Etalk
| Etalk | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Entertainment news |
| Starring | Ben Mulroney Tanya Kim |
| Country of origin |  Canada |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Morley Nirenberg |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | CTV, Star! |
| Release | 1995 – present |
etalk (formerly eTalk Daily) is a Canadian entertainment news show hosted by Ben Mulroney and Tanya Kim. It airs weekdays on CTV and Star!
Overview
etalk is for the most part more of a tabloid show compared to rivals like Entertainment Tonight and ET Canada. Regular features include satellite links with Montreal correspondent Sophie Gregoire, entertainment reporters Anna Cyzon and Zain Meghji, West Coast editor Suzie Wall, a dose of gossip with resident gossip guru "Lainey". Other features include "eSightings", "Movie Alert" and "Playlist", which even got its own spin-off summer series short hosted by resident music expert and etalk co-host Tanya Kim.
etalk's slogan is "Your Number One Source for Everything Entertainment" - sometimes modified to tie in with upcoming events (especially if airing on CTV), e.g. "Your Number One Source for Everything Oscar". Timeslot rival ET Canada has similarly claimed to be the "Most Watched Entertainment News Program in Canada" - both claims are technically valid; etalk has slightly more total viewers but ET Canada often leads in specific key demographics.
History
The series began as Entertainment Now (or eNow), hosted by Carla Collins, later co-anchoring with Dan Duran, and began airing weekly on BBS (later absorbed into CTV) in 1995. Much as now, in its original form eNow used a toned-down version of the standard entertainment magazine format. in 2000, eNow relaunched as etalk, a weekly entertainment-oriented talk show hosted by Mulroney with a variety of rotating guest panelists. It was produced by the CTV-owned talktv (now MTV) and taped on the set of The Chatroom, on which Mulroney was a co-host.
Following the cancellation of The Chatroom, etalk, along with co-host Thea Andrews, returned to its original format. Thea Andrews left the show in 2003 and would later emerge as a reporter for Entertainment Tonight in 2007. etalk would become a daily series on the CTV daytime schedule in fall 2002, hence the brief name change to etalk Daily, but switched to primetime airings on June 9, 2003, coinciding with the launch of Canadian Idol.
Entertainment journalist David Giammarco, a veteran in Hollywood circles, was asked to join the show in early 2003 as its senior entertainment reporter and host, bringing to etalk numerous celebrity interviews and exclusives, and further helped to propel the series with his unique interviewing style and humor. In the fall of 2007, David Giammarco was offered a role in the political comedy Swing Vote opposite Kevin Costner, Kelsey Grammer and Dennis Hopper.
eTalk was also added to the schedule of Star! in October 2007 after CTVglobemedia acquired control of CHUM Limited and cancelled Star!'s former entertainment newscast Star! Daily. In March 2008, etalk has been produced from 299 Queen Street West. After production on Citytv's Breakfast Television and CityLine are completed, the studio is re-configured for etalk. In May 2009 eTalk began to air on Toronto's Breaking News channel, CP24 and on CP24's all news radio station CP24 Radio 1050. However this was axed from CP24 in June 2009.
Personalities
- Ben Mulroney - host
- Tanya Kim - host
- David Giammarco - Senior Entertainment Reporter
- Zain Meghji - Entertainment Reporter
- Elaine "Lainey" Lui - Reporter, laineygossip.com
- Suzie Wall - West Coast and fashion correspondent
- Sophie Gregoire Trudeau - Montreal and French language correspondent
- Anna Cyzon - Entertainment Reporter
- Jully Black - Celebrity Correspondent
- Jesse Palmer - New York Correspondent