Hi All!
Welcome back to the newsletter :) If you are new around here, my name is Paula Sanderson and I’m a TV Producer and … MBA student!
That’s right friends — I found out this week that I got accepted into Ryerson’s MBA program! I start in September! I’m in their part-time cohort so that I can continue my work at SickKids and work on other projects on the side. I’m so excited! I’ve been working really hard towards this goal for months and to finally have it all click… well, I’m just so thrilled and proud of myself.
Speaking of other fun projects — I’m doing a cool job this weekend. If anyone knows anyone with a great story and talent, I’m doing some casting work for Canada’s Got Talent. Send me an email and we can chat :)
I’m personally feeling very excited about this week and adding into that is my general excitement about the Olympics. I know it hasn’t been a “smooth” start to the Olympics by any stretch and yes there are all sorts of problems with it, but I just love the Olympics. I love that we cheer together for Team Canada, I love watching the sports that don’t usually get as much attention, I love watching women’s sports on TV, and I love all the stories that come out of the games. I’ve really been craving collective joy. We’ve had so much collective sorrow and grief over the last 18 months, that the thought of cheering on Penny in the pool sounds perfect. What our country needs is two weeks to ship Tessa and Scott, you know? Obviously that ship has sailed (and this is the summer Olympics) but you get my point. I want to be excited for someone and see some joy. I will exclusively have CBC Sports on for the next two weeks and I’m ready. I’ll talk more about what to watch when below, but for now — if you are also excited about the Olympics send me an email because I’m going to need people to talk about sports with :)
Let’s get into it.
Things to watch this week:
Let’s start with the Olympics:
I woke up and watched the Opening Ceremonies this morning but if you missed it, you can watch the replay at 7:00 p.m. on CBC TV.
Every night at 7:00 p.m. we have Olympic Games Primetime hosted by Scott Russell. This is the flagship show of the Olympics and will be where you can catch a lot of the big moments. Then because these games are happening in Japan (aka massive time difference) the action is all happening overnight — so from midnight to 6:00 a.m., we have Olympic Games Overnight hosted by former diver Alexandre Despatie and Heather Hiscox. Really you want to be tuning in from 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. for the LIVE events, but if you can’t stay up then check out Olympic Games Morning hosted by Andi Petrillo for all the highlights. Olympic Afternoon hosted by Andrew Chang and Perdita Felicien will also be highlights.
Now I know this is a concern for a specific group so don’t worry — Coronation Street will continue throughout the Olympics :) There is a window every day with news and Corny at 6:00 p.m.
If you don’t have traditional TV, that’s ok (might even be better) because there are lots of sports to watch online. The cbc.ca/tokyo2020 website is the place to be. There is also an app you can get that gives you lots of control over the sports you want to watch.
All that being said — if you want to know what sports are happening when, you need the full broadcast schedule which can be found here.
CTV has a great day by day breakdown of what to watch if you want to catch medals being handed out. I’m already excited about the weekend’s swimming events. There are just so many exciting things to watch!
Now I’ve got a few other hits throughout the week if for some reason you don’t want to watch the Olympics (I get it… it’s not for everyone).
Today on Apple+ the second season of the extremely popular Ted Lasso starts streaming. If you missed season one the basic idea is that Jason S plays an American Football coach who is hired to coach a British Football team. It’s a complete joy to watch. Watch the trailer here.
On Netflix, I’ve heard a bit of buzz around The Last Letter From Your Lover. I don’t know if it’s good buzz or if the internet algorithms are pushing it to me because it’s a romance, but I’ll probably check this out. It has a great cast and a good premise. Check out the trailer here.
There doesn’t seem to be too much content coming out mid week (blame the Olympics) unless they are shows being released on their usual weekly release schedule (I’m currently deep into US Love Island). But that’s okay.
New shows pick up again on Wednesday with a Love Is Blind reunion, a new tattooing reality show called Tattoo Redo, and a doc about fungus called Fantastic Fungi. All are on Netflix.
Lastly, on Thursday (which also happens to be my birthday!), Netflix has a rom-com called Resort to Love. Watch the trailer here.
Send me an email and let me know what you end up watching and if you’re watching the Olympics too :)
Have a great weekend,
-Paula
📝📝📝 This newsletter was graciously edited by Emma Sakamoto 📝📝📝
Editors Pick:
Editor’s Pick
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about YA sci-fi novel The Darkness Outside Us by Elliot Schrefer since I finished it last week. The description sells it as a love story — which is accurate — but I can’t explain why it’s so much more than a love story without spoiling it. It is absorbing, thought-provoking, tender and unsettling. If you’re interested in space travel, the future of the human race (it’s set in the twenty-fifth century) and bigger questions about humanity, I highly recommend it.