Bill Brioux used to work for TV Guide and has been a longtime television critic in Toronto. 

But he's also something else - a collector of the medium's memorabilia. And that's why this weekend he'll be retroing TV back to another long gone era by running some of the greatest shows in history, including the promo reel sent to affiliates by CBS in 1963 and the line-up of incredible hits tracing back to the Eye Network in 1972, with classics like M*A*S*H and the Bob Newhart Show.  

But it's not all just high quality reruns. Some of this stuff has never been seen by the public. 

"The half-hour, 1963 reel, “CBS: The Stars Address,” features legendary news anchor Walter Cronkite. He announces that the CBS Nightly News will be expanded from 15 minutes to a full 30 minutes that fall. This is a generation before all-news networks such as CNN or Fox News."

Best of all, these are 16mm prints, so they'll all be displayed not on a small television but on a big theatre screen at The Westdale in Hamilton.

Brioux previewed his "show of shows" in a morning segment on CHCH, noting they often program a lot of the old TV classics his presentation will reference. 

If this interests you and you're in Hamilton - or willing to travel - you can find more details here.

I once went to something similar to this in an old theatre in downtown Toronto. It was years ago, hosted by the then-Toronto Star Entertainment scribe Rob Salem. If I recall correctly, it was called "Please Stand By."

He showed a ton of old TV excerpts in the days before everything was on the Internet. I remember the room, mostly full of Baby Boomers at the time, went into a collective gasp when a clip of "Diver Dan" came on, likely because most people remembered it and hadn't seen it in decades. 

He also asked a series of trivia questions asking people to name a show based on the clues he provided and TV theme songs. In one case, he held up a large sign that simply said "Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick." No one got it except me - it was the "theme" for 60 Minutes! 

If Mr. Brioux's show is as memorable as that one, to paraphrase the Beatles' Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite, a splendid time is guaranteed for all!