What's On (Traditional Chinese: 熒幕八爪娛) is a Canadian weekly half-hour infotainment TV series that airs on Fairchild TV.
Originally started in 1996, the show is currently the longest-running program in Fairchild Television history. What's On is a 30-minute informative program that introduces viewers to events happening in and around Vancouver and Toronto. It also runs short interviews with local celebrities, politicians and social figures for events they are contributing to, as well as interviews with international celebrities as they arrive in the city to promote or to perform.
Originally, there were two versions of the show. The Vancouver version and Toronto version ran in the same time slot in their respective cities on Thursday nights at 10:00 p.m. while the version of the opposite city ran on Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. However, because of the CRTC's ruling requiring Fairchild TV to air the same programming throughout the country, the two shows combined into one in July 2001 with each city getting 15 minutes of airtime. This also meant the start of the "interactive" format of the show where the hosts from the two cities shared a brief interaction as the scenes change from one city to another.
In November 2002, Fairchild Television moved the show from its Thursday timeslot to its current Sunday at 7:30pm time.
Past and current hosts
What's On is seen as a training ground for a lot of Fairchild Television personalities. The following is a partial list of past and present hosts for the show:
Eva Yang 楊宜文 was a popular television presenter for Fairchild Television, hosting another long-running talk show Leisure Talk, until late 2006, when she left the station. She also hosted the annual Miss Chinese (Vancouver) Pageant for several years.
Walter Ngai 倪啟瑞 went on to become a Promotional Executive for Fairchild Television until 2002, when he returned to Hong Kong and is now working for Metro Broadcast Corporation Limited.
Eric Li 李潤庭 returned to Hong Kong and became a news anchor for Asia Television and more recently, Cable TV Hong Kong.
Benny Yau 邱穟恆 continues to host various shows for Fairchild Television including New Talent Singing Awards Vancouver Audition.
Maggie Hou 侯佳慧 returned to Hong Kong and is now a presenter for Hong Kong TVB's entertainment news channel.
Johnson Cheung 張立熙 has since returned to Hong Kong and has won awards from various singing competitions.
Kenny Wong 黃子俊 returned to Hong Kong and is now a TV presenter for Cable TV Hong Kong's entertainment channel.
Anita Lee 李慧雅 currently co-hosts the Toronto leg of Leisure Talk for Fairchild Television.
Leo Siu 蕭嘉俊 returned to Hong Kong and is presenter for Hong Kong TVB's entertainment news channel in 2005. He returned to Toronto in 2007 and is currently hosting Toronto leg of Leisure Talk.
Janis Chan 陳貝兒 returned to Hong Kong and is now a TV presenter for Cable TV Hong Kong's entertainment channel.
Aimee Chan 陳茵媺 returned to Hong Kong to enter the Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2006 where she won the crown, Miss International Goodwill, and Audience Favorite.
Janet Chow 周家蔚 entered the Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2006 as an overseas contestant from Toronto and garnered the first runner-up title.
June Tang 鄧芷茵 returned to Hong Kong to become a singer in 2009.
Eunice Ho 何詠雯 became a Promotion Executive for the station until March 2006. She is currently a presenter for Hong Kong TVB's entertainment news channel.
Kayi Cheung 張嘉兒 entered the Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2007 as an overseas contestant from Vancouver and won the crown and garnered the Miss Energetic Award.
Sandy Cheung 張梓欣 currently hosts the Vancouver leg of Leisure Talk for Fairchild Television. However, in 2008, she resumed hosting What's On again.
Rikko Lee 李靄璣 is currently signed to TVB as an artist and was a reporter for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Daryl Doo 杜光庭 is currently working at Commercial Radio Hong Kong (CRHK) as a radio program host.
Whenever Fairchild TV has a major event coming up such as the annual New Talent Singing Awards Vancouver Audition (NTSA Vancouver) or the Miss Chinese (Vancouver) Pageant (MCV), What's On will run special segments within the program over several weeks to feature the event as a preview to the event. Sometimes, a company would sponsor a segment to be aired during "What's On". These shows usually feature one or two hosts which may or may not be the regular What's On presenters at that time. Some notable past segments include:
"Why is Mexico So Much Fun? (點解墨西哥咁好玩)"
Number of episodes: 6 episodes
Airdates: February 2002 - March 2002
Hosted by: Dominic Lam 林嘉華 and Jacqueline Ko 高惠鈱
"Beautiful Episode (芳華集)" preview of MCV 2002; MCV 2003
Number of episodes: 6 - 8 episodes
Airdates: October 2002 - December 2002; November 2003 - December 2003
Hosted by: Kenny Wong 黃子俊
"The Tale of Finding New Talents (尋找新丁的故事)"preview of NTSA Vancouver 2005
Number of episodes: 11 episodes
Airdates: May 2005 - July 2005
Hosted by: Kenneth Lau 劉家逸 ( as Inspector Octopus (八爪神探) )
"Pure Beauty Premiere (純美搜影)" preview of MCV 2005; MCV 2006; MCV 2007
Number of episodes: 6 - 8 episodes
Airdates: October - December 2005, 2006, 2007
Hosted by: Jessica Cheung 張葆頤 (2005); Kayi Cheung 張嘉兒 (2006); Natalie Zhang 張譯文 (2007)
"Mr. Sing Searches for Stars (Sing仔尋星)" preview of NTSA Vancouver 2006
Number of episodes: 5 episodes
Airdates: June 2006 - July 2006
Hosted by: Benny Yau 邱穟恆 ( as Mr. Sing (Sing仔) )
"Tips for Winter Driving (冬日駕駛錦囊)"
Number of episodes: 10 episodes
Airdates: October 2006 - December 2006
Hosted by: Daryl Doo 杜光庭
"Dou Dou Diary (豆豆日記)" preview of NTSA Vancouver 2007
Number of episodes: 7 episodes
Airdates: May 2006 - July 2006
Hosted by: Sunny Chan 陳星南 ( as Dou Dou (豆豆) )
