What's
New
Archives: | 2000/01 | 2001/02 | 2002/03 | 2003/04 | Current |
REGULAR
SERIES ENDS; ONE HOUR FINALE APR 8
ROYAL CANADIAN
AIR FARCE ENDS SEASON WITH A SPECIAL HOUR-LONG SHOW ON SUNDAY, APRIL
8 AT 7 P.M.
Politicians
and national personalities can soon relax a little – it's end-of-season
time for Royal Canadian Air Farce.
The perennial
ratings winner winds up its eighth season on CBC Television with an
hour-long season finalé double-header on Sunday, April 8th at
7:00 PM. It's the Farce's last chance this season to squeeze in a few
more digs at Shawinigate, and the latest series of parliamentary apologies
and retractions. The hour-long format also makes room for appearances
from the Farce's stable of non-political observers such as Mike from
Canmore and the Confused Philosopher. And to close the season with a
bang and a mess, the mighty avenging Chicken Cannon will take aim at
the viewer-voted Target of the Season.
This season
finale will be repeated Monday, April 9th at 7:00.
In its
regular half-hour slot on Friday nights, Air Farce wrapped its regular
season on March 23 with a season-long average-minute audience of 1.2-million
viewers, again ranking it Canada's leading continuing series.
HISTORY
IN THE MOCKING
Fri
March 16 at 8:00 PM and Mon March 19 at7:00
PM on CBC Television.
Royal Canadian Air Farce presents "Canada - A Mildly Informative,
Not Overly Long People's History".
Click
here to hear a sample...
As Canada
finally becomes consumed with its own history, Royal Canadian Air Farce
rushes in with an all-new condensed look at the story of Canada’s
founding and floundering, in a half-hour special.
Guest stars
Graham Greene and Rex Murphy join Air Farce in painting
a portrait of Canada’s past, clearly influenced by Mark Starowicz’s
“Canada: A People’s History”. Historical scenes include
General Wolfe landing at Quebec, a candid moment with Laura Secord and
her cow, the driving of The Last Spike, and Louis Riel as a fanatic
radical bent on separation, looking suspiciously like Lucien Bouchard.
Graham
Greene stars as John Graves Simcoe, first lieutenant-governor of
Upper Canada, negotiating with first nations’ Billy Two-Willies
and Susan Born-with-an-Attitude.
Rex
Murphy brings his incisive interviewing and irreverent speaking
style to a one-and-one with French explorer Samuel de Champlain.
Unlike
CBC’s landmark history series, the Air Farce version is viewer-friendly
for a short attention span, and presents the entire Canadian story in
less than a half-hour.
“Canada
– A Mildly Informative, Not Overly Long People’s History”
on Royal Canadian Air Farce, stars Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson,
Luba Goy, John Morgan, Graham Greene and Rex
Murphy; written by Gord Holtam, John Morgan and Rick
Olsen; directed by Perry Rosemond; produced by Roger Abbott
and Don Ferguson for Air Farce Productions Inc. in
association with CBC Television.
STAND
BY TO LAUGH
Air Farce
takes an in-depth look at one of the hardest working stage managers
in television: Pat MacDonald. Click here for more.
AIR
FARCE NEW YEAR'S SPECIAL A RATINGS WINNER
Special
thanks to all who watched New Year's Eve and New Year's Day! The Nielsens
are in, and our New Year's Eve show scored 1,754,000 viewers
per average minute - making it the #1 Canadian comedy, variety or music
show of the year. Then on New Year's Day, another 755,000 viewers
per average minute watched the instant replay. And on Friday Jan 5,
another 711,000 - a total of 3.2-million viewers. And...
thanks for surfing! December, 2000 was our biggest month ever for visits
to our website, and December 31 was a record-breaking day, chalking
up the maximum hits, visits and files.
 |
AIR
FARCE RECEIVES EARLE GREY AWARD AND VIEWER'S CHOICE AWARD AT 15TH
ANNUAL GEMINIS! |
At
the 2000 Gemini Awards on October 31, Air Farce received the Viewers
Choice Award, for “the most acclaimed Canadian program as determined
by the viewing public”. From all of us at Air Farce, thank you
for voting on-line and choosing us. The award, sponsored by the Royal
Canadian Mint, is a beautiful handcrafted gold and silver trophy, and
it was handed to us by Olympic gold-medal winner Simon Whitfield, whose
triathlon triumph in Australia this summer made us all so proud. We’ll
treasure our Viewers Choice Award as a constant reminder that Air Farce
is so lucky to have the most supportive audience in television. Thank
you very much.
An
hour later, Steve Smith introduced us as this year’s winner of the Earle
Grey Award, the Academy’s special award for career achievement. The
Geminis treated us to a great video highlighting our 27 years on radio
and television, complete with great comments from some of the politicians
(Joe Clark, Sheila Copps, Herb Grey) and personalities (Lloyd Robertson,
Peter Mansbridge, Jann Arden) who’ve been both our victims and guests.
Then our colleagues gave us what the press called “a prolonged standing
ovation”, and we said our thanks. For
what we said, click here. As soon as we can get it, we’ll add the
video tribute so that you can enjoy it online. As we said on stage,
there are many, many people whose support got us this far, and we thank
them all, but our biggest thanks will always go to you – our listeners,
viewers and fans. Thanks so much.
THE
GAMES ARE OVER, LET THE FARCE BEGIN!
It's been a long
hot event-filled summer and Royal Canadian Air Farce has been keeping
score. So watch out Air Farce's eighth season 1-hour special will be
online shortly. Ontario drinking water, national gas prices, the Alliance
leadership, media takeovers, pie in P.E.I., Survivor on television:
all summer long, the targets just kept on coming, and Air Farce is lining
up the hits. Will they touch on this past week's biggest news story?
"We have to," says Don Ferguson, who impersonated Pierre Trudeau through
three decades on Air Farce radio and television shows. "We won't be
too sentimental, nor too irreverent, but we'll find a way to salute
him." Friday night's Air Farce special launches the group's eighth season
on CBC Television. For seven years, Air Farce has scored as Canada's
highest-rated entertainment series, with an average audience of 1.3-million
Canadians every week since the series began on October 8, 1993. Click
here to listen to a sample..
Royal
Canadian Air Farce inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame!
The Royal Canadian
Air Farce troupe (Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy and John Morgan)
were inducted to the Canadian "Walk of Fame" at a gala ceremony
at Roy Thomson Hall on June 23, 2000t. The star they received (actually
a stylized maple leaf) lies on Simcoe Street, south of King Subway,
just outside Roy Thomson Hall. Air Farce was inducted alongside notable
Canadian personalities Martin Short, William Shatner, hockey great
Gordie Howe, Maureen Forrester, Michael J. Fox, Evelyn Hart, William
Hutt, Joni Mitchell, Ginette Reno, and painter Jean-Paul Riopelle,
joining a list of other luminaries that includes author Pierre Berton;
actor Jim Carrey; director Norman Jewison; comedian Rich Little; musicians
Celine Dion, Anne Murray and Gordon Lightfoot; hockey legend Bobby
Orr; and race car driver Jacques Villeneuve.
