Mike's Bloggity Blog

While Jason Priestly‘s Call Me Fitz was never a huge ratings it, that didn’t seem to stop the HBO Canada series from dominating this morning’s Gemini nominations!  The show picked up 16 nominations, which is especially impressive considering that the show has only been on for one season!  Among it’s many nods, Jason Priestly was nominated for Best Actor and the show for Best Comedy.

CTV’s Flashpoint has a lot to celebrate this morning!  The show, which also airs on CBS, picked up a total of 17 nominations including best drama and best leading actor in a drama, for Enrico Colantoni.

The Geminis also fixed a huge wrong from last year, and nominated Being Erica’s main lady Erin Karpluk.  Fans will remember that after winning Best Actress two years ago, she wasn’t even nominated last year.

Also of note, Angela Asher and Peter Keleghan are both nominated for their roles in the now canceled 18 to Life. Being canceled didn’t seem to stop Showcase’s Endgame from being nominated for Best Drama either.

The Gemini’s will be handed out in Toronto on September 7th.

Remember the other day, when I said the Geminis needed help?  This is sorta what I’m talking about.
If I had a rating system, I would give this story Five Bald Heads out of Five!

Mike Clattenburg is creator and director of one of Canada’s most popular shows, Trailer Park Boys. Well the other day, when Kids in The Hall lost out at the Geminis to Holmes on Holmes, he became frustrated and decided to have a little fun with his own Gemini award.  So what did he do?  Well he gave it away to a complete stranger, but not before leaving it on the street for anyone to come and pick up!  Better still, he tweeted the whole thing!   Hilarious!

10:56 AM Nov 14th via web .Went to the Gemini awards last night, but @mrsclattenburg got drunk and sucker punched an usher. Got kicked out, missed the whole show.

11:07 AM Nov 14th via web .Holmes on Holmes a home renovation show beat TPB for Canadas all time fav shows. Fair enough, but I still love the Geminis. #geminisforever

11:27 AM Nov 14th via Twitpic .I’ve even WON a gemini, I hold it close to my heart. Lets me know I’ve made it. I show it to friends when they come over. #geminisforever

11:38 AM Nov 14th via Twitpic .Here’s my Gemini, I think I had to pay 300 bucks for it, but that’s cool. Still have one. http://twitpic.com/36u7eo

11:41 AM Nov 14th via web in reply to Luke_Trinocular
.Don’t know how it happened but my Gemini is out on the street. Seriously its there if you’d like one for yourself. http://twitpic.com/36uaxd

11:45 AM Nov 14th via Twitpic .@Luke_Trinocular You better hurry, a few people have already passed it and just…. kept on going.

11:47 AM Nov 14th via web in reply to downtowndawn
.Me and Fruitjack on ‘who picks up the Gemini’ watch. http://twitpic.com/36ud03

11:58 AM Nov 14th via Twitpic .Some dude just walked by at stood it up – out of respect. But then kept going.

@Fishyneil got it, he’s a real TPB fan too. This worked out great! http://twitpic.com/36uj2e

@mikeclattenburg no you were about 2 mins too late. Neil Rainsford got it.

@TeresaNicole @mikeclattenburg Scott is a fabulous cat, but Kids and the Hall still got beat by a HOME RENO SHOW.

The ratings were this year’s Gemini awards are in and yes folks, they’re bad. How bad? A repeat of America’s Funniest Home Videos on YTV pulled in bigger numbers.

Ouch.

So how do you solve a problem like The Geminis? I think Bill Brioux has the best solution:

“Next year: schedule this salute to Canadian TV on a Sunday night at the end of October, when many of the powerhouse U.S. imports are taking a week off to catch their breath for the November sweeps. Saturday night in November on Global is too deep a hole for even Cory Monteith to surmount.”

Now that we know that no one is watching, I wonder if anyone will listen?

This year’s Geminis were a who’s who of the best minds behind Canadian television.

The big winner of the night was HBO Canada’s Less Than Kind, which walked away with three awards, including Best Comedy.  The Best Drama went to the UK co-production of The Tudors.  I’ve never heard of The Cupcake Girls but they won Best Reality Show over Dragon’s Den and This House Has 22 Minutes won for best ensemble performance.  Flashpoint and Being Erica were essentially shut out!

As predicted, host Cory Monteith played the drums instead of singing. Besides that, I’ve read nothing buy glowing reviews for the Glee star for his role as MC!

The highlight of the night may have been the Degrassi reunion that say cast members from the last twenty years gather together to celebrate Degrassi being named Canada’s favourite show!  It definitely got my vote!

Here’s the list of this year’s Gemini Award Winners:

Best drama: The Tudors
Best comedy: Less Than Kind
Best actor, drama: Robert Carlyle, Stargate Universe
Best actress, drama: Caroline Cave, Cra$h and Burn
Best supporting actor: Clé Bennett, The Line
Best supporting actress: Catherine Disher, The Border
Best reality program: The Cupcake Girls
Best miniseries: The Summit
Best ensemble performance, comedy: Cathy Jones, Gavin Crawford, Mark Critch, Geri Hall, Shaun Majumder, This Hour has 22 Minutes.
Best music or variety program: 2009 MuchMusic Video Awards
Best host in a music or variety program: Michael Bublé, At the Concert Hall
Best actor, miniseries: Jared Keeso, Keep Your Head Up: The Don Cherry Story
Best actress, miniseries: Sun Li, Iron Road

Tomorrow night is Canadian television’s biggest night of the year.  The Gemini awards never really seem to get the attention they deserve but this year might be a little different.

Glee superstar Cory Monteith has been summoned to host the show but Gleeks shouldn’t expect to hear him sing.  At last year’s Gemini awards in Calgary, where Monteith also made an appearance, I remember hearing that he wouldn’t be singing because his voice just wasn’t strong enough to sing live, so he played the drums instead.  I’m expecting the same this year but then again, maybe a year’s worth of vocal lessons have strengthened the Calgary-born star’s voice.

Speaking of musical talent, producers have also secured quite an impressive line-up of singers who will be performing during the awards show.  Elvis Costello, Feist and Ron  Sexsmith are all now scheduled to perform.

For me, the night’s highlight will be the special tribute to Degrassi.  Some of the alumni expected to make appearances include Nina Dobrev, Stefan Brogren and Amanda Stepto, Adamo Ruggiero, Cassie Steele, Lauren Collins and Melinda Shankar.  Plus, since the awards are in Toronto, I’m sure you can expect a LOT more of your Degrassi favourites to get the night off from waiting tables to show up.

You can expect some of the night’s biggest winners to include The Rupublic of Doyle, Flashpoint, The Vancouver 2010 Olympics and hopefully Being Erica and MTV Live.

The Geminis air on Global and Showcase on Saturday night.

Quick:  What is Canada favourite TV show?  What immediately came to mind?  Was it Degrassi?  Due South? Kids in the Hall?  North of 60? Mr Dressup?

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Geminis, the awards are asking Canadians to vote for their favourite TV show from the last 25 years! Top TV critics from across the country have narrowed the list to 25. You can take a look at the whole list by clicking here.

While the list of Top 25 is pretty good, I can’t help but notice some of my favourites are missing.

Here are some of my all time most enjoyed Canadian TV shows:

The Racoons (CBC 1985-1992) Was there anyone scarier (or more of a precursor to Jean Cretien) than Cyril Snear?

Are You Afraid Of The Dark? (YTV 1991-1996)As if you didn’t dream of joining The Midnight Society!

Liberty Street (CBC 1994) It was like Degrassi: The Next Generation….before the next generation.

Bumper Stumpers. (Global 1990-1995)  This game was beyond frustrating and yet so addictive.  I don’t even know what the above bumper stumper is. (Seriously, does it say titties?)

Ready or Not (Global 1993-1997) Okay, I had completely forgotten about this show until Chris reminded but now I miss it more than anything.  Did someone say TV Reunion Movie?

Days after the Emmys, Canadian’s attention have now turned towards our own television sets with the Geminis!  Don’t sigh, the Geminis are cool. No really, seriously, stop rolling your eyes.  It is the Geminis people!

This year the Geminis are celebrating their 25th anniversary in Toronto by announcing hundreds of nominees in dozens of categories all having to do with Canadian television productions.

Click here to read the entire list of nominees.

But with so many nominations, I thought I break some down for you.

Being Erica (Six nominations)
My fave series about our dearest little time-traveller should be really happy with their six nominations including for Best Male Actor Michael Riley.  But the most shocking bit of news is that last year’s winner Erin Karpluk didn’t get nominated!!!  Uhh…what?  I nearly spit out my Honey Nut Cheerios when I read this!  Seriously shocked. Obviously this is a huge mistake.  You should expected the nominations to be retracted any minute….right?  RIGHT?!?!  (Single tear.)

Melinda Shankar from Much’s Degrassi scored a nominated for Best Performance in a Children’s Program…but not for Degrassi. She is also the star of How To Be Indie and that’s what she got nominated for!  With her nomination, we should now officially have her on lock-down so the CW can’t steal another one of our actresses.

Poor Jay Onrait.  One the funniest broadcasters was nominated for Best Sportscaster/Anchor but he’ll face some heavy competition from my secret best friend Brian Williams who pretty much should have gotten his own gold medal for his coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.  But what is working for Onrait is that he has an awesome twitter account.  That has to count for something.

The awards will be handed out on November 13th.

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As many people know, GLEE’s biggest star, Cory Monteith was in his hometown of Calgary all weekend. And by all accounts, he was as nice and cool as he is on the show.

>Wow what a freaking amazing weekend. The Geminis finally came to Calgary and they were a blast! For a full list of winners, click here.

It was also a cool weekend because so many of Canada’s biggest stars were all over the place and I was able to grab some great pictures. Check them out below:
Amy Jo Johnson. Currently on best Drama winner, Flashpoint. But we all know and love her as the Pink Ranger on Power Rangers and Julie on Felicity.
Nazneen Contracter. You may not know her now, but has a huge role in the new season of 24. She plays President Omar Hassan’s daughter. Interesting enough, the beautiful actress is also dating Carlo Rota, also of 24 fame.
Speaking of Carlo Rota here he is! Such a great guy, and I’m just saying that because he said he has read Mike’s Bloggity Blog.
Michelle Morgan from CBC’s huge hit, Heartland. I know, I know, I’ll watch it some day.
One of my favourite anchors, Heather Hiscox. Her husband is a heart surgeon and showed me pictures of a heart mid-operation. Yup, there’s an app for that.
Being Erica’s Erin Karpluk and her brother, Ryan. During this Karpluk sandwich we talked more about her upcoming role on Life Unexpected and she said she’ll show up in Episode 4! Mark you calendars!
Tara Spencer-Nairn and Gabrielle Miller from Corner Gas!

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The Geminis are tomorrow and I’m so excited. However, my level of excitement just jumped exponentially after reading GLEE’s Cory Monteith‘s latest Tweet: