Looking for the Mystery aisle? It’s over on Mondays. Romance section? Stay tuned on Wednesdays. Whatever your literary leanings, BookTelevision’s great new format has the week arranged to make your viewing as exciting and welcoming as time spent in your favourite bookstore.
“We think viewers are going to love the way we’ve organized the schedule by popular genres,” says Jill Bonenfant, Director of Programming. “We’re also pleased to announce the return of Canada’s only literary news program, The Word This Week, as well as the world premieres of the new crime book club Booked, and the reality-literature program The Letters. For the fans of the Bard, we have the remarkable historical detective series In Search of Shakespeare and a fantastic lineup of plays filmed at the famous Stratford Festival.”
Renowned and up-and-coming authors, spelling bee drama, hit films to suit any taste, and an interactive online book club for budding bookworms and literary addicts alike: read between the lines with BookTelevision.
MYSTERY MONDAYS
Whodunits, crimes of passion, heartless criminals, good cops, bad cops: explore the caverns of the crime-writer’s mind with dark stories and mysterious characters on BookTelevision’s Mystery Mondays.
Books on Film – Mystery Movies
It’s a dark and stormy night… every Monday on BookTelevision.
Titles for this fall include:
- Manhattan Murder Mystery
- The Turn of the Screw
- Eight Men Out
- Infiltration
- Bullets over Broadway
BookTelevision Premiere
Based on the biographical writings of former New York Deputy Police Commissioner Jack Maple, The District uses real-life experiences as basis for its often gritty storylines. Follow Washington, D.C. Police Chief Jack Mannion (Craig T. Nelson) as he and his team fight to make the District livable for all its citizens.
Fine Print Crime Edition
Host Carolyn Weaver chats with crime authors about the often dark ideas that inspired them, and welcomes a weekly panel of readers from a variety of professions to discuss crime-based fiction and non-fiction books.
TRUE CRIME TUESDAYS
They say truth is stranger than fiction, but it looks like a dead heat to us. For the best in factual and fictional crime turn to BookTelevision.
Booked
World Premiere
Finally, a juicy book club for the criminally minded! Booked pairs crime-book aficionados with justice and crime professionals to investigate our century’s most memorable crime novels. Join forensic scientists, criminologists, investigators, police officers, and bookworms as they explore works by criminal masterminds the likes of Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon) and Karin Fossum (He Who Fears the Wolf).
Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege and Justice
New Season
Celebrated Vanity Fair columnist and consummate insider Dominick Dunne returns with a new series of notorious cases, delving into the lowest depths of high society. This season, Dunne explores the dark and treacherous side of family business, recounts the strange story of a socialite who claimed she accidentally killed her husband, and exposes an obsessive self-made millionaire who unknowingly tried to hire an undercover police officer to kill his wife.
In the Heat of Night
The acclaimed drama returns to BookTelevision!
Carroll O’Connor and Howard E. Rollins Jr. star in this television adaptation of the 1967 film classic. Against the racially-charged backdrop of the South, a gruff, white sheriff and a street-wise black cop put aside their differences to keep the peace in the small town of Sparta, Georgia. Based on the novel by John Ball.
ROMANCE AND CLASSICS WEDNESDAYS
BookTelevision liberates you from your mid-week slump with passionate classics, heartfelt romances, and poetic flights of fancy.
In Search of Shakespeare
BookTelevision Premiere
A detective story, a documentary, and a journey: In Search of Shakespeare travels England in search of witnesses and evidence as it conducts an innovative and revealing investigation into the life and times of Shakespeare. See the Bard as you’ve never seen him before.
Shakespeare Plays
BookTelevision Premiere
One of the greatest writers in the English language, Shakespeare produced 37 plays ranging from ribald comedies to devastating tragedies. This fall, BookTelevision brings the Bard on Avon to the small screen as we present a selection of his most popular plays filmed at the famous Stratford festival.
Plays include:
- Romeo and Juliet
- The Taming of the Shrew
- As You Like It
- Much Ado About Nothing
- The Tempest
- Twelfth Night
World Premiere
Poets enjoy flourishes of creativity only to suffer interminable droughts of inspiration. This charming series delicately probes the particular creative heart of the Canadian poet, unraveling the sometimes fascinating, sometimes drab day-to-day realities of their struggles with the muse.
The Letters
World Premiere
A literary approach to reality TV, The Letters follows eight young men who position themselves as modern day Cyrano de Bergeracs – without the famous facial feature – in their quest to win the affection of one special young woman. Enjoy the renaissance of romantic prose in this vibrant new series where the pen is, once again, infinitely mightier than the sword.
NON-FICTION THURSDAYS
Pencil BookTelevision in for Thursday as we energize your synapses with series that probe the truth, expose the outrageous, and engage your mind.
Big Ideas Lecture Series
New Episodes
Get smarter by the minute in the comfort of your own home! The Big Ideas Lecture Series showcases the impressive brainpower of the world’s most influential thinkers as they speak on 9/11 and the Middle East, bioethics, the history of mistresses, and countless other timely topics. And you don’t pay a penny of tuition.
Tech Books & Bio Library
New Seasons
Carolyn Weaver hosts this pair of shows featuring chats with authors about the ideas that inspired them and a weekly panel of readers from a variety of professions who discuss tech and biographical books.
Betting it All
What does it take to be a Silicon Valley entrepreneur? A willingness to risk absolutely everything. This series features interviews with some of the high-tech industry’s most successful business people, hosted by Silicon Valley-specialist and editor of Forbes ASAP magazine Mike Malone. Don’t miss Malone’s revealing discussions with the big players, including Bill Gates of Microsoft, Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems, and Steve Wozniak of Apple Computers.
CINEMA SATURDAYS
Sshhhh, my book is on! BookTelevision makes it more than a movie with art house treasures and insightful adaptations.
Books on Film – Art House Edition
BookTelevision features unlikely heroes, eccentric villains, and tales of the road less traveled with weekly art house and independent book-based films. Charmingly quirky, sometimes obscure, but never mundane, this is cinema for the independent spirit.
Titles for this fall include:
- The English Patient
- Jane Eyre
- The Old Man and the Sea
- Of Mice and Men
- KatzelMacher
- Satan's Brew
- Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
- Merchant of Four Seasons
- La Marquise d'O
- Les Nuits de la Pleine
- Le Beau Marriage
BookTelevision Premiere
This series dramatically documents a book’s journey from print to screen. Packed with interviews with major stars, authors, and directors, Books Into Film provides an insider’s look at Hollywood’s biggest book-based movies. A refreshing and fascinating examination of contemporary films that you won’t want to miss.
LITERARY SUNDAYS
Revel in the beauty of the word: Sunday evening BookTelevision celebrates everything from the mechanics of spelling to the world’s most complex and beautiful literary creations.
Canadian Junior & Senior Spelling Bees
BookTelevision Premiere
W – U – N – D – E – R – K – I – N – D. Wunderkinds of all ages go head-to-head at the Canadian Junior & Senior Spelling Bees. Tune in and feel the tension mount as some of the brightest students from across ontario vie for the championship titles.
The Writers Hotlist
BookTelevision Premiere
The best of the best. From Alice Walker to Sydney Sheldon, Writers’ Hotlist profiles some of today's most successful, motivational, and inspirational writers.
Distinguished Artists
BookTelevision Premiere
In the spirit of Inside the Actors Studio, Distinguished Artists goes one-on-one with artists from Canada and around the world. Host Lorne Frohman sits down with celebrated authors including Paul Quarrington, Guy Vanderhaeghe, David Bezmozgis, Nino Ricci, and more.
Imprint
New Episodes
Feed your passion for books with interviews with prize-winning authors and journalists, the latest trends in books, and contemporary issues in literature. From the cult of Ernest Hemingway to caustic literary criticism to steamy prose and racy book covers, Imprint has everything you need to sate your craving for the written word.
WRITERS PROFILES
Writer Profiles
New Profiles
You’ve read their great works, now find out about their lives. From George Orwell to Alice Walker, Yukio Mishima to V.S. Naipaul, Simone de Beauvoir to Danielle Steele, Writer Profiles spans the century and examines the most renowned and influential authors on the world literary scene. New profiles include June Callwood, Paul Otlet, and Charly Chiarelli.
RETURNING ORIGINAL SERIES
The Word This Week
New Season
Canada's only literary news program enters its fifth season. The Word This Week takes a fresh look at the world of words with news on books, magazines, graphic novels, comix and beyond, plus author interviews, rants and raves and more.
Authors at Harbourfront
New Episodes
BookTelevision brings a fresh look to the Authors at Harbourfront series, featuring the best literary talent from Canada and around the world.
Writers on the Road
New Episodes
Writers on the Road features interviews between best-selling authors and celebrated writers on tour. Literary giants, philosophers, rock stars, cultural theorists and other notable figures talk candidly and in-depth about their lives and works.
BOOKTELEVISION onLINE BOOK STORE
Coming this Fall
You must submit… your brilliant observations and worldly opinions to BookTelevision! In our unending quest to celebrate the written word, we inaugurate the official BookTelevision online Book Club. Our well-read and insightful staff members choose the book and moderate stimulating discussion about some of the world’s best – and most notorious – books. BookTelevision’s Book Club is the quintessential circle for both the budding book lover and the seasoned literary aficionado. Who’s the literary critic now?