The bus in ‘Foyles War’ ?, originally uploaded by Renown.

I am a bit late with this news which appeared in the Guardian on April 9. But I am sure there will be many fans of the PBS Mystery series who will delighted to learn, as I was, the even though the last episode of Foyle was on VE Day he may yet return.

The image, by the way comes from a bus restorer/painter in England. One of the appeals of British tv is the care and attention that is given to historic recreation in period drama. This really is a prewar coach, and yes, when the blitz damaged large numbers of London’s red double deckers, all kinds of other vehicles were pressed into service.

Now all I need is a plausible excuse for posting a picture of a steam train. Anyone want to see the world’s biggest coal fired cappuccino machine?

Local interviewer, college radio god and living art project Nardwuar the Human Serviette has had a YouTube channel for over a year now [yt]. Made up mostly from his clips that appeared on Much Music, generally on Coast to Coast, it also includes some of his earliest clips including his infamous questioning of Prime Minister Chrétien that lead the PM to say that for him pepper spray was something that he put on his plate after the pepper spraying of activists and protesters at UBC protesting the APEC meetings. In addition there’s also a few videos for his band The Evaporators.

If you’ve got time to kill it’s worth watching a few videos and enjoying the truly unique Vancouver institution.

As mentioned previously by Ryan, tonight airing on CBC will be “Test The Nation: Trivia” at 8pm.

Why should you tune in? Well it’s basically a trivia competition amidst a few teams of which two of our very own Metrobloggers: Rebecca and Ryan are part of!

They’re part of the Bloggers Team. The other teams comprise of chefs, celebrity-look-alikes, cab drivers, backpackers and flight crews.
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jPod

Originally uploaded by mushon.

The writer’s strike that’s put pretty much every television show on your viewing schedule on hiatus getting you down? Well fear not, there’s always Canadian television. Typically a four syllable word “Canadian” television no longer equals terrible.

For the most part.

Starting tonight is The Border on CBC [cbc], which is about an elite team of border agents the Immigration and Customs Security Squad (ICS). Shades of CSI? Spend a few minutes on the official site and it’s hard not to shake the overall slickness of the show which is a hallmark of the CSI franchise.

Tomorrow night, also on the CBC, is the premier of jPod [cbc] the err…. sitcom based on Douglas Coupland’s novel of the same name. We mentioned this a few months ago [mbv] and I still have the book sitting on my shelf waiting to be read, but it seems to be infused with the whimsical quirkiness that pervades pretty much everything Coupland does. It’s that sort of willful uniqueness that people either embrace whole heartedly or hate with a passion of a million burning suns. How much of that personality will make it into the show remains to be seen, though the CBC generally is better towards creators than Hollywood networks.

Also coming from the CBC this week is Sophie, which looks like a show about attractive quirky people sleeping with each other. Friends without Central Perk.

On Friday is the start of MVP: The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives [cbc], a show about hockey wives. This is a Canadianization of a popular show type from England the best example of which is Footballer’s Wives [fbw]. Essentially blond women and fit young men sleep with each other in a game of musical beds until someone dies of a drug overdose.

Who said everything on television in the UK was a genius comedy hit like The Office or Extras?

Of course we should not forget the king of Canadian television drama Degrassi: The Next Generation [ctv]. Beloved both by Kevin Smith and generations of Canadians the show isn’t just a teaching aid for safe sex, it’s a smart teen drama that shames me for my secret love of The O.C.

So if we want our comedy and drama doses over the next few months, we’ll have to start thanking the Liberals for keeping Can-Con requirements. Otherwise I’m sure Global [gtv] will have something from down south, a show about stars dancing with hobos or something. That is unless the ICS stops the show at the border.