The MMVAs Celebrate Their 25th Anniversary

ON SCREEN:

THE 2014 MUCHMUSIC VIDEO AWARDS
Much, CTV -- June 15


Street Party

CTV Hops On Much's Bandwagon
As The MMVAs Celebrate
Their 25th Anniversary

By Eric Kohanik 

When it comes to star-studded street parties, there aren't many in Canada that are as rousing – or as rockin' – as the one MuchMusic has been throwing year after year in downtown Toronto.

In fact, the MuchMusic Video Awards have been partying on for an incredible quarter of a century.

Every June, multitudes of exuberant music fans flock to the corner of Queen and John Streets to get a close-up look as MuchMusic cranks up the energy – and unleashes big-time star power – at its annual celebration. This year's 25th-anniversary edition of the MMVAs hits MuchMusic on June 15. And, as usual, viewers will get primed beforehand with the MMVA Red Carpet Special.

For the first time, though, the cable channel's corporate cousin, CTV, is jumping on the bandwagon, simulcasting this year's entire extravaganza live from coast to coast on its broadcast network, as well as on its CTV GO mobile app.

“It's a really great opportunity to put the show on a bigger platform,” says Sheila Sullivan, the longtime executive producer of the MMVA telecast. “That's great for the artists. It's great for the Much brand.

“The great thing about it is the CTV simulcast will ensure [that] millions of music fans – who might not have ever had the opportunity to watch the MMVAs on Much – can now watch it on CTV. It opens the MMVAs up to an entirely new, broadened audience, which is just perfect. The more people that can tune in and see this street-party spectacle, the better.”

This year's anniversary show will have “a nod” to previous MMVAs, but it won't dwell on the past. “It won't be too nostalgic,” Sullivan promises. Instead, viewers can count on a show featuring some of the music world's biggest names as performers. There will also be a stellar lineup of presenters to do their usual thing, as well as adding a few surprises.

“I've done enough [MMVAs] to remember most of the exciting things that have happened during the show over the years,” says Sullivan. Past years have had their share of dazzling moments, ranging from Lady Gaga's bra-shooting fireworks to Flo Rida making his way onto the MMVA stage via zip-line.

Sullivan and her team are still busily assembling this year's final list of performers and presenters – a task that has been ongoing since last fall. “We start talking to labels and to talent in the fall so that we can get it on the calendars of artists that we're hoping will come to the show to perform,” Sullivan explains. “We want to be on their calendars first. We're looking for the biggest and the best names. We are looking to give our audience exactly what they want to hear.”

Apart from the talent lineup, Sullivan says there is one other big challenge to putting on the MMVAs every year – the show's outdoor setting.

“When you're indoors, you can rehearse all day long in the dark,” Sullivan points out. “We can rehearse only from 9:30 to 11:30 because, at 9:30, it's finally dark and we can see what it's going to look like on TV. But, at 11:30, we have a noise curfew. And the weather, of course, is a big concern.”

Although storms have dampened some MMVA celebrations, the show has had surprisingly good luck with the weather over the past 25 years. “We have – and it's going to happen again this year, for sure!” Sullivan insists, knocking on wood. “I wish it was something I actually did have more control over.”

Sullivan does have control of the show, though, and she remains confident that it will be bigger and better than ever.

“We do try and take our production value to another level each year, as well as trying to ensure that we're featuring artists who our audience is listening to and loving right at this moment,” Sullivan stresses. “And that's certainly what we'll be aiming to do again this year.”

The 2014 MuchMusic Video Awards – Much, CTV – June 15

(Published in Channel Guide Magazine -- June 2014.)

Paul Campbell stars in Spun Out

ON SCREEN:

SPUN OUT
CTV -- Fridays


Spun Out

Star Paul Campbell Hammers Away At His Career -- In More Ways Than One

By Eric Kohanik

Paul Campbell never thought he would be an actor.

“To be perfectly honest, my whole life, I thought I was going to be a carpenter,” the 34-year-old Spun Out star explains. “I started right out of high school. I started framing houses. But Vancouver is rainy eight months out of the year, and I got sick of being cold and wet.”

Born and raised in B.C., Campbell now divides his time between Canada and Los Angeles. And he likes to display his skills in some surprising ways.

If you want proof, check out the tongue-in-cheek mini-biography Campbell wrote about himself on IMDb.com. It's a clever entry that claims he made a deal with the Devil when he was 18 to trade his soul for a hammer.

“I still can't believe that one slipped by them,” Campbell laughs. “One of the biggest moments of my entire career is getting that bio up on IMDb.”

One of the other big moments right now is Spun Out, a CTV comedy series that revolves around Campbell as a copywriter at a public-relations firm populated by a quirky collection of characters. The show's ensemble includes Al Mukadam, Holly Deveaux, Rebecca Dalton, J. P. Manoux and Darcy Michael. Dave Foley rounds out the cast as the boss of the firm.

“Foley is such a pro,” Campbell says. “He walked into it like he'd been doing it for a million years. He is such a veteran and he is such a great member of the team. Just simply observing him, I probably learned more than I ever could taking any sort of acting classes.”

Nevertheless, it was a simple acting class that changed Campbell's career path.

“A friend of mine was taking some acting classes and said, 'Hey, this is really fun. You should come and do this,'” he recalls. “So, I took an acting class and that was it. I went back to work the next week and said, 'Guys, I'm packing up my tools and going to theatre school.' And I did.”

Six months after graduation, he landed his first major TV role, in the 2004 reincarnation of Battlestar Galactica. A steady stream of other credits have followed, including roles in NBC's 2008 revival of Knight Rider and a 2011 series for Showcase called Almost Heroes. Although that show was also a comedy, Spun Out is the first TV series Campbell has done in front of a studio audience.

“It's the first time I've done it for an extended period,” he says. “It really is the most thrilling way to do comedy. What excited me about this project is I love the idea of Canadians making great comedy. There is so much great talent in Canada. I was really, really happy to get on board.”

Campbell wasn't on any particular quest to do a sitcom when Spun Out came along. He was basically looking for his next job. “That's the life of an actor,” Campbell points out. “You're always looking for the next thing." 

That hasn't dulled his passion for acting, though. “Every day that I'm on set is my favourite day,” Campbell says. “I've never had a day that I wasn't thrilled to be working, whether it was a dramatic piece or a TV-movie or a big film. It doesn't matter where I am and who I'm working with. I love my job. I love what I do.”

That's not to say Campbell has given up carpentry. “I still love woodworking,” he concedes. “I do it all the time.”

In fact, since Spun Out wrapped production on its debut season, Campbell has been honing his craftsmanship down in L.A. “I build furniture,” he says. “And I build custom skateboards for people. Just sort of whatever interests me at the time.”

Spun Out – CTV – Fridays

(First published in Channel Guide Magazine -- April 2014.)

Enrico Colantoni is back in Remedy

ON SCREEN:

REMEDY
Global -- Mondays


Finding Middle Ground

Enrico Colantoni Straddles The Fence Between 
Comedy And Drama In "Remedy"

By Eric Kohanik

Enrico Colantoni admits he sometimes feels out of place when it comes to his career.

“I am still a man without a home,” the 51-year-old actor half-jokes inside his dressing-room trailer in downtown Toronto. “I have kids in Los Angeles. I have parents in Italy. But right now, there's nothing more rewarding than feeling appreciated by the people that I was born into. I was born in Canada. There's something huge about that. I don't think I would have done it any differently.”

Born in Toronto, Colantoni graduated from the Yale School of Drama in the U.S. and carved out a career in American television, from such comedies as Hope & Gloria and Just Shoot Me! to dramas including Veronica Mars and Person of Interest. But it was his five-year stint back in Canada, as tactical-police-squad sergeant Greg Parker on CTV's Flashpoint, that added another twist.

“Parker was fantastic. He was wonderful to play,” Colantoni recalls. “But after leaving that show, all I yearned for was something a little lighter.”

Longing for stuff on the other side of the fence isn't new for Colantoni. “I like exactly what I'm not doing in the moment,” he concedes. “A day didn't go by on Just Shoot Me! where I wouldn't go, 'I want to do something dramatic, single camera.' The good thing is I always get what I ask for.”

Colantoni figures he has found a good compromise in a new Global series called Remedy. The show revolves around fictional Bethune General Hospital, where the adventures of those interacting on the upper floors of the hospital occasionally intersect with the misadventures that occur in the basement of the building. Colantoni tops the ensemble as Dr. Allen Conner, the chief of staff who spends most days on the upper decks of Bethune General. At the opposite end is Frank Kanaskie (Patrick McKenna), who works in the basement as the supervisor of transport and housekeeping.

“There's a lot of an Upstairs, Downstairs dynamic to this show,” Colantoni says. “That's the tone of the show when those two worlds meet. Allen is constantly battling two worlds. I think that's what's going to set it apart from other medical dramas.”

The interactions often have comical consequences, which appealed to Colantoni. “The biggest reason I wanted to do it, from an acting perspective, is that there is comedy in it,” he explains. “It really is a hybrid. It's not the comedy of Just Shoot Me! It's not the drama of Flashpoint. It's right in the middle.

“There's an undertow to this show that makes me laugh. It's either built in with the dynamic of the relationship of the family members or, sometimes, it's just blatant comedy. That's what intrigued me.” Colantoni is also tackling other chores on Remedy; he is directing the sixth episode.

“To be able to see something from that perspective, it turns the light bulb back on,” Colantoni says. “Doors that were closed to me at one time are now open for me on this show. That just makes me feel like I'm welcome, that my opinions have value, that I have a stake in it. It's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

“That's why I came back to Canada. I've gotten to play historic figures, heroic figures and, now, I'm allowed to direct an episode of a television show in its first season – in its first season! – which is unheard of and generous beyond everything I've ever experienced. That's what I love about being home.

“I'm Canadian again. I'm here. I want to stay,” Colantoni says, and then adds with a smile, “unless somebody wants me back in the States.”

Remedy – Global – Mondays

(First published in Channel Guide Magazine - March 2014.)

Canadian Screen Awards / Juno Awards

ON SCREEN:

THE 2014 CANADIAN SCREEN AWARDS
CBC - Sunday, March 9 
THE 2014 JUNO AWARDS 
CTV - Sunday, March 30


Move Over, Oscar!

Canada Gets Set To Roll Out Red Carpets 
For The Junos And The "Screenies"

By Eric Kohanik

Down in Hollywood, the Oscars will get the usual lion's share of attention when they hit the tube on March 2. North of the border, though, the lights are shining on two Canadian spectacles striving to stake out their own claims on the airwaves.

The 2014 Canadian Screen Awards return to CBC on March 9. Nestled inside Toronto's Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, the awards are still in their relative infancy, this being only their second foray into the densely populated arena of televised award shows.

Already nicknamed the “Screenies” around Canadian industry circles, the Canadian Screen Awards were born last year, after the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television merged its existing prizes for Canadian movies (the Genie Awards, launched in 1980) with the accolades handed out for English-language Canadian television (the Gemini Awards, launched in 1986). The merger was accentuated by the launch of Canadian Screen Week, an annual celebration leading up to the award show.

Veteran actor/comedian Martin Short is back to host the CSAs again this year, thanks in part to his energy-filled turn at the helm of last year's inaugural broadcast.

The 2014 Juno Awards are set to grab their own chunk of the Canadian TV spotlight. This year's awards return to CTV on March 30. This time around, the setting is Winnipeg.

Juno Week celebrations will include another Juno Cup celebrity-hockey game, a two-day JunoFest music showcase and several other attractions. Capping off the week, of course, is the award ceremony at Winnipeg's MTS Centre.

In addition to saluting the year's top Canadian music achievements, the show will pay tribute to this year's Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees: Blair Thornton, Fred Turner, Randy Bachman and Robin Bachman, better known for many years as Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

While the Junos and the “Screenies” likely won't come close to the glitz and worldwide attention of Hollywood's biggest night of the year, that doesn't matter. Canadian viewers can expect both award shows to pack a unique punch of their own. 

The 2014 Canadian Screen Awards – CBC – March 9

The 2014 Juno Awards – CTV – March 30

(First published in Channel Guide Magazine - March 2014.)

Cityline Celebrates 25th Anniversary

ON SCREEN:

CITYLINE
City -- Wednesdays
CITYLINE 25th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
City -- February 25



Blasts From The Past

Tracy Moore Marks The 25th Anniversary Of
"Cityline" With A Walk Down "Memory" Lane

By Eric Kohanik

It's “Fashion Friday” on Cityline and the studio audience is buzzing inside City's production centre in downtown Toronto.

Minutes before taping begins, host Tracy Moore chats up the crowd before choosing one person to undergo a makeover that makes jaws drop at the end of the show. After the taping is done, exhilarated audience members file out, still abuzz over what they've seen – and over their gift bags containing products highlighted on the show.

“I want to sit in that audience and get those prizes,” Moore jokes later.

Cityline has been a daytime staple for a quarter-century, growing from a local show to a popular fixture across Canada. With most episodes featuring themes – including “Around the House,” “Family Day,” “Home Day” and “Fashion Friday” – the show has built its following with the help of a lengthy roster of lifestyle experts who make regular guest appearances.

Cityline will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a primetime special on Feb. 25. Hosted by Moore, it will showcase highlights pulled from Cityline's archives.

“It's going to be a walk down memory lane, for sure.” Moore says.

At the helm of Cityline for just over five years, the 39-year-old Moore is the third regular host in the show's history. Although Dini Petty headlined the show when it launched, it was Marilyn Denis who was the face of Cityline from 1989 until 2008.

Amid the complex division of media assets after ChumCity (then City's parent company) was acquired by CTVglobemedia (now Bell Media) in 2007, Denis (also a morning-radio co-host on Toronto's CHUM-FM) ended up in CTV's bullpen. The network eventually launched The Marilyn Denis Show in 2011, using a format similar to Cityline.

Citytv and Cityline, meanwhile, became part of the Rogers media empire. After Denis' departure in May 2008, the show used a series of guest hosts before making Moore the regular host in October.

“It's been a good run,” Moore reflects. “I don't even think we thought it was going to be this amazing. It's really turned out well.”

A married mother of two, Moore started her career as an intern at CTV before becoming a videographer at CBC. She worked in news at CBC Newsworld (now called CBC News Network) and Toronto 1 (now known as Sun News) before jumping to City's Breakfast Television as its reporter and backup news anchor. After taking time off to have her first child, Moore decided to switch gears, becoming one of Cityline's guest hosts before landing the gig as regular host.

Coming from a news background, Moore says it was “about a year-and-a-half” before she felt comfortable in the role. “It's such a big show that, for the first few months, you're trying to figure out who these guest experts are, what the tone is supposed to be, and how to deal with a live audience,” she says. “Doing a live lifestyle show is about instant reaction and that's a tough transition. It took a few months to really understand how Cityline connects with viewers.”

Cityline's longtime supervising producer, Chrissie Rejman, disagrees with how soon Moore caught on. “It was over the course of a month,” Rejman insists. “Tracy was laughing. She was forgetting that she was 'interviewing' somebody and, instead, she was having a conversation. That was the difference. That's what we looked for.”

Rejman is effusive in praising how Moore connects with viewers – and the studio audience. “What Tracy is absolutely fantastic at is she's always willing, after the show, to have her photo taken,” says Rejman. “That personal contact with everybody is a really important ingredient.”

For her part, Moore says she is just trying to be herself. “With television being the way it is right now, people need a little bit of levity with their information,” she says. “This is what I get from the audience.

“They have a date with us every morning. They trust us. And we take that very seriously.”

Cityline – City – weekdays

Cityline 25th Anniversary Special – City – Feb. 25

(First published in Channel Guide Magazine - February 2014.)

CBC is back in Olympic spotlight

ON SCREEN:

2014 WINTER OLYMPICS
CBC and other channels - Beginning Feb. 7


Going For Gold

After Almost Six Years On The Sidelines, 
CBC Jumps Back Into The Olympic Spotlight

By Eric Kohanik

It's been close to six years since CBC was the official Canadian broadcaster for the Olympics. And, for CBC Sports Weekend host Scott Russell, sitting on the sidelines for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2012 Summer Games in London wasn't easy to stomach.

“It was, personally, tough to be out for two Olympics,” Russell admits. “Although I went to Vancouver and to London, it was in a much different role. We're so happy to be back in the Olympic broadcasting business at CBC. We couldn't be more excited.”

CBC once had a lengthy run of Olympic coverage. Before the CTV/Rogers Olympic Consortium scooped up rights to Winter 2010 and Summer 2012, CBC had billed itself as “Canada's Olympic Network” since 1996, broadcasting the Winter Games in Nagano (1998), Salt Lake City (2002) and Turin (2006) as well as the Summer Games in Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008).

CBC unveiled its broadcast team for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi at the network's headquarters in Toronto back on Oct. 30 as it kicked off a 100-day countdown to the opening ceremonies on Feb. 7. Chief news anchor Peter Mansbridge and Hockey Night in Canada veteran Ron MacLean will cohost coverage of the ceremonies from Sochi's Fisht Olympic Stadium. CBC's English-language Olympic telecasts will then be split into four major dayparts.

Diana Swain and David Amber will co-host Olympic Morning each day, while Russell will man the anchor desk for Olympic Daytime. MacLean will take on evening hosting duties on Olympic Primetime, while Andi Petrillo and Andrew Change will co-host Olympic Overnight.

Time-zone differences will be a major factor. Many live events will air during the mornings and afternoons in Canada. And that will actually put Russell and his Olympic Daytime telecasts into a “prime” spotlight.

“There's a lot going on in that time slot and that's perfect,” Russell says. “We'll be moving around from venue to venue in order to capture as many things as we can that are going on, live.”

CBC's mainline TV coverage will be supplemented by TSN, TSN2 and Rogers Sportsnet and Sportsnet One as well as CBC News Network. Radio coverage will be divvied up between CBC Radio and TSN Radio, while French-language TV coverage will be split between Radio-Canada and RDS.

Meanwhile, online coverage at cbc.ca/olympics will also offer a wide variety of video content. Most notable among that will be live online streaming of Olympic competitions.

There have been a lot of technological and social-media innovations since the last time CBC was Canada's official Olympic broadcaster. And Russell admits that will mean new challenges.

“I mean, the last time we covered the Olympics, in Beijing, I'm pretty sure that the iPad didn't exist,” Russell jokes. “I'm also positive that Twitter was not a factor, right? So, this immediacy is a challenge. And the multi-platform situation is also a challenge.

“But I think it's something we've concentrated on at CBC. The way we approach Sports Weekend is now very much a multi-platform strategy. And that's the way Canadians want to consume the Olympics. They need the information as it happens.”

CBC has high ratings hopes for its coverage in Sochi. No wonder. Canadians have always had a fondness for the Winter Games.

“We have this feeling of being a winter nation,” Russell muses. “We are able to race down the mountains, to play on frozen ponds. So, yeah, these are Games that we are comfortable with. And we are comfortable being at the head of the class in the Winter Games.

“I think that's the way the country is built. We are a country of extremes. Our geography lends itself to playing outside in the winter, and to hockey and skiing and curling and all of these things that are about us as Canadians. And so I think it's only natural that, when it comes to the Winter Games, we sit up and take notice.”

2014 Winter Olympics – CBC and other channels – beginning Feb. 7

(First published in Channel Guide Magazine - February 2014.)

Melissa Grelo: The Cat Herder on The Social

ON SCREEN:

THE SOCIAL
CTV - Weekdays


The Cat Herder

Melissa Grelo Keeps The Talk 
On Track On CTV's "The Social"

By Eric Kohanik

It would be easy to lump The Social into a certain breed of talk show that has been growing on daytime TV.

But co-host Melissa Grelo doesn't want people to put CTV's new entry into the same paddock as ABC's The View or CBS' The Talk.

“We can use analogies and comparisons to The View all you want,” Grelo says. “But the reality is, we have a very distinctly Canadian perspective. A perfect example of that would be the gay-rights issue or, perhaps, the gun-control issue. These are issues that have a vastly different tone if you're talking about them north of the border vs. south of the border.

“And there's the fact that we've never had [on TV] a round table of Canadian women of varying backgrounds discussing the issues that matter not only to Canadians, but what everyone is talking about around the world.”

The Social airs live each weekday on CTV, with same-day rebroadcasts on CTV Two and E! The hourlong show features Grelo and her co-hosts – gossip blogger Lainey Lui, relationship expert Cynthia Loyst and entertainment reporter Traci Melchor – tackling each day's most talked-about issues, inviting viewers to join in via social media.

Grelo acts as the show's moderator, keeping the conversation going and keeping it on track. She often gleefully refers to herself as the “cat herder” on the show.

“We've got some very, very feisty, sassy women,” Grelo laughs. “This is exactly how everyone envisioned the show.”

Social media was also envisioned as a significant element on The Social. And, according to Grelo, that is where she and her co-hosts have an advantage.

“We are of that generation and we are definitely participants in this new world where people who are watching television are simultaneously on social media,” Grelo explains. “It's almost like one doesn't happen without the other. That's the centre point of our show.”

Of course, that can lead to some on-air juggling. But then, Grelo is no stranger to the demands of live TV.

Since 2008, Grelo has been the co-host of Toronto specialty channel CP24's morning show, CP24 Breakfast. She also co-hosted CTV's live Olympic Morning telecasts from Whistler, B.C. during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Add that to stints as a news anchor, fill-in host, reporter, entertainment correspondent and weather/traffic reporter and you quickly get the sense that Grelo can tackle any topic on The Social.

A self-confessed news junkie, Grelo didn't always see TV on her career path. In fact, she had set her sights on teaching at an early age. “I started teaching horseback riding when I was a kid,” Grelo recalls. “Teaching was something that came very naturally to me.”

After pursuing degrees in psychology and education, she embarked on a short stint as a teacher before shifting her focus to journalism. “For someone who's always been a news junkie, I never considered it a career,” Grelo confesses. “Then I realized, 'Wait a second, here's a very similar skill set.' I love writing. I love reading.”

And now, she loves combining her duties on CP24 Breakfast with her role on The Social – even if it means her days get pretty hectic. 

“It's insane,” Grelo concedes. “That's my middle name these days. But I'm so excited. It's something I've wanted to do for a really long time.

“I first talked to the network about a show kind of like this a couple of years ago. To actually see it happening, it's a dream come true.”

The Social - CTV - Weekdays 

(First published in Channel Guide Magazine - October 2013.) 

 

Vincent Walsh and Dwain Murphy in Played

ON SCREEN:

PLAYED
CTV - Thursdays, beginning Oct. 3



Teamwork

Vincent Walsh and Dwain Murphy Clicked 
Right Away As Underover Cops On "Played"

By Eric Kohanik

It's just past noon on a warm late-summer day. Next to an outdoor storage-locker facility near the waterfront in downtown Toronto, actors Vincent Walsh and Dwain Murphy have been going through take after take since the early morning hours of what will be another whirlwind day of location filming. 
 

Walsh and Murphy are part of the ensemble cast of Played, a new Canadian drama series that debuts this month on CTV. The police procedural casts them as detectives who work for the Toronto police department's Covert Investigations Unit, donning a variety of alter-egos in order to carry out undercover “plays” – sting operations that nab criminals.

Much of the filming for Played is done on location around Toronto. That often means 15-hour days that require a lot of intense teamwork.

“You fly by the seat of your pants,” Walsh relates during a short break in filming. “This whole project is one big ensemble piece. It's very much character driven, by outside stories. It's all very much a work in progress.”

Walsh plays John Moreland, a veteran undercover cop who lives in the moment, is somewhat pigheaded and could easily go over the edge at any time. Murphy plays Moreland's partner and wingman, Daniel Price, a smooth-talking, exuberant detective who sometimes has a tough time separating his undercover persona from his real one.

“What drew me in initially was the fact that we get to play multiple characters,” Murphy explains. “What I connected with was the fact that every episode is like a mini-movie and you're literally adapting a new character to that episode along with maintaining this other character throughout a season.

“I get to stretch myself as an actor. In one episode, I'll play a DJ. In another episode, I'll be an undercover bank robber. And in another episode, I get to play a Brazilian drug lord. You don't really know what angle you're going to come from, episode to episode.”

Walsh and Murphy both have solid lists of TV credits under their belts. The Irish-Canadian Walsh has an acting resume that runs the gamut from guest shots on such Canadian series as Murdoch Mysteries and Republic of Doyle to lead roles in such productions as Hemingway vs. Callaghan and Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion.

Meanwhile, Murphy, who was born in Dominica and raised in Toronto, boasts a list of credits that ranges from roles in such Canadian series as Combat Hospital and Degrassi: The Next Generation to guest stints on such U.S. shows as The Mentalist and Ghost Whisperer.

Right now, though, both are busy pouring all their energy into the teamwork that is required of them and their characters as they watch each other's backs on Played. Fortunately for the duo, their chemistry clicked right away.

“This is my first time playing a cop and I absolutely love it!” Murphy declares enthusiastically. “And I get to do it with this guy,” he continues, playfully tapping Walsh's knee. “We make it fun. I think that will resonate, when people see it on the screen, just how much fun we really have working together. From the first time I met Vincent, I could see he's just a fun-loving, happy guy. From Day 1, I instantly clicked with him.”

Walsh is quick to return the compliment. “Right back at you, mate,” Walsh says in an Irish lilt punctuated by a wry smile. “Dwain brought an amazing energy the second he walked on the set.”

As for their chemistry on screen, “we didn't really have any time to think about 'clicking,'” Walsh quips. “The only time we really had was to hit the mark and say the line. That was it.”

Played - CTV - Thursdays, beginning Oct. 3

(First published in Channel Guide Magazine - October 2013.)

Must-have Apps to help you watch TV

ON SCREEN:
Media Man


TV to go

Boost your TV with an app.

By Eric Kohanik

THESE DAYS, IT'S VIEWING ON THE GO. Tablets and smartphones present a radical shift in media.

A new study says 23 per cent of TV viewers between the ages of 18 and 34 tune in after buzz online through blogs, social media and apps. TV stars are getting in on the craze.

Ashton Kutcher (Two and a Half Men) is a trailblazer in the Twittersphere. Last year, he moved the needle with a Twitter app (aplusapp.com) designed for desktops, laptops and mobile. Adrien Grenier (Entourage) is on the app bandwagon. His Reckless Adrien Grenier app (app.net/reckless) lets fans follow his every move.

These ones are fun, frivolous and favourite. Here's a few to guide your programming or help steer you to stuff on your big screen at home. Some must-haves:

What's On TV? From Zap2it
Let's start with the basics: TV listings. Onscreen guides on your TV are cumbersome and not up-to-date. Zap2it is the mother of TV listings services and What'sOn TV? is a customizable mobile listings app for iPhones and iPads (available at the iTunes App Store). Zap2it also has a mobile listings site (tvlistings.zap2it.com) that works on all other web-enabled mobile devices without having to download an app at all.

IMDb Movies & TV
The Internet Movie Database offers cast lists, production credits, trivia and loads of other information on almost every TV, movie and video production. IMDb's mobile site (available at imdb.com/apps/) serves up a version for almost every mobile platform.

Network TV Apps
Many popular shows are available from broadcasters who own rights to those shows in Canada. Among them: CTV (ctv.ca), CBC (cbc.ca), Global (globaltv.com) and Citytv (citytv.com). It's a tangled mess as to what apps are available for each platform. Check the mobile-services section of each network's website to see what's there.

Crackle - Movies & TV 
Unlike most American sites, Sony's free online video service is now making its library available to Canadians. It offers a changing selection of classic TV and movies. (All in the Family, The Three Stooges, Sanford & Son, etc.) (Available for Android and Apple IOS through Google Play or the iTunes App Store, or through crackle.com.)

And to help make TV viewing even better:

LCBO
This is a cool companion. Look up products, set favourites and even check inventory levels at the nearest store. (Available for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad through the iTunes App Store or at lcbo.com.)

iHandy Level
These days, flat-screen TVS tend to be mounted on walls. Level on on the level is an app away with this free app. Available for iPhones, iPod Touch and iPad only. (Available through iTunes or at ihandysoft.com.)

(First published in Hamilton Man Magazine c/o The Hamilton Spectator - Summer 2012.)

Breath of fresh airwaves at CHCH

ON SCREEN:
The resurgence of CHCH

ONLINE:
chch.com

Breath of fresh airwaves

On the verge of extinction two years
ago, Hamilton's CHCH staked its
future on news. It was a good move.

By Eric Kohanik

The Jackson/Hunter Street home of Hamilton TV station CHCH seem a lot happier and more upbeat these days.

“It’s nice to be at a place now that is expanding and growing and hiring, rather than one that is imploding,” confides Brian Wood, a veteran on-air personality. “I’m very pleased to see it like that — and to be still a part of it.”

“There’s a big difference now,” echoes camera/microwave operator Nick Garbutt, another senior staff member. “It’s almost like the old days. Being independent again, decisions get made right away, here rather than at ‘corporate.’ Because this is ‘corporate’ now.”

It’s been a little more than two years since a small, relatively unknown Toronto-based media company named Channel Zero Inc. breathed new life into CHCH, bringing the beleaguered station back from the brink of broadcast extinction.

According to figures obtained from CHCH, the station has 141 full-time jobs on its payroll now, roughly a 20-per-cent increase from the 117 full-timers in 2009.

Today, CHCH is healthy again, insists Cal Millar, Channel Zero’s president and chief operating officer.

“We’re really thrilled with how it’s going,” Millar explained during a recent telephone interview from his Toronto office. “The progress, over two years, has been fairly steady. It’s going well in terms of viewership.It’s going well in terms of the kind of programming we’re doing. It’s going well in terms of the team in Hamilton. It’s going well in terms of the new shows we’ve launched. It even went well in the digital transition, the million-dollar-plus investment we made in new transmitters across the province.”

Numbers from BBM, Canada’s ratings service, bear that out. CHCH’s 6 p.m. newscast often pulls in anywhere from 100,000 to 140,000 viewers per night in the Toronto-Hamilton extended market. Both the 6 p.m. and11 p.m. newscasts regularly beat out those from CBC, CP24 and Citytv. In fact, CHCH’s newscasts usually rank third, behind CTV and Global, and sometimes even outperform Global enough to land in second place.

And although the balance of CHCH’s schedule may not be breaking ratings records, the shows are managing to hold their own.

“We’re sustainable at this point,” says Millar. “Nobody’s getting rich over night, but we’re making money.”

The story of CHCH-TV has been one of tremendous ups and downs. “Lucky Channel 11” signed on the air in1954 as a CBC affiliate before becoming English Canada’s first independent station in 1961.

Building its fortunes and audience with a lot of local programming, the channel grew in popularity during the1960s and 1970s. In 1982, it expanded its horizons further, becoming a superstation distributed across Canada via satellite.

During the past two decades, increased competition and changes in ownership and on-air IDs — TV 11, ONtv, CH, E!, CHCH News — were accompanied by a steady stream of budget cuts and staff reductions that eventually gutted the station.

CHCH was on the verge of being shut down in 2009 when Channel Zero acquired it, along with Montreal’s CJNT-TV, from the bankrupt broadcasting division of what was then the Canwest media empire.The total cash price of the deal: $12 — which included an $11 price tag for CHCH.

“We had to pick a number for allocation purposes,” Millar recalls with a chuckle. “We thought it was so cool to buy Channel 11 for $11.”

In reality, the investment was substantially more. The deal saw Channel Zero assume the assets and, more significant, the considerable fiscal liabilities of both stations.

Sept. 1, 2009 the revamped CHCH was launched, with a new “Your Superstation” moniker and a new on-air look inspired by a logo from the past.

The relaunch also banked on a schedule heavily weighted with local news.

For the CHCH news team, it was an exhilarating vote of confidence.

“As you can imagine, there was a lot of excitement,” CHCH executive producer John McKenna said during an interview inside the station’s newsroom. “We were all thinking we were going to lose our jobs. Then, these guys came in and, suddenly, we were not an afterthought. We were the centre of their universe. Suddenly,we were important again.”

CHCH filled evening and weekend schedules with another throwback: classic movies that served as “comfort food” for viewers.

Last season, CHCH expanded its lineup to include such American programs as Chuck, Supernatural, 60Minutes, 48 Hours Mystery, 20/20 and Jimmy Kimmel Live. This fall, the American content grew some more with two new drama series — Hart Of Dixie and The Secret Circle — along with The Insider, a nightly entertainment-news show.

But CHCH has kept “comfort movies” as its evening/weekend centrepiece. It expanded local programming with this fall’s launch of Morning Live First Edition, a 90-minute show that hits the air weekdays at 4 a.m.

The new show means CHCH now airs 84 hours of local programming each week, a milestone the station trumpets as more hours than any other local television station in North America. Although ratings for Morning Live First Edition are still minuscule — about 1,000 viewers each day — Millar is willing to be patient. After all, he says, CHCH’s resurrection has really been a simple process.

“My analogy for a long time was that CHCH was like a tiara that somebody had painted with green paint,”Millar quips. “People thought it was just a plastic throwaway for years.

“All we did was kind of peel the paint off and go, ‘Wow! A nice gem!’

“There is no reason CHCH can’t be the juggernaut it has been in the past.”

The station’s overall reach certainly has that potential. As well as satellite distribution across Canada, CHCH has transmitters that beam its now-digital signal directly over the air into such markets as Ottawa, Windsor, London, Barrie-Orillia and Kitchener-Waterloo.

“We are in four million homes across Ontario and 7.5 million homes across Canada.

“But we also haven’t forgotten our roots. It’s a Hamilton station. It’s relevant from the Humber River to the Niagara River. If you want to call that the Golden Horseshoe, go ahead. But it’s centred on Hamilton.”

(First published in The Hamilton Spectator - November 5, 2011.)

Revenge of the nerds revisited - The Big Bang Theory - originally published Nov. 16, 2007

The Big Bang Theory has come a long way from its early days as a largely underappreciated comedy show.
Originally a Monday night entry, the series is now a cornerstone of Thursday nights on CBS in the U.S. and CTV in Canada.
It wasn't always that way, though.
Back in 2007, when this column originally appeared, the series was adorning the schedule of CTV's minor-league cousin, A-Channel. The network pulled rank since then and has made the series part of its lineup.
Smart move.
Which is why it seems fitting now to take a look back at this column from November 2007.




ON SCREEN:
THE BIG BANG THEORY,
THURSDAYS; CBS, CTV

ONLINE:
cbs.com (U.S.)
ctv.ca (Canada)

BOTTOM LINE:
A SHOW THAT DESERVES
BETTER MARKS THAN IT GETS.


Revenge of the nerds

The Big Bang Theory is really smart in all the
right places. That's why it should appeal to
the geek that lurks within all of us.

By Eric Kohanik

There was this one particular scene back in the Halloween episode of The Big Bang Theory that made me laugh out loud.

Actually, there are a lot of scenes in the show that tend to do that.

If you haven’t seen The Big Bang Theory yet, you should give it a shot. The series revolves around two nerdy geniuses named Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Leonard (Johnny Galecki), who live across the hall from a hot babe named Penny (Kaley Cuoco).

Much of the comedy revolves around how these super-intelligent guys are anything but smart when it comes to basic social skills and human interaction. Sheldon doesn’t really see this as a problem or dysfunction, but Leonard does. He struggles to smarten himself up socially. He is spurred on, in part, by a crush he has on Penny.

In the Halloween episode, Sheldon and Leonard – along with their equally geeky pals, Howard (Simon Helberg) and Rajesh (Kunal Nayyar) – are set to attend a costume party thrown by Penny. After the four guys first meet up wearing the same comic-book-hero costume (The Flash), they regroup wearing a variety of outfits, with Sheldon dressed up as “the Doppler effect.”

Maybe it’s because I was a math and science nerd in high school, but the subtle brilliance of that bit made me laugh. (It would take too long to explain the Doppler effect, so look it up in a dictionary.)

The Big Bang Theory is full of such subtle brilliance, from its title right on down to the names of the two lead characters – a salute to the late Sheldon Leonard, the pioneering TV producer who gave us The Andy Griffith Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Hand the credit for this brilliance to executive producers Chuck Lorre (who is also the creative force behind Two and a Half Men) and Bill Prady. They have delivered a show that is smart and silly in all the right places.

The Big Bang Theory isn’t exactly a big hit. The show averages only 8.9 million viewers a week, putting it in 45th place in the Nielsen ratings in the United States. In Canada, meanwhile, the series plods along on CTV’s second-string team of A-Channel stations.

The show deserves better marks than that. Galecki and Parsons have developed solid and polished comic timing, with Helberg and Nayyar backing them up ably as needed. As for Cuoco, her comedic exuberance always lights up the screen as a nice counterbalance to the dweeb factor on the show.

The Big Bang Theory has surprised me. Initially, I figured this might be one of those shows that was “too smart for the room.”

Fortunately, though, CBS gave the series an early pickup for a full season. Maybe that’s evidence that network TV executives are smarter than we thought.

Or maybe they simply recognized early on that there really is a bit of geek lurking within all of us.

(Originally published in TVtimes - Nov. 16, 2007.)

A Day in the Life of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show - first published Oct. 23, 1999

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has been a regular TV fixture for centuries. Well, actually, only since January 1999. But Stewart has been such a steadfast TV presence since then that it prompted us to take a stroll down memory lane for this feature story, first published in October 1999.
Stewart has been pummelling Conan O'Brien in the latenight TV ratings lately. And because this all still seems so relevant, we take time here and now to revisit a day spent on the Daily Show set in New York City way back during Stewart's first year on the show.

ON SCREEN:
THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART
WEEKNIGHTS;
COMEDY CENTRAL (U.S.)
CTV, THE COMEDY NETWORK (CANADA)

ONLINE:
comedycentral.com
ctv.ca
thecomedynetwork.ca

Headline hunter

Jon Stewart leads the charge
of the night brigade
on The Daily Show

By Eric Kohanik

NEW YORK -- It's 1:30 p.m. on a rainy Monday and, tucked inside the West 154th Street building that houses the studio and offices of The Daily Show, comedian Jon Stewart is munching away on a large order of McDonald's fries before tearing into his Quarter Pounder with cheese.

It's a typical order-in lunch for Stewart as he, executive producer Madeleine Smithberg (who opted for Pad Thai noodles), senior producer Ben Karlin (a deli sandwich) and a gaggle of other staff members race through pages of jokes inside Karlin's office, making selections for the night's show before the script is finalized.

Clad in well-worn blue jeans, and with a white T-shirt under his burgundy V-neck pullover, the ultra-casual Stewart looks more like the guy who was sent out to get everyone's lunches than the anchor/host of one of the hippest news satires on television. And, over the course of a daylong visit to the show's operations, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone around with a disparaging word about Stewart.

"He's incredibly intelligent and has an opinion on things," raves supervising producer Kahane Corn. "He adds so much to the development of each joke."

Adds Smithberg: "Jon has such an incredible breadth of talent. He's a thinker. He brings out the best in everyone."

Stewart is equally generous later, in praising his co-workers. "The talent level, top to bottom," he says, running a hand through tousled, slightly-graying hair, "is the strongest of any show I've been on."

A staple on U.S.-based Comedy Central cable network for three years, The Daily Show joined Canada's primetime lineup, on The Comedy Network, just over a month ago. (It is also getting a special telecast on Ottawa's CTV affiliate, CJOH, this week.) Part talk show (each program contains a four-minute segment with a celebrity guest), The Daily Show is mostly a news parody that takes irreverent jabs at each day's headlines as well as poking fun at the trappings of news shows in general. Editorials and field reports from a team of "correspondents" ridicule people and events in the news, while a "Moment Of Zen" (a slap at CBS Sunday Morning's peaceful closings) wraps up each edition of the half-hour program.

Stewart joined The Daily Show in January, taking over from Craig Kilborn (who jumped over to host CBS's Late Late Show). Unlike his predecessor, Stewart takes an active role (he is also a co-executive producer) in honing each show. He comes into the office around 10:30 a.m. and after that, says everyone, the day flies by with lightning speed as jokes are pitched, comedy routines are worked out, and news footage is tracked down.

On this day, everything has been moved up by a half-hour so Stewart can put in a standup-comedy appearance at the re-opening of Radio City Music Hall. At 3 p.m., he is still polishing one of the day's bits on his computer. Elsewhere in the building, several teams of writers are putting finishing touches on other parts of the show. Rehearsal is scheduled for 5 o'clock. The taping session, in front of an audience of 100, is set for 6 p.m. By 7 o'clock, another edition of The Daily Show will be safely in the can, ready to be beamed out across the U.S. for that night - and off to Canada for the next day.

Inside Stewart's office, empty Coca-Cola cans are scattered about his desk; newspapers clutter the desk and floor. "I'm house-training," he quips."I'm a little embarrassed by this. As you can see, I drink a lot of Coke."

The self-deprecating comedian often has tongue planted firmly in cheek as he answers questions. Some of the chain-yanking is so subtle, it's as though he is testing to see if a reporter might take actually take the answers seriously enough to print them. It's all part of the poke-fun-at-the-media mindset of The Daily Show, and of Stewart.

Born in Trenton, N.J., Jonathan Stewart Leibowitz cut his incisive comedy teeth after college, working at comedy clubs in New York as well as in Winnipeg, Toronto and at the famed Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. Appearances on HBO's Young Comedians Special and CBS's Late Show with David Letterman led to The Jon Stewart Show, a latenight talk show on MTV and, later, in syndication. A stint on The Larry Sanders Show had Stewart, as himself, being groomed to take over for fictitious talk-show host Larry Sanders (Garry Shandling).

Stewart points to Shandling and such other talents as Chris Rock, Norm Macdonald and Dennis Miller as comedians whom he admires. "Those are guys I can watch over and over again," he insists. Off screen, the down-to-earth Stewart prefers keeping a low profile, something he says is easier to do in New York than in Los Angeles. He keeps his daily personal life (with his girlfriend of four years, and their dog and cat) very private and would much rather be "sitting on the couch in my underwear, with a Pepsi and a doughnut, watching SportsCenter eight hours straight," than be part of the social scene that is often a part of the TV industry.

"I'm not a big social guy," he says. "I don't have that constitution where you go out every night and you're at beautiful parties talking to beautiful people. I get tonsillitis too easy for that."

Instead, Stewart keeps himself focused on The Daily Show. "I've got a great gig," he says. "We blast out some stuff and then I go home and do a couple of crossword puzzles, and see if there's a game on, and have some dinner, and go to bed."

Not that Stewart (who turns 37 on Nov. 28) has limited his interests -- or his talents -- to television and standup comedy. A published author (1998's Naked Pictures of Famous People), he also has a list of big-screen acting credits (Big Daddy, The Faculty, Playing By Heart). A production deal with Miramax Films will have him starring in two movies per year, as well as writing and producing several films.

That's a full slate. For now, though, Stewart is intent on just making the satire of The Daily Show sharper each day.

"What we do best is play with convention and, by playing with convention, highlight just the incredible silliness that is 'the [media] machine," Stewart says. "What I really wanted to bring to this was a sense of joy and point-of-view. It was a show that appealed to me. It was one that I thought I could be of service to. It was just going to take time before we gelled.

"And then," he adds with a wink, and with tongue firmly back in cheek, "we really tried to perfect it before sending it up to Canada."

The State of Canada's Media

CHCH TV personality Donna Skelly (right) is spearheading an effort to keep the Hamilton station
alive by putting its ownership in community hands and broadcasting more local news.
The station is one of many news organizations across North America in danger of closing.

A pressman scans the final edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
coming off the press. It is now an online publication.

Are we losing the community voice?

Local news coverage is under threat as
the economic risis rips through media outlets


By Eric Kohanik
Special to The Hamilton Spectator

(March 21, 2009)

There is a massive shift under way at Canada's TV stations and media outlets, and it will profoundly affect how they serve local audiences.

Financially troubled times have decimated newsrooms and threatened to close community-based media outlets.

Under this climate, with its unprecedented issues, the federal watchdog monitoring the Canadian broadcast industry will take up its licensing review of private TV stations next month. The hearings of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will have far-reaching implications. Not only will they examine the heart and economic lifeblood of Canadian TV broadcasting, they will touch on fundamental issues at the core of all media outlets -- journalism and local news.

In fact, the hearings beginning April 27 may be the catalyst that blows the journalistic holes in Canada's media landscape wide open.

The main spotlight will be on Canada's two biggest broadcasting rivals, Canwest Global Communications Corp. and CTVglobemedia Inc., who run the country's two biggest private networks, Global and CTV, as well as two secondary networks, Canwest's set of E! stations and CTVglobemedia's A Channel string.

Among the E! outlets is Hamilton's CHCH.

Both Canwest and CTVglobemedia have been slashing operating, programming and capital costs in recent months, moves that mirror similar cuts by broadcasters in the United States.

The cuts have included significant staff reductions, program cancellations and, in particular, a marked decline in local news coverage.

With stations trimming budgets and staff, reliable TV journalism at a local level is in grave peril. But television isn't the only journalistic arena hit by this. It is affecting local journalism everywhere.

Newspapers and other media outlets across North America have been slashing costs, too. Significant layoffs have occurred at every major Canadian newspaper organization, including The Hamilton Spectator. As a result, what was once reliable, strong and trustworthy professional coverage of local news, issues and even entire communities could soon become extinct on TV screens, websites, radio airwaves and the pages of major newspapers.

Some may blame today's economic downturn, but others say the problem has been brewing for a while.

"Even before the recession, the fundamental question facing journalism was whether the news industry could win a race against the clock for survival," the American-based Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism pointed out this week in its annual State of the News Media report.

That clock may be ticking louder than ever.

Much of the attention at next month's CRTC hearings will focus on the fact that Canada's private broadcasters will likely be vying for only one-year licences for their TV stations, instead of the standard seven-year term. At one time, a one-year licence renewal would have been viewed as a rare and severe reprimand from the CRTC -- a punishment for a station not meeting a fundamental promise of performance. Last month, however, the commission announced it was leaning toward one-year licences at these hearings as a way of grappling with specific issues and with the huge financial upheaval affecting the TV industry.

Figures released by the CRTC last month revealed that the total profits, before interest and taxes, of Canada's 99 private-sector conventional TV stations had fallen to just over $8 million for the year that ended Aug. 31, 2008. That's a 93 per cent drop from the $112.9 million in profits chalked up by 97 stations that existed a year earlier.

Locally, Hamilton's CHCH is projected to lose about $29 million next year, according to material filed to the CRTC to support Canwest's application to renew the station's broadcast licence.

In an e-mail exchange, Canwest spokesperson John Douglas said the five stations in the E! network, including Hamilton, have been consistent money-losers for a decade. Canwest is trying to sell CHCH as it wrestles with a long-term debt of more than $3.4 billion.

Broadcasters will also be asking the CRTC to scale back longstanding requirements for Canadian content, a move that will likely have a profound impact on local programming and news coverage.

In its report last month, the CRTC called out what appears to be a clear financial shift away from local programming.

While the money private broadcasters spent on local and other Canadian programming remained "essentially unchanged" last year, at $619.6 million, Canada's private broadcasters boosted spending on foreign programming by 7.4 per cent, to $775.2 million, on the back of increases the previous year.

That jump prompted the CRTC to announce that it is considering whether broadcasters should be required to spend an equal amount of money on Canadian and non-Canadian programming.

But in this big financial picture, it may not be content spending but acquisition that has done more to put the industry in such poor shape.

In recent years, CTV gobbled up CHUM's radio stations, TV stations and cable networks, while Canwest secured the former Alliance Atlantis cable specialty channels.

In Canwest's case, the debt load of its $2.3-billion deal for Alliance Atlantis is magnified by an additional $3.2-billion tab dating back to 2000, when it acquired a chain of major newspapers across Canada. All of which has sent Canwest officials scrambling to begin selling assets this month and to hammer out a new credit deal with its lenders. Canwest now has until April 7 to reach an agreement.

So, how did Canada's media giants end up in such a mess?

Some might point to years of bad decisions that go all the way to the top, particularly the overzealous spending sprees to acquire American shows, with prices sometimes driven up more by a desire to keep shows out of competitors' hands than by any pressing need to fill actual holes in schedules.

Others might blame technology and the Internet, and the growing generations of consumers who have forsaken traditional mass-media outlets in order to get news and entertainment via personal computers or mobile phones.

That has shifted the focus of the advertising industry to those frontiers. But the economic downturn has also led companies to cut marketing and advertising budgets everywhere. That has put a major squeeze on media companies.

Some might even lay at least part of the fault for the current fiscal mess of Canada's media industry squarely at the feet of government bodies such as the Competition Bureau and the CRTC, which have, over the past few years, approved mergers and takeovers that have led to more and more power -- and more and more debt -- being shouldered by fewer major players.

Of course, the complications that arise from mergers, corporate takeovers and financial meltdowns aren't unique to the media world. The steel industry, retail sector and automotive arena are only some of those suffering similar turmoil.

This time, though, the media world is being dragged into it in a different way than ever before.

The influence of TV's big players now extends far beyond TV boundaries. Canwest's assets include its daily newspapers, while CTVglobemedia's interests include the Globe and Mail and a chain of big radio stations across the country.

Other major conglomerates -- Corus Entertainment Inc., Astral Media Inc., Quebecor Inc., Torstar Corporation, Rogers Communications Inc., Transcontinental Inc. -- have also amassed (with the blessing of almost everyone who had a say) multiple layers of assets in the TV, radio, print and digital worlds.

The result? Whereas the collapse of one company might have had a minimal effect on the overall media landscape in the past, the crumbling of one of them today would have far-reaching aftershocks.

This has put the entire media industry, and perhaps all of journalism, in an unprecedented state of disintegration -- a progression that was gradual but is now magnified by the economic downturn.

So, what's ahead? Once the dust settles, the media landscape may look quite different for consumers.

Newspapers are, perhaps, among the most vulnerable. Across North America, major papers in such cities as Halifax, Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago and Philadelphia have already closed down, ceased physical publication or filed for bankruptcy protection. Others have been put up for sale, with no buyers willing to step up.

"This moment is nothing like any experience any of us have had," Rich Boehne, CEO of the Denver Rocky Mountain News' parent company, E.W. Scripps, told staff members Feb. 26 as he announced that the 150-year-old paper would publish its final edition the next day. "The industry is in serious, serious trouble."

"I think we have finally arrived at the point where newspapers are going away," Michael Wolff, the founder of a news website called Newser.com, told CBS News correspondent Jeff Greenfield last month in a TV report on the state of the newspaper industry. But Wolff didn't see that as a problem when it comes to consumers getting news and information.

"From a consumer's point of view, it's kind of heaven," Wolff said. "There is so much more of it, and it's so much cheaper, that I would be hard-pressed to argue that, in information terms, we are losing anything."

Although information may be plentiful in today's multimedia world, much of it is the same. Fewer and fewer media are controlling more and more of the message. And while the power bases have grown, the individual local voices that make each of them unique are dwindling.

"By our calculations, nearly one out of every five [American] journalists working for newspapers in 2001 is now gone," the Project for Excellence in Journalism points out, "and 2009 may be the worst year yet."

It could mean a dramatic shift in who is covering local news and how. Two years ago, local news website Pasadenanow.com, based in Pasadena, Calif., blazed a new trail, and raised eyebrows in the journalism world, by outsourcing its coverage of local city council meetings -- to India, where two reporters would write stories after watching webcasts of council meetings and interviewing Pasadena's councillors by e-mail.

In the TV world, Canwest and CTVglobemedia both announced strategic reviews of their E! and A Channel stations, with the eventual aim of selling or closing some of them. In fact, CTV recently revealed that it wouldn't even seek a licence renewal next month for its affiliate in Brandon, Man., or for its A Channels in Wingham, Ont., and Windsor and a repeater station in Wheatley, Ont. Unless buyers come out of the woodwork, they will all close down at the end of August.

On the Canwest front, some or all of the E! outlets could face a similar fate. It's forcing some to look at a new form of media ownership.

Donna Skelly, co-host of CHCH's Live At 5:30, has been spearheading a business model that could put station ownership into community hands, filling the station's schedule with mostly local news programming.

The proposal would see the station funded by contributions from the community or other partners, along with an annual grant from the Local Programming Improvement Fund, a pool of money which the CRTC will set guidelines for at next month's hearings.

"I really do think that this is going to be what we have to do in order to grow local news and to protect local news," Skelly explained during a recent interview. "The only unique part of programming today is news. Otherwise, any other show you can pretty much get, whether it's on an American station or a Canadian station, or both.

"By going back to local content, you are carving out a niche. You are tapping into a market that [network executives] have ignored."

- - -

The chopping block

Already Closed

Major Canadian and American daily newspapers that have recently ceased publication:

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: March 17, 2009
Rocky Mountain News (Denver): Feb. 27, 2009
Albuquerque Tribune: Feb. 23, 2009
Baltimore Examiner: Feb. 15, 2009
The San Juan Star (Puerto Rico): Aug. 29, 2008
South Idaho Press (merged with Twin Falls Times-News): August 2008
Capital Times (Madison, Wis.): April 26, 2008
Halifax Daily News: Feb. 11, 2008
Cincinnati Post/Kentucky Post: Dec. 31, 2007
King County Journal (Kent, Wash.): Jan. 21, 2007

Under Bankruptcy Protection
The Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul)
Tribune Company (publisher of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and 10 other daily newspapers)
Philadelphia Newspapers (publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News)
The Journal Register Company (publisher of the New Haven Register and 19 other dailies)

- - -

See this story at the website of The Hamilton Spectator:

http://www.thespec.com