Second City Television, commonly shortened to SCTV and later known as SCTV Network and SCTV Channel, is a Canadian television sketch comedy show that ran intermittently between 1976 and 1984. It was created as an offshoot from Toronto's Second City troupe. It is an example of a Canadian show that moved successfully to U.S. television, where it aired on NBC in 1981–1983.
Martin Hayter Short is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, and writer. Short is known as an energetic comedian who gained prominence for his roles in sketch comedy. He has also acted in numerous films and television shows. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. Short was awarded as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2019.
The Toronto Santa Claus Parade, also branded as The Original Santa Claus Parade, is a Santa Claus parade held annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 2023 event was held on November 26.
Wendy Jane Crewson is a Canadian actress and producer. She began her career appearing on Canadian television, before her breakthrough role in 1991 dramatic film The Doctor.
Kathleen Robertson is a Canadian actress. She has starred in a number of films, and from 2011 to 2012 played the role of Kitty O'Neill in the Starz political drama series Boss. From 2014 to 2016, Robertson starred as homicide detective Hildy Mulligan in the TNT series Murder in the First. She also played Tina Edison in the Canadian sitcom Maniac Mansion (1990–1993) and Clare Arnold in the Fox teen drama series Beverly Hills, 90210 (1994–1997). In 2019, she played a main character in the series Northern Rescue.
Joseph Flaherty is an American actor, writer, and comedian. He is best known for his work on the Canadian sketch comedy SCTV from 1976 to 1984, and as Harold Weir on Freaks and Geeks, and for his role as Donald the heckler in Happy Gilmore (1996).
Elf Bowling is a bowling video game developed by NStorm and released in 1998 for Windows Computers. In the game the player, as Santa Claus, attempts to knock down elves who are arranged like bowling pins. A later release of the game, by Ignition Entertainment, was released on the Nintendo handheld consoles Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance, and received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics. In Elf Bowling, the elves of Santa's Workshop are on strike due to overwork from the huge demand for Christmas toys, so Santa Claus has decided to whip them into shape by using them as bowling pins.
The Grinch is a fictional character created by children's author and cartoonist Dr. Seuss. He is best known as the main character of the 1957 children's book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! He has been portrayed and voiced by many actors, including Boris Karloff, Hans Conried, Bob Holt, Walter Matthau, Anthony Asbury, Jim Carrey, Rik Mayall, Benedict Cumberbatch, Matthew Morrison, David Howard Thornton, and James Austin Johnson.
Santa Claus: The Movie is a 1985 Christmas film starring Dudley Moore, John Lithgow, and David Huddleston. It depicts the origin of Santa Claus, and his modern-day adventure to save one of his elves (Moore) who has been manipulated by an unscrupulous toy company executive (Lithgow). It was directed by Jeannot Szwarc and was the last major fantasy film produced by the Paris-based father-and-son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind.
Jayne Eastwood, also credited as Jane Easton or Jane Eastwood, is a Canadian actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles as Anna-Marie Biddlecoff in Finders Keepers (1984), Judy the Waitress in The Santa Clause (1994), Mrs. White in the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise (2002-2023), Mrs. Borusewicz in Chicago (2002), Lucy Decker in Welcome to Mooseport (2004) and Miss Wimsey in Hairspray (2007).
The Hollywood Christmas Parade is an annual American parade held on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It follows a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) route along Hollywood Boulevard, then back along Sunset Boulevard, featuring various celebrities.
Count Floyd is a fictional character featured in television and played by comic actor Joe Flaherty. He is a fictional horror host in the tradition of TV hosts on local television in both the United States and Canada.
Motion pictures featuring Santa Claus constitute their own subgenre of the Christmas film genre. Early films of Santa revolve around similar simple plots of Santa's Christmas Eve visit to children. In 1897, in a short film called Santa Claus Filling Stockings, Santa Claus is simply filling stockings from his pack of toys. Another film called Santa Claus and the Children was made in 1898. A year later, a film directed by George Albert Smith titled Santa Claus was created. In this picture, Santa Claus enters the room from the fireplace and proceeds to trim the tree. He then fills the stockings that were previously hung on the mantle by the children. After walking backward and surveying his work, he suddenly darts at the fireplace and disappears up the chimney.
Arnold Pinnock is a Canadian actor who is perhaps best known for his appearance as Paul Greebie, Casey's guidance counselor, in Life with Derek.
Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Christmas Eve. He is said to accomplish this with the aid of Christmas elves, who make the toys in his workshop, and with the aid of flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the air.
Robert William Pickton, also known as the Pig Farmer Killer or the Butcher, is a Canadian serial killer, serial rapist, former pig farmer and possible cannibal who is suspected of being one of the most prolific serial killers in Canadian history. After dropping out of school, Pickton left a butcher's apprenticeship to begin working full-time at his family's pig farm. He is believed to have begun his murders in the early 1990s after inheriting the farm. Arrested in 2002, he was convicted in 2007 of the second-degree murders of six women and was also the subject of a lengthy investigation that yielded evidence of numerous other murders.
The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story is a 2001 television documentary produced by Otmoor Productions for BBC Two's Omnibus series and originally called Syd Barrett: Crazy Diamond. Directed by John Edginton, the film includes interviews with all the Pink Floyd members – Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright – plus the "fifth Pink Floyd", Bob Klose, who left the band in 1965, getting their points of view on the original band founder Syd Barrett. The film includes rare early television appearances of Pink Floyd, and home movies.
The Royal Canadian Air Farce was a comedy troupe that was active from 1973 to 2019. It is best known for their various Canadian Broadcasting Corporation series, first on CBC Radio and later on CBC Television. Although their weekly radio series ended in 1997 and their television series ended in 2008, the troupe produced annual New Year's Eve specials on CBC Television until 2019. CBC announced that, due to budgetary constraints, the special scheduled to air on December 30, 2019, would be the final in the series.
Events in 1941 in animation.
The Porter is a Canadian television drama series which premiered on CBC Television on 21 February 2022. Created by Arnold Pinnock and Bruce Ramsay, the series is a co-production between CBC and BET+. The show was released to positive reviews and became the most nominated show at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards. The show was cancelled after one season, after BET+ decided to not back any future episodes.
