A recap of Mayor Rob Ford’s new show on Sun News Network

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford launched his new television show on Monday, fresh off a council decision to strip him of many key powers and authorities amid an ongoing drug and confidence scandal.

Ford and his brother, Coun. Doug Ford, appeared in the first episode of Ford Nation on Sun News Network, and those who were interested and able to find it on television were treated with a Rob Ford love-in bereft of tough questions and fact checkers.

This comes little more than a week after Newstalk 1010 ended the Fords' radio show after Ford confessed to smoking crack cocaine, lying to the public, refusing to seek substantial treatment and going on an obscene tirade.

Here is a quick recap of what happened. Spoiler alert, Ford says he isn't an addict and is actually the focus of a leftist - and elitist-led conspiracy. So you can tell there has been some personal growth as of late.

Rob Ford began his show by apologizing again for vague and various past indiscretions and promised to change his behaviour. He said he is working with professionals to get in shape. "Everyone has skeletons in their closet. Mine have been exposed," Ford said.

Ford, with the help of his brother, campaigned for the first eight minutes of the show, before going to some pre-taped questions from Toronto citizens.

When asked if he should be a role model, Ford said, "Absolutely I should be a role model, but I'm only human. I'm not perfect. I have yet to see someone who has yet to make a mistake in their lives."

When asked to step down, Ford said, "I'm not stepping down. I'm not an alcoholic; I'm not a drug addict."

Ford also said, "I've never once gone down to city hall intoxicated or under the influence of drugs." This of course is not true, and Ford has admitted he held a drunken party in his office on St. Patrick's Day 2012, although some of the details of that incident have been challenged.

In the second segment, Toronto Sun columnist Joe Warmington appeared as a guest and a cuddle party broke out. The Fords expressed their love for Sun News and said Warmington apologized for writing a critical column. This is actually quite shocking. Warmington has long been a Ford friendly and wrote one article criticizing him amid the controversy. Ford then reportedly called Warmington in a rage and made vague threats. Warmington said he would not back down from writing what he thinks. But if he really apologized for a column... yikes.

Warmington briefly tried to corral Ford into discussing his plans to deal with his issues with drugs and alcohol, but Ford would have none of it.

"I'm not going to tell anyone what I am doing with health professionals. I can assure you I am meeting with professional people," he said. Every indication is that Ford is meeting with people to help with his weight, not addiction specialists.

The next segment featured Sun News personality Ezra Levant. For the sake of personal sanity I skipped this part. I recommend you do the same, although it is of course a free country. My understanding is that Levant talked about other politicians with personal issues, claimed that people don't like Ford because he isn't fancy, and again raised the fact that Ford is overweight as some sort of defence for his actions.

The one-hour show was essentially a campaign video for the next election, which shouldn't be surprising. Any time an issue of concern was raised, the Ford brothers quickly curtailed the conversation.

Random thought from Rob Ford: "I urinated in a parking lot. What does that have to do with anything?"

More interesting was an appearance by Ford on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360. Correspondent Bill Weir followed the Fords into the heart of Ford Nation in what appeared to be intended as a tightly controlled peek behind the curtains.

During that exchange, Ford loses his cool and starts yelling at the reporter after being accused of playing "semantics" by claiming no one asked the question about his crack use properly, leading to six months of lies and denial.

“Typical media,” Ford shouted. “You guys are all the same, you're all cut from the same cloth. You can spin it any way you want.”

Ford then swore in front of a room of children. So a regular day for Ford, who can’t seem to stay out of trouble unless he's safe in the bowels of the Sun News headquarters.