Mike's Bloggity Blog

In the next few weeks, networks from above and below the border will be announcing their new Fall schedules. This also happens to be my favourite time of the year because we get a sneak peak at what we’ll be spending our night’s watching in just a few months. I’m not alone in that right? Other people get excited for new schedules too?

In anticipation of the new fall line-ups, I’ve sorta developed a wish list of shows I wish networks would bring back. Maybe it’s because my birthday is around the corner and I’m feeling nostalgic, but I’d love to see some shows return for fresh, new audiences.

Street Cents: How can any Canadian that grew up in the 90′s not remember and love Street Cents? Filmed in Halifax, the show about saving money, being a smart consumer and essentially knowing your shit, would be a perfect fit for the new and improved Muchmusic. The network has done an amazing job at bouncing back from being a bad Canadian VH1 and is now really appealing to an engaged and young demographic. The world is drastically different than it was ten years ago and a show like Street Cents could teach Canada’s youth about this big, bad scary country. And who would host? I just checked my scheduled and it’s free…painfully so.

1 Girl, 5 Gays: Celebrity Edition
I feel like this one is pretty self-explanatory, but how fun would it be to watch five gay Canadian celebs sitting around, shouting the shit about being gay in Canada. Especially because we have so many that are regularly in the spotlight. Canada AM’s Seamus O’Regan, CBC’s Rick Mercer, musician Ashley McIsaac…wait…why are all our gay people from islands on the East Coast? Let’s throw in Degrassi’s Adamo Ruggiero and Olympian Mark Tewksbury just to get the cross-country perspective.

While the perspective of Toronto party boys are one thing, it would be cool to hear from some of this country’s biggest celebrities too!

The Rockets: The Next Generation

AS IF Glee is not a total rip-off of Canada’s favourite singing group, The Rockets. Not very many people remember this show, but hopefully this flashback will help.

How can you not instantly love a show where a character’s name is MUFFY?!? I love it. I think the advantage of not having a ton of memories of The Rockets, Canadians will feel more accepting of welcoming a new generation into their home. I don’t think the story lines have to stray to far from my Degrassi: TNG did, the Rockets are now parents (grandparents?) and their kids are equally as awkward and mildly adequate singers. Out of all of these shows, this is the one I want and need the most.

I always knew watching Degrassi made me feel smarter and now I have proof!

The Canadian classic has just been awarded the very distinguished Peabody Award!  The award, which recognizes the “distinguished achievement by broadcasters, cable and Webcasters, producing organizations, and individuals,” was given to Degrassi for its groundbreaking episodes about Adam, Degrassi’s first transgendered student. In honouring the show, the committee said: “True to its history, the durable high-school serial’s two-parter about a transgender teen neither trivializes nor overdramatizes its subject.”

Other 2011 winners include Justified, Men of a Certain Age and The Good Wife.

The Peabody Awards, hosted by Larry King, will be held May 23.

Do you want to talk about Charlie Sheen?  I don’t really,  I mean what is there to say?  That man is a mess. But thankfully he has been fired and besides cheesy internet shows, I don’t think we’ll have to deal with him for a while.

So what happens to the show next?

Look, we all know that the show should 100% be canceled but money is money and if CBS can try to squeeze one more season out of it, you know that they will.  So the question then becomes, who can come somewhat close to playing a similar mess like Charlie Sheen’s character and more specifically, which Canadian?

Here’s a few possible suggestions:

Allan Hawco: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know he is on the very successful Republic of Doyle, which has already been renewed for a third season. BUT the seasons are only 13 episodes and I’m sure the females of North America would not mind the extra exposure. Hawco has the bad boy character down pat and his accent would add some edge to the very bland comedy.  After all, couldn’t all american shows do with a little more of the Newfoundland accent?

Pat Mastroianni: One question: How can this country’s most iconic actor not be a regular on network television?  I mean, surely one of the millions of Canadians that grew up watching him is a network exec by now and not one of them has felt the same urge to bring Pat back to TV? And what better place to land then a role that essentially brought Charlie back from the brink? I’m not too famliar with the plot of the show but I’m pretty sure people are always excited when a funny bald guy shows up…or at least that’s what I’m banking on…. for the rest of my life.

Robb Wells: Uhhhh do I really need explain this one? I mean, really, he is perfect! BUT only if he got to do the show as Ricky.  I’m sure the actor would love to get away from playing trailer park trash but I’m also pretty sure that the Hollywood sized paycheque might get him to think otherwise.

Almost made the list: Christopher Crabb (Danger Bay), Sebastian Pigott (Being Erica), Paul Gross (Due South)

All this week, Mike’s Bloggity Blog will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with a special series called Bloggity Dates. Every day, some of the biggest names in Canadian entertainment will be dropping by to share stories of their best, worst and most embarrassing dates. If I were you, I’d take notes to ensure you have a perfect Valentine’s Day. Just be sure to invite me to the wedding.

Degrassi’s Jessica Tyler
One of the best dates I’ve ever been on was actually a double date, and we went bowling! It was pretty funny when the girls’ team won over the boys’, lol. Afterwards, we went out for ice cream to celebrate our victory

Degrassi returns to Much on Friday!

All this week, Mike’s Bloggity Blog will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with a special series called Bloggity Dates. Every day, some of the biggest names in Canadian entertainment will be dropping by to share stories of their best, worst and most embarrassing dates. If I were you, I’d take  notes to ensure you have a perfect Valentine’s Day. Just be sure to invite me to the wedding.

Degrassi’s Cory Lee

When I was in my late teens I was working at the Pacific Centre in Vancouver at Stitches. One day while I was working a member of an unnamed boyband came into the store. He started talking to me and asked me to come out with him for a night on the town. As you can imagine, I was beyond excited and called all of my girlfriends to tell them the great news. When I showed up later he was there, along with his four bodyguards in tow. We danced and had a fun evening…until he invited me to hang out back at his hotel. He then offered me front row tickets to their show the following night. Even though I was star struck, I decided to head home, dignity intact, and (needless to say) didn’t end up going to the concert.

Degrassi returns to Much this Friday!

All this week, Mike’s Bloggity Blog will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with a special series called Bloggity Dates. Every day, some of the biggest names in Canadian entertainment will be dropping by to share stories of their best, worst and most embarrassing dates. If I were you, I’d take notes to ensure you have a perfect Valentine’s Day. Just be sure to invite me to the wedding.

Degrassi’s Ray Ablack
My girlfriend, Chani, studies abroad in Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates. She does very well, works very hard, and I’m very proud of her. She left this past summer at the end of August. Last summer in May, our relationship began. We did things of all sorts and yet didn’t complete all the wishes on our list – yes, we made a list of things we wanted to do together. I made a bet with myself somewhere in the middle of falling in love with her last summer, that everything to do with our soon to be long distance relationship would work out fine in the end if I just took her skating; all summer she wanted to go skating with me. As a typical Canadian boy, I’ve played hockey my whole life, so skating was never a big deal for me, in fact it’s boring and we always overlooked her most anticipated date activity. And in the last week of her stay I scrambled to pull together some of the last wishes on our list to happen on her last day at home.

On our last date, I picked her up at home and told her to bring her skates along, that we would go public skating. She made me another mixed CD that we listened to for an hour in the car while we drove to Oshawa, where the day before I booked a rink for us to privately skate for an hour and a half. We played our mix CD over the PA system, I tied her skates, and we skated hand in hand cheesily for too short a time. I cleaned her runny nose with my sleeve while she focused so hard and adorably on skating backwards. After our time was up and our hands and noses were frozen, we climbed back into the car and I took Chani to my favourite restaurant, ‘Sushi Mountain’ in the town where I grew up. We came back to my house to sleep off our full bellies and the candles I lit earlier that morning filled the house with the delicious smell I was hoping they would. (I know that’s dangerous…). I don’t eat much steak, it’s just not something my family cooks, but Chani loves steak, and I’d found another activity that I overlooked for a whole summer that was something she wanted to do, and I finally obliged her. There’s a famous steak restaurant in Toronto called ‘Harbour 60′. We dressed up in our fancy clothes and went there for dinner. We drank red wine and even as someone who doesn’t eat steak, I knew that I just ate a very good steak. Chani loved it. It was delicious. She was smiling all day. I drove her home and when it was time to say goodbye for the night, I kissed her on the porch for a long time.

Degrassi returns to Much this Friday!

All this week, Mike’s Bloggity Blog will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with a special series called Bloggity Dates. Every day, some of the biggest names in Canadian entertainment will be dropping by to share stories of their best, worst and most embarrassing dates. If I were you, I’d take notes to ensure you have a perfect Valentine’s Day. Just be sure to invite me to the wedding.

Degrassi’s Melinda Shankar
With my busy schedule, I never really had time to date. However, my boyfriend is in the industry, so he understands the hectic lifestyle. My best date was definitely with him. We spent the day downtown Toronto, at Centre Island. We took a speed boat over to the island, then a little swan ride through the water, walked around the zoo, went on the kiddie water rides, had lunch at an adorable cafe, and spent time by the water surrounded by ducks and swans. We then hung out and talked for hours on the beach and rocks – it was such a great day. It didn’t take long before we became best friends and progressed from there. But of course they can’t all be as perfect as that. I once went on a date where the guy knew I was an actor, but I hadn’t gone into detail about it. We were at a mall in New York, when a bunch of kids came up to me and started talking and asking for pictures. The guy thought I was being attacked and yelled “I’LL CALL SECURITY”…I had to chase him down and fill him in on the situation. Haha poor guy was so embarrassed, he apologized for the rest of the day.

Degrassi returns to Much this Friday!

Big news for the cast and crew of Degrassi!  The teen show has just been nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Drama!  (In case you don’t know, GLAAD is the The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.)

This is really big news considering the the show has huge competition in the category including Grey’s Anatomy, True Blood, Brothers and Sisters and Pretty Little Liars.

Here’s a list of all the GLAAD Media Award Nominees! Other nominees include the Toronto-filmed Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.

Speaking of Degrassi, the show will return in a few weeks, if you’re like me and you can’t wait, here are two different promos to tide you over!

I spent most of 2010 defending my enjoyment of Degrassi but this time, I’ll let the numbers speak for itself.

In it’s tenth season, the show swtiched networks, produced more than 48 episodes and reached a huge milestone: more than  220 episodes since the show premiered in 2001!  Not bad for something that used to be called “The Next Generation”.  2010 was also the year that Degrassi was named Canada’s Favourite TV Show at this year’s Geminis.  Whether you like it or not, the show doesn’t seem to be going anywhere….thankfully.

In a matter of weeks the show;s twenty-two member cast tackled subjects like abuse, teen pregnancy, stabbings, coming-out, alcoholism, hoarding, school-uniforms,  lock-downs and most importantly, introduced Adam, Degrassi’s first transgendered student.   All of this was promoted in what I’m choosing as the coolest promo of the year:

This was also the year that I got the chance to visit the Degrassi set.  It was amazing to see that the entire set is basically a city block with real stores, cafes, schools and it’s all staged in and around the show’s production offices.  The show’s current cast is extremely strong and are proof that show’s can evolve and morph and not hurt the quality of the end result. Show’s like Glee should definitely take note and copy Degrassi’s model.

For a show that has already produced stars like Drake, Shanae Grimes and Nina Dobrev, it’s exciting to know that the stars are probably giong to keep coming. By doing the name Degrassi proud, the show was definitely one of my favourites of 2010!

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the second day of Mike’s Bloggity Blog’s Gift A Day Giveaway!

Today’s prize is for all those people who have to buy gifts for the tweens on their list, (or if you have someone specifically like me to buy for.)

It’s a complete Degrassi prize pack complete with a signed script, poster, DVD box set and a CD soundtrack!!!!

Just because this prize is so awesome, I’m going to add some more exclamation marks!!!

As a Degrassi super fan, I have to make sure that you guys listen to Steve Agee’s (Sarah Silverman Show) podcasts in LA with Ellen Page. (I kinda love how Ellen Page just pops up with some super random Degrassi knowledge-bombs!)  Their knowledge of Degrassi is amazing and intense! In the second one, they welcome special guest Shenae Grimes to talk Degrassi VS. 90210.

You must, must, must give them a listen!

http://web.me.com/steveagee/Site/Podcast/Entries/2010/11/6_Episode_36.html

http://web.me.com/steveagee/Site/Podcast/Entries/2010/11/24_Episode_38.html

How to Win:
Two ways to enter, each one will get you an entry to a maximum of two entries per gift!  All entries must be received by Sunday, December 19th at Noon/MST

1) Leave a comment telling me your favourite Degrassi character ever!
2) Tweet “I’m going to win a Degrassi Super Prize Pack from @mikesbloggity. http://ow.ly/3ldu3 #bloggitygifts”

Good luck and make sure you check back everyday! I’ve got prizes for the next two weeks! It’s going to be a blast!

Gift A Day Rules:
1) Gotta live in Canada.
2) Two entries per contest.
3) I can’t guarantee prizes will arrive by Christmas.

Don’t forget to enter all the Gift A Day Give-A-Ways!
Giveaway #1: 2011 Microsoft Office for Mac
Giveaway #2: Degrassi Prize Pack
Giveaway #3:The Music of Glee (Four discs!)
Giveaway #4: Subscription to Film Movement
Giveaway #5: Sony Ericsson Phone and Bluetooth Headset!
Giveaway #6: Nestlé Noir Holiday Prize Pack
Giveaway #7: Netflix Membership
Giveaway #8: Smartbox Gift Cards
Giveaway #9: Harper Collins Canada Prize Pack!
Giveaway #10: Flip Ultra HD Video Camera
Giveaway #11: 4,000 Scene Points!
Giveaway #12: Marc Jacobs BANG cologne!
Giveaway #13: $50 McDonalds Gift Card!