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With a Writer’s strike going on right now, it would seem odd that I would be posting a piece on must watch television. But it’s not so strange, since I’ll be talking about some great shows that just started up this month, that aren’t affected by the strike.

jPod – Produced here in Canada by the CBC, is a new series that started this month, based on the novel of the same name, written by Douglas Coupland. I suppose I’m biased because I’ve been a long time fan of Coupland, but after watching the first episode, which follows the exploits of a team of co-workers who are employed at a video game software company, I was completely hooked and constantly on the floor laughing. There is a fine line here, of the show being totally Canadian cheddar and being insanely brilliant. But most importantly, I’m entertained and I can’t stop watching.

Torchwood (Season Two) – Produced in Wales by the BBC (co-produced by the CBC), the second season of the acclaimed Doctor Who spinoff, Torchwood started airing this month. I’ve recently watched the first two episodes of the season, and the show continually pushes the limit, with it’s blatant sexuality, mixed with it’s fantastic, sci-fi reality. John Barrowman, who plays Captain Jack Harkness, keeps me coming back for more and I can’t stop the feeling of wanting to jump on a plane to totally check out Cardiff in person some day. On a related note, if you haven’t seen season 1, it was released on DVD this past week and retails for $69.99.

Trading Spaces (Season Eight) – Produced by TLC, Trading Spaces has jumped back on my radar, when I found out that they have brought back Paige Davis as host of the popular home renovation show. Her first episode aired tonight, and it totally feels like she never left the show. With her, she’s brought back some of her favorite designers, like Doug and Hildi back into the fold, as well as their original $1000 budget. The twist however is in the homeowner pairings, which they’ll be doing on the show. Being neighbours no longer make the cut. They’ve decided to focus on interesting relationships and dynamics between the participants. The first episode featured a divorced couple who had to renovate each others bedrooms. Season teasers, also mentioned, boss and employee trades, as well as a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law switch. If you were like me, and slowly tuned out, after Paige left the show. Now is the time to tune back in every Saturday.

I think it’s appropriate to have Test the Nation clips on YouTube, especially considering there was a warm-up question about YouTube on the show. The clip above was shown near the beginning of the show as a montage about us bloggers. There’s a 5 sec clip of me, which was like 2 hours in the making. Gotta love the power of Television.

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After shooting almost all the bloggers in my makeshift studio, which was our holding pen at the CBC. I finally got in line for our meal of the day, where I found myself behind Destroyer, the Kiss Tribute Band. Surreal.

R6 – Dan Arnold, Ryan Couldrey, Allan Sorenson, Allyson Kenning, Rick Spence, Alexa Clark
R5 – Graeme Stewart, Katharine Hay, John Klein, Mark McIntyre, Jules Carlysle, David Jones
R4 – Jesse Hirsch, James Viloria, Christopher Bird, David Topping, Patrick Metzger, Jon Arnold
R3 – Kate Trgovac, Ryan Porter, Rannie Turingan, Craig Silverman, Adam Schwabe, Andree Lau
R2 – John Martz, Andy Nulman, Karen Whaley, Buzz Bishop, Frank Yang, Ryan Cousineau
R1 – Rebecca Bollwitt, Amber MacArthur, Julien Smith, Lainey Lui, Kerry Anne Holloway, Hugh McGuire

This is what a winning Test The Nation – Blogger team looks like, arrange as per the studio seating chart. The bloggers were victorious on Test the Nation against the backpackers who came in second place, the flight crew, the celebrity look-a-likes, the chefs and the cab drivers.

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NO. So I just finished doing the Mental Gym on the Test the Nation site. It’s a 5 series of 10 questions regarding trivia from the 21st century. Basically out of the 50 questions, I answered 24 correctly. That short of half. On Sunday, January 20th, I’m going to be in the CBC studio and in front of the camera testing as a part of a Blogger team. The show pits 6 team of 36 people against each other in a game of 21st Century Trivia. The other teams on the show are going to be Chefs, Celebrity Look-alikes, Cab Drivers, Backpackers and Flight Crews. Personally I’d like to think that bloggers will win, but after doing the Mental Gym it really can be anyone’s game.

The blogger team is going to be, Dan Arnold, Jon Arnold, Christopher Bird, Buzz Bishop, Rebecca Bollwitt, Jules Carlysle, Alexa Clark, Ryan Couldrey, Ryan Cousineau, Katharine Hay, Jesse Hirsch, Kerry Anne Holloway, David Jones, Allyson Kenning, John Klein, Andree Lau, Lainey Lui, Amber Macarthur, John Martz, Hugh McGuire, Mark McIntyre, Patrick Metzger, Andy Nulman, Ryan Porter, Adam Schwabe, Craig Silverman, Julien Smith, Allan Sorenson, Rick Spence, Graeme Stewart, David Topping, Kate Trgovac, Rannie Turingan, James Viloria, Karen Whaley, and Frank Yang. (Heads up to my fellow bloggers, I do intend on taking individual pictures of each and every one of you!)

So basically I have about 4 days to brush up on my recent history. Perhaps I’ll start with the year in review coverage over at the CBC website. Unfortunately, that only brings be back to 2003. here are the links. 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007.

Perhaps Wikipedia will be a better study guide. 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

Test The Nation will be aired on the CBC on Sunday, January 20th, 2008 at 8pm. And for you facebook geeks, there is also a facebook group for the show.

If you haven’t commented before, perhaps now is the time to throw in your two cents and share some trivia with me in the comments.

So earlier this afternoon, I was taped outside the CBC building here in Toronto, shooting the CN Tower. Afterwards they taped me posting the picture to my blog on a laptop. The segment is going to be used during the show Test The Nation, which will be airing live on the CBC on January 20th. The show puts various teams against each other at an ultimate trivia game, this episode’s theme being 21st Century.

I’m going to be participating on the show, as a part of the blogger team, which will consist of bloggers from across the nation. It should be an interesting show, hopefully, I’ll remember my history from the past seven years, which is basically how long I have been blogging for. My saving grace is that it’s multiple choice. Let’s hope that recognition kicks in.

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Went to a taping of Cityline on Friday which featured Jamie Oliver as the guest. Aside from being hooked up with Jamie’s book, “Cook with Jamie”, the show itself was awesome. Jamie is so down to earth, and he is so funny. The above shot is a picture I sneaked in during the commercial break.

Now don’t let the cute face and hot accent fool ya. Jamie Oliver has done his share to give back to the community, with projects such as Fifteen.

If you didn’t catch the show, there will be an encore presentation of the show on Christmas Day.

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photos from americanidol.com

So, yesterday I watch some Idol, and we started watching the series Heroes. Watching the Idols finale now. Blake Lewis is nice to look at, but I think Jordin will win.

Hurry up and announce the winner already. I wanna get back to my Heroes.

Growing up as a child I always feared Dr. Who. The music in the opening credits always freaked me out, especially in conjunction with the warping visual effects. I never could wrap my head around the concept of the series. Basically, I’d quickly change the channel to find something more suitable for my young eyes.

Fast forward to this past week, where I was introduced to the new Dr. Who. A fresh, more vibrant Doctor. The opening credits theme has a modern vibe and the Doctor himself (played by David Tennant) is dashing, quirky and cute in the Geek chic sense.

Let’s just say I’m hooked. Now I just need to figure out who I can get my hands on the 2005 and 2006 series.

As a Filipino-Canadian I thought this documentary that will be airing on OMNI2 would be interesting to watch.

I don’t have time to do a proper write up, so I’m lifting all the info directly from the press release.

Rogers OMNI Television is proud to present the world television premiere of Foreign Domestics: The Right to Stay, as part of the OMNI Television Language Documentary Special series. The 60 minute documentary launches to Tagalog speaking audiences on OMNI.2, Saturday, September 16th at 8 PM with an encore presentation the following Wednesday (September 20th) at 10 AM.

English speaking viewers can catch this language version of Foreign Domestics: The Right to Stay on Saturday, October 28th at 7PM, also on OMNI.2.