Mike's Bloggity Blog

One of the show’s that I’m most excited about this is winter is the new CTV/NBC show called Smash.  Ever since I saw the trailer a few months ago, I’ve been patiently waiting for the premiere of the series that’s about the rise and fall of all the people who work together to create a new Broadway musical.

The much buzzed about series is executive produced by Steven Spielberg and stars Debra Messing, American Idol’s Katharine McPhee and Broadway sensation Megan Hilty, Oscar winner Anjelica Huston and a slew of other fantastic actors!

The show premieres on Monday, but in a unique move CTV is allowing people to watch the entire first episode a full four days before the premiere.  Starting right now and until Sunday February 5th at midnight, people excited to see the show, will be able to watch the pilot in its entirety through CTV’s online video player!

So why would CTV do this?  Well it likely won’t effect the show’s numbers on Monday.  In theory, you’ll watch the show this weekend and then talk about it to your networks (in real-life or online) and that will essentially be free marketing for the show, that has a lot riding on it.  NBC did something similar with Smash in the States, where it allowed the pilot to be downloaded for free almost a week ago.  If the show’s a hit, maybe we’ll see more of these intense online marketing.

I hope this show does well, I could use a musical show in my life, that actually has a plot.

Click here to watch the pilot episode!

Smash’s official opening night is Monday, Feb. 6th at 10 p.m.

The LA Complex, CTV’s newest series, hasn’t even debuted in Canada yet and the show is already picking up steam in the states. Reports surfaced all over the place today that the CW is thisclose to signing a deal to bring the series to the Vampire Diaries network.  The show is about a no-holds-barred, character-driven relationship drama that follows the exploits of six attractive, young hopefuls in search of stardom in Hollywood. Basically it’s if the kids of Degrassi lived in Melrose Place.  Actually, it even features one of Degrassi’s alumni Cassie Steele as a Toronto girl who thinks she has what it takes to make it in Hollywood. Don’t we all.

There’s a joke about a Canadian show, about an American city, that’s shot in Canada, being picked up in the States…but I can’t seem to put my finger on it.

While it’s always good news when an American network picks up a Canadian show, it doesn’t always mean success. The last show that the CW picked up was 18 to Life and it was promptly canceled after only three episodes. Admitidly, The LA Complex oozes sex, which is what The CW is all about, so hopefully they’ll find some success this time around, especially if Degrassi’s rabid fan base (myself included) warms up to the series.

THE L.A. COMPLEX will have a special simulcast premiere on MuchMusic and CTV on January 10th and the series will likely air this summer on The CW.

Ugh. This is one blog post that I was hoping to not have to write.

Charlie Sheen is coming back to Canada…at least on our TVs.  CTV just announced that comedian drug addict Charlie Sheen will returning to the Canadian airwaves with his new “comedy” series Anger Management.   The show will start in production in early and likely delayed in definitely by around mid-2012.

The announcement was actually done in a taped segment that aired on CTV earlier tonight.  In the message Charlie warned addressed Canada, saying, “You seem like the nicest people in the world,” he said. “But I know the truth. You’re holding in a lot of anger. Why else would you drink so much beer, put on shoes with sharp blades, and smack each other around with wooden sticks?”

I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that CTV currently has ZERO Canadian scripted comedy* series in production.  Ugh.  I hate Charlie Sheen.

*In an earlier post, I neglected to include the word comedy.

The world of Canadian media was sent for a little whirlwind today, when Canada AM’s Seamus O’Regan announced that he was leaving the long-running morning show!  But don’t worry Seamus fans, he won’t be going far.  Starting at the end of November, he’ll be joining CTV National News with Lisa LaFlamme.  Shamus will be leaving Canadian AM after nine years in the co-host seat.

It’s an interesting time at Canada AM.  The iconic Canadian show has been going through a transition, with many western Canadian affiliates dropping the show and launching their own morning shows called CTV Morning Live.

So the question is who will replace O’Regan?  Well, the new host will be revealed on November 24 live on air.  Because they aren’t drawing out the co-host search, that leads me to think that CTV is doing what they do best and are hiring from within.  So who could it be?  Ben Mulroney came immediately to mind, he’s been a CTV darling ever since he launched eTalk ten years ago.  I’m guessing after a decade of talking about all things Canadian entertainment, Mulroney might be looking to make a change.  It would certainly be an interesting move, that would have people talking about Canada AM again, but he might be too “entertainmenty” to take over Seamus’ seat.

I guess we’ll find out on November 24th, but until then, who do you think will talk over?

The Canadian entertainment industry has been a buzz this week about the seemingly brutal cancelations of three of CTV’s four Canadian productions in recent days.  So You Think You Can Dance Canada, Hiccups and Dan for Mayor were all shifted to the summer and inevitably all had the plug pulled on them.

This leaves Flashpoint as the lone Canadian series on Canada’s biggest network.

Here’s what CTV programming president Phil King had to say about the cancellations in an new interview with the Toronto Sun:

“There was no other relationship between them. They all were cancelled for different reasons. We don’t have unlimited budgets, nobody does. But we simply will take that money and re-invest it in other Canadian productions, we’ll take another shot.”

So what do you think?  Do you buy it?  Does it bother you that CTV has so few Canadian productions?

Take the poll!

Wow!  I did not see this coming, especially just a few days after the finale, but CTV has just announced that its dance competition show So You Think You Can Dance Canada has been canceled!

In an interview with The Toronto Star , Scott Henderson, vice-president of communications for Bell Media said, “I can confirm that So You Think You Can Dance Canada has not been renewed for a fifth season,”

But aspiring dancers, don’t go all Black Swan on me just yet, Canada’s Got Talent is currently auditioning across the country, so there’s still a chance for you to become a reality TV star, no matter how fleeting.

CTV is on a cutting spree as of late, SYTYCDC is the third Canadian series to be canceled in the past few days.  The dancing show now joins Hiccups and Dan For Mayor on the cutting room floor.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this leaves the network with Flashpoint, as its lone canuck-produced show. Which only leaves one clear option: THE AMAZING RACE CANADA!!!!!!!

A blogger can dream….

Ohhhh CTV you’re so sneaky!    How else do you explain the decision to announce that you’ve canceled one of your few Canadian properties 1) On a Friday and 2) on the opening day on TIFF, when you know you’ll know it get buried.

Well luckily for you, Bloggers don’t know what Friday means and I really don’t care about TIFF, so I caught ya!

The star of Dan for Mayor, Fred Ewanuick tweeted on Friday about the show’s demise, saying “Disappointed that D4M won’t be back on #ctv. Hope I get to work with all those amazing folks from the show again. Pretty upset actually.” Ever the optimist, kinda like his characters he’s known for, Ewanuick said a few hours later, “Thanks to all you for the kind words. That’s the Biz. I’ll do my best to find a way to entertain you all somehow.”

While the move isn’t necessarily surprising, CTV didn’t do much for the show, putting it on during the summer and on Sunday nights at 7:30pm, it’s certainly disappointing.  You know, the final nail in the coffin and all that stuff.

Bill Brioux wrote a story, saying that there’s a chance that Rogers and Citytv might pick up the show, but I’m guessing that’s the same talk we always hear after a show is canceled. Yes, I’m still waiting for that Veronica Mars movie.

No word yet on CTV’s only other Canadian comedy, Hiccups, which regularly received lower ratings than Dan for Mayor.

Thank you Lloyd, it won’t be the same without you.

Well it looks like September 1st will be a very sad day for a lot of Canadians from coast to coast.

CTV announced today that the first day of next month will mark the final time that Lloyd Robertson will anchor the CTV National News.  A sad day indeed.  Although we all know that his time was coming to an end, it does make it any less easy.  I’m telling you know, on September first, I will be inconsolable.

I’ve always had an interest in news and for years I’ve been staying up to 11pm just to watch the news with Lloyd.  As the years have gone on, he’s been consistently there, no matter what was going on in my life or anyone else’s, Lloyd was there. My favourite is when Robertson is forced to report stories on Facebook or Twitter.  Like he even cares about that stuff, he is Lloyd Robertson, he is way better than social media!

CTV is definitely giving Robertson the sign off he deserves.  Also airing on September 1st, Lloyd Robertson- And that’s the kind of life it’s been will give viewers a glimpse into his life beyond the anchor desk.   Leading up to his last day, CTV National News will also air vignettes from Robertson’s most memorable newscasts included.

September 1st is already coming way too soon.

When you work in the media you get used to getting a certain amount of swag sent your way.  I remember when it first started, I thought it was a sign that I had “made it.”  Since then, I’ve been sent everything you could imagine including countless canes of Coke Zero, boxes of Axe Body Wash and more branded notepads than I know what to do with.

But if my last two pieces of mail are any indication,  PR companies seem to be going a whole new direction: clothing!

In the past few days I’ve gotten two pieces of clothing in the mail to help support and promote tv shows.  From Global’s Combat Hospital, I got a pretty nice tactical military scarf from the Kandahar-based drama series. Now I’m not about to perform surgery in a desert to test its authenticity, but I can tell you that it’s a scarf that most hipsters would kill to have.  Minutes after putting it on, I already felt my jeans getting tights, my bike getting smaller and I couldn’t seem to get Metric out of my head.

I’ve never been a person to fashionably wear scarfs with any sort of success, but I gotta admit, I know quite a few people that would pay a pretty penny at Urban Outfitters for the scarf.  I’m definitely going to hold on to it for a while, just in case Zooey Deschanel ever shows up to listen to some Death Cab For Cutie.

The second piece of clothing came just today.  It’s actually a really nice shirt from Under Armour in support of the new CTV series Expedition Impossible.  The show is going to be hosted by Canadian adventurer and zoologist Dave Salmoni and premieres on Thursday night.  Now in concept, the shirt is great, I did a little Googling and it’s actually worth about $40.  Totally not complaining.

Unfortunately the shirt is literally five sizes too big.  Yup, they sent out XXL shirts to all the media across Canada….the ones who are most likely to already have eating disorders.  Not that I expect to have a custom shirt sent my way, but is XXL really the average size of the writers and journalists in this country?  If so, we’ve got bigger problems…literally.  Wouldn’t a large have been a little more reasonable?  Again, these are problems “white people have” and I don’t want to sound ungrateful, I’m from the maritimes, I’ll always take free clothing, I just find it kinda funny.  Now excuse me as I go purge my dinner.

Hopefully sending free clothes is a new trend in publicity, for the record, I’m typically a size small.  Just sayin’!