''George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight'' (originally known as ''The Hour'') is a Canadian television

talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...

hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos that aired on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

from 2005 to 2014. As ''The Hour'', the show was so named, as it was a daily one-hour program. For the show's seventh season, the show was renamed and shortened into a daily half-hour show, ''George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight'', beginning September 20, 2010. In September 2011, the program was again extended to one hour with its current name. It returned to a half-hour for the 2012–13 season and moved to 7:00 p.m. (replacing '' Wheel of Fortune''), along with a late-night encore that moved to 11:30 p.m. due to the expansion of late local news at several of the CBC's major market stations. The show concluded at the end of the 2013–2014 season as Stroumboulopoulos moved to

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...

to host ''

Hockey Night in Canada ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') is a long-running program of broadcast ice hockey play-by-play coverage in Canada. With roots in pioneering hockey coverage on private radio stations as early as 1923, ...

''. The show had two opening theme songs during its history. Its first was "Use It" by

The New Pornographers The New Pornographers are a Canadian indie rock band, formed in 1997 in Vancouver. Presented as a musical collective and supergroup of singer-songwriters and musicians from multiple projects, the band currently consists of Carl Newman (vocals, ...

, which was replaced by " The Good in Everyone" by Canadian rock band Sloan at the start of the 2008 broadcast season.

Format

''The Hour''

''The Hour'' generally opened with Stroumboloupoulos standing just outside the studio, where he addressed the camera, giving the audience hints about each of the upcoming guests. Then, he sometimes made a mention of Sloan (the band who performs the theme song) and proceeded to "Start the Show." While the title flash was shown, George would walk into the studio, past some audience members, and sit down in his red armchair. He then would introduce himself to the audience and the viewers by saying, "Welcome to the show, I'm your boyfriend, George Stroumboloupoulos". He then provided an introduction to each of the guests, briefly describing what they will talk about. Before each guest entered, Stroumboulopoulos would say a few words about them, then the show would cut to "The Bio." The Bio, a short description, consisted of a series of pictures and video clips, with a voiceover directed at George. During this time, the guest would enter the studio, and take their place in the second red armchair. Show segments (written by Stroumboulopoulos along with various comedy writers) on ''The Hour'' included: *"Mile a Minute" touching on current events around the world, with video or images accompanied by Stroumboulopoulos' commentary. *"The News" a satiric look at the world of entertainment. *"The List", a primarily

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

''Top 5'' list concerning a current news event. *"Best Story Ever", a segment where a celebrity briefly relates one of their best personal "stories" to the camera. The stories are usually rewritten and feature guest comedians. *On some programs, Stroumboulopoulos read aloud viewer correspondence, in a segment called "George Reads the Mail." In earlier seasons, segments on ''The Hour'' had included: *"Canada," a segment similar to Mile a Minute, but limited to current events in Canada. This segment aired only during Seasons One and Two. *"Time Capsule," showing CBC footage from past events related to current events, sometimes with video and audio. At other times George comments on the video footage. *"The Newsstand," a one-on-one interview between Stroumboulopoulos and a guest, taking place at a newsstand, discussing issues related to various magazine articles. The final segment of the show was called "The Closer," and consisted of a

monologue In theatre, a monologue (also known as monolog in North American English) (in , from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts ...

by Stroumboulopoulos about a particular current event. Since January 2007, this segment has been replaced by "The List." On some programs, the show ends immediately after the final guest, without "The Closer" or "The List."

''George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight''

Full guest interviews were posted on YouTube and CBC's website the following day.

Guests

Some of the previous guests have included: Adam Copeland,

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, M.I.A.,

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, Robert F. Kennedy Jr,

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, former President of the United States

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, former White House Press Secretary

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and

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, former Canadian Prime Ministers

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and

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, and

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. Stroumboulopoulos conducted the last public interview granted by journalist and social activist

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before her death. In 2007, ''The Hour'' ran a Christmas special featuring musical performances on set. On June 6, 2008, the show featured an hour-long special with British band

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. On December 9, 2008, an hour-long special with actor

aired and on December 31, 2008 ran a New Year's Eve special featuring an interview with former vice-presidential candidate

Timeslot history

* In addition, CBET in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

had an additional showing of ''The Hour'' at 5 p.m. ET during the sixth season, in lieu of a local newscast at that hour. * The Friday shows are usually the best guest interviews repackaged into one show.

Taping locations

The program typically taped at the

Canadian Broadcasting Centre The Canadian Broadcasting Centre, also known as the Toronto Broadcast Centre, is an office and studio complex located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It serves as the main broadcast and master control centre for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporati ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Monday to Friday in front of a live studio audience, then is broadcast at 7:00 p.m. (ET). The show went on location to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, and St. John's, and has twice broadcast from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. One remote broadcast came out of an interview with enterprising trader Kyle MacDonald who said the only limitation to his activities would be that he would not make any trade with the citizenry of a small village called

Yahk, British Columbia Yahk is an unincorporated hamlet in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, just north of the Canada-U.S. border. Yahk Provincial Park borders the village to the south. Yahk is located on the Moyie River. CBC Television talk show '' The Hour ...

. When the citizens protested the exclusion by writing letters to the show, the trader accused Stroumboulopoulos of hypnotizing him into making that statement and he would only go to that town if the show went there first. On 9 February 2006, the producers broadcast an episode from that village.

Awards

''The Hour''/''George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight'' have won seven

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in t ...

s: *2006 – Viewer's Choice Award, Best Host *2007 – Best Talk Series, Best Host, Best Production/Design (Callum MacLachlan) *2008 – Best Host *2011 – Best Talk Series

References

External links

* * * {{CBC News Network CBC Television original programming CBC News CBC News Network original programming 2005 Canadian television series debuts 2014 Canadian television series endings Television shows filmed in Toronto 2000s Canadian television talk shows 2010s Canadian television talk shows Canadian late-night television programming