Tag: Matt Watts

Matt Watts wins an ACTRA award for work on Canadia: 2056

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Joe Mahoney is reporting on his blog that Matt Watts, star and author of Canadia: 2056, has WON an ACTRA Award for “Outstanding Performance – Voice” for his work on Canadia: 2056! Matt beat out four animated TV shows performers (that’s sticking it to em Radio Drama!).

Too bad so few Canadians will get to hear his award winning work (no podcast or time-shifted listening is available for the CBC radio drama series).

Ironically, ACTRA, the union for Canada’s English-language actors, which awarded Matt his trophy, had been pressuring the federal government to bring in its new (and still somewhat mysterious) copyright legislation – arguing that “By not releasing the promised legislation, the government is causing further delays, and in the process shelving years of hard work.” – while ACTRA itself has failed, for years, to negotiate with the CBC for podcast distribution of radio drama series like Afganada and Canadia: 2056.

Canadia: 2056 Season one of Canadia: 2056 is still re-running on CBC Radio One – with just two episodes left to go – and then, in mid-March SEASON TWO BEGINS!!! Check out the official CBC website for the show, where they’ve recently added a few more videos.

The penultimate episode airs this week…

Episode 9: Air Dates: March 5 & 7
Airing time: Wednesday at 11:05 p.m. (11:35 NT) and Friday at 11:30 a.m. (12:00 NT) on CBC Radio One.

“The Captain takes drastic action when his relationship with the computer goes too far. Faverau gets a promotion. Anderson and Lewis try to modify the robot. The captain uncovers the real reason the Americans declared war on the Ipampilashians. As they approach the end of the mission, the relationships between the crewmembers intensify.”

Posted by Jesse Willis

P.S. Free The Adventures Of Apocalypse Al

UPDATE: According to a post by one of the jurors (Bruce Marshall) Matt Watt’s ACTRA award acceptance speech included the following: “Yeah, F#&% ANIMATION!”

Canadia: 2056 Volume 1 on CD available for order

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Canadia: 2056 is available for order at the CBC Store online today (unfortunately its not cheap at $49.95 CDN)! My suggestion, ask your local library to bring one as there is no foreseeable podcast version coming.

Canadia: 2056 by Matt Watts

Canadia: 2056
By Matt Watts; Perfomed by a full cast
5 CDs – Approx. 5 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Publisher: CBC Audio
Published: January 21, 2008
Product ID: ERART00217
This entertaining sci-fi comedy series is written by one of Canada’s best-loved comedy writers, Matt Watts. The United States has launched an armada to destroy an alien threat. Canada sends the nation’s only publicly-funded spacecraft, The Canadia – a ship with a single purpose – to plunge the Americans’ toilets

Posted by Jesse Willis

P.S. Free The Adventures Of Apocalypse Al!

CBC Radio One has Canadia: 2056 Season 1, Episode 1 Today!

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CBC Radio One - Canadia: 2056 by Matt WattsCBC Radio One is re-broadcasting the first episode of the first season of its Science Fiction / Comedy radio drama series Canadia: 2056 today! Tune in Wednesday, January 2nd 2008 at 11:05PM (this episode will repeat on Friday January 4th at 11:30AM). Don’t know how to hear the show? If you’re in Canada, tune your radio to the appointed station at the appointed time. If you’re outside of Canada or just want to time shift a bit, click on over to the Streaming Radio Map for CBC Radio One.

If you didn’t hear Canadia: 2056‘s first season the first time around do please tune in, you’ll be glad you did. Still a bit skeptical? Check out the Wikipedia entry for the show. Or have a listen to the three promos HERE.

Here’s my intro to show #1:

Episode 1: Getting the replacement parts to leave Earth orbit is harder than getting episodes of the hot TV series Foxy Chalet (”the best Canadian show the Americans ever made”).

UPDATE: Someone asked how to “time-shift listen”, if we ignore Newfoundland (sorry Newfoundland) time zones are pretty easy to figure out across Canada. Just subtract 1 hour as you head West across Canada from the East coast. If you are in New York, NY you’re in the same Time Zone as Toronto, ONT (EST). If you’re in Los Angeles, CA, you’re in the same time zone as Vancouver, BC (PTZ). And of course you need to pick the city appropriate to your time-shifted choice on the Streaming Radio Map to hear it…

Listening Times And Places For The Eastern Time Zone (Ex. NEW YORK, NY):
12:05PM on the HALIFAX CBC RADIO ONE station (ATLANTIC TIME ZONE)
11:05PM on the Toronto CBC RADIO ONE station (EASTERN TIME ZONE)
10:05PM on the Winnipeg CBC Radio ONE station (CENTRAL TIME ZONE)
9:05PM on the Calgary CBC RADIO ONE station (MOUNTAIN TIME ZONE)
8:05PM on the Vancouver CBC RADIO ONE station (PACIFIC TIME ZONE)

Listening Times And Places For The Central Time Zone (Ex. MINNEAPOLIS, MN):
9:05PM on the HALIFAX CBC RADIO ONE station (ATLANTIC TIME ZONE)
10:05PM on the Toronto CBC RADIO ONE station (EASTERN TIME ZONE)
11:05PM on the Winnipeg CBC Radio ONE station (CENTRAL TIME ZONE)
12:05PM on the Calgary CBC RADIO ONE station (MOUNTAIN TIME ZONE)
1:05PM on the Vancouver CBC RADIO ONE station (PACIFIC TIME ZONE)

Listening Times And Places For The Mountain Time Zone (Ex. SALT LAKE CITY, UT):
8:05PM on the HALIFAX CBC RADIO ONE station (ATLANTIC TIME ZONE)
9:05PM on the Toronto CBC RADIO ONE station (EASTERN TIME ZONE)
10:05PM on the Winnipeg CBC Radio ONE station (CENTRAL TIME ZONE)
11:05PM on the Calgary CBC RADIO ONE station (MOUNTAIN TIME ZONE)
12:05PM on the Vancouver CBC RADIO ONE station (PACIFIC TIME ZONE)

Listening Times And Places For The Pacific Time Zone (Ex. LOS ANGELES, CA):
7:05PM on the HALIFAX CBC RADIO ONE station (ATLANTIC TIME ZONE)
8:05PM on the Toronto CBC RADIO ONE station (EASTERN TIME ZONE)
9:05PM on the Winnipeg CBC Radio ONE station (CENTRAL TIME ZONE)
10:05PM on the Calgary CBC RADIO ONE station (MOUNTAIN TIME ZONE)
11:05PM on the Vancouver CBC RADIO ONE station (PACIFIC TIME ZONE)

North American Time Zones

Posted by Jesse Willis

P.S. Free The Adventures Of Apocalypse Al!

CBC Radio One begins re-airing Canadia: 2056

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Canadia 2056Matt Watts, long silent (hard at work), has posted some welcome news on his blog…

“Canadia: 2056…

If you notice a complete lack of publicity surrounding a show – if you hear or read absolutely nothing at all about a particular program – the chances are that it’s premiering within a matter of days. It’s CBC Radio’s anti-publicity campaign, their ‘publicity-nouveau’ if you will. If you think about it, it really challenges the listener to ‘discover’ programming. It’s rather brilliant and progressive, actually.

“Our silence and lack of acknowledgment indicates that some thing is about to happen… Maybe.”

But, for the neophobes who can’t get on board with this whole “anti-publicity” fad, and for those who have duly noted that the CBC Program schedule says that Afghanada is still airing on the 2nd of January:

Canadia: 2056 starts airing on Wednesday. Yes, this Wednesday, January 2nd at 11:05PM, repeat on Friday January 4th at 11:30AM. The first season will run through until March, and then the second season (the episodes we’re currently writing/recording) will begin airing.

Also, for those of you enquiring about CD’s of the first season: I think it’s safe to assume at this point that they will not be available for Christmas. I’m assured that they will be available for pre-order by the time the show starts airing on Wednesday… But if you go by my convoluted logic regarding the publicity for the show – if you don’t order the CD’s at all, they will arrive on your doorstep sometime last week.

As for podcasting… Don’t even ask. It’s hopeless at this point. The idea of downloading any radio drama from the CBC website looks like it’ll probably happen around the time digital media is considered out-dated and archaic. Incidentally, I tried to get the phrase ‘now available on the compact disc format!’ on the cover of the CD’s, but they didn’t go for it.

We’re halfway through recording the new season, which I’m really enjoying writing. Although the focus is primarily the characters and their relationships, we’re pushing the SF story-lines as far as we can… For the record, if you think I’ve stolen something from either Douglas Adams or Grant Naylor, it’s an homage…

Not theft.

(Fine, I ‘borrowed’ some ideas… But at least I ADMIT IT!)”

Cool! I’ll be tuning in for the re-running of Season One. Listeners outside of Canada will have to make due with the online listening service provided through the CBC Radio One site. It really pisses me off that CBC can’t get their act together when it comes to podcasting their in-house radio drama. Its the ideal format for the stuff.

We’ll be talking more about Canadia: 2056 as Season Two approaches.

Posted by Jesse Willis

P.S. Free The Adventures Of Apocalypse Al!

CBC has Steve The First and Steve The Second airing daily!

SFFaudio News

Canadia 2056Lots of CBC stories and news today, and though much of it is frustrating lots of it good too. First up the best news of all:

CBC Radio One has ordered an entire 2nd season of Canadia 2056! This announcement comes straight from Matt Watts himself. That’s right everybody, we’re gonna get 15 more episodes of pure Science Fiction Comedy Radio Drama gold! But that’s a long way away yet. First up is news that may effect your schedule for tomorrow morning ….

Steve The First

Steve The Second

CBC Radio One will be re-broadcasting Steve The First and Steve The Second radio dramas, these were the two shows penned by Canadia 2056 scribe Matt Watts. The fun begins tomorrow, Monday, July 23rd and ends August 1st. The shows will air for 30 minutes on weekdays, at 11:30 a.m. in all time zones (except Newfoundland where it will begin at Noon).

Here’s the official description:

From the ashes of a post-apocalyptic world rose a slacker named Steve The First He balanced the world and brought civility back to civilization. He blew up in the process. Twenty-Five years later, dark times have returned; a military organization named the Dark Alliance is hell-bent on Provincial domination. They are one city shy of their goal, Orontonto. The city is holding up, but it is time to bring out their secret weapon. The son of Steve: Steve The Second.

There’s also Wikipedia entries on both shows: Steve I and Steve II.

Listeners worldwide can listen to the re-broadcast via the streaming radio service of CBC Radio One – you can find that RIGHT HERE.

Lastly, in accordance with the precedent set by Roman statesman Cato The Elder and his policy of ending every speech in the senate with “ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.” [“…and of course Carthage must be destroyed.”] In that I’m making it my policy to end every CBC related post with:

“…and of course Apocalypse Al must be freed.”

So…. great guns everybody, lots of good listening begins tomorrow, and of course Apocalypse Al must be freed.

posted by Jesse Willis