Highlights of the 2002-2003 season.

BookTelevision: The Channel is about the literature, communication of ideas, artistic expression and verbal power. It’s about all the writing that propels our daily lives. Spoken, written or wired, the world of words is its focus and passion – from novels, comics, movies and advertising, to street slang and popular lyrics. BookTelevision is the evolution of the word.

BookTelevision is not just another “book” channel. It is about the writing that drives mass media, popular information, entertainment and culture: fiction, non-fiction, SF, erotica, psychology, cookbooks, sportswriting, poetry, screenwriting, political speech writing, journalism, media persuasion, kidlit, lyrics, websites, comix, etymology and the word in art.
BookTelevision is owned and operated by Learning and Skills Television of Alberta, majority-owned by CHUM Limited, one of Canada’s foremost media companies and program providers which currently owns and operates 27 radio stations, eight local independent television stations and ten specialty channels across Canada.

Programs:
The Word This Week
The Word This Week, (44 episodes since launch) hosted by Daniel Richler, covers top headlines from the world of words. The weekly talk show takes an argumentative approach to each week’s most controversial literary issues.

The Word News
The Word News, hosted by Daniel Richler and Adriana Salvia, is your main eye on the world of words. Focusing on gossip and scandal, politics and business, publications and performances, The Word News brings the daily news of the literary community to you.

Homicide
This gripping series is based on a 1992 Edgar Award winning book for best fact crime and airs on BookTelevision: The Channel. David Simon, a police reporter for the Baltimore Sun, spent 1988 with three homicide squads, accompanying them through all of their grisly crime moments–from the first telephone call to the final piece of paperwork. The picture that emerges through a masterful accumulation of details is that homicide detectives are a rare breed who thrive on coffee, cigarettes, and persistence, through an endlessly exhausting parade of murder scenes. Barry Levinson is the creative force behind the show, and the writing is based on a large part on the events and personalities examined in Simon’s book.

Elwy’s Word on Film
For decades Elwy has been Canada’s best-loved film buff, Hollywood historian and interviewer of the silver screen stars, hosting Saturday Night at the Movies on TV Ontario from 1970 to 1999. During that time he was Executive producer of Magic Shadows, Talking Film, The Moviemakers, Film International, the Movie Show and Saturday Night at the Movies itself. He’s also the author of several books, including Magic Moments from the Movies published by Doubleday. And now, for the first time, Elwy appears on national television with BookTelevision’s the Word on Film.

Book Television: the program
A stylish weekly program that travels the world to bring viewers stories about authors, poets spoken word artists, lyricists, website writers, magazine creators and contributors, booksellers, and trendsetters in the publishing business.

Playwrights and Screenwriters
Hosted by actress and author Marylin Lightstone, “the voice of Bravo!,” as well as Keith Morrison, correspondent for NBC’s Dateline, get an insider’s look at that most elusive of creators – the writer. Join us for an in depth look at those in charge of creating the drama, the satire, the human tension that only the best writing in these forms, the play and the screenplay, can reflect.

Omnibus
This award-winning series turns the traditional book show on it head with unconventional full-length documentaries featuring the cream of international writers and industry players.

The Fearing Mind
Enter the mind of Bill Fearing, a horror-suspense writer. In his head he experiences the treacherous and enigmatic world of his current story. Laced with family humour and edge-of-your-seat suspense, this sophisticated drama, created by the writers of the X-Files, is infused with creative insight and odd twists of fate, resulting in a truly unique series.

Great Detectives
Nigel Williams explores the world’s most famous sleuths and their creators – Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Philip Marlowe and Inspector Maigret. Join Williams as he examines Conan Doyle’s life, studies Christie’s writing, visits the sites featured in Chandler’s books and, finally, investigates Maigret and his creator.

Agenda
Around the clock, BookTelevision: The Channel features Agenda, bulletin updates on international bestselling books, live literary events, and announcements of prizes won and competitions to be entered.

The Electric Archive
The Electric Archive: our compendium of short-form reports and profiles from the world of literature, screenwriting, poetry, comics, magazines and any walk of life where words rule.