Mike's Bloggity Blog

Wow, did this show ever sneak up on me, I don’t know how I’m just finding about it now, but yes, Undercover Boss Canada is happening and it starts next week!
Actually, upon reflection, I guess they couldn’t really announce the show, because that would essentially ruin the surprise premise of the series, so I guess it sorta makes sense.

The show will launch on the W Network on February 2nd at 9pm.

The companies participating in the series include Goodlife Fitness, Skyline International Development, The Toronto Zoo, Pizza Pizza, 1- 800 -GOT-JUNK?, Cineplex Entertainment, Molson Coors Canada, Second Cup and FedEx Express Canada.

I think the one I’m most excited to see is Karen Stintz, who is a Toronto city councillor and Toronto Transit Commission.  The TTC always gets a ton of bad press for its employees, so it will be interesting to see how the transit system is portrayed for television.

If you’re surprised that the show was able to land such big companies for its first season, don’t be.  The series is a public relations dream for any of these companies, because the entire episode is loitered with the company’s logo, it showcases its best employees and in the end, the secret boss looks like an angel.

But don’t think about that.  The show is still immesley enjoyable and it will be great if the series does as well as it does in the States, where it originated.

One question:  If the employees don’t know they are on Undercover Boss, what do they think they are being filmed for?

Good news for those in work in the Alberta film industry!

AMC has officially renewed Hell on Wheels, which is filmed on the outskirts of Calgary, for a second season.

The show wrapped up it’s first season this past weekend with about 3.8 millions viewers, making it AMC’s second highest rated series behind The Walking Dead.  Yup, Hell on Wheels really does rake in the ratings, especially when compared to award favourite Mad Men. The ratings for the series were high from the start, thanks to being on after The Walking Dead, but for the second half of its season, Hell on Wheels was on its own, and for the show to only dip to the three million range is really impressive!

Truth be told, I was a little nervous about Hell on Wheels because there was hardly any buzz for the show, and we’ve all seen networks, with shows that have okay ratings, get canned because people simply weren’t talking about it.

Hell on Wheels tells the story of a Confederate soldier who works on the railroad while taking revenge on the Union Soldiers who raped and killed his wife. It stars Anson Mount, Common and Colm Meaney. Besides the film industry being excited, I know that a lot of Calgarians will be pumped to have the cast back in our city filming the show. Last year was fun because you just never knew when you were going to see Common or Mount strollin’ the aisles of the farmers market!

Fans of the show can likely expect new episodes later this year.

After successfully launching FX Canada, another American channel is making it’s way to Canada.  ABC Family is a popular station in the States, that in recent years has launched numerous popular series like ”The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” “Melissa & Joey,” “Make It or Break It” and now the station is coming to Canada, but they are changing their name.  ABC Spark will launch on March 26th looking to target Canadian females between the ages of 15 and 34.  Ohh Ohh let me guess, tissues and dating sites are going to be some of network’s first advertisers.

Those anxious to get their hands on the shows, won’t actually have to wait until the third month of the year, to do so. Starting Monday, January 16, YTV, W Network and CMT will air blocks of the channel’s exclusive programming to promote the debut of ABC Spark. Switched at Birth will air every Monday night at 9 p.m. on YTV starting January 16; W Network will also air the series every Saturday at 12 p.m. starting January 21. Melissa & Joey will air Monday to Friday at 8:30 p.m. starting January 16 on CMT.

Cable networks are becoming more and more popular, especially as major networks struggle to develop shows with story lines as exciting as those with limited schedules on cable.  Now that we have ABC Spark with their popular shows, I’m excited to see what, thanks to CRTC regulations, they’ll develop for Canadian audiences.

Are you looking forward to any of these shows, or are you already having trouble finding room on your DVR?

It i’s officially in Winter in Canada now and while the weather might be frightful, the year-end television ratings are anything but!

As 2011 comes to a close, BBM Canada, which keeps track of TV ratings, is providing a snapshot of what Canadians were up to over the past 12 months.  It shouldn’t be a surprise that The Stanley Cup playoffs were among the most-watched television broadcasts of 2011 in Canada. In scripted programming, TV comedy continues to attract more and more viewers in Canada, with Two and A Half Men, The Big Bang Theory and The Roast of Charlie Sheen all raking in monster numbers.

It is interesting to see that Survivor and The Amazing Race still pull in HUGE numbers in Canada, yet we still don’t have versions to call our own.  Also of note, Shit My Dad Says, which was canceled by CBS for it’s low ratings, was the 6th highest rated program of the year!

What days were the most Canadian watching TV?  That honour goes to the 2011 Federal Election (25 million) and the Royal Wedding (24.9 million)!

Canada’s Top 10 Most-Watched Days in 2011

Canada’s Top 10 Television Broadcasts of 2011

Canada’s Top 10 Television Programs of 2011

With only two weeks left of 2011, the Canadian television industry must be really looking forward to this year being over.

In the past 12 months, they’ve seen the cancellation of so many Canadian productions and now they can add one more to the list.  TV writer Bill Brioux has confirmed that Global’s Combat Hospital has officially been canceled.  Although it pulled in great numbers in Canada, especially for a summer series, it never picked up any steam on ABC in the States and when the American network opted not to pick the series up for a second season, production was shut down for good.

It’s too bad that Global has decided to not continue with the series, because the number were definitley good enough to remain a Canadian only production.  After all, CTV decided to keep producing The Listener after NBC aired it for only one season.

This year, the graveyard that is the Canadian Television industry already includes So You Think You Can Dance Canada, Dan For Mayor and Hiccups.  Murdoch Mysteries was also canceled by CityTV but CBC has since announced that it will now air the series.

Up next for Global is The Firm, which premieres in January.  With a huge push of support from NBC, this show should have more success than Combat Hospital.

GUYS!  It’s Friday.  So excited.  Here’s 2 things that are realllllllly putting me in a good mood right now!

Kiefer is back!

Okay, it’s not a a 24 movie, but CTV is bringing Kiefer Sutherland back to our screens, only this time it will be our computer screens.   The Confession starts the son of Donald as well as John Hurt and when it premieres on Monday, December 5th it will premiere on multiple digital platforms including online, mobile and tablets.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but is this the first time Canada has done something like this?  At least with someone cool, I mean.

The web-series will tell the story of a hit man played by Sutherland, and a priest played by John Hurt. The story begins on Christmas Eve, when the hit man enters a church to confess his sins to the priest. Through a series of flashbacks, the confessor’s journey is revealed – laying out what has brought him to this moment and leading the audience to the dramatic ending where the man’s chances at redemption hang in the balance.   Sounds a little heavier than I’m used to, but with so many shows on repeats this month, it might worth checking out.

The show will premiere exclusively in Canada at theconfession.ctv.ca on Monday, Dec. 5 with the first three episodes, followed by two new episodes rolling out on subsequent Mondays.

Spike is coming!
It was announced today that James Marsters, who played Spike on both Buffy The Vampire Slayer AND Angel will be coming to Calgary next April for Comic Entertainment Expo, our equivalent of Comic-Con.  As the world’s biggest Buffy fan, I was over the moon excited when I saw that Marsters was coming. Actually, funny story, I think the announcement came faster than the Comic Expo people wanted, because I still haven’t received a press release about him coming to Calgary, instead Marsters announced it on his Facebook page.  Woohoo! I’m not sure at what lengths I’ll have to go to speak to him, but you know that it is happening. IT. IS. HAPPENING.  #thesecret.

Also announced to come to the Expo from April 27-29th, Amanda Tapping (Stargate: SG-1, Sanctuary) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, 24)!

We may be the butt of most of the jokes on South Park and How I Met Your Mother, but I think I know one network that will leave Canada alone…at least for a little while.

NBC released the first trailer today for The Firm, the TV version of the hit film, of which was originally a John Grisham best-seller.  The series, which has a lot of buzz behind it, is largely a very Canadian production.

When it premieres in January, Toronto will pretending to be Washington, D.C and the cast of bad guys will be filled by Canucks Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Gallatica) and Shaun Majumder (Every CBC comedy ever,) who try to take down legal eagle Mitch  played by Josh Lucas (The Lincoln Lawyer).  His wife is played by another Canadian Molly Parker (Deadwood).

NBC has been struggling as of late to find any shows that bring in the ratings and if the first look at The Firm is any indication, I think this might be the one to bring eyeballs back to the once monster network.  The Firm looks exciting, twisty and mysterious.  Plus, it’s kinda fun knowing that all the actors have loonies and twoonies in their pockets, eh?

The Firm premieres on January 8th.

Okay, let’s break this down for you:

Great news: Top Chef Canada season 2 returns to the Food Network on March 12th, 2012!

Bad news: Season 1′s original host Thea Andrews (who I LOVED) is out!

Good news: It’s cause she had a baby.

Wait and see news:  The show’s new host is actress, model, host and philanthropist Lisa Ray.  Movie fans will recognize her from Water and Bollywood Hollywood.  She seems cool, but I LOVED me some Thea Andrews, so lets just settle with that I’m cautiously optimistic about the new host.

Dangerous news:  The winner of season 2 will take home a GE Monogram kitchen worth $30,000.  For the first season I made a drinking game out of how many times Andrews reminded us who was the show’s sponsor and I ended up getting alcohol poisoning from every single episode from the season.

Most important news: Top Chef Canada 2 is only a few months away! This is the best Canadian reality show on TV right now, so I can’t wait to see who the new contestants are!

Just like any good mystery, the foretold death of Murdoch Mysteries has seen a twist, and it’s a gooder!

CBC has just announced that it will save the show that was canceled by Citytv after five relatively successful seasons.

If you’ve never caught the show, Murdoch Mysteries explores the intriguing turn-of-the-century world of William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson), a detective who pioneers radical forensic techniques for the time in his quest to solve the city’s crimes. Basically it’s like CSI without electricity. The series is shot in and around Toronto and Southern Ontario as well as additional locations across Canada including Dawson City and Ottawa,  and it’s also featured a lot of cool cameos and guest stars including Victor Garber, Peter Keleghan, Sebastian Pigott and of course, Stephen Harper.

I tried to think about other show’s that were saved by other Canadian networks, and none really came to mind.  I know that CTV brought back Degrassi, which initially aired on CBC.  But that’s really about it.  It would be nice if CTV, Global or Citytv took the steps necessary to save Being Erica, which is presumed to be currently airing its final season.

While I’ve never watched Murdoch Mysteries, it’s great to see that the Canadian production has been saved, because since it was developed in 2003, its created more than 5000 jobs for actors, writers, directors, producers, crew, extras and technical and production services.

Well, the day is finally here, on this very spooky Halloween, Rogers TV has just launched Canada’s newest network FX Canada!

The station will feature a ton of shows that FX is known for including It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Sons of Anarchy, Wilfred, Louie, Justified, The League and most importantly American Horror Story.

The mysterious show has been all the buzz in the States and has already been airing for a few weeks down there, and after a waiting patiently, like good Canadians, we’ll finally get our hands on the show created by Ryan Murphy and that stars Connie Britton and Dylan McDermott.  It will hard to top Revenge, but this may very well be my favourite new show of the season.

Ironically, FX Canada’s Canadian content is still a little lacking and for now, will feature the regular Rogers fare including Reviews on The Run, Murdoch Mysteries, Departures and The Electric Playground.  I’m sure there will be more shows once the network is up and running.

But then again, who cares, it’s all about American Horror Story!

Welcome to Canada FX, I think you’ll like it here.

For more information about FX Canada, just visit their site.