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Back in the 1950s and '60s, every Sunday night, families would gather around their living room TV and watch The Ed Sullivan Show.

The variety hour ran 23 seasons, ending 54 years ago in 1971. Now streaming on Netflix, the documentary Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan is not just another "best of" blast of nostalgia. It recognizes Sullivan as a social game-changer. As network television's top-rated variety showman throughtout the 1950s and '60s he introduced Black entertainers into living rooms across North America. 

On this episode of brioux.tv: the podcast, I speak with Sullivan's granddaughter and the driving producer of the documentary, Margo Precht Speciale. She spent 10 years lining up interviews with Harry Belafonte, Dionne Warwick, Smokey Robinson and others, as well as clips from the CBS variety hour featuring  everyone from Bo Diddley, Elvis Presley, Ike & Tina Turner, James Brown, Nat King Cole, Gladys Knight, The Supremes, Billy Preston and many others.

Please join us for a "really big shew!"

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Meet the star of the new series Pretty Blind. As described in her AMI-tv bio, Jennie Bovard is a running, beer-drinking, thirtysomething with albinism. She loves making people laugh and is very involved in accessible sport and recreation opportunities in her community. She has lived with partial sight all her life, has a diploma in film and tv production, and lives in Halifax. 

She’s been recording a podcast for several years called Low Vision Moments where she talks about things that have happened to her as a partially sighted person … such as that time she physically distanced herself from a post because she thought it was a person. I think we’ve all been there with that one. 

Showrunner Mark Forward and Jonathan Torrens – two cast members who worked together for several years on Mr. d – spun her stories into a six-episode first season of Pretty Blind, which premieres July 8 on AMI.

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Here is why Jonathan Torrens is the perfect Canada Day Weekend podcast guest:

As a producer, he is behind two new Canadian TV comedies: Pretty Blind, starring Jennie Bovard as a legally blind but supremely independent library worker (premiering July 8 on AMI); and 0-to-60 Driving Academy, steering headlong into a second season on Bell Fibe.

Then there are his IMDb credits. The PEI native has worked on the following CanCon favourites: Trailer Park Boys (as rapper J-Roc), Mr. d; Letterkenny and Shoresy; This Hour Has 22 Minutes; Wipeout Canada; Call Me Fitz; Moonshine; Degrassi: The Next Generation and The Royal Canadian Air Farce. 

Before all that, he got his start at CBC as a teenager as host of Street Cents, which led to his own shows, Jonovision, and Jonathan Cross's Canada.

Had he been born sooner he also would have been on The Beachcombers and The Littlest Hobo. Join us for the ultimate deep dive into CanCon TV. 

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 In the digital age, the question is not only which tools are still available to support Canadian content production but which ones are still relevant. One with an insider's perspective is Pat Ferns, author of "The Big Picture: A Personal History of Independent Television Production in Canada" (Sutherland House). Ferns began his career with a formative stint at CBC, created award-winning series and documentaries as an independant producer and helped reform the Canadian television funding process. He later helped put the Banff World Media Festival on its feet.  At a time when, it can be argued, Canada's story matters more than ever, Ferns wades into the battlefield between the CRTC and the new media giants of content distribution. Can we marry Canadian stories with global reach? That and more with Order of Canada member Pat Ferns, this week's insightful guest on brioux.tv: the podcast. 

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By far, the biggest name in TV sitcoms this century has been Chuck Lorre. 

This June, when I saw that he was going to be a keynote speaker at the Banff World Media Festival, I thought what the hell, put in a request for a podcast interview. So glad I did, because on this episode, we talk about the glory that is The Kominsky Method, Big Bang's Barenaked Ladies theme song, his take on The Sopranos finale, and his latest project -- a Netflix sitcom starring Leanne Morgan.

On a personal note, I tell him how Bob Hearts Abishola was a big winner with Lucia, my wife Sandra's Italian-born mother. Lorre wanted that series to salute the immigrant achievement in America -- a message that could not be more relevant today.

I even put Lorre on the spot by asking what he thought would be the perfect Canadian TV sitcom. Hear his three word answer and so much more, on a memorable episode.

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 Jason Ritter is my guest this week on brioux.tv: the podcast. I spoke with the 45-year-old actor recently at the Corus Entertainment Upfront in Toronto. Ritter is so thrilled to be on Matlock -- last season's biggest rookie hit on both Global in Canada and CBS in the US --  that he's been dancing up a storm on TikTok.
We talk about that, working with Oscar-winner Kathy Bates, his famous dad John Ritter, his famous granddad Tex Ritter and what it's like being a third generation player in the Hollywood film industry.
Playing his dad on the series is another son of a famous actor, Beau Bridges. (His dad, Lloyd Bridges was in both the '60s series Sea Hunt and the 1980 comedy "Airplane!").
While the pilot for Matlock was shot in Toronto, the rest of the series is one of the few network shows currently produced in Los Angeles.
Ritter also talks about the joys of parenthood. He and his New Zealand-born actress wife Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets) have a young daughter. 

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This 200th episode of brioux.tv: the podcast features a SCTV original who remains one of my favourite people to interview -- Dave Thomas. On this, our third podcast conversation, Thomas talks about his recent trip to Kyiv, a city where drone strikes and missle attacks from Russia have created a living hell for Ukrainians at war. 

Thomas talks all about his decision to fly to Ukraine and answer a friend's call to help raise awareness and money for the cause. He was accompanied by a small film crew and ventured into territories invaded and claimed by Russia. On one mission the soldiers he was with helped bring Ukrainian infants and elderly citizens back from enemy hands. 

Thomas even found time to check out a Ukrainian comedy club. There were no photos of Yakoff Smirnov on the wall. Thomas is planning a documentary about his 10-day, first hand account.

This is about as far removed as you can get from Thomas' old days spoofing Russian television on SCTV's hilarious "CCCP1" episode. Thomas's goal is to help raise donations for Ukrainian's under fire. Money goes to provide medical aid, training and vehicles for defence. Give now and qualify for a charitable tax receipt. Donate to the Ukrainian Freedom Fund at ukrfreedomfund.org.

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People who work television's morning shift could be forgiven for being a tad grumpy. That's never the case with Tim Bolen, who recently made the leap from co-hosting Morning Live on Hamilton's CHCH to pairing with Dina Pugliese on Citytv's national franchise Breakfast Television.

Add living in Toronto when he was on TV in Hamilton and now living in Hamilton and inching through traffic hell in Toronto and you have basically the seven tasks of Hercules. Or is it a genius move since he's basically commuting to work in the dead of night? 

In any event, Bolen seems to bound into work, throwing himself into community events coverage and apron-ing up for hours of egg scrambling. Start your day with Tim and Dina and listen now as he wakes things up as my guest on brioux.tv: the podcast.

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My guest this episode is an executive producer who helped guide Schitt’s Creek to a canoe full of Emmy and CSA awards. He’s currently one of the executive producers on another wonderful sitcom, Son of a Critch, shockingly ignored -- nomination wise -- at this year’s Canadian Screen Awards.

Yes, it is Andrew Barnsley and he's just back from France where he attended Series Mania, an industry marketplace where stakeholders gather to discuss where this crazy business is all heading. These are challenging times not just for Canadian media companies but also studios trying to sell shows. Are half hours dead? Does Rogers have any money for scripted fare after that $11 billion NHL deal; and will a wall be built around the US market in this scary new age of tariffs? As Andrew said just before we started recording, “It’s a great time to be alive, right?” 

As president of the Toronto Film School, Barnsley also talks about the challenges facing students keen on becoming the next generation of Canadian storytellers. Listen and learn!

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Bummed your invitation to Martin Short's cottage in the Muskokas was evidently lost in the mail? Save yourself the long drive and listen to this week's episode of brioux.tv: the podcast. One of my favourite guests, filmmaker Mitch Azaria, is back with his sixth in an annual series exploring the province of Ontario: Tripping The Muskoka Lakes. We talk all about the new documentary, premiering April 20 on TV Ontario and also streaming (even earlier) on TVOdocs.org and at TVO's YouTube channel.

This latest three hour, immersive, real-time documentary invites viewers to cruise along in a made-in-Muskoka Duke runabout, a mahogany classic converted to electric power. From the passenger seat you'll cruise past incredible boat houses along "Millionaires" and "Billionaires" row. Reel in a boatload of pop up info bites and dive under the water to visit an actual shipwreck. Travel tariff free from your own living room. All aboard!

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Jay Leno is Jay-walking his way back to Canada. The former Tonight Show host, who turns 75 in May, will join fellow late night rival Arsenio Hall as comedy headliners May 2 at Casino Rama near Orillia, Ont.

In an exclusive brioux.tv: the podcast interview, presented in partnership with latenighter.com, Leno says he was hesitant about accepting the booking given all the "51st State" and Tariff talk emanating from the White House.

"I almost wasn't going to do these dates," Leno says, "because I didn't want to be the ugly American coming in." 

Don't worry about it I tell Leno -- we can use the jokes. The comedy road warrior has had to tweak his act just to straddle divided states audiences. That is working for him so far. "Ever since I took politics out of my act, ticket sales are up 20 or 30 per cent."

Leno also talks about how, back in the war for late night days,  things  weren't always so cozy between him and Arsenio. We touch on those nasty accidents Leno suffered these past few years, including a serious car fire which forced him to seek "a face guy." There is plenty of car talk (he's still hosting Jay's Garage on MSNBC) and we find out his take on the current late night landscape.

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People of Comedy: Celebrating 30 Years of the Nubian Show starts streaming April 9 on Crave. It features this week's guest on brioux.tv: the podcast and one of the true iron men of the Toronto comedy club scene: Kenny Robinson. Since 1983, he's been performing at YukYuks as well as at Just For Laughs and other Canadian comedy venues. Close to 30 years ago, he launched The Nubian Comedy Revue, a showcase for BIPOC entertainers which is performed on the last Sunday of every month at YukYuks in Toronto.

The documentary features several performers who see The Nubian Show as the Def Jam of Canadian comedy. Among them are Russell Peters (the "Brown Sinatra," as Robinson calls him), Hassan Phills, Crystal Ferrier, Marito Lopez and Zambrina Douglas. 

Listen as Robinson, who is also the president of the Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame, reminisces about some of his comedy heroes and others he met along the way.

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These days it is not unusual for fans to wait over a year for a second season of their favourite series. But five years??

That is the situation for When Hope Calls, the spinoff to the popular period piece drama When Calls the Heart. The shot in Ontario series returns April 6 on Super Channel Heart & Home in Canada and on Great American Family in the United States.

A lot has changed in five years including the casting of the two leads. The two Canadians at the heart of the series now are Cindy Busby (best known for several seasons of Heartland) and Christopher Russell, my guests this week on brioux.tv: the podcast. Busby plays Nora, a lawyer who travels by stage coach to the western Canadian town of Brookfield. Russell plays the new mountie in town, Michael "Fearless" Fletcher.

Before you can say "1916," a pioneer romance ensues.

Returning to the series is Wendy Crewson as no-nonsense lady rancher Tess Stewart.  The first new episode will also feature Morgan Kohan -- who has moved on to Sullivan's Crossing -- as Lillian Walsh. Busby and Russell, who first met a decade ago on the set of one of their many Christmas TV-movies, explain how they both got called to When Hope Calls.

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 For this episode we go back into the vault for an interview conducted ten years ago with Joe Clokey. He was the son of the man who created and animated Gumby, the most bendable children's TV character ever. Joe grew up in California as "Gumby's little brother," watching his dad and mom stamp out dozens of brightly coloured characters out of plastercine in creating a unique world of stop-animation wonder.
TV audiences first saw Gumby on a short film tested during a broadcast of NBC's The Howdy Doody Show in 1955. That led to a full season order the next year, extended about once a decade on various networks into the '60s, '70s and '80s.
Clokey tells story after story about how the character evolved, who did the voices and even details about the theme song. It was his big sister and a friend singing, "He was once a little green slab of clay..." to a tune composed by a prominant jazz musician. The music played millions of times for a paltry one-time fee. Even Clokey lost out when a spinoff merchandising deal made a fortune -- not for him, but for the toy company.
We also talk about Clokey's other famous series, Davey and Goliath, a collection of suburban kiddie parables bankrolled by the Lutheren church. I saw both shows daily as a lad while watching Rocketship 7 and Commander Tom as they beamed across Lake Ontario from Buffalo, N.Y., on WKBW. 

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Ali Weinstein is the writer/producer/director behind "Your Tomorrow," a look at Ontario Place the summer before it was shut down after 52 years. For over five decades a 155-acre Toronto waterfront sanctuary, it is being radically redeveloped. Gone are 850 West Island trees. Instead we get a spa with a killer view of Cinesphere.

In a moving, observational documentary,Weinstein captures the place in its final days as a full-on family retreat. Even after falling into disrepair, it was still treasured as a bird sanctuary and even a beach.

The documentary is rather personal for me. As a student, I worked there as a bus boy for three summers, 1972, '73 and '74. Out the front door of the West Island's Blockhouse restaurant, between shifts clearing tables for two dollars an hour, I watched the CN Tower rise above the Toronto skyline.

It never seemed possible back in those halcyon days of summer that Ontario Place would wind up, fifty years later, looking like an abandoned mall. Weinstein's documentary, shot mainly during the park's last active summer of 2023, throws a bright light on that reality. 

Was Ontario Place purposefully left to rot? Hear Weinstein on that and the making of this doc, which premieres on TVO March 23 and streams on TVODoc starting March 21.

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Podcasts were invented for guests such as Malcolm McDowell. He is a smart, funny, generous man and as terrific as ever as Pop on CBC's Son of a Critch.

This conversation took place last summer in St. John’s, Nfld., in McDowell’s trailer which was parked outside the Bella Vista banquet hall. It had been an exciting 24 hours with the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau -- who was down the street trying in vain to save his job at the annual Regatta --  stopping by to say hello to the cast and crew.

Back in August, few suspected how Trudeau’s fortunes might change in six months. Wait till you hear McDowell’s take on Trudeau as well as the PM's mother Margaret whom McDowell first met 50 years earlier in London.

We touch on some of the actor's past performances in films such as “Clockwork Orange,"  “Caligula” and too many others to mention. We start off talking about a few of his past podcast hosts, one he loved and another not so much. 

McDowell made sure I was offered a cup of English breakfast tea (milk; no sugar) and we were off to the races. Pour yourself one now and listen in. 

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 Two of the four Baroness Von Sketch Show players, Jennifer Whalen and Meredith MacNeill, are back with a new CBC series -- and it's a period piece!
The series is called Small Achievable Goals and it is about two women in midlife encountering all of the joys of menopause. Hot flashes, mood swings, homicidal trendencies and more.
Now, you can't swing a tampon in daytime TV without Drew Barrymore or Oprah menopausing for station identification. Even in primetime this has come up before. Remember that episode of The Golden Girls? Where Blanche thought she might be pregnant? That episode was called, "End of the Curse."
Well, Whalen and MacNeill wage war on the curse. Helping is a top Canadian comedy cast including Jon Dore (The Lake), Peter McKeleghan (Workin' Moms),  Tricia Black (Pretty Hard Cases) and Paul Braunstein (Shelved). The two main characters are podcasters, so right there, I have a rooting interest. The eight episode series airs Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET on CBC and CBCGem. 

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 Claire Rankin says she's waited "a really long time...to land something like this."
The PEI native is talking about her role as Mary on Son of a Critch. How she landed the role -- after one of those remote zoom call auditions -- is just one of the stories she shares on this hour-long podcast.
Season Four finds Mary -- and Rankin -- out of the kitchen and in the thick of it. On this Tuesday's episode (CBC, CBCGem), Mary has a mid-life crisis. In a few weeks, she's going back to school. Later, she'll be getting back in touch with her beauty pageant roots.
The challenges are all welcome for this versatile actress who began her stage career at Stratford performing in Shakespean classics such as Love's Labour's Lost, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest.
During her Hollwood years, Rankin found gest starring roles in everything from House, Monk and Ally McBeal to The Drew Carey Show.
Those shows were all more fun and less stressful than one of her first LA jobs opposite a Hollywood legend, a "Wish" she wishes she had never made.
Way more fun was working opposite Dick Van Dyke on Diagnosis Murder, especially getting a chance to sing with the TV legend between takes.
Get to know Claire Rankin, this week on brioux.tv: the podcast. 

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Saturday Night Live is celebrating the big 5-0. Who better to put it in perspective than the Canadian writer who was there at the start.

On this special presentation from brioux.tv: the podcast and LateNighter, Rosie Shuster tells how it all began. She was born with a funny bone as the daughter of Frank Shuster (half of the comedy team of Wayne & Shuster). She meets Lorne Michaels at junior high, he falls for Rosie, and Lorne then soaks up every showbiz lesson he can from her dad.  

Together with their Toronto school chum Howard Shore, all three land at 30 Rock in New York, assemble the Not Ready for Prime Time Players, put together the next generation of comedy writers (including Rosie) and create the greatest live TV comedy-music showcase ever. 

Shuster talks about the show that came before, CBC's Hart & Lorne Terrific Hour; writing for Gilda Radner (a joy) and John Belushi (a struggle), getting props from her proud poppa, and her on-again, off-again marriage to Michaels. 

But will she get a dress in time for two galas in New York, including the three hour SNL50: The Anniversary Special as well as the hour-long red carpet show? Tune in Sunday, Feb. 16, on NBC and Global to find out.

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OK, Hearties, here he is, Jack Wagner who plays Bill Avery on When Calls the Heart. The former soap star has played the sheriff-turned-judge character for 12 seasons on the Langley, BC-based Hallmark and Super Channel series.

As viewers will see on the Saturday, Feb. 8 episode, Avery will be re-introduced to Georgie McGill, played by special guest star Melissa Gilbert whose credits date all the way back to her child star days on Little House on the Prairie. 

'Bout time Avery got in on the romance on this series, says Wagner, a veteran of several soaps, including General Hospital, The Bold and The Beautiful and Santa Barbara. He also played a romantic lead on Aaron Spelling's frothy primetime serial Melrose Place.

All this and the guy is a scratch golfer, the only non-professional athlete winner of a major pro-am tournament. Listen for his story about golfing with Sean Connery. We also talk about his chart-topping mid-'80s hit "All I Need," his previous encounter with Gilbert (both were on Dancing with the Stars) and his theory as to why When Calls the Heart is the perfect show for 2025.

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 If ever we needed some candid talk from Rick Mercer, we need it now. The CBC Hall of Famer didn't hold back when I spoke with him last summer in St. John's on the set of Son of a Critch. The native son plays Mark Sr.'s new VOCM radio station boss on the CBC sitcom. Catch the episode this Tuesday (also on CBCGem).
Mercer was delighted to be back before many familiar faces among the crew. He is, of course, an original alumni of Mark Critch's other series, This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
After traveling across Canada last year doing stand up shows with his friend Jann Arden, Mercer questions whether the public broadcaster has lost its way at the worst possible time. He notes how Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre's oft-stated goal to cut the CBC appropriation now draws applause breaks even on the East Coast.
Hear more frank talk from one of Canada's most popular entertainers as he returns to brioux.tv: the podcast.
SPECIAL ALERT: That bearded guy glimpsed in the background Tuesday in the bar scene with Critch and Mercer? The guy trying hard not to act? Yup, guilty as charged. Don't blink. 

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This episode is the second to feature a cast member from Season 4 of Son of a Critch: none other than the son himself, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth.
Ainsworth, of course, plays young Mark Critch, circa 1990, on the CBC sitcom. The episode was recorded last summer on location in St. John's, Nfld. Ainsworth was shooting a scene on a residential street closed off for the production. Also there was Sophia Powers, who plays Mark's girlfriend Fox.
The two are trying to navigate high school this season, with scenes shot right in series' co-creator Mark Critch's old high school in St. John's.
It is fun to hear Ainsworth speak in his own lilting Liverpudlian tongue during this interview. He and his famous co-star, the great Malcolm McDowell, are often at the Duke of Duckworth, cheering on their favourite football club.
Ainsworth also talks about his upcoming feature film "Everything's Going to Be Great" which costars Bryan Cranston and Allison Janney.
Special note: at the end of this episode, listen for a tribute to one of my high school pals, Stephen Dudley. I recently learned that this brilliant pianist, whose music can be heard on most of these episodes, passed away late last December. Here, in a cassette recording made exactly 50 years ago, he gifts a folk night crowd with one of his own compositions. Stephen was 67.

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Monday January 20 is inauguration day in the US. So everybody raise your right hand, and for those listening here at home, hang onto those Canadian passports.

A dozen years ago The Donald was just another tanned game show host when I interviewed him in his 26th floor office at Trump Tower in New York. Now I've reached into the vault and fired up the time machine to bring you a conversation about TV, the world in general and why he feels both always need a bad guy.

The Apprentice host went directly into his signature charm offensive, saying he had checked me out with his friends at NBC who allegedly told him if he spoke with one reporter from Canada, I was “the guy.” (The same line he used on Elon Musk.)

Being played like this was a ton of fun, but that was then. Who could have known that this former real estate hustler would be a two-term US president and be seen by some as one of the most dangerous men on the planet?

Tune in to hear about The Apprentice, the late Joan Rivers (“she’s tough”), David Letterman (“great guy”), the Canadian economy at the time ("your banks were smart") and the war in Afghanistan (“a mess”).

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The second season of the slick crime series Allegiance begins January 15 on CBC and CBC Gem. The shot-in-Surrey, B.C., drama stars Supinder Wraich (Sort Of), Enrico Colantoni and Samer Salem. I spoke with all three in Toronto at the CBC Winter Media Launch in December. 
Wraich plays Sabrina Sohal, a promising rookie police officer who fights to serve her hometown. Rico is the seasoned cop who mentors her past the hurdles of a flawed justice system. 
In Season Two, Sohal graduates to the Serious Crimes Unit and has six months to prove she's got what it takes to be a detective. She's paired in that task with a more experienced detective, played by series newcomer Salem. 
All three take part in this chatty podcast episode, taped live at CBC's Broadcast Centre in downtown Toronto. The discussion ranges from immigration and cultural clashes, fellow co-star David Cubitt (whom they all praise) and even which cast member caused the most outtakes. 

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 No man is an island. Allan Hawco's new series, however, is shot and set on an archipelago of eight islands represented by the French government off the coast of Newfoundland.

Hawco, who played a detective on Republic of Doyle and was also on Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, plays Donny "Fitz" Fitzpatrick. He's a cop who gets too nosy about police secrets and is therefore banished to Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. There he is paired with local police officer Geneviève "Arch" Archambault (Joséphine Jobert from Death in Paradise). Sparks fly and plot lines ensue.

Hawco talks about creating the series with Robina Lord-Stafford and Perry Chaffe, and starting a TV production base pretty much from scratch with Saint-Pierre -- an even bigger challenge than getting Doyle off the ground years ago in Newfoundland. James Purefoy also stars in Saint-Pierre, which airs Monday nights after Murdoch Mysteries on CBC and CBC Gem.