HUGH’S BLUES

Hugh Laurie’s got the blues – and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
The British  actor may be best known to millions in the title role of the hit Fox medical drama “House,” but Laurie fans have known for years that he has formidable musical chops as well, an artistic side he showcases to almost indecently entertaining effect in “Hugh Laurie:
Let Them Talk – A Celebration of New Orleans Blues.” The one-hour PBS special, which premieres Friday, Sept. 30, as part of “Great Performances,” finds Laurie exploring the heart and soul of both a city and musical style that have haunted him since he was a boy.
Now 52, Laurie was only a teenager when he first encountered the blues via a song on the radio performed by Willie Dixon. He remembers it still as a life-defining moment, even though after all these years he can’t explain exactly why.  “It’s something I’ve thought about a lot, and I’ve read about it and tried to analyze, and I’ve read other people’s analyses about what it is about this music that reaches out and grabs people by their guts,” he explains. “I’ve never come across a satisfactory explanation, at least not one that suits me or makes sense for other people, I don’t think.  It was just like an electric shock, a purely visceral reaction, and it has remained that ever since.”
Laurie soon was spending all his pocket money on LPs of blues artists such as Muddy Waters, an early favorite, and developing a long-distance passion for the Big Easy, a romantic obsession that eventually made him afraid to visit the city itself, convinced the reality never could live up to his fantasies.  When he finally did, for this PBS special and a critically acclaimed companion CD, the first thing he noticed wasn’t the sounds, he says.  It was a smell.
“There is a very sweet smell, a slight smell of decay in the air,”
Laurie recalls. “The place is hot, and it’s wet, and the water – the sea and the lakes – is constantly threatening to take the city back.
It has the feeling like a banana that is just turning brown – and sometimes, of course, that’s just when a banana is best.” Laurie, who spends most of his year working on his Fox TV series in youth-obsessed Los Angeles, noticed something else striking about New Orleans as well. It’s a city that doesn’t fear death.
“Los Angeles has a very different idea about physical existence,” he explains. “That’s just a feeling I had, that there was a sort of wry worldliness about New Orleans that I suppose can’t be unconnected to the terrible tribulations that that city has been through. Not that Los Angeles hasn’t suffered in its own way. But there is a sort of dreamlike striving for immortality, I think, in Los Angeles, whereas in New Orleans, I felt much more of a sardonic resignation, that this is our one shot, and we’re going to have a damn good time with it.”
In the PBS special, which Laurie says came together almost casually while he and director JP Davidson explored New Orleans and its environs by car and bicycle, Laurie pokes around rare record shops and hole-in-the-wall music venues before settling into a French Quarter club to perform a program of much-admired blues classics with artists such as Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas and fellow U.K. native Tom Jones, who joins Laurie on “Baby Please Make a Change.”
As engaging as the musical program is for viewers, it was even more transporting for Laurie himself.  Watch his face during certain numbers and you know you’re looking at a man in a state of bliss, and it left Laurie only jonesing for more.  “I am hooked on the idea of making music with others and recording and being with musicians of the most amazing character, musicians that I have been lucky enough to be with,” he says. “I was ‘lucky enough to be breathing the same air,’
and so on. Any chance I get … not just to continue that but sort of inch gradually closer to being worthy of it (would be wonderful). I was in the room being very well aware of the fact that my chops are nowhere near theirs, and they knew that, too, but were very generous about it. I am determined to work very hard to be able to hold up my end of this musical conversation, as it were, because that’s what it feels like.” Unfortunately, such a profound experience comes at a cost when you share Laurie’s inclination to view happiness and good fortune with deep suspicion, he admits.  “I can’t deny that I do have that streak in me, and my cup has runneth over by such a margin that yes, I am actually waiting for a piano to drop (on me) from the sixth floor,”
he says. “I am in line for something absolutely disastrous.  I know that. But to hell with it. If it happens, it happens. I feel that I still am ahead of the game because I have had the most incredible experience of the past few years, doing this show and this album and touring a little bit with this band. I am well up in poker terms, so if I have a run of bad luck, that’s only right.”

PROHIBITION

Whether it’s banning transfats, salt, or smoking, someone decides a hitherto legal substance or activity should be banned. Spearheading each of these efforts is a desire to improve health or the environment, and the mechanisms to enforce the will of the backers are protest, social pressure and ultimately, the force of law.  But there are other forms of law, including Newton’s Third Law, which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Often, a desire to bring the hammer down turns instead into a game of whack-a-mole.
Airing Sunday through Tuesday, Oct. 2-4, on PBS (check local listings), “Prohibition,” from acclaimed filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick – who most recently teamed up for “’The War” – looks at the forces that brought about the National Prohibition Act, popularly known as the Volstead Act.
That made possible the 18th Amendment, banning the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol. It stayed in place from 1920 until it was repealed in December 1933.
Intended to curb the evils of excessive alcohol consumption – from domestic abuse to poverty to crime – it also spawned lawbreaking large and small, from bathtub gin to organized crime.
Burns believes there are many lessons in this story for today.  “You begin to see,” he says, “that human nature never changes. History, therefore, becomes a very effective way to have a good perspective on the events of today.
“We talk about civil discourse and how it’s broken down, the lack of compromise. Well, Prohibition is a lack of compromise, civil discourse breaking down, and people becoming intransigent and inflexible.
“By looking at the unintended consequences of Prohibition, it’s possible to actually look at our present day and perhaps see the best way out of the problems.”
According to Novick, the support of and opposition to Prohibition represent competing strains of American thought.
“There are these twin impulses in American society,” she says, “that we want our individual freedom, and we don’t want the government to tell us what to do. The other impulse is that we have this idealized vision of ourselves, that we should be something special, that we’re capable of great things, and the impulse to have Prohibition was that.
“Then you get to the sticky bit.  It’s naive and idealistic to think that people will change or that they should, or that it’s up to the government to tell them. But there is that very strong sense of, we could be better, that we’re destined for something special.
“There was a sense in the 19th century that alcohol and slavery were the original sins of America, and we couldn’t fulfi ll our destiny as a country until we got rid of both of them.”
But there is another story in “Prohibition,” and that is the story of
women: the women of the Progressive Era who protested in front of saloons, the women of the Christian Temperance Union who fought for the law, the Jazz Age flappers who flouted it, the woman – U.S.
Assistant Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt – who prosecuted it, and the woman – New York socialite Pauline Sabin – who led the charge to tear it down.
And then there’s Carry Nation, the fiery temperance advocate who took her hatchet to more than one bar and earned a reputation as a merciless foe of strong drink.
Burns intended to make Nation more than just a stereotype.
“She had come down to me,” he says, “as just a one-dimensional, demented person. I, at least, felt we have given her at least an origin and a cause, that she had come from a severely dysfunctional and broken family.
“She herself had two horrific marriages. She was effective for a time.
Every movement needs that rabble-rouser, seeming crazy to some people, to some messianic, but at least calling attention to the problem. She certainly did that.”
Alcohol caused – and causes – terrible social problems, but it has also been part of human society for millennia.
“There were many, many problems with Prohibition,” says Novick, “but one was a fundamental misreading of the place of alcohol and also the fact that alcohol, inherently, is not bad for everyone.”
As the 19th turned into the 20th century, the nation was changing from rural to urban, and immigrants were flooding in, altering the country’s ethnic and religious makeup.
The attempt to drive alcohol out of existence flew in the face of an America charging into the future.  “It coincided with this great liberation of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties economically,”
Burns says. “The only thing that’s going backwards is Prohibition.
Everything else is going forwards; half the country becomes lawbreakers. It is a descent into hell paved entirely with good intentions.”

CÉLINE, VEGAS & PARENTHOOD

During the past year, Céline Dion gave birth in more ways than one.
Not only did she and manager-hubby, Rene Angelil, give son Rene-Charles twin brothers (conceived by in-vitro fertilization), but she also mounted a new stage extravaganza in Vegas. Both are traced in the new special “Céline: 3 Boys and a New Show” Sunday, Oct. 2, on OWN.
Dion told this writer about the challenges she faced in revisiting the concerns of childbirth and a production at Caesars Palace almost simultaneously.
Q: What’s it like being under close observation by the production team while making the special?
A: The best way for us to work now, and what we prefer, is that the cameras are pretty much there all the time … almost. You forget about them, and unexpected things happen. That makes it real and interesting.
When the cameras are in the car, going to rehearsals, trying a song for the first time, getting nervous in the dressing room, performing the first show, working on the voice – it’s all to try to bring people backstage with you. The fans are curious, which we want. They want to know what’s going on the other side of the curtain.
Q: You seem to be one of the more open celebrities in terms of revealing your private life.
A: It’s a choice. A lot of people say they don’t want cameras around, but they’re always outside with their kids and go everywhere with them. With us, it’s not exactly the opposite; I’ve always been an open book, but I want my twins in front of the cameras as little as possible. I know people want to see the twins, so we’re trying to give a little bit of that because it’s a big part of our life.
It’s really not possible for me not to talk about that, it’s what I’m the most proud of. I don’t bring my kids backstage, and they don’t hang in the theater when I go into rehearsals. I‘m trying not to get them into show business. If it helps me emotionally to have them there, then I bring them.
Q: Do you find your personal life has helped your career?
A: It helps me to sing my songs knowing that people know my life. I think it’s only been helping me to talk about us openly – my trying to have children, the time Rene was sick with throat cancer. It’s who I am.
Q: Given the success of your previous Vegas show, how did you find the undertaking of coming up with something fresh to perform there?
A: I have to admit that with “A New Day,” which was my first five years in Vegas, it was very stressful because the odds were against us. I don’t think the industry, or people in general, were thinking that it was going to be the best move we’ve made. I went in with my eyes closed – like with the rest of my career – because I’ve known Rene so long, and he’s the best.”

ERICA ENTERS FOURTH SEASON

 After three seasons of hard work and harder-won epiphanies, Erica Strange (Erin Karpluk) meets her first patient as the fourth season of “Being Erica” premieres Monday, Sept. 26, on CBUT.
And Dr. Tom (Michael Riley) doesn’t throw Erica a softball for her first assignment: She must find a way to help Josh (Adam MacDonald), her oafish soon-to-be-ex-brother-in-law, currently in the final throes of his divorce from Sam (Joanna Douglas), Erica’s sister. As always, Erica finds insights into the present situation by visiting the past, where she gets a new perspective on herself as well as Josh.
“Moving forward, every episode she’ll be working with a different patient, under Dr. Tom’s wing, and he’s guiding her as to how to help these people,” explains Karpluk, “but she’s just more evolved than she ever has been before. She’s continuing her relationship with Adam (Adam Fergus) and continues to expand her business with Julianne (Reagan Pasternak), and there’s the return of the character Kai (guest star Sebastian Pigott) — they’re kind of star-crossed lovers from different eras, so there are some shenanigans that ensue there.”
Viewers also will learn a bit more about Dr. Tom and uncover a shocking secret about a member of Erica’s family.
“There are a lot of questions that are answered in Season 4, like what happened to Erica in 2019,” Karpluk reveals. “That’s a fantastic episode that we just shot. Also, the dynamics and elements of time travel are further explored, which is fantastic, because people have asked me how this or that works, and I haven’t had the answers. Now I can actually say, ‘Well, it’s because of this, this and this.’ ”
It’s all part of the grand design of the new season, say executive producers Jana Sinyor (who created the show) and Aaron Martin, who have run “Being Erica” together since its first season.
“We definitely held back various mysteries in the show connected with time travel, and we’re going to answer those this year,” Sinyor confirms.
“There’s a great arc for the season, and that’s about giving back and paying it forward,”Martin adds. “For the fans, it’s ultimately answering a lot of questions they might have had about the therapy and why this happened to Erica. By the end of the season, Erica is going to be a complete person.”
“Erica” is an international phenomenon, distributed to more than 150 countries. Some countries even have flirted with adapting the show for their own audiences.
“There are always rumors of versions being developed,” Sinyor says.
“We just read in the press the other day that a Russian version is being developed. ‘Erica’ is a very attractive format because it’s fresh. A time-travel therapy show has never been done before.”
“It’s a story that you can do in many different ways, with different characters and different casts,” Karpluk suggests. “I think the universal appeal of  our show is that it’s based on regrets, and regrets are a universal thing, regardless of your age, your race, your sex, your class, whatever. Everyone has regrets. It’s about ‘if only I could go back … what if …?’ I personally think it would be cool to see it done differently, maybe with a male lead.”
For now, the actress says she finds it a little hard to wrap her mind around the fact that a Canadian cult hit is watched by such a massive global audience.

DUSSAULT INC

He custom designs clothes for the hottest celebrities, from Pamela Anderson to the Black Eyed Peas, but it’s not all parties and red carpets for Canadian celebrity street-wear designer Jason Dussault.
Experience the grit behind the glamour in Dussault Inc.,an edgy new 16-episode, half-hour, docu-sitcom that follows the busy lives of celebrity designer Jason Dussault and his life partner Mashiah Vaughn, as they struggle to keep their businesses – and their family – on the rails, premiering Saturday, Sept. 24 at 8:30pm ET/PTon Citytv.
Jason Dussault, partner Mashiah Vaughn, with sons Ayden and Ronin To tweet this release: http://ow.ly/6aI8c With a million-dollar flagship Dussault Apparel store in Los Angeles, Jason thought they had hit the big-time – creating high-priced, custom-made clothing for rock-and-roll celebrities like Criss Angel, Kid Rock and Nicole Richie. But when the economy took a turn for the worse, they lost it all. Now back in Vancouver with two sons to raise – 15-year-old Ayden and 24-month-old Ronin – Jason is risking everything to bring Dussault Apparel back to the top, while Mashiah works her own bath cosmetics line Open Sundaes. With their over-the-top personalities, relationship challenges and ambitious career goals, one thing is for sure – it’s going to be one hell of a ride!
In the premiere episode, “New Showroom,” Jason decides to open a Dussault Apparel showroom in Vancouver after having to shut down his million-dollar flagship store in Los Angeles. His better half Mashiah asks him to babysit their kids so she can close a deal for Open Sundaes. Jason, however, is torn between hanging out with his friends from Nickelback and doing the right thing.
Often referred to as “The Hoodie King,” Jason Dussaultdesigns and sells high-end street wear for men and women, and is best known for his limited edition custom hoodies that sell for prices between $600 and $2,500 US.  He is also credited with designing the world’s most expensive denim jeans, valued at $250,000. As he begins accepting commissions to do original pieces of art, Jason continues to custom design for celebrities, including the Black Eyed Peas, Pamela Anderson, Nickelback, Dee Snider, Kat Von D, and Todd McFarlane.
A mother at 19, Mashiah Vaughn is a multi-tasking actor, model and business woman who built her own bath product line, Open Sundaes , making the Top 40 under 40 entrepreneurs list in BC at the age of 30.
Mashiah’s modeling resumé includes Victoria’s Secret, Club Monaco, Gap, Ralph Lauren, and Flare Magazine. In 2011, she was named female spokesperson for the Steve Nash Fitness Clubsas well as beauty spokesperson for Riversol Skin Care. She sits on the board of directors of the Children’s Wish Foundationand is a spokesperson for theObakki Foundation.
Dussault Inc.is executive produced by David Paperny, Cal Shumiatcher, Audrey Mehler and Ziad Touma, who also acts as the series director.
Season 1 was shot in Vancouver, with travels to New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas, Edmonton, Calgary, Hong Kong and Cameroon. Season 2 is currently filming in LA.

BATTLE OF THE BLADES RETURNS WITH A TWIST!

For the first time ever, a female hockey player will join the ranks of the NHL veterans and world class world-class figure skaters as a competitor in Battle of the Blades.
“I can’t wait to take on the NHL players and show them that women’s hockey has come a long way,” said an excited Tessa Bonhomme, the show’s first ever female hockey player competitor.
Bonhomme, an Olympic Gold Medalist and member of the Canadian National Women’s Hockey Team, will swap her hockey blades for figure skates and a slinky outfit when she joins the ranks of the Battle competitors this season, which kicks off on Sunday, September 18 at 8pm.
Bonhomme is already approaching the competition with a bit of moxie.
“I am honoured to be the first woman representing all those who play our great game and with a partner like David Pelletier, we will try to take it easy on the NHL guys.”
Together Bonhomme and Pelletier will be a formidable pair, they both are Olympic Gold Medalists, and they want to give the NHL players a run for their money.
About the Competitors: Tessa Bonhomme was part of Canada’s Gold Medal-winning women’s hockey team at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. A member of the Canadian National Women’s Hockey Team since 2004, she has won Gold and Silver medals in world championship competitions, along with numerous awards and records in college hockey during her time with the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Bryan Berard, the Rhode Island native was the first overall pick in the 1995 NHL Draft and played for six NHL teams including the Toronto Maple Leafs. On March 11, 2000, while playing for the Leafs in a game against the Senators in Ottawa, the stick of Mariàn Hossa clipped Bryan in the right eye, severely injuring it. With incredible determination and after seven eye surgeries, Bryan returned to the NHL completing one of the greatest comeback stories in hockey history.
Brad May was immortalized with broadcaster Rick Jeanneret’s famous “May Day!” call after scoring a series-clinching goal for Buffalo in the 1993 playoffs against Boston.  The former Toronto Maple Leaf
(2008-2009) and Vancouver Canuck (1997-2000 and 2002-2004) won the Stanley Cup in 2008 with the Anaheim Ducks.
Boyd Devereaux, an Ontario native, won the Stanley Cup with Detroit in
2002 and a World Junior Championships where he scored the winning goals in both the semi-final and gold medial games in 1997. Boyd played for four NHL teams including the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 1996, and also spent time with the Quebec Nordiques
(1988-1995) and Ottawa Senators. Curtis is an avid cyclist and is known as one of the most fit NHL players.
Ex-Calgary Flame (1996-2000, 2006) Cale Hulse also played for New Jersey, Nashville, Phoenix and Columbus. The 6′3″ Alberta native is no stranger to television sets, as he is married to actress Gina Lee Nolin.
The figure skaters featured include:
David Pelletier, a three-time Canadian Pairs Champion, World Champion, Grand-Prix Final Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist, who in 2002, captured Canada’s first Olympic Gold medal in pairs skating in 42 years. David, with partner and Season 1 and 2 star Jamie Salé, has been inducted into both the Skate Canada Hall of Fame, the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the Lou Marsh Trophy, awarded to outstanding Canadian athletes.
From the legendary Russian pair skating dynasty, two-time World Champion and four-time Russian National Champion Elena Berezhnaya, with partner Anton Sikharulidze, shares the 2002 Olympic gold medal with Canadians Jamie Salé and David Pelletier, awarded amidst the historic judging scandal. Elena and David now face each other again.
Canadian born Tanith Belbin is a five-time U.S. Ice Dance Champion, four-time World Medalist and 2006 Olympic Ice Dance Silver Medalist with her partner Ben Agosto. Together they won the first Olympic ice dance medal in 30 years for the United States.
Returning from Season 1 after having her first baby is five-time Canadian Ice Dance Champion Marie-France Dubreuil.  With her husband Patrice Lauzon, she is the 2006 and 2007 World Silver Medalist.
Marie-France and Battle of the Blades  partner Stephane Richer are remembered as fan favorites.
Returning from Season 2 is World and Olympic Team Member and 2008 Canadian Pairs Champion Anabelle Langlois. Anabelle came back from a near career-ending foot injury to compete at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver with partner Cody Hay. She skated with Georges Laraque last season.
Also returning is Russian born Violetta Afanasieva who joined the Moscow Circus on Ice at the age of 12 and won the first-ever Extreme Ice Skating World Championship with Canadian partner/husband Peter Dack in 2006. Last season she skated with PJ Stock.
Joining the cast for Season 3 is American Kim Navarro, a U.S. World Team Member and two-time U.S. Ice Dance Bronze Medalist with partner Brent Bommentre.
And Marcy Hinzmann-Harris, a U.S. World and Olympic Team member and two-time U.S. Pairs Medalist with partner Aaron Parchem.
Finally we’re very pleased to welcome former NHL defenseman Todd Simpson to his first ever season of Battle of the Blades.

COVER ME CANADA

COVER ME CANADA When the aspiring musical acts chosen to battle it out on CBC’s new epic reality music competition series ‘Cover Me Canada’ strut their stuff, they will be judged by a panel composed of some of the most successful players in the music business.
Showman Jordan Knight, songstress Deborah Cox and veteran producer Ron Fair will draw from their years of experience to pronounce judgment upon the ‘Cover Me Canada’ contenders.
Beginning Sun., Sept. 18 at 9pm, host Nicole Appleton (ex-All Saints member) and the judging panel will preside as a group of eight finalists perform in a bid to win and the opportunity of a lifetime: a $100,000 cash prize and a recording contract for their first original single to be released by Universal Music Canada.
SHOWMAN: JORDAN KNIGHT
Few performers in music history have achieved the height of global pop stardom as Jordan Knight has experienced. New Kids On The Block has sold over 70 million albums worldwide, generated hundreds of millions of dollars in concert revenues and paved the way for other boy bands like Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. As a solo artist, he has had four U.S.
Top 40 singles and sold over 1.5 million records. He comes to ‘Cover Me Canada’ fresh off a series of sold-out arena dates on the New Kids on the Block and Back Street Boys co-headlining tour.
SONGSTRESS: DEBORAH COX
Torontonian Deborah Cox was discovered by record industry mogul Clive Davis when she was singing backup for Celine Dion. Her 1998 smash #1 single, Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here, ruled the charts for a record-setting 14 weeks. She has had ten #1 hits on Billboard’s Dance chart and has garnered three Juno Awards and nominations for an American Music Award, Soul Train Award, Image Award and a Genie. With Deborah’s amazing musical resume, she is perfectly placed to judge the ‘Cover Me Canada’ competitors on their musicality.
STAR-MAKER: RON FAIR
He discovered Christina Aguilera, put Fergie in the Black Eyed Peas, shepherded the Pussycat Dolls and produced Lady Marmalade (featuring Aguilera, Pink, Mya and Lil’ Kim). Ron’s history in the business and his eye for what makes a star will serve him well on the ‘Cover Me Canada’ judging panel, as he judges interpretations of iconic Canadian songs and produces the single from the winner.

PRANK SCIENCE

Can a test subject be convinced he has the power to melt solid objects. using only the power of his mind? If he’s just crossed paths with the ‘Prank Science’ team, anything is possible! This highly-entertaining street-level gag show lures unsuspecting people into hilarious, never-before-seen pranks – all in the name of science. Each half-hour episode of this 13-part original Canadian series by Proper Television (Canada’s Worst Driver), takes to the streets to pull off several new prank experiments. But unlike other gag shows, every trick reveals unexpected and water-cooler-worthy scientific facts and theories. It’s an addictive one-two punch of strange science and riveting practical jokes!
‘Prank Science’ premieres Mon., Sept. 19 at 9pm on Discovery.
But the goal is not just to dupe and ridicule people for the viewers’
amusement, although that’s an added benefit, of course. Each segment is built around a remarkable piece of science; then the team invites unsuspecting members of the public (or “test
subjects”) to be a part of it. Whether it’s exploring the world’s strongest superglue or testing human psychology by seeing exactly how much abuse people will put up with at the hands of an authority figure.’Prank Science’ takes practical jokes to a new extreme!
The show is helmed by special effects wizard Brendan Callaghan and comedy actor Morgan Waters. A master of SFX for hidden camera pranks, Callaghan’s expertise ranges from creating life-like monsters to massive air cannon pyrotechnics. His partner-in-prank, Waters, is a three-time Gemini Award-winning comedian, actor and writer who loves nothing more than watching ridiculous situations collide with real-life reactions. Together (and joined by a cadre of conspirators) these prank masters don disguises, create false realities and benignly misrepresent themselves to baffled members of the public for the sake of science.
In the September 19 premiere episode, one test subject’s career as an infomercial host takes a turn for the worse. On his very first day on the job, he discovers that the miracle health shake he’s endorsing causes a dangerous parasite to grow inside anyone who drinks it after consuming it himself. Also, the team uses waterproof sand to cheat their way into, and win, a sandcastle competition; and a worker’s day goes horribly wrong when she accidentally sets her boss on fire (don’t panic) it’s actually a stuntman covered in a fire-retardant gel – but definitely not a prank to try at home!).
Other PRANK highlights this season:
- Using a few LED lights and what’s called an infinity mirror, the team convinces a terrified subject that aliens have landed on Earth.
- The team hijacks and remotely controls a golf cart using a smart phone, creating havoc.
- An aspiring actor eats poppy seed cake on the set of a police training video, it triggers a fail on his drug test….for heroin!

HISTORY THAT ALMOST ROCKS

The way Shawn Doyle plays our first prime minister, he’s like a 19th-century rock star whose bad behavior was only exceeded by his good works. Doyle stars as the title character in “John A — Birth of a Country,” airing Monday, Sept. 19, on CBC Television. The film plays more like a psychological thriller than the kind of dry historical re-enactment we’ve become used to.
“We have this perception of what to do with period pieces in this country,” Doyle says. “They have, in the past, tended to lose their humanity. And the intention with this was to make it a white-knuckle thriller-slash-love story between these two characters.”
The two characters in question are Macdonald and George Brown, played by Peter Outerbridge (“ReGenesis”).
Along with Doyle and Outerbridge, the movie stars David La Haye as Quebec politician and Macdonald lieutenant George-Etienne Cartier, as well as Aidan Devine (“Rookie Blue”) and Patrick McKenna.
But, mainly, the film focuses on the rivalry between the federalist Macdonald and Brown, founder and editor of the Toronto Globe, whose main concern is the rights of Upper Canada — preferably as a separate country.
“It’s about how a nation gets created from the passions of two men, says director Jerry Ciccoritti (“The Terrorist Next Door,” “Shania: A Life in Eight Albums,” “Trudeau”).
“We deliberately wanted to move Canadian cinema away from the dry docudrama approach that it so often has and ground it in character and myth.
“So first and foremost, it’s about two men who hate each other, and because of the sparks of their hatred, a nation is born.”
“Birth of a Country” focuses on the moment at which Canada — at that time just Ontario and Quebec — teetered on the brink of oblivion.
Ciccoritti describes the film as “a political intrigue” and “a love story between two enemies.”
Basically, it tells the how Macdonald and Brown began as bitter rivals and then were seduced by the idea of a united Canada that included all the British colonies from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The story takes place between 1856 and ’64, at a pivot point in history. Upper and Lower Canada can’t agree on anything, not even a capital. So the seat of power moves back and forth between Toronto and Montreal.
The American Civil War is brewing, and there are U.S. politicians who see annexing Canada as a logical extension of their drive to preserve the union.
Meanwhile, Britain has no interest in its North American colonies, and in Canada, the Conservatives, led by John A. Macdonald, and the Liberals, under John Sandfield Macdonald (Devine) and George Brown, were vying to lead the country into the future and threatening to push it into an early grave.
Macdonald, spurred on by Brown, saw the moment and seized it, Doyle says.
“Imagine trying to wrap your head around the idea of uniting British Columbia and Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The insurmountable physical obstacles to doing that, much less the political obstacles.
“This is about a grand notion of how he could save the love of his life.”
Doyle’s most recent TV credit is the starring role as the agoraphobic Russian chess prodigy in the unfortunately defunct Showcase crime drama “Endgame.”
For John A. Macdonald, he says, he did a huge amount of research, trying to get a feel for the man behind the stodgy historical image.
“Some of the things I uncovered were that he had quick, staccato, birdlike movements with his head,” Doyle says. “And he walked in a jittery way, short, stuttery steps, and he was not a particularly good orator; he was halting, and his voice didn’t have a pleasing quality.”
Faced with deciding between creating someone the audience could respond to and playing a character who sounds like a cross between a pigeon and a stork, Doyle says he opted to take artistic license.
“We decided that it was much more important to get across the essence of his journey and the essence of the conflict between them than it was to try to conjure up some semiauthentic portrayal of who he might have been.
“The details are so sketchy anyway that ultimately, it would be open to interpretation.”
So, in Doyle’s hands, Macdonald becomes a drinker, a gambler and a brawler — and a ruthless politician with a single-minded obsession with destroying his opponents.
This plays in sharp contrast to Outerbridge’s Brown, a tightly wound, highly moralistic Victorian gentleman who abhors Macdonald and everything he stands for. “They’re two great performances,” Ciccoritti says. “The actors were champing at the bit to get to the set every day and out-act each other.”

THE X-FACTOR

All of the judges weigh on the ABCs of ‘The X Factor’ The season’s most hyped show, “The X Factor,” asks the $5 million question: Who has the X Factor, and what, exactly, is it?
Simon Cowell, executive producer of the singing contest, a U.K phenomenon, returns as a judge with former “American Idol” colleague Paula Abdul, record executive L.A.  Reid and performer Nicole Scherzinger.  The show is Fox’s prime time for Wednesday and Thursday, Sept.  21 and 22, and continues on both nights until its Dec. 22 finale.  Given that it is a Fox talent show for singers, with Cowell and Abdul judging, comparisons to “American Idol” are inevitable.
“It is different,” Cowell says. “I was always working on both shows, and ‘Idol’ is a pussycat and this show is a tiger. Both are cats and one is crazier than the other. This is much more a reflection of my personality than the other show. Instead of auditions in a hotel room, these are in front of 5,000 people.”
Not that a producer would deflect buzz, but Cowell acknowledges this show has attracted more attention than would be expected of his reunion with Abdul.
“I think part of the reason is we have had so many people come to the auditions,” Cowell says. “We must have had 70,000 people.  And they all Twitter now, and they started the buzz. It is a good show.” Singers vie to win TV’s largest prize ever — a $5 million Syco Sony record contract. The winner will also be featured in a Super Bowl commercial for Pepsi, a show sponsor.
After two weeks of audition shows, contestants hone skills in boot camp. The 32 acts that survive boot camp are then divided into four categories: males 12 to 30, females 12 to 30, everyone over 30, and singing groups.
Each judge is assigned a group and mentors those singers. This becomes a full-time experience as they all live in the judges’ homes or a vacation home or another spot the judge chooses, says Ann-Marie Thomson, head of media for Cowell’s Syco Entertainment.  Judges then halve the number of contestants before they debut on the live show Nov. 2. Given the ferocity of the competition, Abdul suggests a sure-fi re way for singers to stand out from the crowd.
“If you want to do really well on ‘X Factor,’ kiss Simon’s ass,” Abdul says, grinning. “His ego loves that.  And the worst thing you can do is kiss Simon’s ass because it annoys me seeing him gloat!”
Abdul rocks a lacy white mini, a silver belt and matching heels, purse and nails. She says she’s thrilled to work with Cowell again.  As befits Cowell’s arch honesty, he says, “She can be, at one point totally endearing, and within seconds the most annoying person in the world! I don’t know if she does it deliberately. When we fall out, if one of us is resisting, it turns into a full-scale argument.”
If Cowell dismisses someone and Abdul champions them, viewers can expect a reasoned business decision from Reid, CEO of Sony’s Epic Group. Given that Reid was instrumental in the careers of Usher, Pink, Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Avril Lavigne, Rihanna and Kanye West, he relies on his gut.
“I don’t trust anyone else’s taste,” he says. “Would you let anyone decorate your home? It’s personal.  My choice has always been to see talent raw.”
As far as spotting who has the X Factor, Reid says, “it’s a combination of things that makes someone.  It’s magnetism and personality. It’s interesting to see when someone is too rehearsed and too learned.  That’s boring.”
Auditions, especially when one’s future hangs on it, cannot be boring.  Of the judges, former Pussycat Doll Scherzinger knows that so well.  “It is the same audition process I got my start in with ‘Popstars’ and I just feel like I am still doing it,” she says. “I can empathize.”
She recalls how excited she was to guest host on the U.K. version, now in its eighth season. Scherzinger has that naked ambition that Cowell seeks in a winner.
“I will find an opportunity to be on the show,” she says. “I have my album coming out. The main reason I am excited is to give back in some way.”
Regardless of coaching, even from Scherzinger (a winner of “Dancing with the Stars”) and Abdul (who has consistently reinvented herself as a dancer, singer and mentor), what can’t be taught is the X Factor. It’s what catapults someone from anonymity to superstardom.  The X Factor seems elusive until that rare individual has it and shines.
“Susan Boyle —- you could not describe her as somebody having the X Factor,” Cowell says, “because of the way she handled the audition, she definitely had it. You have to have an open mind. Boy when they’ve got it they have got it.  The audience gets it as well. And you feel it.”
“The X Factor is something you can’t quite articulate it,” Abdul says.  “But it is a feeling and bearing witness to something that just happened.  When you see someone that possesses the X Factor, you get goose bumps. And you witness something that can be life-changing, and you’re witnessing something that just changes your life in a remarkable way.”

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