By Karen Whaley

Former Alliance president Robert Lantos and former president of CBS/Tri-Star Pictures/Sony Pictures Jeff Sagansky have invested millions in TV production company Blueprint Entertainment in order to create better Canadian television. Lantos explains, “The strategy is simple: to design TV shows that from the ground floor are genuinely Canadian…[and] whose first sale is to a network in the U.S. In the States, they perceive these shows as being domestic, so they are able to be sold for a much higher price than any imported programming.” It’s like what they did with Due South, so how can it be bad?
Former Toronto Police chief Jack Marks died last night.
EMI Canada and Sony BMG Music Canada are in the midst of big layoffs, which some blame on poor record sales and peer-to-peer file sharing programs. I’m getting really sick of major record labels blaming all of their low sales on LimeWire when they’d benefit from re-evaluating how they promote their music. You just can’t create supergroups like the Backstreet Boys anymore, music dudes! Reach out to niche markets and use the internet to your advantage. Geez.
Prince Charles wants to ban McDonalds. Can he even do that?
CBC Television is putting out an Idol-style show this summer where contestants compete to be a Second City cast member. SCTV‘s Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty are set to judge. Awesome?
Speaking of CBC, did you know that they have smoking rooms in their Toronto office? Scandal!
Photo courtesy of G©H, a regular contributor to our Torontoist Flickr Pool who is retiring to Edinburgh. Cheers!