‘The Price Is Right' getting a Canadian spinoff hosted by Howie Mandel
A Canadian spinoff of 'The Price is Right' headlines Rogers' new slate of Canadian originals coming to Citytv.
The media giant says Canadian comedian Howie Mandel will host a reimagining of the U.S. game show, which begins production this December in Toronto and will air in the spring of 2026.
While the original was a daytime TV staple, Rogers says it plans to make a prime-time evening version of the show, which has a working title of 'The Price Is Right Tonight.'
In September, Citytv will also air a one-hour red carpet special celebrating the 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, led by 'Big Brother Canada' host Arisa Cox.
Also on the way are a third season of 'Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent,' slated for winter, and an eighth season of 'Hudson & Rex' this fall.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2025.
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Chicago Tribune
2 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Column: The Stratford Festival of theater rediscovers a beating Canadian heart
STRATFORD, ONTARIO — Settling in my seat for 'Annie' at the Stratford Festival of Canada, I awaited with perennial pleasure the overture's trumpet solo for 'Tomorrow,' followed by the chirpy sounds of 'It's the Hard-Knock Life,' a masterful little combo that first argues for optimism at all times before empathizing with our daily grinds. But it didn't happen. Instead, the 1,800 people inside the sold-out Festival Theatre here rose to their feet and sang the music of Calixa Lavallée, not Charles Strouse: 'O Canada, Our Home and Native Land.' The moment was striking because in some 30 years of attending Canada's most prominent theater festival every summer, I'd never heard the Canadian national anthem sung at a regular performance of a show. The Stratford Festival, founded by a British man, dedicated to a British playwright and popular with Chicagoans and other Americans for decades, had always existed within a kind of multinational, English-language detente. This year, surely as a reaction to President Donald Trump's rhetorical campaign to render Canada the 51st state, it just felt a whole lot more Canadian. At the Avon Theatre, during the intermission for that most Canadian of stories, 'Anne of Green Gables,' my eyes fell on the ice cream case, as they are wont to do. The outside of the fridge said Breyers. But inside was a local Ontario brand, McFadden's. Delicious. All that said, Americans, the festival says, have been returning to Stratford this year: U.S. visitation is up by 4% year-over-year. There is also something of a local campaign in town to make them feel especially welcome. At Revel, a local coffee house and distinguished pastry purveyor, a sign on the counter asks American visitors to identify themselves. If they do, they are treated to a free coffee beverage, courtesy not of the cafe but of a local benefactor who prefers to just go by Stuart and who gets billed daily, and who wants Americans to feel welcome to the point of funding their cappuccinos. He's the local version of Daddy Warbucks, whose crew likes to sing about how Annie 'put sweet dreams upon our menu.' As indeed she does. The year's Canadian vibe, a very lively and ebulliently choreographed 'Annie' aside, extends to most of the shows I saw here. The big hit this year is 'Anne of Green Gables,' a beloved Canadian coming-of-age story by Lucy Maud Montgomery about another outspoken redheaded orphan, this one a denizen not of N.Y.C. but of Canada's Prince Edward Island. As played by Caroline Toal, Anne 'with an e' captures her audience almost the moment she walks out on stage. A pre-existing relationship and familiarity surely helped, although that can be a double-edged sword. I watched young Canadian girls and women all around me sizing up the ebullient but vulnerable Toal in a matter of seconds and deciding she will do very, very well. Indeed. Improbably, the spunky Toal is the star of the Stratford summer. The new adaptation, written and directed by Kat Sandler, first sets the story within an outer frame, a book club taking on Montgomery's novel, which is a conventional meta approach. It then makes the far bolder choice of abandoning the period setting halfway through and asking the question, 'What would Anne be like today?' The idea works strikingly well, partly because we've already experienced the heroine in her actual period, so it doesn't feel as much like an imposition as other modernizations but instead feels helpfully ruminative, a stand-in for what every contemporary fan of the book typically wonders as they read. 'Anne of Green Gables' engages in a reconstruction of a broken family (not unlike 'Annie,' which builds its own) and the key, whatever the period, is the relationship between Anne and her two surrogate parents, wound-tight Marilla (Sarah Dodd) and deadened Matthew (Tim Campbell). Although possessive of a very Canadian stoicism, the two siblings blossom once Anne comes into their lives and all three of these actors understand what they are about and their journeys are consistently honest and moving. I'd argue Sandler's conceit, which is just as fun when Anne is dealing with her friends and love interests, overstays its welcome by a few minutes in the contemporary section. But with some judicious cutting, 'Anne of Green Gables,' which has much akin with 'John Proctor is the Villain,' and the same target demographic, strikes me as a very viable Broadway show. Other evidence here suggests that Canadian theater, and Canadians in general, are doing better than their neighbors to the south at focusing on the core values that hold the nation together. Take, for example, 'Forgiveness,' a new play by Hiro Kanagawa that is based on a memoir by Mark Sakamoto exploring how Canadians of Japanese origin with treated during World War II. As was the case in the U.S., anyone who looked Japanese was rounded up in Canada and treated poorly in work camps and the like, decimating families and traumatizing those who felt as Canadian as anyone else. 'Oh Canada,' one Japanese Canadian character cries out. 'I don't know if I can ever forgive you,' which is a central question of the show. There are, of course, many angry plays looking back on radicalized ill-treatment from the past. Most of such U.S. pieces fundamentally are accusatory. But the aptly named 'Forgiveness' also explores how conscripted Canadian servicemen were treated by the Japanese forces, who subjected them to horrific camps of their own, thus in part explaining (in this play) the challenges Canadian veterans in supporting the subsequent interracial marriage of their own children. The piece, which is directed by Stafford Arima, is too subtle and sophisticated to claim equivalence, or to try and argue which was worse than the other. But the reality of most theater, of course is that the audience skews older, whatever efforts are made to the contrary, and the retirees who flock to genteel Stratford each summer are only one generation removed from those remembering World War II. 'Forgiveness' functions not as a reckoning but as a dramatic truth and reconciliation committee that takes its viewers by the hand and helps them move forward to a multi-cultural and unified nation together. The piece is a tad lugubrious and struggles some with the common issues of dramatized memoirs that range across space and time. But Arima and his excellent cast keep us focused on arriving at the most moving of conclusions. I took a while getting out of my seat after director Antony Cimolino's production of 'The Winter's Tale,' which I've long felt to be the most moving of Shakespeare's last plays, given that it proffers the ability to bring a loved one back from the dead, and someone who died due to the main character's folly of myopia and narcissism. If you know the play, you'll recall that the jealous King Leontes not only effectively kills his faithful wife, Hermione, but tries to get rid of his daughter, Perdita, who is saved only by an underling whisking her away in the nick of time. Thanks to merciful powers and his own much delayed self-knowledge, Leontes gets another chance with both of those loved ones. That's always moving, especially when you have a deep well of an actor like Graham Abbey playing Leontes. But Shakespeare leaves Leontes and Hermione's son, Mamillius, dead. He died from distress at his mother's arrest and he usually just lingers at the end, unseen and unspoken. Not here. In this production, he arrives accompanied by an angel. Leontes thinks he has got him back, too. But no. Not all of our mistakes can be corrected, Cimolino first seems to be saying. But the exquisite moment then suggests that Mamillius can still forgive from immortality, and thus Leontes still can be forgiven. It's affirmative and deeply sad. I won't quickly forget the end of this summer telling of 'The Winter's Tale.' On this trip, that leaves me with director Robert Lepage's 'Macbeth,' a wacky production that imagines the Scottish play as a feud between coke-snorting bikers. Settings include a roadside motel, from a balcony wherein Lucy Peacock's all-in Lady M falls most theatrically, a gas station and a parking lot with outdoor grills, the flame-throwing lair of the twisted sisters. When Macbeth meets his pre-ordained fate, Birnam Wood arrives in the form of bikers riding what look like real bikes, all carrying little verdant trees on their handlebars. There's another rub too. Tom McCamus, who plays Macbeth, is a 70-year-old actor and a great veteran star of this festival, as is Peacock, a fine foil. That's a cool idea. Most of Shakespeare's characters shift in age according to which scene you are in. No reason not to push that envelope a bit with an actor of this skill and lucidity, Alas the concept, which uses the cinematically fused iconography familiar to we longtime fans of LaPage, doesn't really work because it doesn't establish enough gravitas among the biker gangs to really make you believe they are dealing with matters of honor and destiny; it is as if the characters are putting on the drama, which can work fine with many of the Bard's works, but not this one. Macbeth is meta all by itself. It does not need any frame for it work its horrors. Still, any festival of Canadian identity — even if I think that mostly is unconscious — has to deal with the Quebecois, the yang to the yin of rural Ontario, which isn't far removed from Minnesota nice. That only gets you so far with the Scottish play. Lepage always offers a little Francophone disruption wheresoever he roams, disruptingly, and 'Macbeth' never really works, anyway. Except on us poor suckers who fall prey to its curses.
Hamilton Spectator
2 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Hamilton-area Today: Transitional housing born out of fire + HSR and chill
G ood morning! It's July 30, here are the top stories today in the Hamilton area. The heat wave continues. Environment Canada is forecasting a high of 31 C at the airport weather station that could feel like 38 with humidity. But temperatures are expected to drop tonight. Find the latest provincial road closures and traffic incidents via Ontario 511 . Taking transit today? Find the latest GO Transit service updates here . The latest information on local bus services are available here: Hamilton , Burlington and Oakville . YMCA's transitional living program aims to help men through support services find permanent housing. The 'stepping-stone' program launched on the newly refurbished third floor of the James Street South centre about a year after a fire tore through it. Hamilton ambulances are getting to emergencies faster despite responding to more calls. So far in 2025, there have been just two 'code zero' events. Should Hamilton buses be free for residents who can't escape extreme temperatures? The Hamilton 350 Committee is asking the city to make fares optional on days with heat warnings. A medical technology startup out of Hamilton aims to flip the script on deadly lung cancer. Its AI-powered diagnostic procedure promises to save more lives with a startling 100 per cent increase in accuracy rates. A city report is recommending new Hamilton procurement policies to prioritize buying local and Canadian amid a trade war with the United States. Subscribe to our newsletters for the latest local content . Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
5 hours ago
Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has dinner with singer Katy Perry in Montreal
MONTREAL -- Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry had dinner together in Montreal this week. A communications consultant for the restaurant Le Violon confirmed Tuesday that the former prime minister and the singer spent about two hours at the fine-dining spot Monday evening. Photos of the meetup published by TMZ sparked speculation of a budding romance. Samantha Jin said the pair kept to themselves and neither the staff nor other patrons approached them for a photo. 'We kind of got the vibe that they were a little more chill,' she said. Jin added that there was no indication of romance in the air, noting: 'No visual signs of PDA or anything.' The report about the dinner first appeared on TMZ, which posted video of Trudeau and Perry in animated conversation at the eatery. Perry recently split from longtime partner Orlando Bloom and is on tour with stops including Ottawa on Tuesday, Montreal on Wednesday, Quebec City on Friday, and two dates in Toronto next week. Trudeau and his ex-wife Sophie Grégoire separated in 2023. During the meal, Jin said security watched from the bar as the pair noshed on a chef's menu featuring a range of appetizers including tuna, beef tartare, lobster and asparagus, with lamb as their main course. Jin said Chef Danny Smiles stopped by their table to say hello, and before heading out, they came into the kitchen to thank the team. A spokeswoman for Trudeau didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for Perry wasn't immediately available for comment. Trudeau announced his resignation earlier this year after nearly a decade in power. His father, late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, was a bachelor when he became prime minister. He dated actresses Barbra Streisand and Kim Cattrall and married a 22-year-old woman while in office at age 51. Born and raised in California, Perry is a 13-time Grammy Award nominee. She helped usher in the sound of '00s pop, quickly becoming one of the bestselling artists of all time for her campy, big, belting anthems. She has released seven studio albums, most notably 2010's sugar-sweet 'Teenage Dream.' The album produced five No. 1s that tied a record set by Michael Jackson's 1987 album 'Bad.'
