Ten-screen multiplex outside Ottawa follows recent growth in Manitoba

British historian Niall Ferguson will deliver the keynote address at the History Makers conference early next year, putting the current market turmoil into historical perspective

CBC political special faces controversial organ-donor show from the Netherlands

New ‘shockumentary’ series to bring Ripley’s Believe It Or Not back to screens for third time

Shaftesbury hands world rights for forthcoming series to ITV Global Entertainment

Veteran casting director Marsha Chesley is casting for more credit.

I mean no disrespect when I say that, upon arriving at the Off Camera exhibition at Filmport, I was surprised by the impressive quality of the art on display.

Canadians love dancing. Or so says Yahoo! Canada’s Buzz Index. The list of the most-searched television shows for the three weeks ending Sept. 26 found Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance Canada leading among ‘top shows overall’ and ‘top new show,’ respectively. Both air on CTV.

• Empire Theaters has added two locations in Manitoba to its chain, buying theaters in Brandon and Winkler from co-owner Landmark Cinemas. Effective Oct. 31, the Halifax-based chain will be full owner of the nine-screen Capitol Theatre in Brandon and the five-screen Southland Theatre in Winkler, a small city of some 10,000 people to the southwest of Regina.

• David Kines, one of the driving forces behind MuchMusic, has stepped down as SVP of the Much MTV Group at CTVglobemedia. There are no plans to replace Kines. Much MTV Group SVP and GM Brad Schwartz will continue to oversee the channels.

• Kat Dennings has joined the cast of Defendor, putting the female half of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist on screen with Sandra Oh and Woody Harrelson. The picture, produced by Nicholas Tabarrok of Darius Films and set to start in Toronto next month, casts Dennings as a street kid who befriends a man, Harrelson, who believes he is a superhero called Defendor. Oh plays the man’s psychiatrist. Dennings is represented by Mick Sullivan at CAA. Jeremy Plager at CAA reps Harrelson, while Oh is with Marsha McManus of Principal Entertainment. Feature first-timer Peter Stebbings will direct from his own script.

Even those of us who watch TV for a living (Jealous? Don’t be) can’t keep up with all the new shows on the air this time of year. So instead of watching them ourselves, we outsourced the job to you, our readers, and asked: