The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 83

G3 ARTS ENTERTAINMENT Station stresses regional news and prime-tune hits THE GAZETTE. MONTREAL. SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 13. 1997 will fall to the efforts of a staff that is GLOBAL Continued from Page CI Until then.

Global will fill its 6 to 6:30 p.m. slot (preceding the network's national newscast, with Peter Kent, out of Toronto) with 13 weeks of syndicated Frasier reruns. Pulse's lead-in is a strong sitcom 11MU1 11U11.U11.U HAUL UHV. Seinfeld episodes from 5 to 6. The GORDON BECK.

GAZETTE Hosts Jay Baruchel and Elisha Cuthbert on the set of Popular Mechanics 1001 lime lor mas hosts of Popular Mechanics TV series young, aggressive and versatile. Hiscox jokes that all her colleagues have "slashes in their job titles, which means that multi-tasking a con tentious bargaining issue between management and labour at older TV operations will be reality from Day 1. In addition to the discipline imposed by a news budget that is perhaps half of what Pulse spends, the Global news cast will be constrained by its half- hour running time. Aubin and staff will have to make astute editorial choices about the stories that matter. "We can't be everywhere," Hiscox said.

"We don't have the resources of a CBC or a CFCF. But we will be everywhere there's something that we de cide is important." And what does Montreal's newest TV anchor bring to the mix? "I have the ultimate respect for Den nis's journalism and I have the ultimate respect for Bill and Mutsumi's ratings, Hiscox says of her supper-hour anchor rivals. "But I think viewers will see a slightly different approach just in my demeanour on the air. "I speak in a language that's accessi ble. When I'm on the air, it's just me.

It's the person I am. And I think that per sonal aspect is going to be different" An attractive blue-eyed blonde, His cox is the Montreal news anchor who could most easily pass for a cheer leader. But there is intelligence and news experience behind the cover-girl looks. STARTED IN RADIO Hiscox, 32, was born in Owen Sound, Ont. Her first broadcasting job was at the local radio station.

She began as a 17-year-old part-time disc jockey, a job that ended up paying her way through the University of Toronto. She broke into television eight years ago while studying for a master's degree in journalism at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont. When Global decided to expand news coverage of Southwestern Ontario six years ago, Hiscox became the network's reporter in London, where the Global "bureau" was a fax machine and a computer in her apartment. For a while Hiscox combined radio and TV careers. She would work a 4-to-9 morning shift on a London radio show, then meet the Global camera operator at 10 and chase a local London story until 1 or 2 in the afternoon.

"Then we'd drive to Toronto while I wrote my script in the car," Hiscox recalled, "edit tape at 4:30, be on the air at 6 and then catch the train back to do it all over again." After six months, Hiscox had to choose between TV and radio. She chose to go with Global, embarking on a TV odyssey that has included stops in Halifax (where she gained her first anchor experience) and, three years ago, CBMT-6 in Montreal. Hiscox says she loved her time at Newswatch. She praises the educa tional value of working in a CBC newsroom, where she benefited from the public network's dedication to quality and integrity in broadcast journalism. But her eye was on an anchor chair.

Hiscox filled in on occasion at O'Farrell: plans in briefcase. the Newswatch anchor desk, but she knew that "Dennis Trudeau is the newscast's icon, and he's not leaving." AMBITION TO ANCHOR Global approached Hiscox in February, but the pitch was for a job in Toronto. Enamored of Montreal and romantically involved with a local francophone lawyer, Hiscox was not interested in moving. Her ambition to anchor and determi-nation to stay put dovetailed nicely with Global's intention to hire a woman as anchor of the station's new Montreal newscast. She signed a two- year contract in July Like the Global promo says, Hiscox here, she's staying and she begins tomorrow evening at 6, as host of the Global launch special.

The new Global station, CKMl-46, starts broadcasting tomorrow at cable position 3 on both the Vidiotron West and Greater Montreal services. note to readers Videotron has changed the Fox station available to Montreal subscribers since TV Times magazine in today's newspaper went to press. The Fox channel now available to both Videotron West and Videotron Greater Montreal subscribers Is WFFF Burlington. not WUTV In Buffalo. The prime time grids in the daily Gazette Monday to Friday contain the correct listings for WFFF.

TV Times of Sept. 20 will contain the correct listings for WFFE jf''" A time Part at More Montreal teens are KATHRYN GREENAWAY The Gazette Elisha Cuthbert and Jay Baruchel had one heck of a summer vacation. The two Montreal teenagers scaled the heights of North America's best roller-coaster rides and explored the pungent gloom of Montreal's sewer system. They rode nuclear-powered submarines, exposed a few secrets about film special effects and flew in a hot-air balloon. All in a day's work.

Elisha and Jay are the hosts of a 22-episode television series called Popular Mechanics for Kids, which debuts tomorrow on the new Global channel, CKMI, at 9:30 a.m. The series aims to show kids how and why things work the way they do. The show is the first English-lan guage television series for Montreal's reputable producer of French-language films and television series, SDA Productions, and is inspired by the magazine Popular Mechanics. The show's aim is to examine how and why things function the way they do from a kid's point of view. The co-hosts visit zoos, aircraft carriers and skyscrapers and look behind the scenes at police, ambulance and fire emergency services.

They take a look at sports and space flights, bridges and electricity Most of the episodes are shot in Montreal and environs, but the two travelled around North America this summer, shooting on location at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and in cities including Houston, San Diego, Boston, Atlantic City and Toronto. During the shooting of Episode 8 in a home in Brossard late last month, the subject was garbage the mechanics of composting and recycling our food scraps and sundry junk. The garbage was behaving properly. However, a jovial 18-month-old dog was throwing a wrench into the shooting schedule. The mutt was supposed to bark cheerfully at Jay as the two sparred over the remains of a hot dog.

But the pup wouldn't bark. Two hours later, way behind and looking a tad tense, the crew and trainer finally coerced an appropriately cheerful retort out of the animal and he galumphed happily off for a nibble and a nap. The two hosts weren't so lucky. A 15- minute chat with a reporter and it was back to the set to play catch up with the day's shooting sked. Ah, life in the biz.

steady diet of hurry up and wait. "I've learned there are two hard things about acting eating food and working with animals," Elisha said. "We did both today." Jay looked a tad green around the gills after downing who knows how many hot dogs in the two-hour stint. ut -u newscast is iouowea Dy anoin-er powerhouse, Entertainment Tonight at 7. Newswatch is preceded by The Simpsons and Fresh Prince; the CBC's 7 p.m.

programming varies through the week. REGIONAL NEWS Hiscox believes that her newscast will benefit from its emphasis on regional news. Having entered the Montreal market by taking over a television station in Quebec City, Global is committed to a strong presence in the provincial capital a commitment that translates into four reporters. "And we'll be the only people with a full-time reporter in the Eastern Townships," Hiscox added. "When I've gone out to Townshippers' Day.

I've met English-speaking people who would love to see themselves on television. And there are impor tant stories to tell." Yeah, right. Donald Sutherland's Dog Bites Morde-cai Richler! Quick, book the satellite for live reaction from Ayer's Cliff. Regional news was a big selling point when Global finally persuaded Seinfeld: shifts the Canadian Ra-to new station, dio-television and Telecommunica- tions Commission to let Canada's other private English network into the country's second-biggest city. CRTC commissioners sleep easier knowing that Global has a full-time reporter, Marielyne Guevremont, in Sher-brooke.

But for those of us awake and watch-ing television, the news battle pitting the upstarts against mighty Pulse and unmighty Newswatch (the latter greatly admired but hardly watched) will be fought on the streets of Montreal. "You can' plan the show raw material for the newscast hits you at the last minute," says Global newsroom boss Benoit Aubin, a veteran of a dozen Quebec media outlets (including The Gazette). "We want to be there daily, no matter what happens." HIRED AWAY Aubin was hired away from Tele-Metropole in May after running the French network's coverage of the fed-. eral election. He canceled a vacation, put his golf clubs in the closet and rolled up his sleeves for a summer of preparation that, he says, has been "a hell of a ride." "I hope," Aubin added, "that we don't crash on takeoff." Says Global-Quebec president Glenn O'Farrell, "We're going to have to walk before we run you can't sprint with Donovan Bailey on Day 1." O'Farrell is a fluently bilingual native of Quebec City who has nurtured the new station since it consisted of a proposal he carried around in his briefcase four years ago.

"Maybe some of the basics won't be entirely right and we'll have to work at fixing them. But the team of professionals we've been able to attract is the key to our short-, medium- and long-term success." Global occupies the ninth floor of the building that houses Tele-Metro-pole (on de Maisonneuve. a block west of Papineau). Work is still being done on the area that will house the business offices of Global's operations, but the production side is up and running. Technicians have been running state-of-the-art (until they come out with something new next week) digital television equipment through its final pre-Iaunch tests.

Hiscox has been anchoring a daily rehearsal newscast, sitting at an anchor desk framed by faux concrete pillars and oxidized copper plates, with a TV control room in the background and a real, honest to-good-ness window (with a splendid view of Mount Royal) to her right as she faces the newscast's three robotic cameras, "It's and we wanted to stress technology," O'Farrell says. "But we didn't want the news set to be all technology. We think the set blends technology with the heritage of the marketplace." In the days leading up to launch, the Global newsroom has buzzed with a "palpable exuberance and enthusiasm for wanting to make it wot lie says. "The people want to be part of the start up. They want to etch their initials nnd nnnirs into a paragraph of broadcast Iiir history: Global came to Quebec In 1W7.

nnd these people made it happen." After launch fever subsides, making Global Quebec happen on a daily basis is A in for Kids, which debuts tomorrow. asked to appear in a Concordia University student film. He was hooked. He has appeared as a guest on Are You Afraid of the Dark? and completed two seasons of the television series My Hometown. "It takes a special kind of person to sit for hours and do scenes over and over again," Robyne said as she sat waiting for her son to finish.

"When he gets to go to school, he finds the hours easy because he finishes at 4:30 p.m. When he's (shooting the series), 10- or 11-hour days are quite normal." How do their friends react to the two travelling the map and getting stopped for autographs? (With the show running in syndication in the United States as of Thursday and running coast to coast in Canada, they are bound to be recognized on the street with greater frequency.) Elisha rarely discusses her acting life with her friends. Jay faces the questions head-on. "I just tell them they get a job as a summer-camp counselor and this is my summer job," he said. Elisha and Jay aren't in this Popular Mechanics thing alone.

During each episode they are joined by Charles Powell, who plays an outgoing mechanical genius who conducts experiments during a segment called Charlie's Tips. (He eats a worm during the composting experiment.) Powell, 34, shoehorned the one-day garbage shoot between film shoots in Fiji and New Zealand, where he's working on a two-hour movie called The Nightmare Man. He plays a murderous lunatic. He's played a few murderous lunatics in recent years and finds the role of Charlie the charming fix-it whiz a nice switch. "We don't insult the viewer by writing it down to the lowest common denominator," Powell said as he sat waiting for the dog to bark.

"It's a great show. They've let us play a bit." Powell approaches the assignment with a measure of knowledge, having completed a bachelor of science degree in his native Texas before heading off to L.A. to wait on tables for five years in between acting gigs and to learn the cold, hard truth that "L.A. doesn't breed success, it breeds despair." The hosts have ridden roller-coasters and explored Montreal's sewer system. He moved to Montreal via Los Angeles three years ago after falling in love with Montrealer Bronwyn Booth and has been working steadily ever since in films including Screamers, Hiroshima and The Call of the Wild.

"I don't miss the earthquakes, mudslides and riots," he said heading in the general direction of a pile of worms. Popular Mechanics for Kids airs tomorrow at on CKMl-46. Big Ticket (MuchMusic at The Wallflowers Unplugged. Rlverdance (Channel 33 at Taped in Dublin. Anne of the Thousand Days (TV Ontario nt Genevieve Bujold plays doomed title character, with Richard Burton as I lenry VIII.

Saturday Night Live (WPTZ 5 at Rerun of Kevin Spacoy show, with Beck. IgnatlefT (Newsworld at Katherine Graham. The Jolson Story (Bravo! at Larry Piu ks plays the popular crooner. "Bad food, that's my biggest fear in this business," he said with a mischievous grin. Bad food and roller-coasters.

Jay managed to conquer his fear to get the job done during the episode looking at the best rides in North America, but he wouldn't want to repeat the experience. On the other hand, Elisha found exploring Montreal's sewer system a challenge. "I saw a mouldy rat with blood pouring out of its head," she said. "It was gross!" Jay and Elisha have a parent with them at every location and a tutor is on standby throughout the shooting schedule to help the two with their studies. Both have been able to maintain above-average marks since they began working in the business.

Shooting for Popular Mechanics for Kids began in July and winds up in October. "When I don't go to school I have a tutor, but I also learn wherever I go," Jay said. "It's great life experience." "I enjoy it and I'm proud of what I do, but I do miss home when we're on the road," Elisha said. "I miss my room, no matter how messy it is." When they aren't working Elisha, 14, attends Centennial Regional High School in Brossard and Jay, 15, attends FACE. The two come to the business from entirely different directions.

Elisha began modeling when she was 6 and happened upon acting by chance after a family friend suggested her mother take her to an au dition. She's appeared in two television series Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Witch-board III and her film credits include Dancing on the Moon and Nico the Unicorn. "(Elisha) loves what she's doing, but she doesn't Powell: fix-it whiz, bank on a career in acting," her mother, Pat, said. "She's always been mature beyond her years and knows how difficult this business can be. She also loves to draw and is a very good artist." As for Jay, "I remember he still had his baby teeth when he told his dad he was going to make films," his mother, Robyne, said.

But Jay doesn't want to be a famous actor. He wants to write and direct be the next Tarantino or Spielberg. He writes constantly and has a collection of 300 videos. The gregarious teen began attending acting classes with Geordie Theatre Productions's affiliated school when he was 12. His father wanted him to have an extracurricular activity beyond writing stories and screening videos.

During his first class Baruchel was TV TONIGHT We're Men (WCFE-57 at 8): Women are from Venus, men are from a hardware store. Lord of the Dance (Vermont ETV-33 at 8): 1 le can't help it he's Michael Flatlejt Glastonbury Festival (Musique-Plus at 8): Beck, Radiohead, Sheryl Crow, Sting, Chemical Brothers. Kula Shaker, Prodigy Investigative Reports at 9): Father Louis Glgante. South Bronx priest whose brother Is Mafia don. Reflections or Mr.

Ilonn (Channel 57 at 90 minute special. Li I Vj 1 Red Green weighs in on battle of sexes Gazette television columnist Mike Boone picks the best of tonight 's programs. Mark Russell (WCFE-57 at 6): Odd slot for political satire. Unknown Chaplin (Bravo! at 1 looks at Mutual Film Company 15 Ans Juste Pour Rirc (Canal at Dominique Michel is host of highlight show. A Man for All Seasons (TV Ontario 8): Paul ScoficM plays Sir Thomas in multiple Oscar winner.

Red Green's We Can't Help It.