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Your hottest July just got cooler: CBC's packed with sweet treats, wild experiments & high seas adventures

As summer turns up the heat, stay cool with a new wave of entertainment on CBC. Visit: cbc.ca/gem

CBC's Top 5 picks for July

CBC Communications ·
Pieces of the CBC logo in orange, red, yellow, blue and light blue around the border of this graphic with "It's a Canada thing" and the CBC logo in white against a black background. In a large circle is an image of a man with black hair wearing a beige jacket and a blue and white shirt. The words "The Last French Canadian" are at the bottom of his photo in white text.
As summer turns up the heat, stay cool with a new wave of entertainment on CBC.


Be inspired as CBC On Design takes you behind the scenes to meet Canadian designers who are making our world more beautiful.

Spend some time with the weird and wonderful characters in the sketch comedy series Portlandia.

The documentary The Last French Canadian takes a personal look at culture and belonging outside of Quebec.

Find a new favourite recipe and cheer on young bakers in a new season of Junior Baking Show.

While the kids are home for summer vacation, keep their curious minds engaged. Have you ever wondered how to read clouds or how to catch someone in a lie? The Nature of Things has these answers and more in their new 101 series.

Hear stories about the most lawless place on earth in season two of the podcast The Outlaw Ocean.

All this and more in CBC's Top 5 for July.  

A man and a woman lean over a desk covered in brown paper with drawings on it. They are placing objects on it. They are in an artists design studio.
CBC On Design - Watch Free starting July 4 on CBC Gem
CBC On Design explores the evolution of an idea and the path that idea takes to becoming an item in your everyday life—but that journey is rarely a straight line. Between the initial concept and finished object lie sketches, prototypes, material experiments, user testing, manufacturing puzzles, and countless hidden steps.

Each product tells its own story, whether it's traditional craftsmanship meeting modern manufacturing, an international business born from hybrid work constraints, or a secretive method for creating colourful concrete for a famous actor's brand.

We will get a look behind the scenes and meet some of the designers who are making our country brighter and more beautiful. We rarely pause to consider the designers behind the objects we see around us, or the countless decisions that shape the things we hold, use, and love, and CBC On Design invites us to do just that.

A man in a pink shirt with a bow-tie and brown vest and pants holding a large wooden suitcase like crate with a red bird painted on it stands next to a woman in a black dress who is holding an old style suitcase also with a blue bird painted on it. They are standing in a yard looking into a large doorway.
Portlandia - Watch Free starting July 4 on CBC Gem
Whether it's dumpster diving to host a dinner party, grabbing a bite to eat at Around the World in 80 Plates, or visiting the Women and Women First bookstore, in Portlandia, there's always something absurd going on. This sketch-based comedy is created, written by and starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein. Watch the first four seasons this July.
 
A man with black hair stand front on but his eyes are looking to his right. He has a white, light blue and dark blue shirt on with a beige jacket over it. The words "The Last French Canadian" are in green to his left.
The Last French Canadian - Watch Free on CBC Gem
*English Canadian Premiere*
Following host Pascal Justin Boyer as he endeavours to figure out just who he is within Canada's diverse mosaic. Born to two French-speaking parents in Quebec, who then moved the family to Ontario when Justin was in school, our host shares how he could never put a finger on his identity. He self-identifies as French Canadian when the documentary begins, but wonders if that leaves him a minority within a minority.


Two men and a woman on the set of the Junior Baking Show. They are outside with a large white tent in the background. One man is holding a pink cupcake, the man next to him is holding a cake with fruit around the bottom and a pineapple on top and the woman is holding a purple cupcake. The words Junior Baking Show are to the right of the photo. It's a poster for the Junior Baking Show.
Junior Baking Show - Watch Free on CBC Gem
*Exclusive Canadian Premiere*
Summer is always the best time for a little sweet treat. Join young aspiring bakers between the ages of 9 and 12 as they put their skills to the test and compete to be crowned the best young baker in Britain.
 
A man and a woman standing against a background of yellow, lime green and white, in a scientific laboratory with a long of plants.
The Nature of Things 101 - Watch Free on CBC Gem
The Nature of Things 101 is an exploratory science and nature series of original short episodes, hosted by the co-hosts of The Nature of Things, Anthony Morgan and Sarika Cullis-Suzuki. Each episode poses a question that tickles the brain, like: "Can anyone become a human polygraph?" or "Could a human beat a chimp in an arm-wrestle?" Throughout each episode, Anthony and Sarika engage in scientific demonstrations and expert interviews to explore the answer.
  • Deep-sea anglerfish: survival of the weirdest
  • Can a human arm-wrestle a chimp and win?
  • How to catch a liar: deception expert explains
  • Not all crabs are crabs
  • How to read clouds, with a professional storm chaser
  • Your brain is lying to you
  • You don't know sh*t about eggs
  • How to cry on command
  • Can you guess an athlete's sport?

Podcast 

A drawing of water like waves of an ocean in black and white. CBC logo in black in the bottom left corner. And the words "The Outlaw Ocean" in royal blue type at the top.
 The Ocean Outlaw
Where the law of the land ends, the story begins. Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Ian Urbina returns with a new season of his riveting podcast anthology, The Outlaw Ocean, which explores the most lawless place on earth — the vast unpoliceable ocean.  


In Season 2, Urbina sheds light on the secretive Libyan prisons swallowing up sea-faring migrants; flagrant human rights abuses in China's massive offshore fleet; the horrors of a shrimp processing plant in India; and the wild story of a modern-day James Bond — if he were a repo man. Urbina and his team repeatedly risk their safety to tell stories powerful people don't want you to know. As podcast reviewer Lauren Passell notes, "Ian's not relying on research, he was there [...] Outlaw Ocean makes you feel like you're there, too."

Looking for more? CBC had new series and films to keep you entertained all summer long. CBC Films' award-winning Something You Said Last Night (July 5) and Newfoundland-set drama Sweetland (July 26), plus Sound of Metal (July 25) starring Academy Award-nominee Riz Ahmed. New documentaries include the exclusive Canadian premiere of Parenthood (July 4), a five-part series narrated by Sir David Attenborough exploring the challenges faced by animal parents. Don't miss the series Friday Night Lights (July 4) and Mary Kills People (July 11) and a new season of the critically acclaimed drama series The Affair (July 2). 

Photos courtesy of CBC.

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