Poet Ieden Wall is the host of the new late night talk show Canadian Jewish TV. (photo from OMNI 1)
Canada’s newest late night talk show, Canadian Jewish TV (CJTV), kicks off Oct. 1 on OMNI 1. Hosted by poet Ieden Wall, the show will feature interviews and performances from some of Canada’s most notable Jewish figures.
Canadian producer Robert Lantos said late night fans across Ontario, in British Columbia and in the Atlantic provinces can expect a unique viewing experience. “Late Night shows are usually hosted by actors and comedians but very rarely do we see a poet get the job,” he said.
Wall is also a journalist, host and media producer, based in Toronto. He burst onto the scene in the 1990s with his reality/comedy series called The Dream Chaser. Since then, he has kept busy producing documentaries, medical marketing videos and commercials for his own production company. His first collection of spoken-word films aired in Australia and the United Kingdom.
In keeping with Wall’s background, CJTV will also feature a spoken-word short-film series based on new poems from Wall’s upcoming book, The Wisdom of the Wall 2. His first book of poetry, Wisdom of the Wall, has sold more than 30,000 copies.
With the loss of established national Jewish media like the Canadian Jewish News, CJTV is aiming to fill the void with a “traditional”-style Jewish show that avoids getting hung up on extreme sides of the political spectrum.
“When you are doing a show like this, you can’t please everybody, so my objective with CJTV is to do a show that my bubbe would be proud of,” said Wall. “My Bubby Bella escaped Eastern Europe before the Holocaust, but not without her share of violent antisemitism. She was not Orthodox in the pure sense, but she lit the Shabbos candles and taught us all to be proud of our Jewish heritage. This show is for her.”
A weekly half-hour show, CJTV will celebrate the contributions that Jews have made to art, history and culture in Canada’s largest city and in all cities across the country. The guest lineup for Season 1 is a “who’s who” of the Canadian media and entertainment industry, including Lantos, Paul Godfrey, Mark Breslin, Dan Shulman, Libby Znaimer and Heather Reisman, as well as an appearance by former prime minister Stephen Harper.
CJTV makes its season debut on Oct. 1 across Ontario. For more about the show, visit cjtv.ca. For more information about viewing times in British Columbia, visit omnitv.ca/bc/en next month.