Link: The Next Step creator behind new Family Channel series about music students

From Debra Yeo of the Toronto Star:

The Next Step creator behind new Family Channel series about music students
Temple Street Productions and DHX Television are aiming to do for music what tween dramaThe Next Step has done for dance.

New series The Music Room (its working title) is from Frank van Keeken, who created The Next Step, a hit for the Family Channel about a group of students at an elite dance studio.

Like Next Step, Music Room will be a “reality-style drama” about young people in an elite music program. It’s expected to premiere in winter 2016. Continue reading.

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William Shatner lands Murdoch Mysteries role

Clearly Peter Mitchell found the right man for the job. Back in March, Murdoch Mysteries‘ showrunner teased what was to come in Season 9 of the period piece Canadian drama, saying “I’m hoping—if we can find the right guy—Mark Twain will come to town.”

That person was found—and revealed by lead actor and producer Yannick Bisson on Tuesday afternoon—when Bisson tweeted out the following image:

Murdoch_1

Earlier in the day, Bisson posted an image of the day’s call sheet, revealing Shatner would be portraying the American author, best-known for penning The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

According to a press release sent out by Shaftesbury, the show’s production company, “when Twain stirs up controversy during a speaking engagement in 1903 Toronto, Detective Murdoch and his colleagues must protect the esteemed writer.” The storyline is featured in Episode 2, “Marked Twain.”

Murdoch Mysteries is the latest Canadian series to feature Shatner as a guest star; he completed filming four episodes of Showcase’s sci-fi series Haven last year.

Shaftesbury teases Season 9 with more info:

“From within the walls of a maximum-security prison to the outer atmosphere of the earth, Season 9 of MURDOCH MYSTERIES explores new worlds and mystifying cases. 1903 begins with Detective Murdoch (Yannick Bisson), Dr. Julia Ogden (Hélène Joy), Inspector Brackenreid (Thomas Craig) and Dr. Emily Grace (Georgina Reilly) still reeling over the arrest of Constable George Crabtree (Jonny Harris). Then a shocking death brings great change to the world of Station No. 4. Through it all, Murdoch and team continue to solve the unsolvable, coming face to face with everything from an impossible bank robbery to a threat to destroy Canada, confronting each case with wit, wisdom and innovation.”

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Link: Degrassi creator explains how she handled a TV rape story

From MTV:

‘Degrassi: The Next Generation’ Creator Explains How She Handled A TV Rape Story The Right Way
Perhaps no series in recent memory has crafted a rape story line as carefully as “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” In its second season in 2003, the Canadian teen soap aired “Shout,” a moving two-part episode in which one of its female characters, Paige Michalchuk, gets raped at a high school party. The scene was haunting — Paige, confused, scared and crying — and its aftermath, powerful. The story line stayed with her through seasons two, three and four. Continue reading.

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Tonight: Escape or Die, Illusions of Grandeur

From network episode descriptions:

Escape or Die, OLN – “Buried Alive (Mangalore, India)”
When Houdini attempted his Buried Alive Escape, he panicked and had to be helped out of the earth by his assistants. Now, Dean attempts to succeed where his mentor did not. Underground for two days and wrapped in chains inside a tightly locked steel coffin, Dean must claw his way up from six feet below in Mangalore, India.

Illusions of Grandeur, OLN – “New Orleans”
Zack hits the heart of the French Quarter and soon discovers that magic means something completely different in the “Big Easy,” – also known as “the most haunted city in America”. After a ghostly encounter, Zack seeks out the guidance of the Divine Prince, a voodoo priest, and delves deeper into the spirit world, resulting in a voodoo-inspired illusion that is by far his creepiest, most unsettling trick yet.

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