running drama ever at Fox, Bones. Pt. 1 of this two-part conversation looks at his start in Canada as a writer on The Beachcombers through his work as a writer and producer on Neon Ry…

Warning: there is a lot of Brampton talk in this episode. My guest, Jordan Gavaris, grew up in my town so brace yourself for a walk down memories of the Bramalea City Centre. Otherwise the top subject is Gavaris' Prime Video series The Lake, which just returned for a second season on the Amazon-owned streaming service. Shot in Ontario's cottage cou…

This Friday, June 9, after 13 seasons, ever-popular radio and TV host Marilyn Denis concludes her long-running CTV daytime series The Marilyn Denis Show. Prior to that, she enjoyed a 20-year run in daytime TV on CityLine -- an incredible 33-year reign over two networks. In fact, as she discusses on this episode of brioux.tv: the podcast, Denis was …

Now that John Doyle has retired as the TV critic of The Globe and Mail, how are we supposed to make sense of it all? Where is our roadmap out of the madness that is Canadian television? It is all right here, friends, in this handy and convenient, click and listen podcast episode. Hear Doyle on why he retired over six months ago from the newspaper h…

Lauren Holly is an American-Canadian actress who lives in Toronto but works in Vancouver. Hers is every TV actresses resume rolled into one. Vancouver is where she shoots Family Law, which returns for a second season Monday, May 22 on Global. The CW just announced that they've acquired the cheeky law drama for their summer season. When she's not st…

Come on down for a fun conversation with John Ealer, executive producer, and Sarah Gibson, director and showrunner, of The Game Show Show. Their four-part docuseries from Toronto's Cream Productions premieres Wednesday, May 10 on ABC and continues Wednesday nights throughout May. Episodes look at the evolution of TV game shows from their radio root…

Eric McCormack is such a terrific podcast guest we're running this episode twice. The occasion is the premiere, April 6, of Slasher: Ripper. This fifth season of the horror anthology series airs on the streaming service Shudder in the States and in Canada on one of our sponsors here at brioux.tv, Hollywood Suite. Set in 1910, McCormack plays, in hi…

I always look forward to catching up with Mitch Azaria. He's the executive producer behind the unique "Tripping" series of real time, immersive documentaries featured each spring on TVO. In the past few years, and especially throughout the pandemic, these docs have allowed viewers to travel virtually throughout Ontario when real travel was not an o…

For the second week in a row, my guest on brioux.tv: the podcast is a judge on Canada's Got Talent. Listen up to Kardinal Offishall, the Toronto-born rapper and music producer who is now encouraging a new generation of talented Canadians on CGT. That series, which shoots at the Fallsview Casino OLG Stage in Niagara Falls, Ont., rolls into a second …

If you liked Season One of Canada's Got Talent, "You are going to be bowled over this year," says Howie Mandel, "because I don't think there's even a comparison." The talent search series returns Tuesday, March 21 on Citytv. Mandel is joined once again on the judging panel by Lilly Singh, Trish Stratus and Kardinal Offishall. The talent on display …

It is not often that a series that is popular on Radio-Canada crosses over into an English language version. But that is the case with Plan B, a compelling new drama airing Monday nights on CBC. It can also be seen on demand on CBC Gem. One of the stars is a Canadian Screen Award-winning actress who is as at home in English as she is in her native …

Born in Ottawa, trained at the National Film Board of Canada and winner of dozens of international awards, Peter Raymont has enjoyed a distinguished career as one of Canada's top documentary filmmakers. His White Pine Pictures has been behind such acclaimed titles as Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire, Genius Within: The Inne…

The pandemic forced some longer-than-usual delays between seasons of many of our favourite TV shows. Mark Little, for example, had to wait over four years to launch the second season of his animated adult comedy Gary and His Demons. The series, about an aging and very cranky demon slayer who wants to quit his job if his boss can ever find a replace…

This is the episode you've been waiting for, comedy fans. Dave Thomas tells how he almost became an ad man, a real life Don Draper, On the very day, however, that the young Canadian dazzled the ad men in New York, winning the Coca-Cola account, he got a call from his old McMaster University chum Eugene Levy that changed his life. There was an openi…