Not A Lot Goin' On - Corner Gas Breaking News Special !

I know when the Corner Gas world has suddenly been hit with excitement when my phone suddenly starts shaking violently and bounces it's way across the table with the sudden urgency of a bunny rabbit who has found the last carrot in the field.

Well today was no exception!  I was chasing my Huwawe...hewawoo...my iPhone around the room as Instagram, Facebook, You Tube, Twitter and the likes lit up with very fantastic news from Camp Corner Gas.

I will hand you over to my Canadian correspondent for all of the details. Brent - over to you -

Finally!! Corner Gas Animated available in the states!! In fact the whole CGU (Corner Gas Universe - I'm coining that here folks, Marvel be damned!) The original series, Movie and Animated all on one handy service.

I know what you are thinking "What in the blue blazes does blue blazes mean? And what in Tarnation is IMDb TV? Whilst we are at it where is Tarnation and why is everything confusing put in it?"

Fear not young reader, here is all the details you need to know on the service that we can all pretend I wrote and didn't cut and paste in any way shape or form!

Amazon owned free streaming service IMDb Freedive is getting a new name, more content and, soon, is expanding to Europe, the company announced this morning. Originally launched in January, the service will now be known as IMDb TV — a name that’s a bit more catchy, but doesn’t convey the fact that the service includes both movies and TV shows.

It’s also not an alternative to live TV streaming services like Sling TV, YouTube TV or Hulu with Live TV, for example, despite what the name may imply.

Instead, IMDb is most similar to something like Vudu’s Movies on Us or Roku’s free streaming hub, The Roku Channel, as it offers a selection of ad-supported free streaming content, too.

IMDb hasn’t confirmed how many titles are in its collection, but says the content selection has now been tripled thanks to new deals with Warner Bros., Sony Pictures Entertainment and MGM Studios. This brings movies like Captain Fantastic and La La Land (July 1) to the service — the latter, marking the first time the Academy Award-winner has been made available to an ad-supported streaming service.

In addition, IMDb is getting TV shows like Fringe, Kitchen Nightmares, Duck Dynasty and The Bachelor, plus movies like Drive, Donnie Darko, Monster, Dances with Wolves and, starting July 1, Sense and Sensibility, Draft Day and A Knight’s Tale.

The newly rebranded service will also arrive in Europe later this year, but no exact launch date is being offered at this time.

“With IMDb TV, viewers have discovered TV the way it ought to be – a free collection of premium TV shows and movies available anytime,” said Mark Eamer, vice president of IMDb TV, in a statement. “We deliver a top quality discovery experience that makes it easy to be entertained. With more titles than ever before coming to IMDb TV and our upcoming European expansion later this year, we’re excited for customers to tune in and enjoy all that IMDb TV has to offer, all at no cost,” he said.

Though IMDb operates independently from parent company Amazon, the service benefits from tight integration with Amazon’s line of Fire TV media player devices, which have more than 34 million active users. In turn, Amazon Fire TV now has its own built-in free streaming content to rival The Roku Channel, which ships on Roku’s media players and Roku OS-powered TVs.

Both Amazon and Roku are battling for users and to become the top media player in terms of market share. Amazon announced its 34 million actives for Fire TV in May, which topped Roku’s 29.1 million active “accounts” reported in Q1. Roku tried to explain that this didn’t mean Amazon led, because a Roku account could support several household members — but that’s true for Amazon Fire TV “users,” too.

“Our Fire TV customers are always looking for compelling content at a great value. In fact, usage of free, ad-supported apps has increased by over 300 percent in the last year,” said Marc Whitten, vice president of Fire TV, in a statement. “IMDb TV brings some of the best free content into the living room and we’re excited that our U.S. customers now have access to even more free TV shows and movies through the app and that customers in Europe can soon enjoy this great service on the biggest screen in their home,” he added.

IMDb TV is today available in the U.S. as a free channel within the Amazon Prime Video app and on Fire TV in the “Your Apps &  Channels” row. The service can also be launched through an Alexa Voice Remote or a paired Echo device by saying, “Alexa, go to IMDb TV.”

So there you have it, everything you need to know. Obviously with Corner Gas already streaming on Amazon Prime around the world most of us could have guessed that this would have happened to Corner Gas Animated. The fact that they have chosen to put the show straight onto a new service shows the power of the show and the fact that the powers that be at Amazon feel that is a brand that can help them bring an audience to their new concern. 

I can also feel my inbox filling up with emails with "Well that's ok for the U.S. but what about *insert your country here*. Well we can take from the above that IMDb TV will be reaching Europe very soon (it's not available at time of writing - I just checked) which could well mean that Corner Gas Animated will come along with it. I don't know this to be fact but if I can get it confirmed I will share the details with you all straight away, cos' I am nice like that. 

Now, again don't hold me to this, remember off the back of this information don't be to surprised if Brent doesn't announce a U.S. stand up tour very soon. He has mentioned in various Q&A's that when CGA hits other parts of the world he may well tour to support it! 

Anyways, my phone didn't stop buzzing once this big chunk o' info hit the Interweb. Without giving us time to draw breath from the first bombshell. BANG!!

View this post on Instagram

Whoops!!!... guess I just let THIS out of the bag too! Our pals at @ctvcomedy announced today!!! #CornerGasAnimated

A post shared by Brent Butt (@brentbutt) on Oct 3, 2019 at 6:37am PDT

Then this landed on Verite Films Facebook page -

Vérité Films Inc.

3 hrs · 

CTV Comedy Network has renewed Corner Gas Animated for a third season. There will be 11 episodes going to air in 2020 featuring the beloved ensemble cast starring Brent Butt, Gabrielle Miller, Eric Peterson, Fred Ewanuick, Lorne Cardinal, Tara Spencer-Nairn, Nancy Robertson, and Corrine Koslo. #cornergas #ctvcomedychannel 

Now, eagle eared regular listeners to my Jackass-Cast podcast may have guessed this announcement was coming. There have been clues dropped by my guests here and there (one in fact I had to mask the info with a bit of subtle slo-mo playback just in case what was said was secret...also I thought it was pretty funny). I do have some other info but I will save that for another day #spoilers. 

So there we have it folks what a day to be a Corner Gas fan. Come back for more info which will be posted as soon as I have it. Don't forget to leave comments below, let us all know how excited you are for these amazing announcements.

Also for more day to day fun and info go to Facebook and join my page @cornergasfan

Anyway, must dash, I need to catch my phone which is currently bouncing it's way down the high street!

Not A Lot Goin' On - Breaking News Special Report

I think I may have psychic powers. If any secret governmental bodies would like to sign me up to an elite group of superheroes made of disparate, rag tag, mismatched supers who write blogs about popular regional comedy television series, please get in touch via the addresses on my contact page. We could be called The Nichemen!  I must get a costume sorted, which is the hardest part of being a superhero. Finding that much Spandex at a wholesale price isn't easy you know. Then you have the tricky decisions, like undies on the inside or undies on the outside. It's a sartorial nightmare I tell you!

Not A Lot Goin' On - Corner Gas News January 2019

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A fresh new year is upon us. A chance for a metaphorical new wardrobe. Time to throw away last seasons jacket of lethargy and head scarf of boredom and stride forward in the pantaloons of excitement tucked in the top of the walking boots of enthusiasm.

Not A Lot Goin' On - Corner Gas News - August 2018

I just looked at the clock, it's quarter past August already! Where does the time go? We here in in England have been subjected this summer to something called sun. It has been so hot that ginger people, such as myself, have been spontaneously combusting on the pavement leaving nothing but a pair of boots with smoke coming out of them. It is very hard to be English in these sort of conditions. We have to stop complaining about the rain, which leaves us with a massive hole in our day with nothing to do. There have been swathes of pensioners, wandering the streets, trying to cope without a beige raincoat on. Our economy has taken a massive hit as umbrella sales hit an all time low and wellington boots manufacturing had to be slowed to a crawl. It's been hotter than Kylie Minogue's bottom wearing hot pants in a hot cross bun factory. 

Not A Lot Goin' On - Corner Gas News February 2018

It's Sunday morning. I am sitting in my kitchen looking out of the patio doors at my English countryside setting. In the distance I can hear the birds playing in the trees, their singing occasionally broken by the call of a group of seagulls as they float through the bright blue sky with more grace than their cumbersome size should allow. There is not a cloud to be seen, less to stop the bright sun beating a path to the lush green, grass of my modest lawn. A gentle breeze blows through the early blooming daffodils that dance slowly to tune created by nature that only they can hear. I heed the call of the beauty of the scene as I feel the need to embrace it's siren song before it ebbs into twilight mist. I stride out of my door and breathe in a chestful of the crisp morning air. As it often does, only too soon, the beauty fades as the early morning quietness is broken as I shout "Holy Hell it's cold!" and run back in where all the central heating is at.

Not A Lot Goin' On - Corner Gas News November 2017

Well November is here, the seasons have changed as fast as the colours of the leaves on the trees.We are giving in to the urge to finally turn the central heating on. The shops can finally start shifting the Christmas cards that they have had on the shelves since the middle of July. Children are starting to make their final demands list for the big jolly man and making sure they eat all their greens as a last ditch effort to try and wipe away all the memories of the incident with the vacuum and the goldfish tank and get on the good list.

We Corner Gas fan's have to wait a little bit longer for our big present. Corner Gas Animated is merely months away now. There has not been an announcement for the official air date but it is expected to hit Canadian airwaves in January.