BriouxTV: The Podcast

To see your way clear to a new spin on a cop show is not easy. Sisters Karen Troubetzkoy and Nikolijne Troubetzkoy, series creators who've proven themselves on hits such as Orphan Black and Transplant, looked within themselves for inspiration.Karen, or Kat, has struggled with vision loss requiring multiple surgeries since her twenties. Her story led Kat and Niko to come up with a unique angle: what if a homicide detective suddenly became clinically blind? Could she team up with a remote, seeing eye partner to continue solving cases?That's the premise behind Sight Unseen, premiering Sunday, January 21 on CTV. The Vancouver-based drama stars newcomer Dolly Lewis as homicide detective Tess Avery. When her sight becomes badly clouded in the middle of a police chase, she relies on an app that links her to a remote seeing eye guide who lives 3000 miles away named Sunny (Agam Darshi). Together, they make a  surprisingly effective team. Sight Unseen, which moves to Monday nights on CTV (and eventually The CW), is a surprisingly suspenseful series. Kat and Niko explain how it all came about in this equally edge-of-your-seat podcast episode!  

Series creator and star Mark Critch needed to replicate the bridge of the original Star Trek Enterprise for a fantasy sequence on his St. John's-based sitcom Son of a Critch. The episode airs this Tuesday, January 16 on CBC. Who did Critch beam aboard to do the job? None other that my guest this week on brioux.tv: the podcast, Mark Steel. True, that name sounds more like a Marvel superhero than a  production designer. Steel, however, has been crafting the look of everything from phasers to flight decks as the production designer on the Toronto-based Paramount+ series Star Trek: Discovery.Emmy nominated for his TV work, he was also the production designer of The Umbrella Academy and an Art Director on What We Do in the Shadows as well as Heroes Reborn and Beauty and the Beast. Raised in Ottawa, Steel got his start back in the '90s as a set decorator on the original Kids in the Hall series, which he says was pretty much a great party every live taping.Set phasers for stun as he talks about how he got into the business and  how he brought the Enterprise to Newfoundland, one retro scene at a time. As Spock would say, "Fascinating."

When you are casting a he/she series, chemistry is everything. The producers behind the new Vancouver-based cop/caper hour Wild Cards struck gold with their leads: Vanessa Morgan (Riverdale) and Giacomo Gianniotti (Grey's Anatomy). He plays a by-the-books, wrongfully accused cop trying to clear his name after being demoted to harbour duty. She plays a daring schemer who can con her way out of just about any corner. When the two are thrown together to solve a case, these wild cards make for a pair of Aces. Surprisingly, when it came time to cast this series, the two actors did not meet in person for their initial chemistry read together -- they performed it over a zoom call.Gianniotti, who was born in Italy and raised in Toronto, agrees that zoom casting and/or chemistry reads can be "difficult and strange."  TV being an international business, however, the two were in different cities and had to try the remote route. Meeting for the first time over Zoom, however, didn't dampen their natural  connection."It helps when you're actually friends and get along great with your co-star," says Morgan, who was born in Ottawa and was also featured on The Shannara Chronicles. The former Junior Miss America might also be familiar to fans of The Amazing Race Canada. She and her sister Celina placed third in the very first season of that series.Wild Cards boasts another Ace in recurring star Jason Priestley. The series premieres January 10 on CBC and CBC Gem and Jan. 17 on The CW.

Two thousand and twenty-three was a challenging year in the TV business. Inflation and higher interest rates had consumers thinking twice about streaming subscriptions. The writers and actors strikes put a cork in the content pipeline. Peak TV seemed to slip back from the summit.The big success story in Canada, however, was the rapid growth of Pluto TV. In one year, the Free Ad-supported Streaming Television platform went from zero to pacing at over one billion total viewing minutes monthly. That rapid success might have had something to do with their catchy slogan: "Stream now, pay never." What drew viewers to visit Pluto? A robust menu of fan favourites from the Paramount pipeline, including hits from the Star Trek franchise, CSI, NCIS, South Park, Doctor Who, Frasier, Cheers -- even Dora the Explorer.On this episode, Doug Smith, SVP, Streaming and Content Licensing, Paramount Global, and Katrina Kowalski, SVP International Content Programming and Acquisitions, explain how they helped put Pluto TV in orbit and how they'll keep it growing in 2024.

Giddyap, pardner. This week's episode of brioux.tv: the podcast takes a deep dive into everything you need to know about collecting your favourite TV shows on DVD. My guest is archivist, curator and classic TV expert Andrew J. Klyde, executive producer of Bonanza: The Official Complete Series.For many boomers, Sunday nights were spent with your family crowded around the one set in the house watching Disney, Ed Sullivan at 8 and then at 9, Bonanza. Throughout its 14-season, 431-episode run, Bonanza was the most-popular TV series of the 1960s.Besides making sure every episode was restored and transferred from 35 mm camera negatives, Klyde packed extras and bonus materials into the Bonanza Complete Series DVDs. The result is a Master Class on the history of 20th century television. For example: In digging through the background of Ottawa-born actor Lorne Greene, not the first choice to play ranch patriarch Ben Cartwright, Klyde sourced and added rarely seen profiles and documentaries from the CBC and other Canadian sources. He even added an interview I did back in 1991 with Michael Landon, who played Little Joe on the series and went on to Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven. Sadly, Landon died of cancer three months after we spoke.I'm proud to play a small role in such a handsome salute to this series.  Listen as Klyde takes us back to the Ponderosa with dozens of behind-the-scenes stories. Then if you have a classic TV fan on your Christmas list, take note: Bonanza: The Official Complete Series DVD set is on sale now at Amazon.

At brioux.tv, most podcasts deal with the people who make television memories. What about, however, people who collect TV memorabilia? We’re talking toys and games, trading cards, comic books, autographs and puzzles?Meet Canada keeper of every boomer’s childhood memories: Bruce Button. For close to 50 years, Button has been buying, selling and curating TV merch, specialising in pop memorabilia from the ‘60s. On this podcast, I visit his Hamilton, Ont., house, where four rooms are jammed full of Man from U.N.C.L.E. posters, Hogan’s Heroes and Beverly Hillbillies lunch boxes and board games based on everything from The Addams Family and Alf  to Snagglepuss and Stingray. His collection doesn't stop there. His Beatles, Charlie Brown, Marx Bros. and Three Stooges goodies, not to mention his comic book, TV Guide and record collections, could fill at least one room alone.If, like me, you still have a full set of Batman cards from the ‘60s, or a Kenner’s Give-a-Show Projector – or even if you simply know what those things are – you’ll want to listen in as Button gives a guided tour of his broadcast booty. His stories about meeting everyone from Channel 47’s Chuck the Night Watchman (Chas Lawther) to Tiny Tim are, well, one-of-a-kind.If you want to see some of his treasures, check out the photos posted at brioux.tv.

When he was asked to be president of the Toronto Film School a few years ago, Andrew Barnsley wasn't sure if he could take the job. After all, he was the executive producer of three network sitcoms at the time: Schitt's Creek, JANN and Son of a Critch. (A fourth, the reboot of Kids in the Hall on Prime Video, came later.) The Emmy and Golden Globe award winner eventually figured it all out and now has his Emmys for producing Schitt's Creek on display at the Toronto Film School campus. It serves as an inspiration for the young TV and film students looking for a leg up in an industry that keeps booming in Canada -- even as Canadian broadcasters continue to reel from declining ad revenues.Barnsley -- who has lived all across Canada -- is nevertheless bullish on our TV business. He offers encouragement to those entering that field. He also talks about that thrilling Emmy sweep a few years ago, seeing Son of a Critch take on the American market on The CW and the clever way Eugene Levy convinced nervous network executives to not change the name of Schitt's Creek.

The strikes are over. How will this affect the future of television? Who better to ask than Mister John Doyle?The retired and distinguished Globe and Mail TV columnist returns to brioux.tv: the podcast to share his savvy and unfiltered take on the crazy business of television. On this episode we tackle the following topics:The impact of the writers and actors strikes on the Canadian TV industry. (Our conversation took place hours before the U.S. guilds announced a deal had been done.)Which late night talk show has emerged as the best of the bunch since the writers' strike was settled?True or false: Bill Maher is a beacon of light in a sharply divided world.Which of these Canadian shows, either already cancelled or in their final seasons, will Doyle miss the most? Transplant, Letterkenny, ET Canada or Sort Of?Why do surveys show viewers are ditching newscasts? Maybe it is because,  as Doyle argues, in the case of Toronto news, they are missing the story.Where did all the TV critics go?All that and more in a rollicking-good TV shellacking. Don't miss it!

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for Canada's first lady of entertainment news, Cheryl Hickey. The big hit was learning that the series she has hosted for 18 seasons, ET Canada, was being shut down by Corus Entertainment. Hickey admits the move, which took effect Oct. 6, caught her as much by surprise as it did others in the industry.The native of Shallow Lake, Ont. a very small town near Owen Sound, started her career at Global 24 years ago. That's pretty much the last time I interviewed her. That interview took place at five thousand feet -- Hickey was a helicopter reporter at the time!This relaxed and fun chat was much more down to earth, with Hickey walking me through her star-studded career. I quiz her on her many Hollywood encounters and her stories about Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Quincy Jones and Kiefer Sutherland are all red carpet worthy.Hickey's own story is loaded with drive, determination, hutzpah and plenty of family support. Her aspirations and example should encourage others in Canada to reach for the stars -- even though her series no longer will. What's next for Hickey? She doesn't tell me everything now, but I'm looking forward to our next conversation.

He's directed Drake, Rihanna, Kanye West, Justin Bieber and Jay Z. Now, Julien Christian Lutz, a.k.a. Director X, puts a Hip Hop spin on a legendary folk hero with  Robyn Hood. The Young Adult drama airs Friday nights on Global and can also be streamed on Stack TV.This episode, we hear from two of the key players on the new series: Jessye Romeo, a young, British actress who plays Robyn -- a masked, hip hop vigilante and leader of The Hood. She's out for justice with her family and friends who are all under attack in their besieged, low-income housing development, Sherwood Towers.Out to tear them all down is evil developer John Prince, who is in cahoots with the nasty Sherriff of New Nottingham. Before you can say, "Premier Doug Ford," this shot-in-Toronto modern-day parable seems ripped from today's headlines.The vision behind it all is co-creator, producer and Director X, who explains on this episode how this series came about, why Romeo is perfect in the role and how he first got into directing music videos for today's biggest superstars. Plus he sings a few bars of his all-time favourite TV theme song -- and, yes, you will be surprised by the song he selects.