Programming note: Continuing with Cobie Smulders Week here at COTW, here’s last night’s episode of “How I Met your Mother,” which featured the return of Robin Sparkles.
The big night came Monday as Robin Sparkles returned to “How I Met Your Mother” for the third time. As we reminded you yesterday, Robin Sparkles is the Canadian teen-idol alter-ego of the show’s Canadian TV morning show host Robin Sherbatsky, who is played by Canadian actress Cobie Smulders.
Robin Sparkles’ big return came in the form of an episode of “Space Teens,” which Barney discovered and parsed out in brief segments throughout Monday night’s “HIMYM” episode.
What we learned was that Robin’s persona actually came out of this kids’ show, in which she co-starred with her best friend Jessica Glitter (played by Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger). In the show, Robin and Jessica were lost in space and used math to solve crimes. It contained significant sexual undertones, including slow-motion shots of Robin and Jessica bouncing up and down and playing with a joystick in tremendously suggestive fashion. It culminated in the singing of a song about friendship, “The Beaver Song,” which repeats the line “Two beavers are better than one.”
Just when we thought it was gone forever (or at least until the show surfaced on an actual television screen somewhere), the “Lake Shore” sizzle reel is back!
The original YouTube posting of it was pulled due to a copyright claim by the CBC, and even the version the show’s own website was using was nixed. But it appears all is well again, even though the original video still doesn’t work. (Looks like we need to find out what’s going on with the CBC).
In case you missed it, though, here is the 8 and a half minute reel that introduces us to the cast of characters that await on “Lake Shore”:
Programming note: It’s Cobie Smulders Week here at COTW.
She’s having a moment, and we’re along for the ride. Tonight, Robin Sparkles, the Canadian teen idol alter-ego of Robin Scherbatsky, Cobie’s character on “How I Met Your Mother” returns.
Got that straight? She’s so Canadian, she’s basically three Canadians at once! Smulders, a Vancouver native, plays Robin Scherbatsky, a Canadian-born TV morning show host in New York, who had a brief moment as a Debbie Gibson-like teen pop star in Canada with hits such as “Let’s Go to the Mall” and “Sandcastles in the Sand.”
Another layer of Robin Sparkles’ past is peeled away in tonight’s episode when Barney finds a tape of an old Canadian TV show, “Space Teens,” which stars Robin and her cohort Glitter, played by guest star Nicole Scherzinger. Here’s a quick clip:
It appears “Lake Shore” has found a television home. As you’ll see if you try to watch the embedded video clip below, the much-hyped and oft-linked-to sizzle reel that gave us a taste of just how wild and crazy a cast of intentionally ethnically diverse Canadians can be has been pulled. The curious part: It’s been pulled due to a copyright claim by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which means CBC has apparently secured the rights to broadcast the show.
The show’s official website’s FAQ section still says that network negotiations are ongoing, but if YouTube’s copyright claim is to be believed, you might want to be ready to tune into CBC sometime next year to watch the “Lake Shore” drama unfold.
You’re more likely to hear these words from a Canadian woman than most women around the world, according to a “study” by Badoo.com, a London-based dating website that analyzed the flirtation habits of more than 90 million user interactions in 240 countries “to see how often women made the first move.”
Girls from Spain, Poland and the Dominican Republic took the top three spots. Coming in ninth was Canada, far outranking their American counterparts, who come off surprisingly more icy than their white-capped neighbors with a 19th-place finish.
Here’s a look at the Top 10 and a couple other notable finishes:
1. Spain
2 Poland
3. Domincan Republic
4(T). Italy
4(T). Argentina
6. Brazil
7. Chile
8. Portugal
9. Canada
10. Venezuela
Others: Germany (12), United Kingdom (14), Mexico (16), France (17), United States (19).
The highly anticipated premiere of “Conan” came with a massive boom Monday night as the ousted “Tonight Show” host regained his late-night desk on basic cable at TBS.
Now, the “first guest of all-time” role is one that is not taken lightly and, yes, even though it’s basic cable Conan has lined up a list of heavy hitters this week, including Tom Hanks and Jon Hamm.
But Monday night’s premiere was when all eyes were watching and Conan looked to the north to find his first guest in Vancouver’s Seth Rogen. The once-plump, lovable star of “Knocked Up,” among other films, had nothing in particular to promote (“Green Lantern” doesn’t come out until January, but it did get a mention), but Conan repeatedly said Rogen was his choice for the coveted first-guest slot.
Check out the full episode below and tell us what you think of the choice.
OK, so maybe even Canada doesn’t always get it right.
At the risk of prejudging — which is certain to be one of the lessons we all learn about in this new televisionary pursuit north of the border — Canada’s answer to “Jersey Shore” looks like an absolute train wreck.
While MTV’s “Jersey Shore” focused on a dysfunctional but occasionally lovable bunch of self-described “guidos,” “Lake Shore” aims to ratchet up the tension by deliberately casting a multicultural octet of fist-pumpers and hard-partiers.
What remains to be seen is whether it’s the good kind or the tragic kind.
Oh, one other detail to be worked out is that the show has yet to land a home on television. According to the show’s website, the production company is still in negotiations regarding where it will air. In fact, it hasn’t yet been shot and they’re still scouting locations on Toronto’s Lake Shore Boulevard and in downtown.
The buzz is growing, though, as a “sizzle reel” is gaining some traction on YouTube. Check it out below, and meet the eight cast members: The Turk, The Albanian, The Pole, The Czech, The Vietnamese, The Jew, The Italian and The Lebanese.
I only wish I was making up those labels. Get more updates from the show on the official site.
Monday marked a big day for Canadian college dropouts as 23-year-old Jonathan Duhamel of Quebec became the first Canadian to win the Main Event at the World Series of Poker.
AOLNews reports Duhamel said, “I am very happy to be the first Canadian” after letting out “several primal screams of joy as he gripped the mounds of cash on the edge of the poker table that had become his.”
“It’s an honor for me, and it’s great for Canada.”
The jackpot was $8,900,000 U.S. dollars, which is a bonus for Duhamel because, as of this morning, that’s $8,909,557.31 Canadian!
Congrats to the big winner. For more, check out the full article at AOLNews.com.
OK, it’s only the first look if you haven’t seen this photo before. But we’re getting excited for Michael J. Fox’s guest-starring role on “The Good Wife” Tuesday night.
Fox gets a bit personal this time, taking on the role of an attorney who “uses his condition to sway a jury during a test case for a huge class action suit against a pharmaceutical company,” according to CBS’s press release.
“The Good Wife” has been one of those surprises from CBS. It uses all the same tactics as just about any CBS drama: love, deception, drama, intrigue, lessons to parents about the scary things their kids are doing. But Julianna Margulies and crew make it work and we here at Canadian of the Week haven’t missed an episode yet.
You can your bottom looney we’ll be watching this one.
Check out the clip below for a sneak peek and to see Fox and Margulies talking about the unique role:
