Rosie O'Donnell's next gig?

Here's one that probably nobody saw coming out of left field, no higher an authority than Bob Barker himself says that Rosie O'Donnell could very well end up as the next host of The Price Is Right!

Barker who recently retired from the show and won yet another Daytime Emmy for his efforts, is a long time friend of O'Donnell's and suggests that the show's producers have a meeting planned with the former co-host of The View.

A decision such as this would of course bring to mind a number of potential changes to the format of the show, considering the fact that Ms. O'Donnell's personality seems to take over the things that she tackles.

Besides the obvious name change to the Price is Left! There could be a few more subtle changes to the long running programs design.

There could be more Broadway themed showcases, the cruises given away might be the ones endorsed by the television star and some of her more controversial contributions to the View may work their way into the show as well.

Maybe she can even bring frequent sparring partner Elisabeth Hasselback along as the counter foil to the showcase, kind of a point /counter point approach to the bidding. "Clearly you're wrong Elisabeth, again", it would add an edgy kind of feel to the bidding process.

But most of all that ages old salutation from Barker will now get a new face and a new direction.

Perhaps an invitation to the audience in the theatre and at home, to "make sure that they spay and neuter their husbands", might soon become the closing lines to America's favourite game show.

Whatever would Grandfather think!

The Tyee has been busy taunting the folks addicted to their television sets with an interesting piece reprinted from The Nation magazine.

In an article titled, Keifer Sutherland, Torture Guy, Jon Wiener examines the current interest in Jack Bauer and his penchant for torture all in the name of protecting the state.

For those that have Fox blocked on their television sets, Bauer (Sutherland) is THE agent of the Counter Terrorism Unit of Los Angeles, and on a weekly basis finds himself in the middle of some rather nasty business protecting America from the Evil Doers.

24 is one of Fox’s most popular programs, a devoted batch of fans who watch in wonder while Bauer gets himself out of one tough situation after another, kind of a MacGyver with a real mean streak and weapons.

The article compares Sutherland’s television persona with his public one, and how he might reconcile the testosterone warrior of CTU with the teachings of his father Donald and grand father Tommy Douglas.

It’s an interesting review of the Sutherland/Douglas family tree and provides some curious facts about the show and its impact not only on American culture, but its political climate as well.

As for Sutherland and his character, the best material ends up in the comments section of the web page link, as is normally the case far too many folks get caught up in the aura of the character and transfer ownership of Bauer to Sutherland.

In the end, Sutherland is an actor and this is a role, he probably has about as much in common with practitioners of torture than Sir Alec Guinness might have had with Nazi's, it might be helpful if some of the more raging of contributors kept things a tad in perspective.

However, it’s all good fun for reading and we provide the article below, the link to the Tyee page and the frequently increasing comments page can be found here.

Keifer Sutherland, Torture guy

How Tommy Douglas's grandkid became poster boy for US anti-terror tactics.
By Jon Wiener
Published: January 18, 2007
The Nation

24 is back on Fox TV. The hit show starring Kiefer Sutherland once again features at least one big torture scene in every episode -- the kind of torture the Bush White House says is necessary to protect us from you-know-who.

The show is much more convincing than the White House at making the case for torture; its ratings have gone steadily up over the last five years, while Bush's ratings have gone steadily down.

In 24, Sutherland plays special agent Jack Bauer, head of the Counter Terrorism Unit. He fights some of his biggest battles not with the dark-skinned enemies trying to nuke L.A., but rather with the light-skinned do-gooders who think the head of the Counter Terrorism Unit should follow the rules.

Back in season four, for example, the bumbling bureaucrats released a captured terrorist before he could be tortured -- because a lawyer for "Amnesty Global" showed up whining about the Geneva Conventions. Jack had to quit the Counter Terrorist Unit and become a private citizen in order to break the suspect's fingers.

Dad Donald protested Vietnam

It's especially unfortunate to see Kiefer Sutherland play the world's most popular torturer -- because his father, Donald Sutherland, has been a prominent antiwar activist since Vietnam days and starred in some great films critiquing fascist politics, including MASH and Bertolucci's 1900 -- and also because Kiefer's grandfather, Tommy Douglas, was Canada's first socialist premier, and was recently voted "the greatest Canadian of all time" -- because he introduced universal public health care to Canada.

The grandson meanwhile is being paid $10 million a season by Rupert Murdoch to shoot kneecaps, chop off hands and bite his enemies to death (Sunday's special thrill).

The show's connection to the Bush White House and the conservative establishment became explicit last June, when Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff appeared alongside the show's producers and three cast members at an event sponsored by the conservative Heritage Foundation to discuss "The public image of U.S. terrorism policy." The discussion was moderated by Rush Limbaugh. The C-SPAN store sells a DVD of the event -- price reduced from $60 to $29.95.

That's entertainment!

Sunday's two-hour premiere again argued not just that torture is necessary but that it works -- and it's also really exciting to watch. The show as usual made the "ticking time bomb" case for torture: we need to torture a suspect, or else thousands, or millions, will die in the next hour.
It's the same case made by Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, who proposed that judges ought to issue torture warrants in the "rare 'ticking bomb' case," and by University of Chicago law professor and federal judge Richard Posner, who has written, "If torture is the only means of obtaining the information necessary to prevent the detonation of a nuclear bomb in Times Square, torture should be used." He added that "no one who doubts that this is the case should be in a position of responsibility."

Thanks to 24, tens of millions of TV viewers know exactly what Dershowitz and Posner are talking about. As Richard Kim pointed out in The Nation in 2005, those are the cases where "the stakes are dire, the information perfect and the authorities omniscient." Of course that's a fantasy of total knowledge and power, and of course the U.S. has never had a real "ticking time bomb" case -- but Jack Bauer faces one every Sunday night on Fox.

Related Tyee stories:

Torture: Hand off, Wash Hands
Canada's Retreat from Laws of War
Harsh Road to Guantanamo

Jon Wiener teaches history at UC Irvine and is a contributing editor of The Nation magazine. This article is distributed by Alternet.org.

It’s Showtime: Television: Shades of Black

His Lordship may not be happy with the portrayal, but Canada’s bigger than life publishing mogul and his wife receive the TV Movie treatment from CTV on Monday night.

In Shades of Black the director Alex Chapple, traces the career paths of Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel, from their early days as ink stained wretches, to the current days featuring a battalion of legal teams looking for a way out of their current tribulations in the USA (making them to some wretches of a different hue).

Along the way Black becomes a Lord and Amiel his happy consort, as they rise to the heights of the newspaper business, only to see things unravel in a most public fashion.

Apparently borrowing some artistic points from Citizen Kane, Shades of Black takes its aim at one of the most controversial Canadians to come along in a very long time. And while Citizen Kane would eventually be counted as one of the great films of our time, Shades of Black is not likely to have the academy on the phone any time soon.

The movie itself is described as a bit of a soap opera that sat in the CTV vaults for over a year while the network tried to figure out what exactly to do with their commissioned piece. It portrays Black as hosting a rather sufficient ego over the years as he ruled his empire to his own fashion. While it remains vague as to his legal troubles of the day (no doubt vetted by some very high priced network lawyers).

It features Albert Schultz as Black, Lara Flynn Boyle as Barbara Amiel and Jason Priestley as a reporter who seems to serve as a narrator of sorts to the Tai of Black. We imagine that if his Lordship actually watches the program then he and Madame Amiel will get a chuckle about a common everyday reporter being granted such an exclusive intercession into their lives.

The Blacks were the fodder for the mainstream and satirical press for years, Frank magazine sold many an issue merely by throwing up a picture of the Lord and his lady on the front page, as anxious media types would scour the pages for the latest scandal mongering tidbit.

It’s not often that the high and the mighty of Canadian society find themselves featured in a two hour movie, what will be interesting to see is whether television can truly capture the air that circulates in that exclusive bastion of Canada.

He doesn’t murmur Rosebud at the end, but perhaps they filmed a few scenes in Rosedale to at least keep the flame of Kane alive in the Canadian version of the publisher who met his comeuppance.

The trials and tribulations of his Lordship debut at 8 pm Monday on your local CTV affiliate. If you find that you have better things to do or wish a more substantial review of His Lordship's life, this piece from the archives of the New Yorker make for a wonderful research paper.

Time to buy a Tivo or learn about that torrents thing

Canada's major television networks are crying the monetary blues. Suddenly no longer the big fish in the small pond, they are finding that those annoying cable channels are not only luring away eyeballs but taking dollars out of their pockets.

So what do you do, when you find that your audience has migrated to greener pastures, well you ask for a share of the pie and a chance to increase the amount of commercials that you show on the programs that fewer seem to be watching. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

Seemingly unaware that it's the content that dictates whether you get an audience, the big networks are making plans to wreak their revenge. An increase of two minutes an hour in advertising, from twelve to fourteen minutes is one idea being tossed around, since the networks say the current twelve isn't enough, after they load the hour with promos for other programs.

The CBC wants the networks to receive fees from the cable and satellite providers, in effect having the public subsidize their product whether they watch it or not.

CTV came up with the wonderful idea of denying their product to the nation, suggesting they will find a way that won't let Canadians time shift their programming choices, a popular utilization of one's cable or satellite programming. That's a hell of a strategy, no you can't watch our show, too bad for you!

It's enough to boggle the mind the whining and sniffling of the culturally protected behemoths. They have had it so good for so long that the potential end of the gravy train has them positively apoplectic.

Corus entertainment finds itself in the unusual position of defending the beleaguered consumer, suggesting that should the plans being bounced around come to fruition, then the growth of the grey market satellite dish will return to the heydays of the early television revolution.

Frankly, I'm waiting for the day when I have complete control over what I want to watch, no tiers of five or six channels simply so I can receive the one I really want to watch. If the networks are silly enough to play hardball, one would think that the Canadian public will demand freedom from the regulatory hell we live in. If a channel or show can't survive because nobody is watching it, why should we subsidize it simply because a bloated industry wants us to?

One has the image of the big networks beginning to resemble that little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike. Technology is changing so fast that the dinosaurs of the entertainment chain don't realize that they are almost obsolete. Broadband streaming, mobile Internet connections, they all suggest a more consumer friendly future, whether the networks like it or not. On any given teenagers computer these days is some kind of program that surfs the net and downloads the latest television shows, regardless of borders, regardless of time and regardless of the hissy fits of network executives. Parents, prepare to learn from your offspring!

Perhaps these networks, many of which simply rebroadcast warmed over American programming as it is, should look in the mirror. If they were providing the kind of programming that Canadians wished to watch, then perhaps their bottom line wouldn't be out there seeking a street corner with a cup and red pen for the book keeping.

Rather than punish their customers as they seem determined to do, they instead should try to lure them back to their offerings by providing something that they may want to watch in the first place.

That's Entertainment

We're cobbling together a new feature for the blog, entertainment information, which at the moment seems to consist mainly of the movie listings at the Prince Rupert Cinemas.

It's still a bit of a work in progress, but the rough idea of what it will look like is out there for your linkage if you so desire. Basically it will list all the links and stories about the movies that come to town.

As things progress we'll add some television information, concert information, PAC Info and such whatever we can keep up to. It will also make for a convenient storage place for the It's Showtime items that I put together every once and a while here on the Podunk site.

You can find the link to the blog on the right hand column called Podunkian Entertainment Marquee. Current information on movies in the city can be found on that blog page at the top of the right hand column.

It’s Showtime: Television: Studio Sixty on the Sunset Strip

Oh, oh, this can’t be a good sign! After a weekend of death rattles along the blogsphere about NBC’s supposed can’t miss hit show of the season, NBC picked this week to have the program disappear from its regular spot.

Normally Studio Sixty on the Sunset Strip airs on Monday nights (Sunday on CTV in Canada), first hint of something was last night when it failed to appear in its regular spot on the Canadian dial. A quick check of the Studio Sixty website informs viewers that tonight NBC would air an episode of its Friday Night Lights show, a program that has been struggling to find an audience despite its good reception from the critics. On the website, an all new episode of Studio Sixty is promised for next week!

For Studio Sixty however, the temporary (they hope) absence from the schedule will not help in the chatter on the internet about its impending demise. The Fox website suggests that the end is very nigh and Slate normally a high end friend to television shows wonders aloud if the show can even be saved!

It was supposed to be the ultimate in television insider shows, A West Wing type of program about a thinly veiled Saturday Night Live sketch show. It featured the drama behind the scenes, the battles for that cutting edge and the sub plot soap operas of the characters. Considering the pedigree it should have been a hit. The West Wing when it first came out was one of those must watch shows, people would block off the hour to watch, or make damn sure the VCR was working and had a tape in it to tape the show.

As the seasons of West Wing went on, the show began to stumble the original producers were tossed overboard and in the end the show was a mere shadow of what it once aspired to be. However that process took a number of years and more than a few Emmy awards to meet its end.

So far Studio Sixty has condensed all of that into less than seven weeks, without the Emmy awards to put on the mantle. The most crushing of lines regarding the show belongs to the above mentioned Fox story, as they put it, "Even worse: no one cares whether or not the people from the Bartlett White House puts on a comedy show. That's what 'Studio 60' is, essentially: the "West Wing" annual talent show. "

And judging by the reaction, a not very good talent show at that!

Last weeks episode was taken to the woodshed over at Television without Pity and you have to wonder if the folks at Brilliant But Cancelled might be planning a revision of their deathwatch odds.

Perhaps the show has gone in for a re-tooling, finding a way to make the show as cutting edge as was promised in those breathless promo days of August and early September.

The show so far has had a few good moments, Matthew Perry has pulled his weight on the show making the most of his character, Bradley Whitford has seemed to be slow out of the gate and truth be told he is still closely associated with his West Wing days, so parts of that character still pop up in his new gig at Studio Sixty.

As has been pointed out in many blog items over the last few weeks, the biggest problem seems to be the section of the program that is dedicated to the actual presentation of a show, it generally falls flat and seems like a tedious waste of television time. Look for the actual show part of the program to take an even greater backseat to the wanderings around the backstage in the episodes to come.

That is if there are many more episodes to come! One hopes that they sort out their problems on the show. Defying the critics of the blogosphere that are calling for an end to the stumbling show.

When Sorkin and Schlamme are on their game, they provide some of the fastest, funniest and provocative television there is, as with anything though when things go off the rails, you’re left with a train wreck.

It’s Showtime: Television: Air Farce

Satire rears its wonderful head once again on the good old CBC and we’re all that much better for it. Once again The Farce is with us, as the gang gear up for another season of mocking the high, the mighty and the flighty.

It debuts each week on Monday nights and repeats again on Friday night, just wrapping up its second week of the season the long lasting satirical show reviewed a week of Canadianna and didn’t disappoint at all.

The players may have changed from the original gang that once performed a live show at our Performing Arts Centre (one of the best programs ever put on there by the way), but the new blood that has joined up are starting to find their groove after some rough spots last year.

With long time vets Roger Abbot, Luba Goy and Don Ferguson , teamed up with relative newcomers Jessica Holmes and Alan Park as well as the latest in Farceheads Craig Lauzon, the program is back to doing what it has always done well, make Canadians laugh at the crazy things that make this country tick.

Week two brought some interesting gems for a laugh starved nation.

Some witty little interview pieces about Michael Ingatieff and Bob Rae the front runners in the seemingly never ending Liberal race.

A terrific knock off on those Mac/PC commercials that seem to dominate my TV set these days, I’m a Liberal, and I’m PC, and from there it’s just good entertainment.

A preview of a new western called Softwood, the deadliest deal to ever come to the West.

They gave us a successful send off on the rush to all news radio in the larger Canadian cities, which seem to mostly feature time checks and teasers for stories that never seem to get told. Good thing that they haven’t heard about the all traffic format in Vancouver, that would be worth a segment all to itself.

The writing is always sharp on the Farce and for the most part the actors do a fine job of their impersonations of those that must be mocked.

For whatever reason, political satire seems to be the thing of gold at the CBC these days,
from the Rick Mercer Report, through 22 minutes and with the Air Farce.

With new material each week, it’s safe to say that there is always something to laugh about, better yet it probably educates Canadians about the issues of the day.

It should be a worrisome thing for the politicians, business leaders and those that have too high an opinion of themselves. We’re watching and laughing, perform at your own peril!

Sometimes the press just isn't that good!

The Onion in its latest webpage, takes on the folks at NBC and their shiny new toy Live from Studio Sixty on the Sunset strip. It's a show that has spawned its own unofficial blog site to go along with the fancy professional NBC website version and the sneaky YouTube stuff that the network puts out now.

For the Onion though, it's a withering glance at the show that got all the pre season hype and hasn't delivered the kind of numbers first anticipated when Judd Hirsch did his angry man scream at the machine rant to kick off the new show.

TV.com weighs in with their own opinions, including some rather mean spirited folks that want the thing axed after five short weeks!

The message boards about the show over at Television without Pity are full of comments suggesting that the last couple of episodes haven't exactly captivated, nor kept the audience either.

For those that missed an episode, they do a marvelous job of retracing the steps of each show, a dedicated bit of Internet usage that shows that some people pay more attention to the shows than others.

But while some are suggesting it's a problem child for NBC, the Brilliant But Cancelled website still has Studio 60 high above the crowd, one of the five top new shows on the tube this year. A position that should give it some breathing room to at least work out the kinks and try to find a focus for the season ahead.

It’s Showtime: Television: Intelligence

CBC’s entry into the prime time crime genre this season is a presentation of the folks that brought us Da Vinci’s Inquest and then the short lived Da Vinci’s City Hall (a show that proved the only thing more destined for the cancellation pile than a Canadian politician, is a TV show about Canadian politicians).

Intelligence is from the creative mind of Chris Haddock, who made Canada’s coroner more popular than Quincy and the CSI guys in the home and native land. This time he explores the world of the federal intelligence agencies, local police forces and the criminal element all crossing paths, using each other towards their own ends.

Airing on Tuesday nights, this week is the programs second episode coming after the two hour movie that first aired earlier this year and repeated again two weeks ago. As we wander the streets of Vancouver our local intelligence operatives are involved in a turf war of their own that would shame your average motorcycle gang. Suspicions of each other by the CSIS' types, the Mounties, the Vancouver Police and even the FBI all seem to have the government officials more concerned about protecting their butts than investigating anything resembling criminal activity.

The anti hero of the show (or maybe he’s the hero we’re still not sure) is Jimmy Reardon played by Ian Tracey, a criminal who stumbled across an important bit of government information (the entire roster of snitches and operatives in the Lower Mainland) which was stolen from intelligence operative Ted Altman's (Matt Frewer) car. An incident which actually did happen a few years ago!

Frewer who is probably best known for his Max Headroom days, still gives off that personna it seems with his character a smarmy backstabbing operative who still has ambitions for a shot at the big prize of his department, ready to topple his boss Mary Spalding (Klea Scott) at every turn.

Using his knowledge for his own good, Tracey plays the Intelligence ops, while they play him for information about rival gangs and criminals. In Intelligence it seems that everybody is using somebody. An honourable profession is certainly isn’t.

It’s a fairly well done tale of intrigue, hypocrisy, greed and crime, one which uses Vancouver to its full cinematic value. The folks at CSIS and the RCMP may not be completely enamored of the production, at times the good guys come across as a tad incompetent and more interested in their careers than in serving the public.

Tracey who played first a cop Da Vinci’s Inquest and then the coroner on Da Vinci’s City Hall, is excellent in his role as the scheming crime boss, who seems to have a better handle on his work than the government does on its tasks.

It’s a fine destination for fans of TV crime that makes you think for your entertainment, keeping track of the different players and how their schemes may be their undoing.

You can join in on the investigation Tuesday nights at 9 on the CBC.

Blink and They’re gone

Sheesh, the new TV season isn’t even a month old and already the Big American networks are dumping shows like unwanted baggage on the Vancouver-Rupert Jazz flights.

CBS has already deep sixed Smith that now former Tuesday night drama that featured Ray Liotta and Virginia Madsen, featuring High Stakes Thieves doing whatever it is that High Stakes thieves will do. Smith apparently couldn't steal enough ratings from the likes of Law and Order SVU and Boston Legal, which took the show to the ratings woodshed.

Filling in for Smith will be re runs of CSI and Criminal Minds, which will fill the gap until the Programming minds at CBS get a handle on the replacement angle. While they may take their time with that, the folks in promotion were quick off the mark, Smith has been purged from the CBS website, maybe another case for Without a Trace perhaps?

NBC has also started one of their shows along the dusty road of television cancellation, banishing Kidnapped off to Saturday nights, a night which has become what is described as a television purgatory, reruns and movies holding down the fort on the night where it seems TV viewing in the US is at its lowest. Kidnapped now walks down that street that is best known as the place where TV shows go to die.

And the much anticipated debut of the Knights of Prosperity has been delayed until the New Year. The comedy about a band of slackers in New York City who rob from the rich, was to debut next week with a guest appearance from Mick Jagger who was to suffer at the hands of the motley crew of thieves. ABC says they are delaying the debut so as to give it a better promotional push away from the frenetic push of premiere weeks.

In its place ABC will trot out another episode of Dancing with the Stars, which is rather appropriated while they dance around the issue of what to do with their new show.

The network changes all fall into place nicely for the folks at Brilliant But Cancelled, a contest that asks it's viewers to pick those shows they expect to bite the dust this year and suggest others that should follow suit.

Whoever, holds the lucky ticket with Smith on it is a winner!

The best ten minute briefing on TV

The Daily Show is mining the mother lode of comedy with the goings on in the world of American politics this week. The scandal that has enveloped the Republican Representative for the State of Florida, Mark Foley has provided no shortage of material for the best writing team on television these days.

What Jon Stewart and his crew put on the air every night must be but a dream for the regular network news shows. Stewart's presentation is fast paced, funny and probably just as informative as the breathless breaking news approach taken by the various news networks in the States.

The first ten minutes of any Daily Show episode probably gives you a very concise bit of information about the hot issue of the day, all while they leave you holding your side from laughing so hard.

This week’s programs have been particularly edgy, as they tackle the Foley scandal and the taking to the lifeboats by the Republicans. The Daily Show frequently exposes the hypocrisy of the political class, doing so in a way that the main networks or cable networks could never do.

They certainly test the bounds of good taste at times, and the material below is truly not for those of a tender young age (unless you’re ready to sit down and explain a lot of things that you might have wished could wait a few years more), but this week’s openings have been hilarious and more to the point, on the money about the scandal that the Republicans probably wish would just go away. Fat chance there.

Here are the Daily Show openings for this week, a collection of material that does much to eviscerate the spin control plans of the politicians before they can even get started.

Many observers in the US fear that too many Americans may be taking too much of their information from the satirical shows, while not tuning into the serious news channels with their extensive research skills and seasoned news veterans.

However, you know maybe the folks at the shows like the Daily Show are much more in tune with fact checking and research than their critics at the news channels might like. Take this bit of hilarity from the Fox Network yesterday, which found the perfect solution for the Republicans on this issue.

Yep when in doubt move the scandal ridden subject over to the other political party; it’s truly Machiavellian in its design.

Republicans, all is not lost, just as long as the fair and balanced (though factually inept) friends of Fox have control over the chyron keys!

A whiff of back bacon

Here's our tracking page for all references Canadianna on the Law and Order trilogies of NBC and other network offerings in the USA.

OCTOBER 27, LAS VEGAS--It took until the very last scene of the show, but Canada had a prime role in the season debut of the show. Star James Caan's character, Ed somehow finds himself going back to his old talent of being a spy and apparent hitman. Going to Morroco to clean up some old business, he sneaks into the country using a Canadian passport.

OCTOBER 4, JERICHO--It's a stretch, but a wee Canadian touch, as one of the youngsters who is surviving the appearance of mushroom clouds around the USA, picked up a snow globe of Niagra Falls that featured the Maid of the Mist, which of course traverses both American and Canadian falls.

OCTOBER 3, LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT--The show opens with a young girl’s cel phone playing a familiar tune, as Oh Canada rings through over and over again as someone tries to hook up with the young gal. The next thing we know our telephone carrying nationalist is dead and the prime suspect becomes her Canadian lover, a married man (to Brooke Shields of all people) who has moved to the Big City from Toronto. Brooke shows some serious temper and tosses her cheating Canadian beau out of the house and the detectives begin to try and work the case. Jason comes across as a rather large jerk but one who's cut loose. The Canadian aspect ends after the Canadian cad comes up with an alibi, our moment in the spotlight over by the twenty minute mark of this week’s program. At this rate our Ambassador to Washington, Michael Wilson will have to try and improve our image on fictional crime shows.

SEPTEMBER 26, LAW AND ORDER: SVU--This episode weaved the tale of a gal with Turner’s syndrome, a condition where a young woman would look to be a young girl. The Canadian connection to the plot was her father apparently scoping out apartments and schools in Vancouver, in order to avoid an ugly custody battle with an ex-wife recently on the scene.

SEPTEMBER 26, LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT--The season debut had a storyline of a teacher that was involved with her student, saw his father killed, framed her husband and hit the road for Toronto. “Oh! Canada, where the age of consent is 14,” was the memorable Canadian quote of the show. That and Logan declaring that he’s a Canadian buff.

Remember Television fans, if you spot an American TV show with a Canadian reference leave us a comment and we'll add it to our list of back bacon bits!

Law and Order: Canada Rules

Well this is getting down right interesting; it could become a pop culture parlour game for Canadian television fans. Count the number of references to Canada during a season of all of the Law and Orders.

As we mentioned last week Dick Wolf’s trilogy of televised law enforcement seems unduly fascinated with Canada these days. Last week it was references to a Canadian theme on both Criminal Intent and SVU. This week it’s once again back to Canada for the hard working investigators at Criminal Intent.

The show opens with a young girl’s cel phone playing a familiar tune, as Oh Canada rings through over and over again as someone tries to hook up with the young gal. The next thing we know our telephone carrying nationalist is dead and the prime suspect becomes her Canadian lover, a married man (to Brooke Shields of all people) who has moved to the Big City from Toronto. Brooke shows some serious temper and tosses her cheating Canadian beau out of the house and the detectives begin to try and work the case. Jason comes across as a rather large jerk but one who's cut loose. The Canadian aspect ends after the Canadian cad comes up with an alibi, our moment in the spotlight over by the twenty minute mark of this week’s program. At this rate our Ambassador to Washington, Michael Wilson will have to try and improve our image on fictional crime shows.

Rene Balcer continues his game of name the homeland with his scripts and for now we’ll have to make do with characters that don’t particularly show our best side of humanity.

This sudden fascination with Canada from Law and Order has me thinking it might be time to keep track of all our cultural asides, so until they stop or I get bored I’ll list them all with A Whiff of Back bacon, which you can find on the right hand links section under Podunkian diversions, play along if you wish, and should other shows highlight their neighbour to the north just leave us a message in the comments section and we’ll add to the list!

It’s Showtime: Television: Rick Mercer Report

All’s well Canada, Mercer is back on duty! One of Canada’s funniest half hours kicked off its new season on Tuesday night, as Rick Mercer once again began his cross Canada journey to uncover the funny bones of Canadians from coast, to coast to coast. Tonight we learned that Mercer makes a pretty crummy Quarterback, as he stepped onto the field at Taylor Field in Saskatchewan.

He does a nice job of poking fun at Joe Volpe's dead man walking campaign for delegates and the current fascination with budget cutting under the Tories.

Tie Domi showed his cultural side with a little side business for place settings, just in time for Thanksgiving (perhaps he’s catering the next Magna function!), and Rick took to the skies above Toronto to wash windows at the Scotiabank tower some 900 feet above the city, or at eyeball level with the CN Tower observation deck.

During the rant it became apparent that there is a serious graffiti problem in the back alleys of Toronto, though with the ease that Rick wanders those alleys one assumes that police protection increases exponentially on taping days.

Mercer’s take on Canada’s characters, issues and foibles has a great bite to go with the laughs, you can quite a bit about the issues of the day in a half hour and get some laughs while your at it.

The website features some great links and contests for you to check out as well. Including video links to features from the current and past weeks shows.

All in all, it was a welcome return for one of Canada’s best satire artists; you can check him out weekly Tuesday nights at 8 pm on the CBC.

It’s Showtime: Television: Dexter

Dexter, he’s an unassuming kind of guy, but a supply and demand kind of killer!

Take the Dark side of Domenic Da Vinci add a Gil Grissom with a Grudge and you’ve got yourself Dexter Morgan. Dexter is a blood spatter expert with the Miami Police Department, his job is to arrive on the crime scene and examine the spray and splash of the blood to try and divine some information to find the killer or killers.

By day, Dexter is trying to help Miami’s finest solve some of the most horrendous murders you might ever see. By night Dexter becomes a serial killer of his own design, seeking out those that have escaped the wrath of the law and come to meet their maker at the hands of Mr. Morgan.

It’s an interesting plot line this series about a serial killer. Dexter has more than a few issues that he has to flesh out if you will; the lad has some serious discombobulation in his own psyche.

Dexter’s world got rocked a little in episode one, with a serial killer rolling around the Miami area with a new twist on the concept of murder. In fact, Dexter becomes a tad obsessed with the new killer on the block and the show takes on the professional respect that Dexter seems to have for the subject at hand.

From Showtime, the program is well off the wall and rather graphic at times. Not for the squeamish are the scenes where Dexter brings justice to those that justice let go.

Michael C. Hall continues his communion with dead people, coming from the highly acclaimed Six Feet Under. This time instead of burying the clients he’s creating them.

It will be interesting to see how large a following the program can gain during its run, certainly not for those who don’t like the dark side of life. However, if you take the time to listen to the dialogue, some of the jokes are quite funny in a rather macabre kind of way. Just a sedative for the weirdness that will soon return we assume.

Dexter shows up on Movie Central every Sunday night at 8 pm, the movie channels lead in to the critically acclaimed The Wire.

Tagged by critics as the one of the best new shows of the year, it's the kind of show that could only find success and an audience in the universe in which the pay channels operate. More proof as to why the upper tier of the your satelite or cable package is where much of the best TV is these days.