Before the Olympics, I put up a post taking the CBC to task for taking such a low-key approach to the non-sports issues related to 2008's host country China. And while I'm not backing off those opinions, the work of those at CBC Sports who covered and brought us the Games themselves deserve to be congratulated for their excellence.I once had the opportunity to be present in the broadcast trailer of a World Series game. It's something...

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Well, that great gift the Greeks gave the world, the Olympics, are over and it's time to get back outside and enjoy the rest of the summer. I don't know about your part of the planet, but where I am it's an absolutely perfect day. So I'm off to make the most of it.And at some point I may park my butt on a patio, crack a cold beer and enjoy that other great gift the Greeks gave the world -- a plate...

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Those of us who work in film and TV know that the cheapest special effect you can use is a nude scene or a sex scene. No need for CGI, stunts or even costumes -- you've got their attention. For the most part, we use that advantage to tell a story, exhibit emotion or reveal character.Others take the same concept one step further and create porn films. Unfortunately, that slim dividing line makes a lot of people think the actors...

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The film usually credited with launching the current Porn industry is "Deep Throat", produced in 1972 for less than $23,000 and grossing more than $600 Million. By perfectly catching the wave of sexual liberation that had started in the late 60's, it became a cultural phenomenon.I saw "Deep Throat" at a midnight screening in Miami. Just in on a red-eye flight and with a body clock too screwed up to sleep, I looked out my hotel...

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Recently, Will Dixon wrote a perceptive piece on the show that most exemplifies recent Canadian television, "Train 48". In his post, Will focused on the Canadian network tradition of eschewing quality and entertainment value in favor of cheaply produced quota fulfillment. Ken Girotti followed up with his own musings on the subject, positing that the CRTC wanted more of the same and in their perfect world, we'd all be doing porn....

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I'm almost done with my latest hopscotching of North America. Phew! Ten days, both coasts, Nashville to set up a new pilot and visits to the Heartlands (North and South) in between. The summer's half gone and the only blockbuster I've seen was "The Dark Knight". Now, is it just me, or was that supposed to be a Batman movie? I mean, shouldn't a Batman movie have Batman in it as more than just transitional...

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The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics arrived today toting enough moral ambiguity to fill a full season of "The Sopranos" with ethical dilemmas aplenty left over to service the needs of "Dexter" and "Mad Men" to boot. Human Rights abuses, Environmental Chaos, Censorship, Slave labor camps, Darfur, Tibet, Government corruption, Religious repression, Organ harvesting and Counterfeit goods, just to name a few... Juxtaposing those...

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It's impossible to create any dramatic work without becoming completely absorbed in the world you're imagining. The bulk of the writer's job is constructing and then adhering to the unique rules that must be followed in this fictional setting; thus building an internal logic that governs the people, places and things included in the script. On television series, there are also formulae and formats...

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