brioux.tv: the podcast

Send us Fan Mail In Part II of this two-part conversation, retired Globe and Mail TV columnist John Doyle returns to talk a little bit more about soccer but mostly about our shared fascination with television.  The two of us tackle several of today's biggest TV challenges. For example: are late night talk shows going the way of the western? Does Crave sensation Heated Rivalry live up to the h...

Send us Fan Mail Can it be? Is that our John Doyle making sense of The World Cup in The Toronto Star? The former TV columnist at The Globe and Mail has come out of retirement to help explain why we are all suddenly mad for soccer as Canada continues to kick its way into contention.  This isn't the first time John has turned into a sports scribe. He has reported on three other World Cups as a...

Send us Fan Mail Yes, TV is Good. ABC declared it back in the '90s in their press materials. Now Alan Sepinwall has used the slogan as the name of his new podcast , where he is paired with fellow critic Kathryn VanArendonk. I first met Alan back when that slogan was coined at the Television Critics Association's semi-annual network press tours. He wasted no time establishing himself in w...

Send us Fan Mail There has been a lot of talk lately that talk shows, as we know them, are too expensive to last. The big band, the studio audience, the nightly monologue -- they all cost money. Well, Tom Green thinks he has the answer. He's growing the talk show of the future now on 150 acres in Ontario on The Tom Green Farm (now streaming on Crave). What about the guests you ask? Green has...

Send us Fan Mail This Saturday, May 30 at 12 noon, over 100 people in brightly-coloured orange wigs and vivid caftans will be storming Orangeville, Ont's city hall. Demanding more polyester? Lobbying for a clown college? No, this will kick off the 2nd annual Roper Romp Orangeville. It's all thanks to super fan Sofie Weber, one of two guests on this episode of brioux.tv: the podcast. She...

Send us Fan Mail World's collide as the talky half of Jay and Silent Bob meets Murdoch Mysteries . Yes, it turns out that Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith's pal since Clerks , is a superfan of the CBC historical whodunnit Murdoch Mysteries . He was turned on to the series by his buddy, Matt Goehring. Mewes binged 18 seasons and 300 episodes in six months. All caught up, he and Matt have teamed w...

Send us Fan Mail Please welcome a veteran sports reporter and host who, in my opinion, has been better on his feet and in the moment than anybody else in a rink or on a field. I’m talking of course about Scott Oake, who recently announced his retirement from Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada . Correction – he reluctantly announced, because he never wanted any fuss made about his departure. He j...

Send us Fan Mail With the recent passing of Dinah Christie at 83 we go back into the vault for my 2014 conversation with the beloved Canadian entertainer.  Always a welcome presence on television in the '60s, '70s, and '80s, Christie was a touchstone for many boomers. I used to rush home from school to see the CHCH charades series Party Game  where Christie, along with impish comedi...

Send us Fan Mail  Adam Growe is happy to be back behind the wheel of Cash Cab for a 10th season (airing Wednesdays on MUCH and streaming on Crave). Raised in Vancouver, the stand-up comedian had to re-take and pass his special cab licence in Toronto before shooting took place last October/November.  The series, which has been franchised in 40 counties, first took to the road back in 2008 in Canada...

Send us Fan Mail  Who’s a good boy? All the puppies on the new CBC/CBC Gem series Must Love Dogs , that’s who. Premiering April 20, the 10 episodes feature a couple I met last December at the CBC Broadcast Centre in Toronto –  Brady Oliveira and Alex Blumberg. They live in Winnipeg and are very dedicated to rescuing and finding forever homes for canines all across Manitoba. Brady can catch any dog...

Send us Fan Mail I first met today’s guest, BC native Benjamin Ayres, in 2010 when he was co-starring with Corner Gas ’s Fred Ewanuick on a little Canadian comedy called Dan for Mayor . Ben’s 110 IMDb credits go back even further and show him to be skilled at both comedy and drama with roles in such shot-in-Canada gems as Saving Hope, Less Than Kind, Family Law, Burden of Truth, Suits , and going...

Send us Fan Mail In this special episode, we go beyond the scandal and into the storytelling of one of the most infamous moments in Olympic sports history with the cast of Hate the Player: The Ben Johnson Story .  Through candid interviews conducted at the red carpet preview, hear from Mark McKinney, Andrew Phung, Emma Hunter and other top Canadian sketch players who bring this audacious mocumenta...

Send us Fan Mail For over 300 episodes, Debi Drennan has been applying makeup to Yannick Bisson and all the leading actors on Murdoch Mysteries .  She even works on bit players, such as, well, me. Twice.  With the series winding down its 19th season, Drennan looks back at her career as the head of makeup on the CBC hit series. She also hints that the season finale, set for Monday, April 13, sets u...

Send us Fan Mail  What’s up, doc? Well, for one thing, they are now showing classic Bugs Bunny cartoons on Turner Classic Movies. I first saw these seven-minute miracles back in the 1960s on The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Hour . When I wanted to read more about them there were two guys who had the scoop: Leonard Maltin and Jerry Beck. These two lifelong friends have been telling the story of Termite T...

Send us Fan Mail Seven hundred episodes of a Canadian TV series? Aside from Hockey Night in Canada , what could this be? Well, on Tuesday, March 3, CBC will air the 700th episode of This Hour Has 22 Minutes . The satirical sketch series began way back in 1993. On this episode of brioux.tv: the podcast, I speak with two of the current front five players -- Stacey McGunnigle and Chris Wilson. (Mark...

Send us Fan Mail On a special mid-week episode of brioux.tv: the podcast, meet Tara Bosch. Like Monday's podcast guest Jay Klein, she is walking back into the Dragon's Den a Canadian success story. Both came up with better ways to take sugar out of everyday snacks. Bosch, from Surrey, BC, had a sweet tooth but yearned for a healthier alternative. She started experimenting in her basement...

Send us Fan Mail Some of us just chew gum. While he was chewing it over, however, Jay Klein thought: how can I make gum better? Klein is the founder and CEO of PÜR, a brand committed to making snacks better-for-you and still taste great and fun to chew.  Born in Florida, he moved to Toronto to study at York University and founded The PÜR Company in 2010. He took his sugar- and aspartame-free gum i...

Send us Fan Mail Who is that on the flight deck of the Starship Athena? Why it is none other than Raoul Bhaneja who has boldly gone on to wow audiences across Canada on stages as well as in feature films and television. The Manchester born, Ottawa-raised actor-musician plays Chancellor Kelrec, head of the Star Fleet's War College , in Paramount +'s Star Trek: Starfleet Academy . Intervie...

Send us Fan Mail The former Baronesses are back as Jennifer Whalen and Meredith MacNeill launch into Season Two of Small Achievable Goals (Tuesday nights on CBC; also streaming on demand on CBCGem).  The writer-producers play Kris and Julie, two women at different stages of peri-menopause and menopause, who talk about it on their peri-meno-podcast. Hot topics include hot flashes, HRT's, and e...

Send us Fan Mail Barbara Williams first media job was as a receptionist at the all-news radio station CKO. She quickly rose up the ranks, eventually becoming President of Shaw Media, COO of CORUS and for the past seven years Executive Vice President of CBC.  This month she retires, with former Paramount content licensing head Douglas Smith named CBC’s new EVP. In this conversation, recorded in Dec...

Send us Fan Mail In Part Two of my look at the return of Saint Pierre  meet Robina Lord-Stafford. Not only does she have one of the coolest names in Canadian television, she is also, along with Allan Hawco, the co-creator of the CBC police series. Plus she lives in the same town north of the GTA where I live, Orangeville, Ont. This podcast episode, therefore, was recorded right at my kitchen table...

Send us Fan Mail At the start of this conversation recorded before Christmas at the CBC broadcast centre in Toronto, Allan Hawco reminded me that I've been tailing him for 20 years -- back to the launch of Republic of Doyle in 2005.  Hawco and costar Josephine Jobert are back with 12 new episodes of Saint-Pierre, the highest-rated sophomore series on CBC. The police procedural is shot on loca...

Send us Fan Mail One actor/comedian I have had on my most sought-after list since this venture began in 2019 is my guest this week on brioux.tv : the podcast. Jonny Harris just happens to be a busy guy, working two CBC series at once. On Murdoch Mysteries , now in its 19th season, his character Constable Crabtree has been a fan favourite since the very beginning. His own series, Still Standing , s...

Send us Fan Mail Did you hear about the lady lawyer who dropped her briefs and became a solicitor? No? Me neither but BC-born Kayla Wallace plays the kick-ass law shark on Landman , now streaming on Paramount+. The second season premiere of this Taylor Sheridan series was such a hit that a third season has already been ordered.  Landman stars Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris the titular Landman,...

Send us Fan Mail The year 2025 has certainly been a good year to stand up for Canada. Who better to turn that mission into a TV special than Rick Mercer? The former This Hour has 22 Minutes and Rick Mercer Report firebrand returns Sunday, December 28, with Rick Mercer Stand Up for Canada . The hour-long comedy special, featuring fellow comics Sophie Buddle, Mayce Galoni and Julie Kim, was taped be...