Global Sunday | |
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![]() Global Sunday set | |
Starring | Charles Adler Troy Reeb Danielle Smith Stephen LeDrew Ezra Levant |
Country of origin | Canada |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | N/A |
Production | |
Running time | 30 mins. |
Original release | |
Network | Global |
Release | 2001 – 2005 |
Global Sunday was a Canadian news magazine television program which aired Sunday evenings on the Global Television Network. [1] The program was launched in September 2001, with Charles Adler as host. [2] Run separately from the rest of Global's news division, the program often reflected the political views of Global's founder, Israel Asper and the Asper family, and was designed to showcase a Western Canadian perspective on Canadian political affairs. [3]
The program ran a mix of features reporting and interviews, effectively acting as a cross between a newsmagazine and an American-style Sunday talk show, and aired reportage and panel discussions featuring journalists from both Global News and the network's co-owned CanWest News Service network of newspapers. [1]
The program's launch also spurred both of Global's major rival networks, CTV and CBC, to relaunch Sunday public affairs shows. CTV, which had not produced such a program since the cancellation of Mike Duffy's Sunday Edition in 1999, relaunched its earlier show Question Period , while CBC launched CBC News: Sunday . [4]
As a right-wing voice in Canadian television, the show developed a loyal audience, and was broadcast weekly from studios in Calgary, the cultural hotbed of Canadian conservatism. [1] Adler was simultaneously host of a weekday radio talk show on CJOB in Winnipeg, and commuted to Calgary on weekends to host Global Sunday. [3]
On February 24, 2002, the show staged and broadcast the candidate debates in the inaugural leadership convention of the then-new Canadian Alliance political party, with Adler as moderator. [5]
Adler, who described his hosting style on the program as "a mix of Larry King, Ted Koppel and Vince McMahon", [2] also recorded a weekly series of news commentaries for the network's weekday Global National newscasts concurrently with his stint as host of the program. [6] However, not wishing to continue his schedule of weekly flights to Calgary, Adler resigned after a year. [7] The program was then hosted for the next number of months by a rotating roster of guest hosts, both Global News personalities and outside figures. [8]
In early 2003, Global named a permanent host in Danielle Smith, who at the time was an editorial writer for the Calgary Herald . [8] In 2004, the program introduced "The Final Round", a weekly debate segment featuring Stephen LeDrew and Ezra Levant. [9]
With the launch of Global National's weekend edition in February 2005, the program lost its coveted early-evening timeslot. [10] Ratings and resources both dwindled, and the decision was made in August 2005 to cancel Global Sunday. [11] The network replaced it with Global Currents , which aired documentary reports, and merged some other features, including "The Final Round", into the Sunday edition of Global National.
In 2011, Global resumed airing a weekly national public affairs show with The West Block .