June 2013

Nik Wallenda’s stroll across the Grand Canyon last night became the highest-rating special in Discovery Canada history.

An average of 729,000 viewers tuned in between 8pm and 10.20pm ET, making Discovery Canada the #1 network in the country for the key A18-49 and A25-54 demos.

During the second hour, Discovery was the #1 network for total viewers.

The coverage peaked at 1.5 million viewers at 10pm ET, during the final moments of Wallenda’s walk. Continue reading »

Space has just announced the premiere date for the third season of The Almighty Johnsons.

The New Zealand series will return to Canadian screens with its brand new season on Thursday, July 4 at 9pm ET 6pm PT.

The third season is just about to get underway in its native New Zealand. Continue reading »

HBO will honour James Gandolfini in future telecasts of The Sopranos.

Following the death of the 51-year-old actor last week, HBO announced that it would include a memoriam on future episodes screened on the network.

It will read: “HBO mourns the loss of James Gandolfini, a beloved member of the HBO family.”

The Sopranos is available on HBO Canada via OnDemand (SVOD) and TMN GO (HBO GO Canada).

Food Network has dropped Paula Deen for good following 14 years on the air.

The host of Paula’s Best Dishes and Paula’s Home Cooking will not return to the channel after a history of racist comments.

Deen has denied telling racist jokes but admits to using the “N-word” and wanting to have a Southern wedding complete with black slave waiters.

It was these admissions that forced the Food Network to not renew her contract, which expires at the end of this month.

“Food Network will not renew Paula Deen’s contract when it expires at the end of this month,” said a network spokesperson. Continue reading »

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that Game of Thrones has topped another piracy chart.

TorrentFreak has announced that the HBO series is the most-pirated TV series of spring 2013.

From March to June, the series was illegally downloaded the most times, with 5.2 million downloads per episode.

The Big Bang Theory came in second place, with 2.9 million downloads per episode while How I Met Your Mother was third with 2.85 million. Continue reading »

The final season of Burn Notice is coming to Canada next month.

Super Channel has announced the premiere date of the seventh season of the drama as Thursday, July 4 at 10pm ET.

Jeffrey Donovan will be back as Michael alongside abrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell, Sharon Gless, Coby Bell and special guests Jack Coleman (Heroes), Adrian Pasdar (Political Animals) and Stephen Martines (The Closer).

The new season promises to “uncover the details” of the secret deal Michael made at the end of season six.

Fans of The Borgias are protesting the cancellation of the series in a unique way.

With the Canadian co-production wrapping up its third and final season this month, fans are staging a “send sardines” event later this month in support of a fourth season.

Organizers of the event are asking fans to send Showtime president David Nevins canned fish with the following message: “WE are The Borgias‘ fans and WE feel unloved. WE have been in the wilderness far too long. WE will dine on sardines until you give us Season 4 . And so should you!” Continue reading »

TSN and RDS have partnered to secure the broadcast rights to the IIHF World Junior Championship for the next 10 years.

Hockey Canada and the broadcasters have extended their partnership, which has been going since 1991, to keep all Hockey Canada events in the same place.

The new deal, negotiated exclusively with TSN and RDS, gives Canada’s #1 English and French speciality networks multi-platform media rights to all Hockey Canada events including the IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP (World Juniors). Continue reading »

Sales and downloads of The Sopranos DVDs are spiking following the death of James Gandolfini this week.

Both iTunes and Amazon have reported increases in the sales of the Emmy-winning series, with its first season currently sitting at No.2 among sales of full TV seasons on iTunes.

It was previously placed at No. 1,463 on the chart.

Other seasons are also on the charge up the sales charts, including season two (No. 46), season six, part two (No. 64) and season three (No. 75). Continue reading »

The Hollywood Reporter has this week labelled Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany their Emmy dark horse.

The Canadian actress, who plays five different characters in the sci-fi series, is being touted as an outside chance to score herself an Emmy award this summer.

Maslany told the magazine that she is playing down her chances of winning an Emmy nomination.

“It feels like it has come out of nowhere.” Maslany said. “I take it with a grain of salt; it’s really wonderful, but I can’t put my work’s worth on whether I get an Emmy nomination.” Continue reading »