Anthony, Greg and Diane recap what’s coming up for the winter season of Canadian TV and whether Netflix is thwarting people trying to thwart geoblocking.
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Best of The Mercer Report, CBC
Rick and Jann Arden go rock-climbing in Calgary and then Rick goes to Chapman’s Ice Cream Factory in Markdale, Ontario.
22 Minutes, CBC
This season’s best moments so far.
Just For Laughs Gags: 15 Years, CBC
In honour of Gags 15th Anniversary, Just For Laughs has produced a one-hour special showcasing the series’ greatest hits. It’s a compilation of all the most popular and iconic Gags from the show’s history, hosted by comedian Mark Critch.
Guilt Free Zone, APTN – series premiere
Host Derek Miller masters the stage: enticing guests and viewers with his unique sense of humour and interview style. He’ll shake off the Monday Blues with a marvelous medley of Aboriginal musicians, dancers and comedians from across Canada.
The Candy Show, APTN – Season 5 premiere
Candy Palmater hosts a new lineup of stars from across Canada – musicians, performers, poets, even circus performers – and it’s going to be a rip-roaring time. Candy’s guests often share their best secrets from her pink palace and pink bed. It’s time to get right cozy in your seat!
Close Up Kings, OLN
Close Up Kings brings audiences the adventures of three best friends, who also happen to be America’s top sleight-of-hand artists. Magick Balay, Loki, and Johnny Blaze travel from city to city taking on different challenges and attempting to outperform one another. Viewers will be enthralled by the trio’s carefully orchestrated and artfully executed capers and tricks that become more complex as the stakes get higher. From bringing a bird back to life and teleporting a person 700 yards across the desert, to performing an amazing Houdini-style jail escape in front of a crowd, these magicians will have audiences asking, “how did they do that?!â€
From D.K. Latta:
As someone who writes a lot about Canadian film and TV I had been thinking of writing a post titled something like: “It’s Okay to Dislike a Canadian TV Show.” There are people within the Canadian entertainment biz (as well as their fans) who feel the industry is so fragile it behooves critics to “get on-side.” And that you have to like particular shows or movies to be considered Canadian.
Which is complete and utter balderdash. Continue reading.
It’s been awhile since Canadians had their own late-night talk show to tune in to. Since 2004, in fact, when The Mike Bullard Show decamped from Global due to low ratings.
Now, over a decade later, there’s a new kid on the Canadian late-night block. Juno award and Canadian Aboriginal Music Award winner Derek Miller hosts Guilt Free Zone, debuting Tuesday on APTN, a ribald no-holds-barred talker that spotlights Aboriginal artists and performers, Miller’s offbeat sense of humour and a promise to discuss delicate subjects without fear of being judged.
Tuesday’s first instalment, “I Like Sex and Fonzie,” (the first of six episodes taped in front of live studio audiences across the country), sets the offbeat tone from the start with Miller introducing himself and outlining the show’s mantra to chat openly about sex. His first guest is Inez Jasper, a nurse, public speaker and singer-songwriter who stresses educating First Nations youth about avoiding sexually-transmitted diseases and pregnancy by using condoms, at which point Miller produces a handful. Jasper then jumps up and performs an original tune. Miller’s second guest, Jayli Wolf, chats briefly about her acting career on Mohawk Girls before performing as well.
When not chatting with his guests or watching them sing, Miller is yukking it up with a guy dressed up like Jesus who rides by on a Segway.
Guilt Free Zone is a little rough around the edges–there were several moments of dead space between bits and a little bit of stilted conversation–but on the whole I was entertained, especially when Miller grabbed his guitar and jammed with the GFZ house band to close out the episode.
Check GFZ out and let me know what you think.
Guilt Free Zone airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/MT on APTN.
From a media release:
This winter, TVO’s critically acclaimed medical series, Hard Rock Medical, returns for a second season. The first commissioned drama series for TVO, Hard Rock Medical, follows the lives of eight medical students as they adapt to practicing medicine and living in Northern Ontario; Season 2 dives deeper into the character development of the North, and demonstrates the challenging realities of providing medical care in remote rural communities. From providing aid to residents of a ‘tent city’, to a patient being struck by lightning, and a fishing trip ending with a fisherman caught on the line, the students at Hard Rock U become well-versed in the medical realities of the North.
Hard Rock Medical, loosely inspired by the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM), sees its ensemble cast return including Canadian talents, Patrick McKenna, Angela Asher, and Stéphane Paquette. This season, both students and teachers alike are pushed to their limits as they struggle to meet the medical and personal challenges life throws their way.
Dr. Healy’s (McKenna) struggles with mental health issues, specifically addiction, lead him down a dark path, resulting in neglect and isolation; Nancy (Asher) is forced to confront a challenging relationship with her soon-to-be ex-husband when she finally comes face-to-face with his new fiancée; and Charlie (Paquette) struggles to find financial support for school and family, with a fourth child on the way.
Hard Rock Medical Season 2 premieres on Sunday, February 15 at 8 pm in a 1-hour special broadcast with two back-to-back episodes. The remaining six 30-minute episodes air from Sunday, February 22 to Sunday, March 29at 8 pm. Season 2 episodes will be available online at tvo.org/hardrockmed following the broadcast. Leading up to the premiere, viewers can catch up on Hard Rock Medical Season 1 Sundays at 8 pm and 8:30 pm on TVO beginning January 4 – with a special 3-episode broadcast, starting at 8 pm – and the remaining episodes airing until February 8, and available at tvo.org/hardrockmed.
Hard Rock Medical is a medical drama shot entirely in Northern Ontario and is a joint venture of Distinct Features Inc. and Carte Blanche Films Inc. Hard Rock Medical received funding from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation to support the regional production of the series.
[Season 2 of Hard Rock Medical previously aired on APTN.]
