''Big Ideas'' was a Canadian television series produced and broadcast by

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

, on the air since 2001. The program showcases public intellectual culture. It was conceived and produced by Wodek Szemberg. The show presented public lectures by acclaimed university educators and other distinguished guests. The original host,

Irshad Manji Irshad Manji (born 1968) is a Ugandan-born Canadian educator. She is the author of ''The Trouble with Islam Today'' (2004) and ''Allah, Liberty and Love'' (2011), both of which have been banned in several Muslim countries. She also produced a P ...

, was succeeded by Canadian actor/director/playwright

Andrew Moodie Andrew Moodie (born November 30, 1966) is a Canadian actor and playwright.Gaetan Charlebois and Anne Nothof"Moodie, Andrew" ''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'', November 16, 2021. He is most noted for his plays ''Riot'', which was a winner of the Floy ...

on January 7, 2006. In September 2011, Piya Chattopadhyay took over as host. In 2007, ''Big Ideas'' held its Best Lecturer competition for the second time.

Michael Persinger Michael A. Persinger (June 26, 1945 – August 14, 2018) was an American-Canadian professor of psychology at Laurentian University, a position he had held from 1971 until his death in 2018. His most well-known hypotheses include the temporal lob ...

, from Laurentian University, received the award. Podcasts of the lectures are available through the ''Big Ideas'' website as well as from iTunes. ''Big Ideas'' is also the name of an unrelated

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

series that originally aired in 2003, as well as of a radio series on

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors a ...

. The show ended in spring 2013 as a result of budget cuts at TVO.

Notes

External links

TVOntario’s ''Big Ideas'' website
TVOntario original programming 2000s Canadian documentary television series 2001 Canadian television series debuts {{Canada-documentary-tv-prog-stub