’m not enjoying The Voice this season — not so far, anyway. They say numbers don’t lie, and there’s no evidence yet to suggest other viewers are losing interest. And yet. . . . Little things are starting to bother me....

2019

Feb

SO YOU WANT TO BE A WILDLIFE FILMMAKER? THESE ARE THE STORIES OF THE PEOPLE WHO MADE ‘DYNASTIES’ By Alex Strachan

Dynasties was always going to be different from earlier David Attenborough spectacles like Planet Earth and Blue Planet...

2019

Feb

PBS' 'NATURE' EXAMINES LIFE ON “THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION” IN ‘LIVING VOLCANOES’ By Alex Strachan

You could be forgiven if, asked how most of the victims in Pompeii died when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, you replied that they were asphyxiated by ash and poisonous gas...

2019

Feb

‘PBS NATURE’ GOES BACK IN TIME TO THE AGE OF THE VIKINGS By Alex Strachan

In some ways, Ewan McGregor makes an ideal narrator for the PBS Nature program Wild Way of the Vikings...

2019

Jan

BLACK LUNG DISEASE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE IN RETREAT. SO WHAT HAPPENED? By Alex Strachan

It’s been a rough news week for the state of Kentucky, and it’s not likely to get any better with the PBS Frontline exposé, Coal’s Deadly Dust...

2019

Jan

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH MEETS ‘KING LEAR’: ‘DYNASTIES’ IS A DARKER, ADULT LOOK AT THE ANIMAL KINGDOM By Alex Strachan

Remember Blue Planet II and its moments of wonder and grace? Dynasties is not that. This new David Attenborough-narrated nature series is darker and more adult, though no less compelling for it...

2019

Jan

THE 2019 GOLDEN GLOBES: HOW THE SMALL SCREEN GREW BIG ALL OF A SUDDEN By Alex Strachan

A new year, another awards season...

2018

Nov

WHEN GOOD TV GOES BAD: HOW #ENDATELEVISIONSHOW ONE-UPPED JUMP THE SHARK By Alex Strachan

When did the phrase “Jump the Shark” jump the shark?...

2018

Nov

WORRYING PROGRAMMING FOR WORRYING TIMES: PBS' ‘FRONTLINE’ AND PROPUBLICA HOLD THEIR LENS TO ‘NEW AMERICAN NAZIS’ By Alex Strachan

We live in worrying times...

2018

Nov

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH’S ‘DYNASTIES’ PICKS UP WHERE ‘PLANET EARTH,’ ‘BLUE PLANET II’ LEFT OFF By Alex Strachan

The world is flat. We’re living in a wired global village, where a TV show that airs on one side of the planet can be seen anywhere else on Earth, virtually instantly, in real time...

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Alex Strachan

Alex Strachan has written extensively about television since 1995. He was the staff television critic for The Vancouver Sun from June 1995 to 2003. Prior to that, he was a general-assignment reporter and sportswriter at the Sun, which he originally joined in 1979. He became the national TV critic for Canada’s Postmedia News chain, or Canwest Global Communications as it was then called, in September 2003. He wrote for the chain from 2003-15, during which time his stories appeared regularly on Canada.com and in such daily papers as the National Post, Vancouver Sun, Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen and Calgary Herald. In recent years, his writing has focused more on media analysis and industry trends than celebrity profiles and background features, but he still finds time to watch The Voice and The Amazing Race, not to mention guilty pleasures like Banshee and Amazon Hotel. Alex's personal website focuses on his concern for the world around us through his stunning photographs from his world travels. In addition, check out Alex's blog on his site which he tries to update every two days or so. You can also follow Alex @astrachanideas