Janette's TV Podcast

The Fabelmans is a 2022 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Steven Spielberg , who co-wrote and co-produced it with Tony Kushner . The film is a semi-autobiographical story loosely based on Spielberg's adolescence and first years as a filmmaker, told through an original story of the fictional Sammy Fabelman, a young aspiring filmmaker who explores how the power of films can help him...

BGU is Israel’s youngest university in the developing Negev Desert. It is quickly transforming into a dynamic university and becoming Israel’s fastest-growing university. In this episode, Janette talks with Jack Altman, President, BGU CANADA, David Dulberg and Naomi Oelbaum, Event Co-Chairs of  Ben-Gurion University Toronto’s The Future is Now Gala Featuring Actor Michael J. Fox about how the even...

This November, I interviewed the late Mark Mendelson, CEO of BGU Canada at Ben-Gurion University Toronto’s The Future Is Now Gala Featuring Actor Michael J. Fox. Although it was our first-time meeting, Mark’s fundraising in Canada for Israel-based institutions and other successes as a leader in the Jewish Community was evident. Sadly, he suddenly passed away in Montreal at the age of 73, just days...

Canadian Journalist, Elliotte Friedman began his broadcast career for Toronto sports radio station The Fan 590 in 1994. He did play-by-play for Toronto Raptors games on both radio and television, and did freelance work for the London Free Press and the Toronto Star . Friedman was awarded the Telemedia Reporter of the Year award in 1996.    Friedman then worked for The Score network before joining...

Enrico Colantoni is a Canadian actor & director, best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom Just Shoot Me!, Keith Mars on the television series Veronica Mars, Louis Lutz on the short-lived sitcom Hope & Gloria, crime lord Carl Elias on Person of Interest, and Sergeant Greg Parker on the television series Flashpoint. More recently, he starred as Allen Conner in Remedy. He played...

Last month, justice was finally served for Amanda Todd , the Canadian teen who took her life in one of the most high-profile Sextortion cases on record. It was unsealed for the first time in 1091 Pictures global release, timed to Mental Health Awareness Month in the global TVOD/digital release of Auroris Media’s inspirational, fast moving, and timely feature documentary Sextortion: The Hidden Pand...

Canadian singer, songwriter, composer, and pianist, Chantal Kreviazuk was born in Winnipeg. She played music from a young age before signing with Columbia Records in the 1990s. Her debut studio album, Under These Rocks and Stones, was first released in Canada in 1996 and saw commercial success before being issued in the United States the following year to critical praise. Kreviazuk released two mo...

Playwright, Producer, Director and Actor Tyler Perry’s latest epic, A Jazzman’s Blues , is now streaming on Netflix. It was the first screenplay he ever wrote over 25 years ago. Set in Georgia, it stars actors Ryan Eggold (“Dr. Max Goodwin” on the NBC series, New Amsterdam), Joshua Boone, Solea Pfeiffer, Amirah Vann, and Austin Scott in a story of forbidden love and family secrets that stretches f...

I met Film Director & CEO Serge Vebovets of VELBIX FILMS and his lovely wife Nathalie Velbovets, both of whom immigrated to Canada 11 years ago from Ukraine, while interviewing & filming at The Vaughan International Film Festival. A riveting conversation ensued where I mentioned that my grandparents who hailed from Poland, Romania, Kiev and nearby towns, fled Ukraine between 1917 and 1921...

In this Janette’s TV & Janette’s TV Podcast Season 12 kick off episode, Janette sits down with Heather Carrick, Operations Manager, The World of Barbie, Mississauga, Ontario to talk about how Barbie’s impacted women and girls since the 60’s, Barbie’s creator, Ruth Handler intention that through the Barbie doll, girls could dream big and be anything that they wanted to be. How Barbie exemplifie...

If you’re a fan of Schitt’s Creek, The Handmaids Tale, The Saw III, The Saw IV, Rember, PawPortal, Killjoys, The Tuxedo, Degrassi: The Next Generation and Working Moms, you’ll instantly recognize the very bold, beautiful, and talented Canadian Actress Kim Roberts, winner of The Vaughan International Film Festival 2022 Independent Leadership Award. She’s one of the hardest and longest working Canad...

If you’re a child of the 90’s, you must remember the iconic sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S starring David Schwimmer (Ross Geller), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), Jennifer Anniston (Rachel Greene), Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing), Matt Leblanc (Joey Tribbiani), and Lisa Kudrow (Pheobe Buffay) that ran for Thursday nights for 10 seasons, on NBC. Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, the series followed six...

In this Janette’s TV and Janette’s TV Podcast episode, Janette sits down with Maggie Murphy who was General Manager of the Lewes FC Women’s Team from 2019-2021, then elected to CEO of Lewes FC in 2021. Lewes Football Club was founded back in 1885 and is located in Lewes, East Sussex, England where Maggie joins us from. In 2017, they launched the ground-breaking Equality FC campaign that saw Lewes...

As accredited media on the CSA virtual red carpet, in this Janette’s TV and Janette’s TV Podcast episode, Janette sits down with winners of the Changemaker Award - Kathleen Newman-Bremang : Deputy Director, Global at Refinery29 Unbothered, a vertical made for and by Black women, Writer, Editor & Producer whose writings have appeared in Refinery29, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Lainey Gossip, Corduroy Ma...

What makes you proud to be Canadian or American? How do you feel a part of society? As we celebrate Canada and Independence Day, we recognize our unique culture and diversity through the Canadian television sitcom, Sort of , released in Canada on CBC Television & CBC Gem in 2021, and HBO Max in the US. Created by Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo , the series stars Baig as Sabi Mehboob, a non-binary...

Kim's Convenience is a Canadian television sitcom that aired on CBC Television from October 2016 to April 2021 as well as Netflix. What began as a fringe piece that no-one  wanted to produce quickly became a must-see with a devoted following! The series depicts the Korean Canadian Kim family that runs a convenience store in the Moss Park   neighbourhood of Toronto : parents "Appa" (...

Transplant is a Canadian medical drama television series created by Joseph Kay, which premiered on February 26, 2020, on CTV . The series centers on Bashir "Bash" Hamed, a doctor from Syria who comes to Canada as a refugee during the Syrian Civil War , and is rebuilding his career as a medical resident in the emergency department at the fictional York Memorial Hospital in Toronto . In Ju...

Written and directed by Danis Goulet, who is Cree Métis from northern Saskatchewan, Night Raiders is a film about harm, abuse, violence, and/or intergenerational trauma due to colonial practices. It is one of the most important Canadian films made in recent times. A searing thriller set in the near future; it digs deep into Canada's painful past to craft a compelling, propulsive piece of genr...

Sunday, April 10th, Canadian actors, producers, directors, and writers in TV & Film as well as Broadcasters were nominated and awarded for their outstanding work at The Canadian Screen Actors Awards - Canada’s equivalent to The Oscars and The Emmys. Hosted by actor Simu Liu (Shang-Chi in the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), the event aired virtual...

May 1st, Montreal YA Book Fest, an event likened to Comicon for book lovers that pairs middle graders & teens with their favorite authors in a fun environment, is happening on Zoom, from 10 am – 5 pm, EST. In this Janette’s TV & Janette’s TV Podcast episode, Barbara Whiston, Director of the Norman Berman Children’s Library, division of the Jewish public library in Montreal, Quebec, Canada...

Since 1960, actor Lance Henriksen has starred in over 300 works, including film, television, and video games. He is best known for his portrayals in the horror and sci fi genres. His iconic roles include Bishop in the Alien franchise, Ed Harley in Pumpkinhead (cult film), and Frank Black in Millennium (horror & crime TV show). Now in his 80s, with well over a dozen roles across live action and...

Canadian politician Melissa Lantsman is shaking up the Conservative party. She is the first LGBT and Jewish woman ever to be elected as a Conservative MP - replacing Peter Kent upon his retirement and defeating the incumbent Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliamen t, Gila Martow, in the 2021 Canadian Federal Election. In the House of Commons, Melissa serves Thornhill, the community...

  Riveting performances and a natural charisma have secured Kris Orticello as one of the most outstanding Canadian actors to catapult into the US market. She has been featured in US Weekly Magazine, FOX News, ABC News, NBC News, along with many other publications for her performances. The Italian-Canadian born Torontonian began acting and modeling at the age of 7, although her ultimate passion was...

Born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Maitreyi identifies as 'Tamil-Canadian' rather than 'Sri Lankan’. She began acting in school plays in Grade 10 and graduated from Meadowvale Secondary School. She made the decision to pursue an acting career in her last year at Meadowvale and landed the lead role of “Devi Vishwakumar” in the Netflix teen comedy series Never Have I Eve...

At 17, French Canadian & Japanese actress Miku Martineau made her acting debut along Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Woody Harrelson in the top-rated Netflix movie “KATE” playing the character Ani. Janette caught up with the young starlet in Toronto at Liquid Media’s Tiff event to talk about the movie in which skilled assassin (Winstead) who uncharacteristically blows an assignment targeting a mem...