brioux.tv: the podcast

Send us Fan Mail Back in 1986, I had the good fortune to interview Joe Barbera at his corner office at the Hanna-Barbera Studio on Ventura Blvd in Los Angeles. The savvy TV producer/studio head was 75 at the time and had plenty to talk about. He was getting offers to make live-action feature films based on The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Jonny Quest. He had a new, animated Bible series to promote...

Send us Fan Mail Do you love watching classic films on TCM? Then if you live in the Los Angeles area, or will be there over Labor Day weekend,  you'll love Cinecon. Described as a "7th heaven for cinephiles," Cinecon returns for a 59th year August 31 to September 4 with a playbill of rare goodies you can't even see on TCM. Among those programming the festival is this week'...

Send us Fan Mail Quincy Isaiah says his basketball game has improved by leaps and rebounds since suiting up for the role of Magic Johnson in "Winning Time: Rise of the Lakers Dynasty." The series is back for a second season on HBO Max and Crave. The Michigan native plays the early '80s version of Earvin "Magic" Johnson in the series, which was created by Adam McKay. Isaiah...

Send us Fan Mail Me and hilarious actress/comedienne Sabrina Jalees connect over candy bars stolen from the CTV press launch as well as her two current TV gigs: hosting Farming for Love (Sunday nights on CTV) and acting as a judge on Roast Battle Canada (Mondays on CTV Comedy channel). The Toronto native jumped out to a fast start as a teenage correspondent for The Toronto Star, a standup comedian...

Send us Fan Mail  It doesn't take long for Emma Hunter's frisky DJ Nora to jump back into action on Moonshine (CBC; The CW). As Season Three begins, she's having sex in a car with her police officer boyfriend (played by James Gilbert). Sorry, America. You won't see that scene in the U.S. Hunter's auto erotic antics, as well as the occasional obscenity, will be cut on The C...

Send us Fan Mail When we left off in our two-part conversation with TV writer/creator Hart Hanson, he was make the career jump from Canada to Hollywood. Part Two is packed with stories from the U.S. TV trenches. After shepherding both Joan of Arcadia and Judging Amy , Hanson's decision to bail on Snoops baffled colleagues and managers. Not his boss David E. Kelley, however, who admired Hanson...

Send us Fan Mail Was he born in California or Canada? Even Hart Hanson's not 100% sure but here's what we do know: he has created hit TV shows in both countries, including the longest-running drama ever at Fox, Bones . Pt. 1 of this two-part conversation looks at his start in Canada as a writer on The Beachcombers through his work as a writer and producer on Neon Ryder, North of 60 and a...

Send us Fan Mail Warning: there is a lot of Brampton talk in this episode. My guest, Jordan Gavaris, grew up in my town so brace yourself for a walk down memories of the Bramalea City Centre. Otherwise the top subject is Gavaris' Prime Video series The Lake , which just returned for a second season on the Amazon-owned streaming service. Shot in Ontario's cottage country,  the story finds...

Send us Fan Mail This Friday, June 9, after 13 seasons, ever-popular radio and TV host Marilyn Denis concludes her long-running CTV daytime series The Marilyn Denis Show . Prior to that, she enjoyed a 20-year run in daytime TV on CityLine -- an incredible 33-year reign over two networks. In fact, as she discusses on this episode of brioux.tv: the podcast, Denis was so coveted by  former Bell/CTV b...

Send us Fan Mail Now that John Doyle has retired as the TV critic of The Globe and Mail, how are we supposed to make sense of it all? Where is our roadmap out of the madness that is Canadian television? It is all right here, friends, in this handy and convenient, click and listen podcast episode. Hear Doyle on why he retired over six months ago from the newspaper he toiled at with distinction for...

Send us Fan Mail Lauren Holly is an American-Canadian actress who lives in Toronto but works in Vancouver. Hers is every TV actresses resume rolled into one. Vancouver is where she shoots Family Law , which returns for a second season Monday, May 22 on Global. The CW just announced that they've acquired the cheeky law drama for their summer season. When she's not stirring things up as fa...

Send us Fan Mail Come on down for a fun conversation with John Ealer, executive producer, and Sarah Gibson, director and showrunner, of The Game Show Show . Their four-part docuseries from Toronto's Cream Productions premieres Wednesday, May 10 on ABC and continues Wednesday nights throughout May. Episodes look at the evolution of TV game shows from their radio roots to the big money series s...

Send us Fan Mail  Eric McCormack is such a terrific podcast guest we're running this episode twice. The occasion is the premiere, April 6, of Slasher: Ripper. This fifth season of the horror anthology series airs on the streaming service Shudder in the States and in Canada on  one of our sponsors here at brioux.tv, Hollywood Suite. Set in 1910, McCormack plays, in his words, "a ruthless...

Send us Fan Mail I always look forward to catching up with Mitch Azaria. He's the executive producer behind the unique "Tripping" series of real time, immersive documentaries featured each spring on TVO. In the past few years, and especially throughout the pandemic, these docs have allowed viewers to travel virtually throughout Ontario when real travel was not an option, or at best...

Send us Fan Mail For the second week in a row, my guest on brioux.tv: the podcast is a judge on Canada's Got Talent . Listen up to Kardinal Offishall, the Toronto-born rapper and music producer who is now encouraging a new generation of talented Canadians on CGT. That series, which shoots at the Fallsview Casino OLG Stage in Niagara Falls, Ont., rolls into a second season Tuesday, March 21 on...

Send us Fan Mail If you liked Season One of Canada's Got Talent , "You are going to be bowled over this year," says Howie Mandel, "because I don't think there's even a comparison." The talent search series returns  Tuesday, March 21 on Citytv. Mandel is joined once again on the judging panel by Lilly Singh, Trish Stratus and Kardinal Offishall. The talent on disp...

Send us Fan Mail It is not often that a series that is popular on Radio-Canada crosses over into an English language version. But that is the case with Plan B , a compelling new drama airing Monday nights on CBC. It can also be seen on demand on CBC Gem. One of the stars is a Canadian Screen Award-winning actress who is as at home in English as she is in her native French. Her career has also take...

Send us Fan Mail  Born in Ottawa, trained at the National Film Board of Canada and winner of dozens of international awards, Peter Raymont has enjoyed a distinguished career as one of Canada's top documentary filmmakers. His White Pine Pictures has been behind such acclaimed titles as Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire, Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould. and...

Send us Fan Mail The pandemic forced some longer-than-usual delays between seasons of many of our favourite TV shows. Mark Little, for example, had to wait over four years to launch the second season of his animated adult comedy Gary and His Demons . The series, about an aging and very cranky demon slayer who wants to quit his job if his boss can ever find a replacement, was launched in 2018 on VR...

Send us Fan Mail This is the episode you've been waiting for, comedy fans. Dave Thomas tells how he almost became an ad man,  a real life Don Draper,  On the very day, however, that  the young Canadian dazzled the ad men in New York, winning the Coca-Cola account,  he got a call from his old McMaster University chum Eugene Levy that changed his life. There was an opening on the Second City st...

Send us Fan Mail  Come on Back to the Future as we celebrate Episode 100 here at brioux.tv: the podcast. This installment boasts two wonderful guests, both starring in the new mystery hour The Spencer Sisters . The series launches Friday, February 10 on CTV. Lea Thompson, forever known as Marty McFly's mom in "Back to the Future," stars as Victoria Spencer, famed mystery novelist. S...

Send us Fan Mail Hugh Dillon was sick with worry after hearing of Mayor of Kingstown co-star Jeremy Renner’s recent snow plow accident. The crushing mishap put the Avengers star in the hospital with critical injuries. Dillon’s fears were put to rest after speaking with Renner. “I knew he was going to be okay because he was just so profane and so funny,” says Dillon. “That’s the testament to the ki...

Send us Fan Mail We found him! The man who came up with Bob Loblaw's law blog on Arrested Development . Had to be a Canadian, right? Chuck Tatham, from Listowel in southwestern Ontario, has had a stellar career in Canada and the U.S., writing and producing such shows as Less Than Kind, Arrested Development, How I Met Your Mother and Modern Family . Lately he's been executive producing Ch...

Send us Fan Mail The Toronto Maple Leafs have not won the Stanley Cup since 1967. The reason? Two words: Harold Ballard. The curmudgeonly owner ruined the team in the '70s and '80s with a tight-fisted reign of error that played out almost daily in that era's sports pages. The man who caused Leaf's captain Darryl Sittler to rip the "C" off his jersey and who lived in h...

Send us Fan Mail  The CW is at a crossroads. Launched in 2006 by both CBS and Warner Bros, Nexstar Media Group is now the majority owner of America's fifth broadcast network. A lot of The CW's legacy shows -- Supernatural, Batwoman, Charmed, Legends of Tomorrow -- have been canceled. Longtime network head Mark Pedowitz has retired. The search was on for a new visionary leader. Enter Brad...