Yearly Archives: 2015

Canada's Smartest Person

CBC unveils Canada’s Smartest Person first round competitors

From a media release:

CBC’s ultimate competition series, CANADA’S SMARTEST PERSON returns for its second season on Sunday, October 4 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT), hosted by Jessi Cruickshank and featuring an all-new roster of competitors and exciting celebrity guest judges. Thousands of Canadians applied and underwent a series of rigorous tests for the chance to compete in this epic intelligence showdown. Each week, a diverse group of Canadians including a CFL player, cheerleader, Youtube star, matchmaker, police officer and more battle it out for the chance to be crowned “Canada’s Smartest Person.”

In the season premiere, 16-year-old wunderkid Maya Burhanpurkar of Orillia, ON, rapper Anthony Craparotta(aka iLLvibe) of Toronto, ON,  diversity executive Richard Pinnock from Montreal, QC and new mom Jessica Joy of Golden, BC  go head-to-head, competing  for a spot in the finale and their chance to take home the coveted title. Amber Marshall star of CBC’s hit family-drama HEARTLAND is the season’s first celebrity guest star.

CANADA’S SMARTEST PERSON is an innovative, original competition series based on the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Each week, four participants compete in a series of challenges in six areas of intelligence (linguistic, logical, visual, physical, musical and social) that redefines smart. This season features even more action-packed competition marked by bigger, bolder, mind-bending challenges that push participants to their limits. It also includes an all-star line-up of celebrity judges including CBC sports host Scott Russell, comedian Mary Walsh (This Hour Has 22 Minutes), celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, actor Alan Thicke (Unusually Thicke), choreographer Sean Cheeseman, comedian Steve Patterson (The Debaters), actor Dan Levy (Schitt’s Creek), sports anchor Dan O’Toole (Fox Sports), singer Jully Black, Toronto International Film Festival artistic director Cameron Bailey, chef Mark McEwan and the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Sean O’Neill (Crash Gallery).

Each week, viewers can play along in real-time with the ground-breaking CANADA’S SMARTEST PERSON app, available for iOS and Android devices. The app syncs to every broadcast allowing viewers to participate with each challenge in the show in real time. During the week, viewers can try their hand at a series of bonus challenges and new this season, is Head2Head, which allows players to dual against their family and friends.

CANADA’S SMARTEST PERSON airs Sundays at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) on CBC-TV beginning October 4.

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Uncategorized

Link: First Dates Canada results are “awesome”

From Erica Gordon of Van City Buzz:

“First Dates Canada” filmed over 300 Vancouverites on real first dates and the result was awesome
It’s incredibly interesting to watch a real first date take place. First Dates Canada is a documentary series that airs on Slice every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Filmed by more than 40 remote cameras capturing every moment, this hilarious and charming series observes Vancouver singles on real first dates at the trendy Earls Yaletown restaurant. Continue reading.

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Amazing Race Canada

Link: Behind the scenes of The Amazing Race Canada

From Bill Brioux in the Toronto Star:

Behind the scenes of The Amazing Race Canada
Ask the contestants: The Amazing Race Canada is a killer. In and out of airplanes and taxi cabs, crossing international borders, jogging up mountains and through crowded city streets. Now imagine doing it backwards while filming with a heavy TV camera, all while keeping everything in perfect focus — for up to 14 or 15 hours a day. Continue reading.

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Featured, Industry News

No, Buzzfeed didn’t love 22 CBC shows, but that’s ok

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It’s hard to write this without coming across as sarcastic, but I mean it genuinely: It’s a stroke of genius that CBC paid to post their own Buzzfeed list “22 CBC Shows Every Canadian Needs in their Life” as a brand publisher and is now paying to promote it on Twitter as Buzzfeed’s list.

I’ve seen several examples featuring different listed shows, written as if it’s not CBC’s own content they’re shilling:

Advertorials aren’t new, though there are fancy new names for them, like branded content. But the CBC to Buzzfeed to Twitter path takes advantage of this new-fangled social media thing in a way Canadian networks and shows haven’t always done well. It also takes advantage of the fact that few people click on the link to read the actual story and even fewer pay attention to the byline. So most Twitter users who see the promoted tweets, whether they click or not, will assume Buzzfeed has endorsed the featured show instead of that CBC is paying both Buzzfeed and Twitter to imply Buzzfeed endorsed it.

With 22 shows to feature (22? seriously? isn’t that everything CBC produces?) they’re making sure they get a lot of bang for that advertising-dressed-up-as-earned-media buck.  This is the kind of advertising that could reach people who aren’t already the captive CBC audience.

And if you read the advertorial and didn’t realize it was one? There was no actual deception, and it’s caveat emptor on what we buy in our information-saturated lives. Plus the worst that can happen is it makes you check out a CBC show you might not have heard of before. And after all 22 start airing, maybe someone paid by Buzzfeed will like some of them enough to write about them, too.

 

 

 

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Featured, Polls, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary, The Romeo Section, This Life

Poll: Which new Canadian fall TV programs will you be watching?

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Earlier this month, we asked which three Canadian television series you were most excited about returning—congratulations Murdoch Mysteries fans—and now it’s time to gauge interest in the rookies stepping up to bat over the next two months.

From Canadian comfort food to spies, from Tornado Hunters to Ice Racers, which three (3) new programs are you planning to watch? We’ve included summaries of each series below the choices to help you decide; check out our handy calendars to see when they debut.

(Vote by clicking the box next to your three choices and then selecting the Vote box to the right of Tornado Hunters.)

Which new Canadian fall TV shows are you planning to watch?

  • Tornado Hunters, CMT (54%, 344 Votes)
  • Crash Gallery, CBC (10%, 66 Votes)
  • The Romeo Section, CBC (8%, 48 Votes)
  • Ice Racer Showdown, CMT (7%, 42 Votes)
  • This Life, CBC (6%, 41 Votes)
  • Keeping Canada Alive, CBC (6%, 38 Votes)
  • Great Canadian Cookbook, Food Network (5%, 33 Votes)
  • Incredible Food Race, Food Network (4%, 24 Votes)

Total Voters: 482

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Crash Gallery
In this competition program, a trio of Canadian artists have just minutes to create an original piece of art using outrageous mediums in front of an audience who vote for the best piece. Hosted by the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Sean O’Neill.

Great Canadian Cookbook
Celebrity chef Lynn Crawford and Carnival Eats host Noah Cappe travel across the country, meeting Canadians who are passionate about the local dishes they prepare and celebrating the cultural mosaic of those recipes.

Ice Racer Showdown
Five drivers risk life and limb race vehicles through an icy obstacle course. Hosted by The Road Hammers’ Clayton Bellamy.

The Incredible Food Race
ET Canada‘s Rick Campanelli and celebrity chef Corbin Tomaszeski star in this culinary competition where two Canadian families compete to create a kid-approved meal.

Keeping Canada Alive
Narrated by Kiefer Sutherland, this documentary series spotlights a 24-hour period in Canada’s health care system.

The Romeo Section
Created by Chris Haddock (Intelligence, Da Vinci’s Inquest), The Romeo Section explores the life of Wolfgang McGee (Andrew Airlie), a professor who secretly manages a group of spies. Jemmy Chen, Juan Riedinger, Stephanie Bennett and Eugene Lipinski also star.

This Life
Adapted from the French series, Nouvelle Adresse, This Life stars Torri Higginson as Natalie Lawson, a lifestyle columnist and single mother whose cancer diagnosis affects her and her family. Lauren Lee Smith, Christopher Turner, Rick Roberts, Rachael Crawford and Peter MacNeill also star.

Tornado Hunters
Cameras capture Greg Johnson, Chris Chittick and Ricky Forbes as their put their lives in danger to capture study North America’s tornadoes.

Vote above and comment below!

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