TV, eh?

Premiering Tuesday, January 6 at 9 pm on CBC:

My interview with documentary filmmaker Maureen Palmer:

• How to Divorce and Not Wreck the Kids Filmmaker Shares Stories of ‘Good’ Divorces
  “After hearing Maureen Palmer’s personal tale of divorce, which involved sharing a home with her ex-husband for the benefit of their children, I had to ask: ‘Are you special?’ Palmer, whose documentary How to Divorce and Not Wreck the Kids airs January 8 on CBC, laughed.” Read more.

From Eric Volmers of Canwest News Service:

• Wild Roses Country
  “It was roughly a month ago that Toronto-based actor Steve Byers found himself frantically riding a horse through the picturesque backdrop of Springbank in a very expensive business suit.” Read more.

Photo: Steve Byers, Gary Hudson, Adam MacDonald

From the Canadian Press:

• ‘Royal Canadian Air Farce’ finale draws 1.5 million viewers, CBC says
  “Roughly 1.5 million Canadians spent New Year’s Eve watching the final flight of the Royal Canadian Air Farce, according to numbers released by CBC-TV on Monday.” Read more.

From Cassandra Szklarski of the Canadian Press:

• ‘Wild Roses’ showcases Alberta
  “It’s easy to draw parallels between the new CBC-TV drama Wild Roses and those ’80s nighttime soaps Dallas and Dynasty, admits star and veteran performer Gary Hudson.” Read more.

From Jaime Weinman of Macleans’ Magazine:

• BEING ERICA Really Is “A Hotly Anticipated New Show”
  “One more thing about Being Erica, premiering tonight at 9: it’s very entertaining, and very promising — definitely worth a look. As I mentioned, it’s not always obvious from the marketing, but the producers have come up with a new twist on the “hot woman tries to get her life straightened out” genre represented by shows like Sophie and Samantha Who?, not just with the time travel stuff but with the addition of more real, credible emotion than you usually see on shows like this. ” Read more.
• Being Erica is Like Quantum Leap, But Don’t Call It a Fantasy
  “But Erica’s posters and tag lines don’t really tell you much of anything except that she’s “going back” to set things right — but the fact that the show is a time travel fantasy where she literally goes back in time to correct things in her past (call it a more self-centred version of Quantum Leap) is not obvious at all, at least in the print ads.” Read more.

From Denis McGrath at Dead Things on Sticks:

• Writer and Creator Talk Being Erica
  “Jana Sinyor: The first thing is, I’ve always wanted to go back in time. I love time travel shows. And I was interested in the universality of not being able to hit certain milestones in your life as a woman: meet the guy, get the career going, get pregnant; if you don’t meet those milestones you feel like you’re falling behind your peers. I knew a lot of women who were attractive, talented, and for whatever reason, just weren’t able to find that person, or didn’t have a clear and obvious career goal. And I guess I combined those two things.” Read more.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Big Expectations for CBC’s Being Erica
  “There is a big, full page ad in today’s Toronto Star promoting tonight’s launch of Being Erica (9 p.m. on CBC). The network clearly sees this as their next breakthrough show.” Read more.

From Rob Salem of the Toronto Star:

• Canadian programming saves television from itself
  “They don’t get much better than Being Erica, a clever, character-driven, high-concept comedy debuting tonight at 9 on CBC, the time slot following the returning, superficially similar Sophie (which could either kill it or benefit both).” Read more.

From Glen Schaefer of Canwest News Service:

• Regrets, she’s had a few
  “The comic drama TV series Being Erica takes a lively spin on an age-old question: What if you could go back to those truly regrettable moments in life and get a do-over? In this case, the notion is framed with some clever writing for the team behind Degrassi: The Next Generation, and character work in the form of Erica (Erin Karpluk), a 30-something cubicle drone sidelined by life and love, and her enigmatic therapist (Michael Riley), who sends her back in time to those do-over moments.” Read more.

From Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star:

• Better late than never
  “Concepts such as time travel and telepathy aren’t such a stretch for TV audiences these days, as genre television series have come to dominate prime time. With tonight’s debut of CBC’s Being Erica (time travel) and the upcoming The Listener (telepathy) on CTV, Canadian productions are finally tapping into the trend. But is it too little, too late?” Read more.