alison's TV or Not TV

When You’re Strange: A film about The Doors

2010-05-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

Keyboard player Ray Manzarek is now 70; drummer John Densmore is 65 and guitarist Robby Krieger, at 64, is the baby of the band. They are - to put it plainly - senior citizens, but as young men they made up three-fourths of The Doors, once one of the world’s most-popular and innovative bands.

Their story comes to TV tomorrow (Wed. May. 12) on PBS’s American Masters, in When You’re Strange, a 81-minute feature documentary from director Tom DiCillo, narrated by actor Johnny Depp and produced by TV leviathan Dick Wolf (Law & Order). The film features a plethora of rare and previously unseen film footage, shot by Paul Ferrara, once the band’s unofficial ‘official’ photographer.

When You’re Strange is worth watching, but for fans looking for a definitive work on the band and insight into what led to legendary lead singer Jim Morrison’s death in 1971 at the age of 27, there really isn’t much in the film’s script that’s new.

Tons of glorious music? Check. Intriguing archival footage? Check, reams of it, including the movie Highway, made by Morrison in the late 1960s. (Photo, from Highway) But finally a revealing look into the band’s internal dynamics? Not so much. New interviews? None. And while the film’s hit-filled soundtrack benefits from having the participation of the three surviving band members, the film’s weakness likely springs from the same.

All three surviving band members signed off on the film, though it’s rare to see the three together. When Densmore and Wolf met with reporters in Los Angeles earlier this year to promote the film, Manzarek and Krieger were notably absent. They still perform together, but Densmore rarely joins them. In fact, he sued the pairing in 2003 for touring without him as The Doors.

“There’s four Doors: me, and Jim and Ray and Robby. Not Robby, Ian, Fred, Tom and Bill. But that’s all straightened out now,” he told reporters. “[Jim’s] dead and I want to try to honour my ancestor.”

Remarking on the band’s lasting appeal, he added, “I thought if we lasted 10 years. That would be great. You know, I’ll walk down the street, and I’ll see a kid with The Doors on his T-shirt and [think] ‘This is odd.’ “

The film includes highlights from the band’s early TV appearances, including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Smothers Brothers Show, and tracks their ups, downs, and eventual coming apart, largely due to Morrison’s drug and alcohol abuse. “This is the real deal, isn’t it?” says Densmore. “And there’s some humour in here and lightness. You see a young Jim, and that pleases me, because he was a blast in the beginning, before his self-destruction kicked in. He became an alcoholic really. So it’s more well-rounded that way, and that pleases me.”

Morrison comes across as being waif-like, mischievous, both confident and shy, and charming. One of the film’s more interesting moments comes when the camera captures Manzarek saying to Morrison, who’s ill and struggling with drug addiction, “We need you to stay in the game.” Morrison replies, “But what if I don’t like the game?”

It’s not clear if Manzarek is expressing concern for his bandmate or for his own future. And while Depp observes in voice-over, “the band members didn’t know how to help him,” the script doesn’t indicate how much was done to help Morrison or what it was like for the band to make music with him.

It’s revealed that during one particularly trying recording session, Densmore walked out, quit, but later returned to the band. His relationship with Morrison seemed strongest, while Manzarek and Krieger appeared to be close.

As Densmore talked about his past with reporters, it was clear his grief over Morrison’s death is still present. “Creativity sometimes comes in the same package with self destruction,” he noted. “It doesn’t have to. Picasso lived to 90. In Jim’s case, 27 was it.

"I look to him now, as the years go by, the more I feel that..it’s just his destiny to have this quick shooting star and make a big impact. And it’s all tangled up in his self-destruction. Well, my example of here he’s really down, and then he goes and writes these words about how lonely he felt. You know that’s channelling the angst in the muse into magic. So it’s all tangled.”

During their years together (1965-71), The Doors released six studio albums, and to date, continue to sell a million releases per year.

In Memoriam: The Spellbinding Babz Chula

2010-05-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

A mix of sadness, love and gratitude fills Vancouver’s arts community this morning for the life of actor, singer and extraordinary woman Babz Chula, who died yesterday after a long battle with cancer (she kicked its ass for almost 10 years).

Babz will be remembered, loved and missed by many. Her legacy includes gracing all who had the privilege of meeting her with her open-hearted warmth, wit, and fierce intelligence and her incredible body of work in film and television and on stage (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0161075/). She starred in the CBC series These Arms of Mine...

A memorial is being planned for late May.

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Babz+Chula+loses+long+battle+with+cancer/3002110/story.htm

Kathy Reichs's Latest Mystery "Spider Bones" Due this August

2010-05-06T16:03:00.000-07:00

So many real-life mysteries to solve, so little time, but finally author and forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs has penned an episode of Bones, the series inspired by her novels and work. The Witch in the Wardrobe airs tonight (Fox at 8 pm), and voila, the obligatory preview clip is below.

I regularly watch Bones, the series from Canadian Hart Hanson, based on Reichs’s novels, the Temperance Brennan mystery series. I’d read the books before the series premiered (five years ago) and liked it from the start. Unlike a lot of fans of the books, I appreciated that actress Emily Deschanel’s Brennan is (thanks to the demands of TV?) a much younger version of a 40-ish literary alter ego.

Many die-hard Reichs readers weren’t that appreciative in the early days. I recall going to see and listen to Reichs here in Vancouver, at a Q&A to promote the book Ashes to Bones, when it was released. Many in the crowd made it clear to Reichs that in their opinion TV’s ‘Tempe’ was 'too young.' Reichs offered the same answer then as she did recently when talking to reporters about her first TV-writing effort.

"I do think there was some reaction, maybe negative reaction, initially. But I don't think that's true anymore. People understand that we had a younger Tempe...on TV and a 40-something...in the books. But they understand that's an older part of the character," says Reichs, who in addition to writing serves as a forensic anthropologist in North Carolina and here in Canada, in Montreal, Quebec. She appears to have an affinity for many things Canadian, and has set several of her stories in this country.

Her next book, however, will very clearly be set in the United States and will tell a very-American story. Spider Bones, set for an August release, will be set in Hawaii and will again be pulled from the pages of Reichs's personal career archives: her forensic work on the reclaiming of American war dead.

"It draws on my experience," said Reichs. "I consulted for years [to] our central lab in Honolulu for the identification of [American] war dead. It's called JPAC, the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Commission. All of our war dead from Southeast Asia, Korea, World War II are identified here. So, it's going to draw on those experiences and Tempe will be going to Honolulu to straighten out a mix-up [of] an ID back in 1968."

Reichs has tackled many challenging subjects and projects. She was part of the recovery team in New York City following the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. "Probably the most difficult working situation was Ground Zero. That was both physically and psychologically very demanding. But each case bring something different to the table, literally."

"I've got, for example, a little child's skeleton in my lab up in Montreal that I've had since 1989 that's never been ID'd although I think we may finally get this little guy identified."

The work can take a toll on anyone and although TV's Brennan displays hilariously little "EQ," emotional intelligence, the same can't be said of Reichs. "We have a similar sense of humour," she says. "But as far as her social awkwardness goes and her inability to form close relationship, I think we're different in those ways."

She certainly has built solid relationships with many fans, both on the page and on screen.

Here's the forensic evidence: photo above: The excessively gracious Reichs (C) takes the time to pose with fangirls, yours truly (L) and screenwriter Kat Montagu (R).

Boobquake: More Trivial Titillation than Protest...

2010-04-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

Looks like some women made boobs of themselves for naught.

Did you notice more T&A than usual today? If you did, you can thank the organizers of ‘boobquake,’ a call-to-action organized by women on Facebook to mock an Iranian cleric who blamed earthquakes on women who wear “immodest dress.” The leader of the ‘boobquake’ pack is a 22-year-old American who urged women to dress scantily and “embrace the supernatural power of their breasts.”

Talk about dumb luck. A 6.9 magnitude tremblor struck today off the coast of Taiwan, just as women were set to show off their boobs. The quake’s underwater rumbling was strong enough to be felt in Taipei. Initial reports indicate it didn’t cause any damage, except possibly to the boobquakers’ cause. Anyone think cleric Kazem Sedighi will distort the news as proof of his asinine claims? So be it. (Seismic activity happens daily, in any case.)

‘Boobquake’ was a misguided, intelligence-offending idea from the start; one unlikely to have any real impact except to demonstrate that women in wealthy, Western societies can be as immature as men about female sexuality. This 'protest' makes as much sense as a similar movement in 1929 when a group of women demonstrated their 'equal rights' by smoking in public and calling their cigarettes 'torches of freedom.'

And, unfortunately, 'boobquake' also revealed that women here can be a bit oblivious and irresponsible about our role in protecting and advancing the human rights of truly disadvantaged women around the globe. It spawned a 'counter-revolutionary movement,' formed by two Iranian women, called Brainquake. The fact they they did so, speaks volumes.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=100832899962032

The more news coverage I read about ‘boobquake,’ the more it bugged me. And when I spotted a feature article online today with a photo of a woman sporting black lingerie and announcing her plans to wear the ensemble to work, I thought, ‘These women have totally lost the plot.’

The implicit message screams: ‘Check me out!’ and not much more. Okay, well maybe it also screams ‘impulsive, self-indulgent and exhibitionist,’ but still, not much else.

The whole ‘boobquake’ caper trivializes – even negates - the daily realities of life for so many truly oppressed women around the world. And imagine how galling this must seem to the young Iranian female soccer (football) players who were excluded from the Youth Olympics this month by FIFA because their uniforms include the traditional Muslim hijab (headscarf)? Or how irrational is must appear to the Muslim woman in Quebec forced out of school for wearing a niqab (veil)?

We haven't quite figured out how to accommodate faith-based dress in our society. That said, we are largely free in our culture to wear what we want. So are men. And when either dresses to shock - or just plain dresses like a fool – riducule is the worst punishment we face. Compare that to countries , like Sudan, where women can be beaten or jailed for wearing “offensive” clothing.

Yesterday, the same day that ‘boobquake’ rocked Facebook, the media paid more attention to it than to yet another suspected attack against school girls in Afghanistan. Almost 80 girls have fallen sick at school and it’s feared they inhaled noxious fumes which were released to scare them away from school. Afghanistan is not the only nation where that happens.

Elsewhere around the world: rape is endemic in war zones. Many women still die in childbirth in developing nations. Poverty is significantly worse in nations where gender disparity is greatest. According to the UN more than a billion people live in extreme poverty, most of them women and children. Girls in South Asia are being denied access to education.

And in Western nations like Canada and the United States, women live with arguably the greatest freedom our gender has ever known. Can’t we do better for our global sisters than to offer up titillation masked – or unmasked – as protest?

Of course we can. And women with privilege and advantage must step up if the lives of children and women around the world are going to be improved.

The intertubes are filled with many websites that advocate on women’s behalf, like:

http://www.un.org/womenwatch;

Stephen Lewis’s foundation, at http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/ dedicated to helping women with AIDS in Africa;

and there’s always www.unicef.org advocating on behalf of children.

“Every time we liberate a woman, we liberate a man.” ~Margaret Mead

Ready Gleeks!

2010-04-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Glee finally returns, tonight on Fox after American Idol...

A Bridge Too Far

2010-03-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

Been wondering for some time now what, if anything, to write about the new Canadian crime drama The Bridge, inspired by the life of former Toronto-cop-turned-union boss Craig Bromell. Not sure who I mean? Bromell was (in 1999) the subject of the CBC fifth estate report entitled Bully, produced by Victor Malarek.

Hey, here's a story idea for the first season...The Bridge could include an episode where a homeless man alleges that he was beaten by cops, including the union boss...Nah, who'd believe that?

It's bugged me from the outset that this project takes a lot of "creative license" with its fact-based storyline. I will say no more, but simply refer you to this piquant and excellent posting by Jim Henshaw, over at http://the-legion-of-decency.blogspot.com/

He says it all, and with authority. It's a must read if you care much about honesty and integrity in Canadian TV.

Meet the Press: Hanks and Spielberg on the making of the new mini-series The Pacific

2010-03-14T11:20:00.000-07:00

Journalists from across North America gathered in Pasadena in January to meet with the stars, actors and mega-players behind TV’s best new projects. The most impressive is HBO’s The Pacific, a new 10-part miniseries that completes the Spielberg/Hanks Second World War trilogy, which started with the major feature Saving Private Ryan and continued with Band of Brothers. The Pacific debuts tonight on HBO.

What follows are highlights from a transcript of a media conference helmed by Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg to take media questions about the project. Picture this, Hanks, Spielberg and crew assembled in a seriously posh hotel in a ballroom full of journos.

(Remember that scene in Notting Hill where Hugh Grant pretends to be a reporter from Horse and Hound magazine to meet and interview Julia Roberts? It’s kinda like that, only on steroids… or hallucinogens.) The reporters – and yes I was one of them – were frenzied enough to make Hanks comment, “It’s like the White House.” Saner, thoughtful moments also prevailed.

The Pacific is worthy of the attention. So check in for more coverage and episode updates from week to week.

QUESTION: When you do something like this, do you have to sort of shy away from the things that you did in [the past] and the style of it?

STEVEN SPIELBERG: I had a sense in Saving Private Ryan that I was establishing a template based on the experiences communicated to me by the veterans who fought that morning on Dog Green, Omaha Beach, and their experiences and the way ‑‑ and informed by the very few surviving photographs of the great war correspondent, Robert Capa.

And I combined those photographs to try to find a 24‑frame‑per‑second equivalent about how I can show that kind of terror and that kind of chaos without making a movie that looked elegant and beautiful and in full living color, very much like war movies had been made in the past. It wasn't that I was trying to break the mold of the old war movie approach, visually, but I was simply trying to, I guess, validate all of this testimony ‑‑ if you can call it that ‑‑ that had been communicated to us based on the young men that lived and survived that battle. I didn't know it was going to establish a look for war movies. But it was certainly what I thought was right for that particular story.

QUESTION: And given how pervasive, though, that look has become in subsequent movies, when you do a project of this scale, do you try to get away and try to give it a different look?

STEVEN SPIELBERG: Well, we did give The Pacific a different look because there is a very strong de-saturated quality about Band of Brothers. And in The Pacific, because it was blue skies ‑‑ they weren't fighting in overcast weather. Sometimes monsoons would come in and it was terribly rainy and muddy and you couldn't see the hand in front of your face, but it was a blue‑sky war. It was a hot, dry, humid blue‑sky war. So there are more vivid colors, I think, in The Pacific than we ever had in Band of Brothers because that was the way it was, when you read the books and talk to the survivors of those campaigns.

QUESTION: …Are you telling us that there are little men in HBO that can tell Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg what to do?

STEVEN SPIELBERG: I can simply say that Tom Hanks and I are marvelous collaborators. And they were also giving us a lot of money. Not us, but the production.

TOM HANKS: I'm going to assume that all you crack members of the fourth estate can appreciate sarcasm when it comes your away…We had a great relationship. And, yeah, we fought probably over every single one of these moments throughout the course, including the closing titles that describe where everybody went. And, you know, we knew that once the ‑‑ what is it? ‑‑ the HBO programming blip was gone at the beginning of this, it was our story to tell with our own pacing, and we wanted to include everything that would turn it into a perfectly ‑‑ the perfect book with the opening pages that get into the meat of the thing. So I don't have any true complaints. I just have sarcastic ones. So please report my sarcasm in the spirit for which it was presented.

TOM HANKS: It's been like six years in the making.

STEVEN SPIELBERG: But it's also ‑‑ if I can just add, it was inevitable that we would do The Pacific with HBO because there was such an overwhelming response, not only from the general public that got very involved in Band of Brothers, but we got so much positive mail, but at the same time, mail that said, "I was a veteran of the Solomons." "I fought on Tarawa." "I fought" ‑‑ you know, "I was at Midway." I mean, we got so many letters of veterans from the Pacific Theater of Operations asking us if we could acquit their stories the way we acquitted the stories of the European Theater of Operations.

QUESTION: Having watched the first four hours, you're struck by the enormity of the combat scenes and how riveting and visceral they are. Mr. Spielberg, does it get any easier to do them .....

STEVEN SPIELBERG: It doesn't get any easier because these are all new actors to this experience, and these are all new directors to this experience. So you really have to pose that question to them. But I could imagine that this was a very gruelling and difficult and scary experience, being where Tom and I have been twice before.

Some of the actors mentioned include Canadians and we'll tell you about them in the weeks ahead.

My Olympic Dream (Is that a Copyright Violation?)

2010-02-13T12:33:00.000-08:00

I haven’t been sleeping well lately, owing to the constant buzzing of helicopters over downtown Vancouver, but last night I had the worst sleep of my entire life. It’s probably not surprising that I woke up with a headache and a sense of dread; I was startled awake like I was in a scene from Blackhawk Down. I still feel a little foggy, no matter how much coffee I slurp.

And man alive, I had the craziest dream.

There I was in a vast icy cavern, frozen to the bone, looking for warmth as strange, massive creatures roamed around me. Instead of helping me, they thwarted my every move. My hands, arms and legs felt stiff from the extreme cold and my teeth chattered. If I couldn't find an escape, then I had to find fire.

Out of nowhere, I spotted Sonny and Cher dancing on a large round drum! It looked like they were singing, but no sound came from their mouths. “I loved you in Tea with Mussolini!” I shouted to Cher hoping she would come to my rescue, but she just swirled her hips and flipped me the bird.

Then the floor suddenly gave way, turning to water, and I was trying to stay afloat amidst a sea of dolphins, seals and whales. “Where are the oolichans?!” I screamed.

It makes sense, considering oolichans are known as ‘saviour fish’ here on the West Coast. Somebody must have been listening - but didn’t quite get the message. A teeming school of salmon surrounded me.

It was the weirdest thing; I was alone but felt like thousands of eyes were on me. Strange. I managed to escape the water and crawl up on to grass next to a magisterial Douglas Fir. The water had left me impossibly cold and possibly delusional.

Everything shifted and Ashley MacIssac appeared, playin’ Devil in the Kitchen in - wait for it – my kitchen. And there were more tattooed Cape Breton step dancers than could fit into my place and cops EVERYWHERE! What a blowout! I should have been having fun, but I was terrified and so I ran, and I ran and I ran...and as if I'd stepped through the Stargate, I was back in the icy cave, not knowing how I got there or how to get free.

I ran past a glowing spirit bear. I ran past a kid who looked like Peter Pan and Harry Potter's lovechild. I ran past Wayne Newton. I ran and I ran and I ran. I ran as fast as my cold, stiff limbs could move, becoming more frightened with every step.

I passed Anne Murray and thought I was dead. But then I spotted Betty Fox and Romeo Dallaire and knew I was OK. I had to keep searching. I thought I spotted a campfire, but it was just a flash from a massive Nikon camera on a tripod.

The situation went from bad to desperate when I ran straight into Donald Sutherland. All he said was, “Miss Daniels can I ask you some questions now?”

I thought I was a goner.

And THEN I spotted number four Bobby Orr. Only oolichans would have made me happier. Number four Bobby Orr told me how to escape the icy cave and where to find fire. I made like Alice breaking free from the rabbit hole.

Vas-y! Go! Vas-y!!! Go!!! Vite vite vite!!!

The governor general was there, pointing me towards the Burrard Inlet. I ran and I ran and I ran. I ran down Robson Street. I ran down Cambie Street. I ran down Georgia Street. I spotted a guy I know who runs the desk at the Sandman Hotel and he ran with me. And then he spotted a guy he knows from Merritt and we hopped a ride on the back of his pick-up truck.

He drove like stink, heading for the Inlet. And then suddenly there it was...a massive fiery cauldron with 20-foot flames being stoked by Wayne Gretzky. Life-saving fire! Saved! Saved!

Wayne Gretzky...the only thing better than oolichans! Saved!

Quoi?

What do you mean that wasn’t a dream?

Temple Grandin: HBO Canada’s new movie a tribute to the human spirit

2010-02-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

If you haven’t signed up yet for HBO Canada, there isn’t a better reason than to catch tonight’s screening of Temple Grandin. The extraordinary bio-pic stars a near unrecognizable Claire Danes (Stardust, My So-Called Life) as Grandin, one of the top livestock scientists and animal activists in the United States. She’s described on her own website as “the most accomplished and well-known adult with autism in the world.” Grandin, pictured above, is an author and Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University.

Grandin, now 62, overcame enormous obstacles during her childhood and starting a career in humane-methods livestock handling. Along the way she became - and remains - an extraordinary advocate for people, especially children, with autism, as well as an advocate for the respectful treatment of livestock. Grandin, who’s always seen in her signature classic cowgirl wear, is one of the most-influential designers of livestock-moving equipment. Her no-stress system for cattle management is used all over the U.S. She’s also the author of several books, including titles that inspired the movie; Thinking in Pictures, The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger's, Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships, Animals Make us Human and Animals in Translation.

Grandin was fully involved in the HBO project, directed by Mick Jackson (Live from Baghdad) and says she enjoyed it. “It [was] like going in sort of a weird time machine. Just watching the trailer, I [was] getting kind of choked up. I whispered to Claire, I said, ‘Can you believe that's really you?’ She said it was kind of weird for her, too.

“She played me really, really accurate. This is '60s and '70s. This movie ends at the end of the '70s, and the thing about autism is as you learn more and more and more, you keep getting less and less autistic-like. In order for Claire to get some inkling of how to do this part, I found an old TV show tape from the '80s and an old VHS tape from the early '90s for her to watch.”

Thanks to Grandin’s involvement, the film takes great pains to successfully mimic and offer insight into her behavioural patterns and personality; intellectually, emotionally and socially. The film paints a tremendous portrait of a young woman who succeeds, thanks to her own determination and the unfailing support of her mother and educators. Grandin provides an excellent example of what can be accomplished by special needs students when they receive adequate support.

“It's important to get autistic kids out doing different things. I want to emphasize, autism is a big spectrum ranging from somebody who is going to remain nonverbal, all the way up to famous scientists.

“You would have no technical equipment here. You would have no hotel here if you didn't have people that were interested in things, because after all, who do you think made the first stone spear? It wasn't the yackity yacks around the campfire. That's for sure,” says Grandin.

The Autism Society Canada estimates that one in 165 children has an Autism Spectrum Disorder.

http://www.autismsocietycanada.ca

http://www.hbo.com/movies/temple-grandin/

Temple Grandin, Sat. Feb. 6, at 8 pm on HBO Canada

In TV WEEK: Better Together, Chatting with Chris Gailus & Jane Carrigan of Global BC

2010-01-25T12:54:00.001-08:00

Working side by-by-side could be a challenge for some couples - but not for Global BC news anchor Chris Gailus and reporter Jane Carrigan.

I met with them recently and shared a great chat about the evolution of TV news broadcasting, life in beautiful British Columbia, the secret to maintaining a strong relationship and their participation in the in the upcoming Show of Hearts telethon (this Saturday at 8 pm, on Global), which supports the very important Variety - The Children's Charity. Read about the couple in this week's edition of TV WEEK, on newsstands everywhere. tvweekonline.ca

Canada for Haiti

2010-01-21T09:14:00.000-08:00

An A-list of Canadian artists have signed on to appear this Friday on CANADA FOR HAITI a one-hour, commercial-free special broadcast to raise funds for the devastated country.

K'Naan & The Tragically Hip are scheduled to perform live. And look for appearances by Céline Dion, Justin Bieber, Nelly Furtado, Sarah McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies, Simple Plan, David Foster, Chantal Kreviazuk, Raine Maida and Measha Brueggergosman.

Also taking part are James Cameron, Michael J. Fox, Ryan Reynolds, William Shatner, Rachelle Lefevre, Joshua Jackson, Pamela Anderson, Jason Reitman, Eugene Levy, Norman Jewison, Tom Jackson, Will Arnett, Sandra Oh, Brent Butt, Hugh Dillon, Mike Holmes, Rick Mercer and Alex Trebek and Craig Kielburger (of Free the Children).

Governor-General Michaëlle Jean, who was born in Port au Prince, Haiti, will offer a personal message to Canadians.

A remarkable collaboration between Canadian broadcasters CBC, Global and CTV, CANADA FOR HAITI airs Fri., Jan 22 at 7 pm (ET/PT), and will be hosted by personalities Cheryl Hickey, Ben Mulroney and George Stroumboulopoulos. The broadcast will also be available online and via Canadian Forces Radio.

Donations accepted during the broadcast will go towards a coalition of Canadian NGOs, including Canadian Red Cross Society, Care Canada, Free the Children, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec, Plan Canada, Save the Children Canada, UNICEF Canada and World Vision Canada.

For more information, go to www.canadaforhaiti.com

Rollin’ with Ricky at the Golden Globes

2010-01-17T13:49:00.000-08:00

Pasadena, CA – After a week of tragic news, it’s time for a little fun. And no place on Earth offers more escapist silliness and glamorous fun than Hollywood, so tonight’s broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards (NBC, 8 PM)is just what the doctor ordered.

The broadcast, easily the most-alcohol saturated, most-fun, and least-credible of the big awards shows, airs tonight, hosted by British comedian Ricky Gervais (Extras, The Office). If you watched last year’s edition, you’ll know why the irreverent, saucy joker was asked to host the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s big gala-do. He kept the star-studded crowd in stitches with his biting humour.

And judging by his hilarious meeting with TV critics last week, his fans (and who isn’t one?) can expect him to keep the jokes coming at a steady pace, even though he said he wasn’t preparing a script full of one-liners.

“I'm pretty calm because I've got very low standards. I don't really care what happens. They are not really going to invite me back. So I might as well I'm going to be drunk. Everyone else is,” he told critics. And you don’t need a crystal ball to know he’s probably right.

Expect the ballroom at the host Beverly Hilton to be full of Hollywood’s heavy hitters, including: Halle Berry, Cher, Robert De Niro, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Colin Farrell, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Tom Hanks, Sophia Loren, Helen Mirren, Julia Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kiefer Sutherland and Reese Witherspoon.

“Anyone who isn't concentrating will get it…They'd better not talk when I'm on. They can talk when everyone else is on, but they'd better not talk when I'm on. Then they will get my attention, and then they are in trouble,” joked Gervais.

“It all started for us in America here really at the Globes 2004. We thought we were making up the numbers with this little show on BBC America called The Office.

“And then when we won, we couldn't believe it. And we all went up like a motley crew. That was unbelievable…And apparently Clint Eastwood turned to someone at his table and said, ‘Who the fuck are they?’ Which is my favorite quote ever.”

In the spirit of the event and its host, here’s a brief look at some of the major Movie categories, and TV or Not TV's recommendations for Who Should Win and Who Should Be Taunted by Ricky.

Best Drama (Film: Up in the Air, Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.
Who Should Win: The Hurt Locker
Who Should Be Taunted: Inglourious Basterds’ creative team, for making a 152-minute-long mess; one that if it had run for 153 or longer, may well have caused viewers to saw off the top of their own heads.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow; The Hurt Locker ; James Cameron, Avatar ; Clint Eastwood; Invictus ; Jason Reitman Up in the Air ; Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds.
Who Should Win: Kathryn Bigelow
Who Should Be Taunted: Tarantino, for breaking his own record at creating the MOST vainglorious film EVER.

Actor, drama: George Clooney, Up in the Air ; Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart; Colin Firth, A Single Man ; Morgan Freeman, Invictus ; Tobey Maguire, Brothers.
Who Should Win: George Clooney, because he’s Clooney.
Who Should Be Taunted: Tarantino, because he’s Tarantino.

Actress, drama: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side; Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria; Helen Mirren, The Last Station; Carey Mulligan, An Education ; Gabourey Sidibe, Precious.
Who Should Win: Sandra Bullock, because she’s America’s Sweetheart
Who Should Be Taunted: Tarantino, because he’s Tarantino.

NYE on TV: Hey, you! I’m talking to you, 2010! Yes, you! Bring It On!

2009-12-30T13:07:00.000-08:00

So, it’s almost 2010 and that means the holidays are coming to a close and it’s back to the grind next week, unless you’re a federal Member of Parliament, in which case the party’s just getting started (you indolent so-and-sos).

For the rest of us, New Year’s Eve is a chance to say good riddance to 2009 and to welcome the new year. Out like a lion, in a like a lamb? If you’re planning on watching a bit of TV before the clock strikes midnight, CBC has a fun offering of holiday-themed NYE programming.

The venerable Royal Canadian Air Farce is back with an hour-long special at 8 pm. The ensemble’s usual suspects are in action, and the special’s guests include Mike Holmes, the Dragons from CBC's hit series Dragons' Den (pictured above), and skaters Jamie Sale and Craig Simpson ( first-ever winners of Battle of the Blades ). The Air Farce troupe can be counted on to offer a satirical and piquant look at ‘the year that was’ in 2009. This one’s a must for current affairs-and-news junkies.

Unfortunately, it was taped in advance of today’s announcement that the sailors (MPs) who run Canada are abandoning ship (the House of Commons) until March, robbing us all of a chance to see the Air Farcers skewer and hold our elected leaders accountable.

And for the first time, East Coast comedian Ron James brings viewers a New Years’ Eve Edition of his eponymous The Ron James Show, an hour that highlights the best of James’s comic skill.

Like the series itself, the special offers a nice mix of James doing stand-up and sketch comedy, a very difficult balance to manage. Some regulars, such as the animated Little Ronnie and the Mayor of the Politically Incorrect are on hand and in fine form. A reasonable amount of fun is had at the expense of everyone from the Virgin Mary to Boxing Day shoppers.

James’s series has gotten progressively stronger, smarter and entertaining through its debut season. It routinely earned about 700,000 viewers per episode.

The New Year’s edition “is a continuation of what we’ve been doing all season,” said James during a phone interview from Halifax, where he’s visiting family and enjoying his mother’s chowder. Apropos of that, he mentioned how proud he is that audiences seem to be embracing his animated, autobiographical “Little Ronnie” sketches.

Little Ronnie is featured in the New Year’s edition cracking-wise with a priest, no less. It’s a great example of how James’s comedy reflects Canadian culture and how it’s evolving. “It’s about a rapidly changing planet and how people (or how I) deal with it,” he says.

Unlike many comedians, James doesn’t shy away from exploring how societal changes manifest themselves and impact families. You can’t help but feel you’re sitting in James’s living room as you watch his sketches play out, especially those that touch on how family dynamics can heat to boiling during the holidays.

“You have to draw from your own well of experiences,” he says of the themes he explores. “I write from the heart, not the head,” he says.

Whoa...honesty and sincerity, what a concept! See, that’s how you ring in a new year. If we can’t find it in our politicians, at least we can find it on our airwaves.

Happy New Year!

Here's a peak at a Little Ronnie sketch that aired earlier this season.

Dragons Den: Gift of the Magi

2009-12-09T12:35:00.000-08:00

Nothing says happy holidays like a group of wanna-be entrepreneurs shamelessly promoting themselves and their products to an already established group of entrepreneurs.

You’d be crazy to miss tonight’s Dragon’s Den, which features a pile of holiday-themed pitches and more-hilarity-than usual mixed in with the business of making money. If lovin’ Dragons is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.

As always, tonight’s episode features a little something for everyone. For those already feeling festive, there’s a cool Christmas tree stand with a built in watering element. For comedy fans, there’s a pair of sock-hat entrepreneurs who invite the dragons to invest in their Pook toques, a trendy winter hat (think sock monkey for the head).

For fans of after-school specials, tonight’s epi features a family with an innovative therapeutic slipper business called Cozy Soles. And for fans of sci-fi and adventure, there’s a theme-park developer who brings the dragons a stylized-marketing approach that’s a little bit Gene Rodenberry mixed with a whole lot of L. Ron Hubbard.

There’s no nativity scene to speak of, though you won’t soon forget the impressive and adorable 11-year-old kids who bring the dragons their invention, an impressive board game called Let’s Dance. If you watch the show regularly, you won’t be surprised which one of the dragons offers the girls a ‘gift of the magi.'

Dragons’ Den has proven to be the gift that keeps giving to CBC, thanks to high ratings and its charismatic entrepreneurs: Robert Herjavec, Kevin O'Leary, W. Brett Wilson, Arlene Dickinson and Jim Treliving. More episodes are in the wings for the new year. Until then, tonight’s episode manages to be both naughty and nice, just like the dragons themselves.

And look for O'Leary and Herjavec on ABC's Shark Tank when it returns in January.

Carry the torch, Class of 1989

2009-12-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend marks the 20^th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, the murder of 14 women at Ecole Polytechnique, an affiliate of l’Université de Montréal in Montreal on December 6, 1989.

The women were killed by a 25-year old man who left behind a suicide note blaming "feminists" for “ruining his life.” The killer shot 27 people, 23 females and four males, in what remains the deadliest mass shooting in Canada’s history. He targeted women, and young men who had helped their female friends, before turning his gun on himself.

The killer’s name was Marc Lepine, a handle he took as a teenager. His name at birth was Gamil Gharbi, but he changed it legally to distance himself from an abusive father. His upbringing was violent. He had failed at most everything he had tried, including gaining acceptance to study at Polytechnique. He left behind a “hit list” of prominent women he wanted to kill, including TV journalist Francine Pelletier.

He began his rampage by entering a classroom and ordering the male Engineering students, about 50 of them, to leave while he focused on the women, nine female students. He shot them, then moved on, firing at more women. One of the dead, Maryse Leclair, was found by her police officer dad. She’d been stabbed as well as shot.

It’s impossible to understate the horror of Lepine's actions. I was working nights at the Ottawa Citizen as the tragedy unfolded. I recall being shocked by the photos that came across the wire and news desk. One such image, taken by a Montreal Gazette photographer, showed a murdered girl slumped in a cafeteria chair. The photo became a symbol of the events and their stark horror.

In the days that followed, I recall thinking that the dead girls had much in common with my peers. They were young, most in their early 20s, studious, ambitious and hoping to make a go of it in a profession that didn’t always welcome women.

Coverage of the story became full of rancour and often divided along gender lines. Journalists argued - and still do - about whether or not Lepine’s actions reflected sexism in Canadian society. I still recall conversations with friends, other ambitious women in their early 20s, where we expressed our astonishment that so many were denying what was patently obvious to us: Lepine’s rampage was a gender-based hate crime.

I didn’t then and still don’t understand the irrational vitriol of those who argued otherwise – especially those who deny altogether the existence of male violence.

The point was underscored, to me anyway, just six months later when a female worker for the Ottawa Rape Crisis reported that she’d received death threats after organizing a protest outside the Ottawa courthouse against a controversial rape sentence. She received threats at work and at her home, including phone calls from a man who identified himself as Marc Lepine. I reported on the story at the time for the Ottawa Citizen.

In the 20 years since the massacre, I’ve reported on other cases of violence against women, including horrific domestic murders. The media never lacks source material for such stories - whether it’s a local domestic homicide or a national story of a serial killer or international examples of war crimes (like the use of systemic rape as a military tactic) against girls and women.

And every time I write – or read - about such a case, I think of that great line by Jane Galvin Lewis: “You don’t have to be anti-man, to be pro-woman.”

And I wonder why so many good men remain silent and don’t speak out against the reality of violence committed by men against women.

And I wonder why our legal system remains particularly unsophisticated in its approach to family violence, by failing to distinguish between non-lethal violence, which is committed in equal numbers by women and men, and lethal violence, which is more rare, but mostly committed by males.

On a global scale, why aren’t there more leaders like Stephen Lewis, who said, 'After 50 years of passivity and paralysis, it’s time to have an agency through which women can assert their rights?'

Of course, there are many men working to make the world safer, and thank heavens, because nothing will change without them. They are men like Pierre Leclair, who dedicated his life to serving the citizens of Montreal, and discovered his murdered daughter Maryse (while he was on the job). My heart goes out to him and all the loved ones of those injured and killed 20 years ago.

The women who died won’t be forgotten.

And women like me – Class of 1989 – shoulder a particular responsibility to ensure that they are remembered. We’ve enjoyed the freedom to chase our dreams, and to live every minute to the fullest while doing so. I wonder what each of those 14 women who died that day would have achieved had they lived to enjoy the same opportunities that so many of us take for granted.

Canada suffered an unspeakable loss on December 6, 1989. We must never let that be in vain and keep working to create a society that understands the true cost of prejudice and won't tolerate its existence.

In memory of : Genevieve Bergeron, Helene Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, Maryse Laganiere, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michele Richard, Annie St-Arneault and Annie Turcotte who died Dec. 6, 1989, at the École Polytechnique in Montreal.

Unravelling the Spin

2009-11-18T07:57:00.000-08:00

Unravelling the Spin...You need to see this if you're at all interested in Canadian TV and have been scratching your head trying to decipher all that's coming out of this week's CRTC hearings.

There's no death star aimed at Local TV and no TV TAX in the works. All that noise you're hearing is just a major spin war between two entities that would be best known as GREEDY AND GREEDIER, waging a PR battle to win consumer hearts, minds, and mostly the contents of your wallets...
from the Writers Guild of Canada

Catching Up with CBC's Ian Hanomansing

2009-11-16T10:13:00.000-08:00

Journalists interviewing other journalists is usually a risky proposition – one fraught with ego - unless one of those involved happens to Ian Hanomansing. Check out my TV WEEK cover story on Canada’s nicest newsman, on newsstands this week.

Family Guy

He’s one of the most trusted names in the news business. A fixture with the CBC since 1986, Vancouver’s Ian Hanomansing is a familiar sight to viewers of the network’s suppertime newscast. But away from the anchor desk, he’s also a dedicated husband and father. Inside, we chat with the hardworking TV newsman about life away from the cameras, and the changing face of today’s news environment.
By Alison Cunningham

Broken Heroes on the fifth estate

2009-10-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

the fifth estate marks the imminent arrival of Veterans Week (Nov. 5-11) with tonight's provocative documentary Broken Heroes, a look at Canadian Forces veterans struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after serving multiple tours in conflict zones like Afghanistan.
The report is filed by Gillian Findlay, who shares stories of three Canadian soldiers who have battled severe depression and a military system struggling to provide them (and other veterans) with effective treatment upon their return to Canada.
Findlay is the reporter who last season spent almost a month in Afghanistan and presented the fifth's remarkable Life and Death in Kandahar, an hour-long account of Canadian Forces medical personnel working at the multinational hospital at Kandahar Air Field.
For video clips and more info, go to http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/

Viewers Fired Up for Dragons Den

2009-10-07T17:02:00.001-07:00

Who says a recession is all bad news? Viewers are watching TV in huge numbers, a trend that began early this year, and that's been a boon for TV execs and broadcasters across North America. CBC’s audience numbers out of the gate this season have been impressive, especially for its flagships programs.
Last week's season premiere of Dragons Den scored more than 1.32 million* viewers, and there’s no reason to think tonight’s episode, the second of its fourth season, won’t perform as well.
(photo: Dragon Kevin O'Leary goes above and beyond listening to an Anne of Green Gables pitch)
Dragons Den is one of few series that I watch out of interest not just TV-critic-duty ( what a misuse of the word duty). It was a slow burn for me, but by the second season Dragons Den was must-watch TV. A good part of its appeal has always been the boisterous competition between the Dragons: entrepreneurs Jim Treliving (Chair, Boston Pizza), Arlene Dickinson (CEO, Venture Communications), Kevin O'Leary (ex-President, The Learning Company), W Brett Wilson (Founder, FirstEnergy Capital Corp) and Robert Herjavec (founder,The Herjavec Group). Each of the five has made a fortune in Canadian and international business.
O’Leary and Herjavec also appear on ABC’s Shark Tank, producer Mark Burnett’s (Survivor) U.S. version. So what’s the difference between a shark and a dragon? “Well, it’s a little big grittier,” Herjavec recently said during a phone interview.
That’s true, but a few highlights from tonight’s episode indicate it’s likely to be a bit of scorcher, with one ambitious pitcher dropping the proverbial gloves in a verbal sparring match with O’Leary (said ambitious not sensible. You can check out highlights of tonight’s episode here http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/pitches/
At a glance, the episode features pitchers trying to get the Dragons to invest in the following product ideas: a new lip balm, specialty hot sauces, Anne of Green Gables memorabilia and an innovative child bicycle seat.
Suffice it to say that so far this season, the entertainment value has been high. And the pitchers, even those with oddball products, like last week’s Deer Call hunters bracket, are becoming increasingly savvy.
“There are now real businesses who want our investment dollars and we’ve had some fantastic pitches this season,” says Herjavec. “I actually want to make some money.”
The dragons invest a total of $15 million this season, he points out. So far, this season, I was most impressed by the Dragons’ decision to invest in Mistura, a mineral-based cosmetics product. Pitcher Andi Marcus seemed incredibly smart about her product and its market.
“We see so many presentations,” says Herjavec, “and the most common mistake (pitchers make) not engaging us quickly. By the time we see a pitch we may have been there all day and they need to get our attention right away.”
Probably sound advice for any business. And by all accounts, tonight’s is sure to be another attention grabber. And that's more good news for CBC.

*(figures from CBC Media Release, photo: CBC)

Production Begins Today on Elvis Costello: Spectacle -- In the Name of Love....

2009-09-15T17:15:00.000-07:00

Who doesn’t love mystery and intrigue?

Elvis Costello is back in the studio at Toronto’s historic Masonic Temple. Work got underway on Season Two of Costello’s acclaimed musical series Spectacle (CTV, Sundance Channel). Production started today, according to a CTV media release.

God bless Costello. As far as I can tell, he’s one of very few musicians who spells Alison correctly. He recorded a song called Alison and fascinatingly enough (to me anyway) he also recorded a song called Veronica, which happens to be my mother’s name.

Anyhoo....

There was no mention in the CTV media release of Costello’s first or upcoming musical guests; rather odd considering he’d have to be hosting somebody during today’s taping.

Here’s what was in the release: ”For season two, the SPECTACLE production team has committed to raising the bar; guests will be announced later this month....I am delighted that we can continue where we left off—making intelligent, and informative music programming,” shares Sir Elton John, one of the series’ Executive Producers.

Well, just in case you’re wondering, here at TV or Not TV, we (and by we I mean me) heard from a reliable source that Irish super band U2 is slated to be interviewed by Costello tonight. They’re scheduled to perform concerts tomorrow and Thursday in Toronto...

Could be wrong, but it’s the kind of reliable source who’s really, really reliable...Honest.

So, it seems likely that U2 will be heating things up on the second season of Spectacle. If we’re told otherwise, we’ll stand corrected...

Guess the folks at CTV thought Torontonians are already in enough of a tizzy with all the Film Fest frolicking, and all...

Tamara Takes On...

2009-08-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

Good news can seem at a premium some times, so check out my feature on CTV personality Tamara Taggart in the current edition of TV WEEK magazine (on newsstands now). Things are looking good for Tamara Taggart, who’s just back from New York City where she co-hosted Live! with Regis and Kelly, the only Canadian among 10 broadcasters chosen to sit in. An impressive 474,000 Canadian viewers tuned in last week to watch the show, which aired in daytime hours Fri. Aug 21. With that gig behind her, and Olympic broadcast duties ahead of her, Taggart shared the ups and down of being a working mom and broadcaster.

Award-winning actor Eric Schweig sees life - and death - imitate art with the passing of Curtis Brick, a homeless man in Vancouver

2009-08-20T14:03:00.000-07:00

As award-winning actor Eric Schweig led a column of mourners yesterday to a sunburned patch of grass at Vancouver's Grandview Park (the place where a man called Curtis Brick spent his dying moments) the drama seemed like a movie scene.

Schweig has, in fact, appeared in similar scenes on screen many times.

A carver and actor born in Nunavut, Schweig’s credits track like a highlight reel of First Nations history. He took a star turn opposite Daniel Day Lewis in Last of the Mohicans and more recently in HBO’s Emmy Award-winning miniseries Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007).

Schweig has also starred in some well-known Canadian TV projects, movies that explored and exposed Canada’s less-than-impressive treatment of its First Nations people; TV movies like One Dead Indian (2006), about the 1995 death of Dudley George, Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis (2006) and Cowboys and Indians: The J.J. Harper Story (2003), a recounting of native leader J.J. Harper’s shooting death by a Winnipeg police officer (an incident that sparked the establishment of Manitoba’s Public Inquiry into the Administration of Justice and Aboriginal People in 1988).

But the scene at Grandview Park was real. And Schweig was there with about 250 others to remember Brick, 46, who died July 29, after spending the day incapacitated and roasting on the park grass. Sick and sweltering for hours in 34C heat, it’s believed nobody came to Brick's aid; his suffering allegedly went unnoticed in the crowded park until Schweig spotted him again, around 4 pm, he says.

The death prompted a call (this morning) for a Coroner’s Inquest into Brick's treatment by emergency workers, at a media conference held by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs.

And yesterday, BC chief Bob Chamberlin, of the Kwicksutaineuk-Ah-Kwaw-Ah-Mish First Nation, told the crowd assembled at Grandview, “There are too many pieces of information that don't hold together." Activist David Dennis, founder of the Westcoast Warrior Society, also called for action at the memorial.

Some facts about Brick’s death are in dispute, but Schweig has no doubt about the most basic: namely that nobody should die after “baking like a potato” all day, when help, water and people were just steps away.

Schweig says he first noticed Brick lying on the grass asleep on the morning of July 29.

“I saw him lying there with his shirt over his head, and usually the weather will wake up someone who’s crashed out in the park,” says Schweig. “So I figured that’s what would happen. And when I came by around six hours later, he was still there. Except this time, he’s floundering, he’s convulsing on his back and he’s lying in the direct sunlight right over there [on the slope near the sidewalk).

“And I look around and it’s like a bad Fellini movie. There’s a kids’ water area, families are together, and there’s hippies over there playing music and dancing around and this f***ing guy is dying from heat stroke 20 yards from them, and about 50 yards from a water fountain.”

Schweig says he contacted a friend by text message, who in turn called for help. These specifics of the time line are at the heart of the BC Union of Indian Chiefs’ call for an inquest. Those who helped Brick allege that more than 30 minutes passed before Vancouver Fire and Rescue arrived, followed by BC Ambulance workers. Officials dispute that.

“They went to work on him...he was unresponsive. He was choking on his tongue and his tongue was like a dried-up piece of meat from having no water all day,” recalls Schweig. “He couldn’t talk, he couldn’t think, he couldn’t move.”

Schweig says while trying to help Brick, he gleaned from him that he (Brick) had been drinking Lysol. Schweig says he told firefighters that, hoping that the information would help. A firefighter allegedly replied, “Well, that’s what you get for drinking Lysol,” and spoke dismissively to Schweig.

The familiarity of it was almost too much for Schweig, who says officials too often stick to the same old script of disrespect when they deal with impoverished, poor and often aboriginal homeless folks.

“That’s no way to die,” he says. “I know exactly what’s going to happen almost every time they come along.

“The best EMT I know is a former co-worker from Resource Assistance for Youth in Winnipeg. He used to go around to schools and teach kids about homeless people and make them aware of their needs. He did all these wicked workshops all over Winnipeg and Manitoba. He’s going to be a kick-ass paramedic because he gives a shit and he understands the dynamics of homelessness.”

About six years ago, I interviewed Schweig about his work in Cowboys & Indians. In the film, he played Harper's brother Harry Wood, who spearheaded the campaign for an official review into Harper's wrongful death.

Schweig then said (to me in an interview for CanWest's TV Times), “We’re all from the human family and if there’s other humans getting picked on, we should do something about it - it doesn’t matter what colour they are."

Life, death and art again seemed tragically linked.

Schweig can currently be seen starring in the APTN-CanWest comedy series Cashing In.

(photos: above: Eric Schweig Facebook fan page, below: promotional image, Last of the Mohicans)

Where Are They Now?

2009-08-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what’s become of some of your favourite Metro Vancouver radio and television personalities over the years? So do TV WEEK readers. I caught up with with five popular local broadcasters who once dominated our B.C. airwaves to find out what they’ve been up to lately. Check the current TV WEEK cover story, to get the scoop on my chats with Frosty Forst, Fred and Cathy, Vicki Gabereau, Russ Froese and Simi Sara to get the scoop on how they’re now spending their days.

www.tvweekonline.ca

Remembering Walter Cronkite (1916-2009)

2009-07-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

In 20 years of journalism I have only once witnessed reporters break journalistic etiquette and applaud the remarks of an interview subject. Walter Cronkite, legendary newsman, was the interviewee and the occasion was a Television Critics Association (TCA) press session for Witness to History, a 2006-07 PBS TV special that chronicled his remarkable, storied career.

What a privilege. Every journalist in that room will recall that moment for the rest of his or her days. And today that remarkable man's time on Earth came to end. Walter Cronkite, 92, died today.

Cronkite even took time during that conference to school one reporter who posed a question that Cronkite misunderstood. After Cronkite replied, the reporter tried again and started with, "What I meant was..."

"Oh. I misunderstood the question. Hmmm. My question was better."

No doubt.

As Spiro Agnew said, "If Cronkite doesn't know what to say, don't expect me to come up with anything good."

Agnew made those remarks almost 40 years ago while commenting on the historic first moon walk, July 20, 1969. Cronkite considered his coverage of the moon landing and space program one of the greatest successes of his career. His successes were many, and there won't likely be another like Cronkite. That's way it is...

Here's an edited version of the article I wrote after the Cronkite session.

And that's the way it is
by Alison Cunningham
The National Post (July 22, 2006)

As PBS marks his 90th year, Walter Cronkite continues to weigh in on the issues of the day

When Walter Cronkite was born, back in November, 1916, Woodrow Wilson was president of the United States, Canadians were fighting the Battle of the Somme, most women couldn't vote and Russia was on the brink of revolution. It's difficult to believe -- but that's the way it was.

Now, almost 90 years later, the legendary CBS broadcaster, who was once voted the most trusted newsman in America, looks back on a career spent covering the events that shaped the world. His story is history, and it's the basis of Walter Cronkite: Witness to History, airing as part of PBS's American Masters series.

"Walter Cronkite was the man from print who ushered the nation into the age of television," says Catherine Tatge, the project's writer and director. "When television arrived in your home, so did Cronkite. He brought us the most important news of our lives. During troubled times, he gave it to us straight. Yet, he also shaped it. Throughout, he was both responsible and courageous."

Many Americans -- and Canadians -- first learned of such events as the 1963 assassination of U.S. president John F. Kennedy and the landing of American astronauts on the moon from Cronkite's newscasts. He was at the helm of the CBS Evening News from 1962 to '81, signing off almost every night with his tagline: "And that's the way it is."

Earlier this year, the 89-year-old Cronkite met with reporters in Los Angeles to discuss the PBS documentary. As he was seated, the assembled media broke with the journalistic ethos that frowns upon applause at news conferences.

He didn't seem dismayed by the display of subjectivity. "I don't know what else can happen to a man after that introduction, for heaven sakes," said the avuncular Cronkite.

Witness to History features Cronkite speaking about his life, career and the many historic events he observed with keen interest, intelligence and integrity. It also presents interviews with his peers, including Robert MacNeil, Helen Thomas and Mike Wallace.

"Probably 24 hours after I told CBS that I was stepping down at my 65th birthday, I was already regretting it. And I regretted it every day since," Cronkite says.

Still an intellectual dynamo, Cronkite shares his thoughts on the state of TV news. "I'm a little worried about the possibility of entertainment creeping into news broadcasting," he says, "so that we're really not getting the serious news that we desperately need."

As a lifelong student of global affairs, Cronkite also isn't one to shy away from his views on U.S. policy in Iraq. "We've done everything we can [in Iraq]. We're going to have to leave it with them some day, and it is my belief that we should get out now."

In the 1960s, Cronkite made similar remarks on the air about Vietnam. His criticism influenced then-president Lyndon B. Johnson into not standing for re-election and hastened America's withdrawal from Southeast Asia. "If I've lost Cronkite," Johnson reportedly said, "I've lost Middle America."

Cronkite recognizes his words don't carry the political sway they once did -- but, he says, "The editorializing that I did on the Tet offensive in Vietnam, I think, helped speed the end of that war. That, I'm proudest of.

"And I was proud of coverage throughout the buildup of the space program. I took that as my own assignment. I spent a lot of time with it.

"Those, I think, would be my two favourite stories of all time. Of course, when you ask somebody as old as I am, who was an active war correspondent [during the Second World War], there was a new experience every day that lives in my memory."

Katie Couric, who is taking the anchor's chair at CBS Evening News in September, narrates the documentary. Couric, of course, is officially replacing Dan Rather. Rather, who spent 24 years in the job, replaced Cronkite in 1981.

"I think she's a darn good journalist," Cronkite says of Couric. "I remember her when she was an NBC reporter -- a correspondent in Japan, and I thought she did great work."

Couric will be the first woman to anchor an American network's evening newscast. It's just another piece of history in the making for Cronkite to witness.