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Jennifer Robertson, Schitt’s Creek.

Photo courtesy Jennifer Robertson

Jim Gordon, Leeta Liepins, Harry Hertscheg, at Vancouver Wine Festival.

Photo courtesy Our City Tonight

TJ Newman, author of Drowning.

Photo courtesy Our City Tonight

Looking back at an eventful 2023

By Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins

Published 12:08 PST, Fri December 22, 2023

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After a busy and eventful year of Our City Tonight TV, hosts Jim Gordon(JG) and Leeta Liepins(LL) look back on some of their favourite moments from 2023.

LL: There were so many interesting people and events over this past year, honestly it is difficult to narrow down my choice to only two, but a couple did stand out. One of my favourite sit down interviews at our downtown studio location, inside of The Cabana Room at Hydra Restaurant was with the funny and talented Jennifer Robertson. Most of our viewers/readers would remember her from the hit TV series Schitt’s Creek playing the mayor’s wife, Jocelyn Schitt. After that award-winning show was finished, Jennifer went on to play roles in many more popular performances in well-liked series like Ginny and Georgia and others. It was such a pleasure to have her in the studio and face to face, grateful to have met this engaging and lovely actor this year.

JG: That was a great interview. For me, my second-choice interview of the year was one we did together last summer, and part of why I chose this one is that it has some history from several years before. TJ Newman was a former flight attendant and first-time author with a new book to promote in the early summer 2021. I had come across her then-new book, Falling, and her story about how she had written that book over a long period of time while working the “red eye” from LA to NYC. We had her on the show early on that year and watched as the book skyrocketed to the top of the book lists everywhere. Last summer she was back on the show for her second book, Drowning. It too, sold millions of copies. We were both so happy to see that she was the same open, honest, appreciative person we met two years earlier when no one knew her name. In a cynical age, her story is inspiring to people everywhere who dare to dream.

LL: My first choice for interviews this year is not just one interview but a series that came together with one of our favourite partners, the Vancouver International Wine Festival. It was such a sign of the times to have this great event back on our show and in full swing as the pandemic was really hard on them. We love the segments we get to do with all of the brilliant wine principles and the wine festival people. Harry Hertscheg, the executive director of this wine festival, is one of those key people that pulls this wonderful event together so that Vancouver and all who attend can experience wine from around the world that we would not generally have access to. It’s a fun and challenging couple of days when we film with the team, and we love the energy plus the unique opportunity to learn more about wine from around the globe and to be able to share that knowledge with our viewers on our show. The wine festival is back in 2024 and will be on from Feb. 24 until March 3, tickets will be available for purchase soon and you can check their website for event dates.

JG: I agree with you, trying to choose a number one interview from over dozens we’ve done together and separately is tough. For me, part of why I chose my number one interview of the year is due to how it came about, so randomly and from so far away. Last March I was on the other side of the planet for business, in one of my favourite cities, Sydney, Australia. On the first day I arrived, I was sitting in a café drinking coffee trying to fight off jet lag. Reading through their superb Sydney Morning Herald, I came across an article on an Aussie singer/songwriter named Gregg Arthur. I knew the name vaguely but couldn’t remember from where. Later on, I listened to his music and was blown away by his way with the classic American Songbook. This guy is like Sinatra and Tony Bennett rolled into one. I was also impressed by the “crooner-like” songs he wrote and arranged like Last Call. Two months later he agreed to come on Our City Tonight, via Zoom, talking about his days of singing in Vegas, impressing greats like Herb Alpert and Tony Bennett, and, in the interview’s most touching part, he talked about dealing with a Leukemia diagnosis that nearly killed him several years ago. It’s the kind of interview we both have done on this show where you want so much for an artistic talent like this to be exposed to as many people as possible!

Please follow us on our social media @OurCityTonight and you can catch all past episodes on our YouTube Channel at Our City Tonight. The team at Our City Tonight TV would like to wish all of our viewers, readers, partners, family, and friends a wonderful holiday season and a very Happy New Year 2024. For stories in print richmondsentinel.ca/editions