A TRUE CHAMPION of Canadian TV (and an excellent writer of it and about it), Denis McGrath, died Thursday in Toronto of pancreatic cancer. He was 48.
A staunch defender of the Canadian TV business (even when he was staunchly criticizing some of it), McGrath was an accomplished TV writer and producer with a long resume making Canadian TV, including the likes of X Company, Bitten, Continuum and Aftermath. He worked for CHUM for many years, too, and was one of the original producers of the groundbreaking show MediaTelevision.
Denis was certainly fun to follow on Twitter and before that his blog Dead Things on Sticks was a must-read before he stepped away from it in 2010.
McGrath was a contributor to Cartt.ca, too, and he and I frequently chatted via email and Twitter (sometimes about his beloved Blue Jays). He had a wit and way about him that was hard to resist – and he was as sharp as they come.
Gone far too soon, we will dearly miss him. Below are the three excellent columns he penned for Cartt.ca in 2016 – and memorials by folks who knew him better than we did.
He is survived by his wife, Kim Coghill. Our condolences to her and the rest of McGrath’s family.
Reflections from the Writers' Room: "He Rode a Blais-sing Saddle!"
COMMENTARY: It's a Good CBC… If We Don't Weaken
COMMENTARY: When your Moral Compass doesn't point True North
