CBC launched its updated version of The National on Monday night, featuring four hosts, broadcasting from three cities. Adrienne Arsenault and Ian Hanomansing are based in Toronto, Rosemary Barton in Ottawa and Andrew Chang in Vancouver. The relaunch includes National-branded stories airing throughout the day on CBC News Network and online, in addition to an increased digital presence with podcasts and a daily digital newsletter penned by former Maclean’s correspondent Jonathon Gatehouse. The new set includes items paying homage to the show’s history including Peter Mansbridge’s TV and a pair of Knowlton Nash’s glasses.
Russell Peters makes his debut in his first scripted leading TV series role in The Indian Detective on Nov. 23 on CTV. The show’s cast also includes William Shatner, Christina Cole (Casino Royale, SUITS), Hamza Haq (mother!, QUANTICO), and Bollywood star Anupam Kher (The Big Sick, Silver Linings Playbook). Shot in Cape Town, Toronto, and Mumbai, the four-part, one-hour, comedy-drama follows Toronto cop Doug D’Mello (Peters) as he becomes embroiled in a murder case while visiting his father in Mumbai.
Kelly Clarkson will host the first-ever iHeartRadio Jingle Ball North broadcast on CTV Dec. 17. The two-hour special will be taped at iHeartRadio Canada’s second annual Jingle Ball event at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre on Dec. 9, which is already sold out. The holiday concert features performances from Clarkson, as well as Backstreet Boys, Cardi B, Fergie, Fifth Harmony, Noah Cyrus, Post Malone, Jessie Reyez, Ria Mae and Virginia to Vegas.
Portfolio Entertainment has added the CBC Kids-commissioned animated mystery-adventure series Addison to its distribution catalogue. From executive producer Charles Bishop of Halifax’s Six Eleven Media, the series follows the seven-year-old title character, a female inventor, who loves to solve mysteries. Portfolio has acquired the worldwide rights to the series outside of Canada, with season one (20 x 11’) currently available and season two (30 x 11’) beginning production in early 2018.
Cineplex and the National Football League (NFL) have announced a three-year sponsorship agreement that will bring Sunday Night Football and the Super Bowl live to Cineplex theatres across Canada. In addition to the cinema broadcast, the agreement also includes access to NFL brands and trademarks, and event sponsorship and marketing opportunities. Premiering in-theatre as NFL Sundays at Cineplex on Nov. 12, NFL games will be broadcast live to 15 theatres across Canada initially and expand to 50 locations for Super Bowl LII. Tickets will be $5. As part of the partnership, WorldGaming, Cineplex’s eSports division, will execute a series of online and offline Madden tournaments for NFL fans across Canada.
Global will pause at 11 a.m. on Remembrance Day across its television channels, radio stations, online and social media platforms. The network will air Canada Remembers, anchored by Global National’s Dawna Friesen, featuring special coverage of the annual Remembrance Day service from the National War Memorial in Ottawa. In addition, Global stations in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver will provide commercial-free coverage of local Remembrance Day services. Canada Remembers will also be livestreamed on Globalnews.ca, Facebook Live and Periscope (Twitter).
CTV News special Remembrance Day 2017 will air, beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET, on Nov. 11 on CTV, CTV Two, CTV News Channel, and livestreamed on CTVNews.ca, CTV.ca, the CTV GO app, and the CTV News GO app. Helmed by Lisa Laflamme from Ottawa’s National War Memorial, the 90-minute broadcast will also feature CTV News’ Chief Political Commentator Craig Oliver; veterans advocate Master Cpl. (ret’) Paul Franklin, who served in Afghanistan and lost both legs in a roadside suicide bombing; and award-winning author and historian Charlotte Gray. CTV London Bureau Chief Paul Workman will report live from Belgium, where there are commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele. Viewers in Toronto (CP24) and Vancouver will also be able to tune in to live coverage of local ceremonies.
CTV has unveiled the 30 artists who’ll be featured on the inaugural season of its forthcoming music competition series The Launch. Hand-picked from more than 10,000 emerging Canadian performers, the artists were selected following an international casting call and extensive A&R and review process. The series follows the performers as they vy for the chance to record a new original song written by a world famous songwriter/producer and be mentored by a panel of music industry legends. You can read more at CTV.ca/TheLaunch.
Lisa Rose Snow, Reem Morsi, and Aubrey Arnason are the successful candidates for the third round of the 2xMore Directors Lab. They’ll be taken through prep, production and post-production on three episodes of Sinking Ship Entertainment’s Dino Dan franchise, Dino Dana, in the lead up to directing an episode of their own. Launched at Prime Time in 2016, 2xMore is part of a multi-tiered initiative by Women in View to double the number of women directing Canadian media.
Women In Animation (WIA) will be launching a Vancouver chapter in January. The Canadian arm of the nonprofit will be committed toward achieving its 50/50 by 2025 initiative, which aims for gender parity in the animation sector. It will be headed by a governing board including Molly Mason-Boule of Electronic Arts Worldwide Studios, Animal Logic COO Sharon Taylor, and Michelle Grady, senior VP of production at Sony Pictures Imageworks.
