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Simpsons scribe set for Crash
Joel Cohen attached to new cartoon series from Breakthrough
E1 set for Stephen King series
Makers of Dead Zone show reunite for Haven, reworked from novel. Jason Priestley to star in car salesman sitcom for TMN and MC
Discovery Kids going dark
Corus pulling plug on digichannel despite sunny predictions for 2010. Drive-In Classics to be revamped
CTV, Global premieres soar, thanks to PPM
New ratings technology inflates return of House, Grey’s and Survivor — while CSI and Heroes take a dive
YTV gets Naked
Cartoon series from 9 Story gets full-season nod
Rudy Buttignol: Passion for documentaries
Rudy Buttignol may be Canadian broadcasting’s documentary guru but don’t expect him to be pretentious or boring.
Hamilton turns on to news
No one has heard Cal Millar utter the words ‘U.S. network series’ recently, nor will they hear him mention the words anytime soon.
Getting past history
I’ve always believed that a grasp of history is a useful thing. But the truth is, it can be a burden in the world of business.
Online channel gets ready to migrate to TV
Joe Elaschuk, the grizzly young bassist from Toronto indie band Foxfire, enters the recording studio and is asked to run through his part. He glances at the reporters and photographers scattered around the equipment-packed room.
Plaudits for Egoyan, Nadda
Chloe: Atom Egoyan’s latest, which recently unspooled at the Toronto International Film Festival as a gala, garnered much attention (and most of it good) ahead of a Christmas release through E1 Entertainment. The Julianne Moore and Liam Neeson-starring drama is certain to come with commercial success, predicts The Hollywood Reporter, calling it ‘compelling.’ The Toronto Star agrees, labelling Chloe a ‘sleek film’ that should ‘restore Egoyan’s luster at the box office.’ A slightly less enthused review in Screen Daily notes that the characters ‘feel as if they are puppets being manipulated by unseen hands, rather than believable human beings.’
Straight Up & Down
+ Érik Canuel, director of all-time top-grosser Bon Cop, Bad Cop, has lined up his next project, My Oma, with actress Marianne Sägebrecht (Baghdad Café) in the lead. Julia Rosenberg of Toronto-based January Films set up the project as a Canada/Germany coproduction with Germany’s Andro Steinborn, who recently left Berlin-based X Filme International.
Moves & Signings
MOVES
Half staff: Peter Mortimer
The industry lost another vet with the passing of Peter Mortimer early in September. He was 72 and died peacefully, after a battle with cancer, surrounded by his wife Maria Topalovich and their two children, Sasha Bridger and Catherine Mortimer.
Remembering Peter Mortimer
In mid-1991, I was new to the editor’s desk at Playback, having just moved over from reporting for Strategy. Neither that trial-by-fire beginning, nor several years at CBC Radio News had prepared me for Film-and-TV-Industry 101 – a day in the life of a Playback journalist.
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