When Jess Salgueiro auditioned in person for the role of Eve on Frasier, she had to do it in front of a pair of sitcom legends: Kelsey Grammer and director Jim Burrows.Pressure? Yes and no says the actress, who was born in Winnipeg, Man. She figured there must be hundreds of others lining up to try and win a role on this reboot of a TV classic. With nothing to lose by trying, she told herself, just have fun and see if you can make them laugh.She did, and got the part.Now after two seaso...

Stop me if you've seen this kind of Hallmark series before: an enterprising and attractive single woman (Sarah Drew from Grey's Anatomy) owns a Christmas store on the main street of a picturesque small town. She crosses paths with a handsome, newly single-police officer (Peter Mooney from Burden of Truth). Before you can say, "witness tampering," holiday sparks ensue.Mistletoe Murders, already launched in the US on Hallmark Channel and premiering Nov. 18 om W Network and STACKTV, does s...

If only The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was still around to help us through another turbulent US Presidential election. Pat Paulsen -- where are you when we need you?A key writer/producer back on that 1967-69 comedy variety show was a Canadian -- Allan Byle. Before the Smothers, he worked for Fred Rogers as well as CBC songbird Juliette. Tommy Smothers, who has a knack for spotting talent, insisted that Blye, then in his twenties, be part of the Comedy Hour writing staff. Th...

In Part 2 of my conversation with Ken Levine, more evidence that the Emmy-winner is one of TV's top storytellers.One of my favourite episodes from his excellent podcast, Hollywood & Levine, is the one where he told listeners exactly what he thought of the recent reboot of Frasier. Some might see this as sour grapes from one of the authors of the original series, but I for one was keenly interested in Levine's unvarnished take. He didn't hold back, and repeats what Fresh Hell he sees...

What hasn't Ken Levine done? He's an Emmy-winning screenwriter who has -- with writing partner David Issacs -- written for some of television's best comedies. You may have heard of M*A*S*H, Cheers and Frasier. In his spare time (!) he has also been a disc jockey, a major league baseball play-by-play announcer, a cartoonist, a playwright, a director, a travel writer, an executive producer, a blogger and a podcaster.His weekly podcast, Hollywood & Levine, helped make trips to the cottage fl...

This past spring, the CBS action-drama Tracker became an instant hit, emerging as the No. 1 US network series of the season. On this episode, I speak with the tracker himself, Justin Hartley, who was in Toronto last June promoting the series at the CTV upfront. After a career in soaps (Passions; The Young and the Restless) as well as in primetime (Smallville; Emily Owens, MD), Hartley hit the TV jackpot as Kevin Pearson in This Is Us (2016-22). That led to the 47-year-old actor landing the le...

When you’ve been busy creating, writing and starring in TV shows and films for a couple of decades, who has time for a hobby?That’s been the case for Mark McKinney. This son of a diplomat moved around a lot as a lad and says comedy has always been his hobby. Together with Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCullough and Scott Thompson, he’s been performing on stage, film and television as one of the Kids in the Hall since the late 1980s. McKinney also spent a couple of seasons as a writer-per...

The first scene of the new Fox and Global series Murder in a Small Town is set at that most sacred of Canadian television landmarks: the diner from The Beachcombers, Mollys Reach. Seated inside, shooting a first date scene, are two actors representing several generations of Canadian acting royalty: Kristin Kreuk, the Vancouver lass who went from Edgemont to Smallville to Beauty and the Beast to Burden of Truth to starring in this fifth network series, Opposite her is Rossif Sutherland. T...

Ever wonder what it was like to be in Studio 8H opening night in 1975 on Saturday Night Live?Director Jason Reitman wondered and his new movie, "Saturday Night," is a recreation of the hours leading up to airtime on that historic night. Somebody who was there, however, is my guest this week on brioux.tv the podcast: Lorraine Santoli.No, she was never one of the "Not Ready from Prime Time Players." Lorraine, who worked at NBC, was on the floor, pulling cables for the camera operators dur...

TV schedules and programs are like the places where we live. Sometimes they need somebody to come in a do a thorough de-cluttering.As CBC's Dragon's Den heads into a 19th season, who better to join the series as the latest investing entrepreneur than Brian Scudamore? He's the founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK. You know their slogan: "We make junk disapear. All you have to do is point!"As a pack rat who moved in the past year I know all about clinging to too much stuff. Scudamore tells me on t...

After a two year wait, our long national farmhouse facelift crisis is over! Designer/contractor siblings Carolyn Wilbrink and Billy Pearson are back with a new, third season of HGTV's Farmhouse Facelift. The stylin' siblings--featured twice before on brioux.tv: the podcast--once again barnstorm through Southern Ontario, taking grim-looking concrete block bunkers and turning them, in Episode One for example, into custom country cottages. The eight new episodes also include a makeover of a...

About two hours northeast of Toronto stands The Highlands Cinemas, a hand made movie palace carved out of cedars and mosquitoes. Every summer for 40 years, families from neighbouring towns and villages in Ontario’s cottage country have braved bear cubs in the parking lot to see everything from “Barbie” to the latest “Despicable Me” flick.It is entirely the vision of one of Kinmount, Ont.’s native sons, Keith Stata. “The Movie Man,” a documentary about this remarkable entrepreneur’s Don Quixot...

Hugh Wilson talked his way into a job at MTM Enterprises at just the right time. When he arrived in the early '70s, they were busy making sitcom history with The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show. Wilson, who had no prior TV experience, could often be found up in the rafters, taking a crash course in Funny 101.The result was his first series as a creator and executive producer, WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-82).In this "From the Vault" conversation from 2014, Wilson -- who passed away...

The death of comedy legend Bob Newhart July 18 had me scrambling for this "From the Vault" conversation with Bill Daily. Daily was one of Newhart's oldest friends from their Chicago days in the late '50s when Daily was directing and performing in television and Newhart was exploding onto the scene with, at the time, the biggest-selling comedy LP ever, "The Button-down Mind of Bob Newhart."The two reunited on The Bob Newhart Show (1972-78), a perfectly cast, well-written gem from the glory day...

Welcome to a faster, higher, stronger podcast episode This week’s guest, Scott Russell, has medalled for years in Olympic Games coverage. He’s off to France for the Olympic Games Paris 2024, which runs July 26 through August 11. Russell will host the afternoon show, Bell Paris Prime, and he will remain host for CBC’s coverage of the Paralympic Games, which follows August 28 to September 8.And then he will leave the podium. The Canadian Screen Award and Gemini Award-winning broadcaster has alr...

In a spectacular career that's gone everywhere from The Streets of San Francisco to "Wall Street" and beyond, two-time Oscar winner Michael Douglas currently stars in the epic, eight-part limited series "Franklin," now streaming on AppleTV+.If you don't think Douglas looks like Benjamn Franklin, neither did the actor. He does an extraordinary job, however, disappearing under the skin of America's favourite founding father at his diplomatic best. These were the years where Franklin was tasked ...

Man it was fun heading down to Niagara last October and catching up with Ron James. He was shooting season two of his comedy series 1 Man's Treasure, which is up now and streaming on Bell Fibe.If this episode sounds different it is because it was shot outside in a park, and simply recorded on a Pixel phone. There is some reflection here about getting older, or, as James says, being in the "third quarter in the game and you're still trying to find the purpose in life."Ron needn't look any furt...

The licensing of American specialty brands in Canada went all WWE in June as Rogers swooped in and wrestled away rights to The Food Network and HGTV brands, among others, from Corus. The new deals with Warners Bros. Discovery takes effect in January. There are indications Bell Media can't count on re-upping some of their Discovery brand imports either.What has sparked all the brand swapping? What are the ramifications for Corus and others? Daniel Eves, who for years was at the table neg...

As "Toad" in "American Graffiti," Charles Martin Smith took playing the school nerd to new heights. Over 50 years later, the California-born actor-director co-stars opposite Toronto actress Anwen O'Driscoll in "This Time," director Robert Vaughn's very modern road picture now streaming on Super Channel.In between, Smith has acted with a Who's Who of Hollywood, including Burt Reynold ("Fuzz"), David Niven and Don Knotts (Disney's "No Deposit, No Return"), Sean Connery and Kevin Costner ("The U...

Hugh Dillon is a man of many talents, including acting, writing and rocking -- the latter done with his band, Headstones.The acting writing and producing skills were put to the test this third season on the Paramount+ drama Mayor of Kingstown. Dillon and his series co-creator Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone; Tulsa King) made it their mission to put their lead, Jeremy Renner, firmly back on his feet again after the actor suffered a horrible accident in January of 2023. Renner's Mayor ...

Here is another conversation I had in May at the CBC Media Upfront on Toronto. Allan Hawco and Josephine Jobert -- stars of the upcoming CBC series Saint-Pierre -- talk about shooting the series, which will premiere in 2025. Currently in production on the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, the police procedural finds an out of favour St. John's detective (Hawco) teamed with a seasoned investigator from France. Can opposites arrest? Hawco, who co-created the series, says do...

One of the new shows on CBC's 2024-25 schedule is called Small Achievable Goals. It is a scripted comedy about female podcasters going through menopause. Those three words, however, coulld also describe, in a fiercely competitive and crowded media landscape, the only way forward for CBC. On this episode of brioux.tv: the podcast, I speak with Executive Vice President Barbara Williams and General Manager Entertainment, Factual & Sports Sally Catto. We talk about new shows hitting the...

Attention Hearties! And especially Hickies! Yes, this week's episode of brioux.tv: the podcast features Ben Rosenbaum. For over a decade, he's played Mike Hickam on When Calls the Heart, the longest-running series on both Hallmark and Super Channel.With Season 11 winding down, WCTH has already been renewed for a 12th season. Born and raised in the States, Rosenbaum has enjoyed his decade-long run working on the show in British Columbia so much he applied for landed immigrant status. He ...

Evanka Osmak helps us keep score most nights along with Ken Reid at the Sportsnet Central desk. She's taking her own shot now in the publishing world with her first novel, a cool book for kids ages 6-11 titled "Ali Hoops."The PlumLeaf Press release is all about a young girl named Ali who loves shooting hoops with her schoolmate Leila. Can they both make the school basketball team? What if one of them does and the other does not?Born in New Jersey and raised in Oakville, Ont., Osmak has an ins...