This week in Strombo Nov 11-15

George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight this week
The studio is dark Nov 11-15 as the crew takes a little break so you may have already seen some of what is presented this week.  
Monday is A Remembrance Day Special

Mon Nov 11
First guest in the red chair is Captain Simon Mailloux

Author Joseph Boyden

Special message from Eddie Izzard

Tues Nov 12
Friend of the show Jane Goodall

Actor Donal Logue

On the panel Alan Cross, Evan Carter and  Jennifer Goodhue

Wed Nov 13
Actor, now director Keanu Reeves 

Stunt man and actor Tiger Chen

The one and only Jackie Chan

Thur Nov 14
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield 

Steven Stamkos

Fri Nov 15
Director Alfonso Cuaron

Legendary musician  Ronnie Hawkins

Look back at Cory Monteith.

This week in Strombo Oct 14 - Oct 18

George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight this week
Happy Thanksgiving! 
May you have enough of what you need.

Monday Oct 14
Brian Henson Muppet master

On the panel actress Georgina Reilly, stand up comedian Fraser Young and Air Farce's Luba Goy

Also on the show Robbie Robertson

Tuesday Oct 15
Activist for the chimpanzee Jane Goodall

Panel guests include music expert Alan Cross, comedian Evan Carter and improvisor Jennifer Goodhue

 And Donal Logue teaches us something.

Wednesday Oct 16
Singing star Michael Bolton

On The Panel we have comedian Steve Patterson, comedy writer Scott Montgomery and Jennifer Goodhue? 

Best Story by Ralph Nader

Thursday Oct 17
Hockey Legend Bobby Orr

Panel guest are actor Nat Faxon, actor comedian Jim Rash and comedian, TV star and podcaster Sean Cullen

Friday Oct 18
Actor Daniel Bruhl

Canadian singer Brett Kissel

And we revisit to an interview with Sinead O'Connor

This week in Strombo GST June 17-19

George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight this week
On CBC. We will cover CNN's Friday show in another post.

Monday June 17
Activist Jane Goodall

Guest on the panel Chuck Hughes

Tuesday June 18
Comedian, actor, innkeeper Shaun Majumder

Panel guest the very funny Jamillah Ross

Wednesday June 19
Murdoch Mysteries'Yannick Bisson

On the panel Lauren Hammersley

Thursday June 20
From BNL Ed Robertson

Canadian musical icon k-os

On the 3 things panel Bobby Mair

Friday June 21
Actress Famke Janssen

ActorDonal Longue

Comedy panelist, the hilarious Jessica Holmes

Meli's Take ...

on the new feel for Season 9.

Well folks the first week of the season is all wrapped up for George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight and I am wondering what you’re all thinking of the changes so far?

The new set and layout of the studio took me a bit to get used to.  At first I felt it lacked a bit of edge to it with the sleek white backdrop and then found the video display a bit distracting. However, I do love that when the camera is focused on George himself, the back drop is bleu blanc et rouge (Habs reference). Hoping that over time more of “punk G” finds its way back to the set. Please don’t take your “Carlsberg years” too literally ;)

As a viewer I still lament the loss of the “Mile-a-Minute” and now even, “The Debrief” is gone.  I understand the new 7pm time slot follows the news and people are trying to unwind after a long day … but I still think there’s room for a quick, "George’s take on the news of the day" segment. May I formally suggest/request to the powers that be at CBC that it returns at some point, perhaps when you go back to making the show an hour?!

The Panel … Wasn’t a fan of this new segment, the first couple of episodes.  For me, it doesn’t really work.  It is a comedy segment; I get that, but too short and not really giving us any beneficial information, when the show is known for its depth and not just light-hearted humour. It feels like it’s trying too hard at times.  After seeing it taped in-studio, I would personally love to see Fridays go from being “Best ofs” to The Panel episode.  Eventually as funding improves again and GST, hopefully, returns to an hour long format Fridays could be music/comedy nights.  What an excellent way for George and the show to bring us into the weekend!

The Panel

I think the first week of guests had a nice well-rounded appeal with cancon, CBC Personalities, celebs, and of course the amazing Jane Goodall.  Jane, David Suzuki and James Appurathai are my all time fave guests and I am hoping the show keeps this type of guest in the forefront.  I sincerely look forward to some of the conversations that I know are coming up this season.  One thing hasn’t changed … George is still brilliant at the art of conversation.  J

Season 9 Week 1

George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight
has a new set, a new time and a new look to the website!
The new season starts Monday September 17 and airs at 7pm and repeats at 11:30 pm.


That is just a few of the changes. The show is half an hour long and ends with a comedic panel discussion of  some choice issues.
There are of course great guests and interviews as always. There is more content offered online such as extended interviews and current issues and information of interest to all of us.

The Stroumboulopouli plan to pay close attention to the panel discussions and comment or contribute if occasion warrants right here on this blog.

Sunday September 16
The Strombo Show on CBC Radio 2 on your radio. It can also be found on CBC Music. 
Sunday Service is back and school is in session on this premiere episode of The Strombo Show's third season. We make up for those repeats by rifling through some of the best tracks that dropped throughout the summer season. Darby Wheeler nods to the return of the greats in 'Old is the new Young' and Alex 'The Can-Con Don' Narvaez drops in to discuss a few of his favourite hip-hop jams. As always, we offer up the Magnificent Seven to count down the hottest songs of the week that includes Frank Ocean, The XX and Propaghandi. Also, DJ Carisma of Power 106 delivers her LA-kissed sound in the blend. There is no doubt that the spirit of radio is alive and well.

Contributed by 
Colton Eddy of The Strombo Show

Monday September 17
Special guest Rick Mercer of the Rick Mercer Report (begins it's10th season)

Panel guest Colin Mochrie debates with the panel regulars

Tuesday September 18
Special guest actor/singer/director and stuntman Jackie Chan 

Panel guest Ron James

Wednesday September 19
Chimpanzee expert and activist Jane Goodall is back in the red chair.

Panel guest chef Chuck Hughes

Thursday September 20
Actor Joshua Jackson has a new film out  Inescapable

Panel guest Amanda Lang

Friday September 21
Features the best of this week. 

Enjoy the show!

Random news from the Strombo World!

There's a lot going on in the world of Strombo in the last couple weeks leading up to the launch of the fifth season of The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos, so here's a quick run down of a few things that have popped up...

Former Hour guest, Dr. Jane Goodall, will be honoured at a Tribute Dinner, at the Royal York in Toronto on November 16th. Hosted by former Hour guest, Michael Budman, and his Roots co-founder Don Green, the dinner will pay tribute to Ms. Goodall and help raise funds for the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada. The honorary dinner chair for the evening will be Dr. David Suzuki. George will play emcee for the evening. All proceeds from the evening will benefit three programs: the expansion of the "Roots and Shoots" program in Canada; to establish Jane Goodall scholarships in Environmental studies; and a "Roots and Shoots" program at the University of Haifa.

Heading out for a night on the town in Toronto? You may want to check out one of "Strombo's Top Five Toronto Bars", as seen in The Strand, the student newspaper of Victoria University in the University of Toronto. According to the article, the bars include:

The Communist's Daughter (1146 Dundas st w.)
Tuesdays at The Horseshoe Tavern (370 Queen st w.)
Wednesdays at The Dakota Tavern (249 Ossington ave.)

To find out which Toronto watering holes are in George's Top Two, make sure you check out the full article.

And finally, who could forget Margaret Cho's appearance on The Hour in season four?

Well, it appears that the message that Margaret Cho left on Kevin Drew's answering machine during that interview may have actually succeeded in getting her in the band. According to Rolling Stone, Broken Social Scene will be saving a space on stage for Cho sometime in the near future. According to Rolling Stone:

“Broken Social Scene is the best thing happening in modern music. Kevin Drew is a genius and I am so excited about joining them onstage,” she tells Rolling Stone (the collaboration hasn’t happened just yet, but is in the works). “I told him I wanted to just sneak my way into the band, like walking backwards onstage while playing the triangle. This is total proof that The Secret works because every time I would listen to their music, I would say to myself, ‘I wanna be be in this band. I must be in this band. I am gonna be in this band.’ And then it happened!”

And those are the latest snippets of news from the world of Strombo. Stay tuned later this week for another edition of Stroumboulopouli 2:20 and don't forget to book your tickets for The Hour's Toronto Film Festival pretapes. Some tickets are still available, but the tapings are selling out fast.

Cheers!