TVSquad

Just when it seemed the wrath of the TV celebrity grim reaper finally decided to take his coffee break, the break room runs out of coffee.

Actor and comedian Les Lye passed away on Tuesday from unidentified causes. He was 84.

Of course, here in the States, we know Les as that old guy who played all of the adults on You Can't Do That On Television on Nickelodeon. That was just the tip of the poutine for TV's Ross Ewich.

Americans might be running out of money, steady jobs and patience, but Canadians are dealing with an equally depressing depletion.

And no, it's not beer. A shortage of Canadian beer would be a blessing, not a curse.

Variety reports that the land of milk and hockey is low on laughs because the CTV network hasn't produced a new hit sitcom that has won the nation's maple syrup pumping hearts.

One of the most frustrating things of blogging about US TV series is the fact that I can't watch episodes or most of the webisodes on the official network sites because I live in Canada. I can't even have access to content on Hulu and the like because of International Internet laws (or lack thereof) and distribution rights issues. I don't know all the legalities behind this but I find it weird that on my basic cable set up I have access to US-based channels for all major networks (except The CW) and yet, I can't access the full content of US-based network websites.

Since I've started blogging here on TV Squad, I've read many comments from international readers saying that they can't watch episodes or videos we embedded in our posts. It's irritating to follow a link to a video and see "This episode is currently only available to viewers living in the United States." Therefore, I researched the web to find websites where Canadians could watch US TV series online and in all legality (of course, people in the US can watch episodes online at AOL TV, Hulu, etc.).

Here is a list of "Canadians welcomed" websites that stream US TV shows. You can thank me later.

If you are not a Canadian, you probably didn't know we had federal elections in mid-October. However, Canadians know very well the U.S. election is going on right now and that the vote is today since we are neighbors and because American economy affects Canada's.

This past year, and especially since Obama and McCain really started to campaign a few weeks ago, the news airing on Canadian TV stations have all included some type of coverage and updates about the U.S. elections. Some of the 24-hour news stations even had special shows that lasted hours, for example, during the first presidential debate, to update us on the goings-on of the American election. So it's no surprise if that there is some sort of U.S. election coverage on Canadian TV channels tonight.

All right, let me say this up front and without equivocation: if CBS picks up Flashpoint and cancels Swingtown, I'm going to be ticked off. I'm not down on Flashpoint. As Jane wrote, Flashpoint is a good show. No 24, but solid procedural entertainment. However, when I read that Canada's CTV has renewed up north and sources say that CBS is close to doing the same, I immediately got my back up.

Why should Flashpoint get a break while an interesting, quirky and outside-the-box drama like Swingtown may not? It's disheartening to me that CBS is searching for a cable network to take Swingtown, while a "safe" crime show like Flashpoint doesn't have that concern.

When the WGA Strike originally started, I recall someone presenting the solution to me that the networks could import shows from other countries. Well, it looks like CBS is doing just that.

CBS has teamed with Canada's CTV to produce a police drama called Flashpoint. Mind you, this is far from the first time an American company has partnered with a production company from another country. HBO and the BBC have several shows they have co-produced, including Extras.

Summer is here and so are new TV shows. I haven't watched summer TV for the past 16 years or so because I had a summer job away from home where there was one TV for about 200 persons (yikes!). Okay, I did watch some thanks to two VCRs, tons of tapes, and family members who went to my house a few times during the summer to change tapes and reprogram both VRCs. I know, I'm a TV addict.

Summer 2007 will be kind of special for me because the TV/me ratio will now be 4/1 and I'll be able to watch everything live. Granted that I don't get channels like HBO, Showtime, Sci Fi, and USA, I'm sure I'll still be able to watch a few entertaining series or should I say, reality shows?

After I posted about the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy, a few of our commenters from the Great White North mentioned that CTV showed episode two by mistake, leaving them in the cold regarding episode one. Indeed, in some parts of Canada, the network did air the wrong episode in its usual Thursday at 8 PM timeslot, due to what they called a "satellite feed error" at the source (what's the source? ABC? CTV headquarters?). Anyway, they apologized and said they'll air the season premiere at a later date. Of course, many Canadians get American networks on their cable systems, so they likely caught episode one at 9 on ABC. But that means they're a week ahead of us now. First they get universal health care, now this. Lucky buggers.

There are rumors going around that episode two was supposed to be the season premiere, with what Americans saw yesterday being episode two. But Shonda Rhimes switched the order after ABC told her viewers would get too confused. Hm. Dunno. Seems pretty clear this was a continuation of last season's finale. Maybe there was some heavy rewriting and re-editing. Not sure.

MTV is coming to Canada in a very big way. For years, MTV was banned from launching on Canadian Radio-Television by television watchdogs. MTV made a brief appearance from 2002 to 2004, but went off the air after receiving a dismal audience. Beginning today at 6 pm ET, MTV will launch on a number of platforms. First, MTV is launching an analog channel that is tailored to the Canadian audience, with original talk shows and documentary programming. It also launches a broadband channel, called MTV Overdrive, which makes all sorts of MTV content available for viewing on high speed internet. There will also be MTVonCTV blocks of programming six nights a week on CTV, video available for download on iPods and the like, and Video on Demand.

Canada, there's something you should know about MTV. It's called Music Television, but there's rarely any actual music.