Yearly Archives: 2015

Children's Programming

APTN’s Guardians Evolution returns for Season 2

From a media release:

Season two of Guardians Evolution, a stop-motion animated half-hour action adventure series for kids, will premiere on Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) on Saturday, September 12th as the first of seven exciting new action-packed episodes take you further inside the lush Guardians Evolution worldscape. Guardians airs on APTN at 10am EST/MST/CST and on APTN HD at 10AM EST.

A cautionary tale, Guardians Evolution depicts the adventures of a group of idealistic teens, as they strive to rebuild civilization 41 million years in the future. The show features sharp, witty characters and a fresh take on the post-apocalyptic genre, with themes of humanism and environmentalism. Join Arimus, Erin, Kaultor, Chema, Valta and their new friend Rajiak as they find their way through a new Earth filled with exotic and often dangerous creatures on a quest to save humanity and the planet itself from their nemesis Ambrona’s greedy plans. The second season offers even more high-octane action and never before seen creatures and environments.

Guardians Evolution is the latest stop-motion animated TV series from the award winning creators of the ground-breaking Gemini Award winning TV series Wapos Bay which ran for five celebrated seasons and a made for TV movie, winning numerous national and international awards. The series is produced by five-time Gemini Award winner Anand Ramayya (Wapos Bay, Who Killed Gandhi?) principal of Karma Film Inc., and Doug Cuthand (Bionic Bannock Boys, Oskayak Down Under, Big Bear, Mywayawin) of Blue Hill Productions.

Guardians Evolution was produced with financial participation from the Canadian Media Fund, APTN, Shaw Rocket Fund, COGECO Program Development Fund, Creative Saskatchewan Screen-Based Media Production Grant Program, Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit. Guardians Evolution is distributed by Picture Box Distribution Inc.

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Featured, Masterchef Canada

Set visit: MasterChef Canada cooks up Season 3

A cardinal rule in a reality is never, ever come off as cocky or over-confident in front of someone who is judging you. Two MasterChef Canada contestants learned the hard way when they received a dressing down from Michael Bonacini, Alvin Leung and Claudio Aprile during the first day of production on Season 3.

CTV’s culinary competition—set to return in early 2016—started rolling on two months of production with plenty of drama. Myself, along with longtime film and television critic Chris Jancelewicz, spent several hours in the series’ super-secret set hidden just west of Toronto and it was a pretty impressive sight. One corner of the expansive building is devoted to shelves piled with pots and pans, another area is set up for confessional one-on-ones and a conga line of fridges are labelled with daily ingredients. Once a warehouse, Proper Television transformed it, putting in the water, power and gas lines needed to create stations for each of the finalists to prepare their dishes for judging.

Bell Media

It’s one thing to watch the finished product on television; it’s quite another to witness the raw emotion in-person. One after another, competitors hoping to move past the auction round had an hour to prep their signature dish in front of their fellow contestants and show producers before rolling their cart in front of the judges for a final five minutes of finishing touches and plating. Devoid of a music track, those minutes with Claudio, Alvin and Michael were a study in stress. Peppered by the trio’s questions about who they were and what the heck they were doing, sweat beaded on foreheads and stammering began. I squirmed as the chefs stepped forward for tasting, delivered their remarks and abruptly turned their backs on the contestants and walking away. Claudio was especially good at this; he’s developed quite the withering stare for Season 3.

Were aprons awarded while I watched? Yes, though fewer than I imagined. I can’t tell you who advanced and who didn’t yet, but I can say that Season 3 of MasterChef Canada promises to be the most challenging yet.

MasterChef Canada returns in 2016 on CTV.

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Featured, Podcast, Schitt's Creek

TV Eh B Cs podcast 31 – Annie Murphy Rocks the Fire Tornado

Annie1Annie Murphy is a graduate of both the Canadian Film Centre Actors’ Conservatory and the Theatre Performance Program at Concordia University.

Her projects have included Beauty & The Beast, Rookie Blue, Flashpoint, Good God, The Story of Jen and Blue Mountain State. Murphy has also spent time on stages in Montreal and Toronto.

She is currently starring in Schitt’s Creek for CBC as Alexis Rose, and the day we recorded, her new CBC web series The Plateaus hit the web with the first five episodes of a story about a band of brother, sister, best friends, lovers, and lastly, musicians.

Listen or download below, or subscribe via iTunes or any other podcast catcher with the TV, eh? podcast feed.

Want to become a Patron of the Podcast? We’ve got a Patreon page where you can donate a small amount per podcast and get a sneak peek of each release.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Industry News

Four Senses greenlit for Season 3 on AMI

From a media release:

Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) announced today that its cooking show with an accessibility twist, Four Senses, is returning for a third season and will begin production this fall.

Four Senses is a unique cooking show produced by AMI in partnership with Varner Productions Limited that unites blind and sighted chefs in the kitchen. Hosts Christine Ha and Carl Heinrich are back for season three to share new recipes and experiences with a fresh group of celebrity guests. Each 30-minute show will also include nutrition guidelines for optimal eye health and accessibility tips and tools for independence in the kitchen.

Season three begins production in Toronto at Pie in the Sky Studios on October 2 and is being directed by Emmy and Genie award winner Arlene Hazzan Green. Celebrity chefs and guests will include: CHFI morning show host, Erin Davis, Laura Calder of French Chef at Home, Chef Corbin Tomaszeski from Restaurant Makeover, Claire Tansey of Chatelaine and the return of Frank Ferragine (aka Frankie Flowers).

New this year, the show takes to the road, heading out east to Prince Edward Island, back through rural Ontario and then west to Kelowna, British Columbia. Along the way, Christine and Carl will have the opportunity to catch lobsters and harvest oyster beds in PEI, visit with renowned Canadian Chef Michael Smith at the Inn at Bay Fortune, travel the Butter Tart Trail in Wellington North, herd sheep, and visit an accessible goat milk farm in the Okanagan.

In keeping with AMI’s mandate of making accessible media for all Canadians, Four Sensesfeatures embedded description, where hosts and guests describe their surroundings and actions for audience members who are blind or partially sighted, as well as closed captioning for those with hearing loss.

Season three of Four Senses will air on AMI-tv in January, 2016.  Check your local provider or visit AMI.ca for the AMI channels in your area. The first two seasons of Four Senses are currently available to stream online with the accessible AMI-player.

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Saving Hope

New Doctors. New Drama. Saving Hope returns Sept. 24 on CTV

From a media release:

Following last season’s shocking finale, it’s a time of new beginnings for the doctors at Hope Zion Hospital. CTV’s original series SAVING HOPEreturns for its fourth season as part of the network’s hit Thursday night lineup, airingThursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT beginning Sept. 24 on CTV and CTV GO. Paired with a new season of fan favourite GREY’S ANATOMY (8 p.m. ET/PT), and Canada’s #3 new series last fall HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER (10 p.m. ET/PT), SAVING HOPE’s fourth season picks up 11 months after the third season finale which saw life and death collide when Dr. Alex Reid (Erica Durance) became a new mom, while a devastating accident at an army base led to the death of Dr. Joel Goran (Daniel Gillies). Currently filming in Toronto until December 2015, Season 4 episodes of the 2015 Golden Screen Award Nominee SAVING HOPE will continue to receive a Canadian First Look on CraveTV, available to viewers the day before their broadcast premieres, with the first three seasons streaming now.

As the Hope Zion Hospital staff continue to deal with the aftermath of the death of their colleague and friend, Alex is back at work following her maternity leave as she works to balance motherhood and a busy OR, while Dr. Charlie Harris (Michael Shanks) continues to be haunted by his ghost-seeing abilities and the question of whether or not he is baby Luke’s biological father. Dr. Zach Miller (Benjamin Ayres) is still struggling to cope with the traumatic death of his close friend, and Dr. Maggie Lin (Julia Taylor Ross) ponders where she stands in the new landscape of Hope Zion Hospital. Chief of Surgery Dr. Dawn Bell (Michelle Nolden) struggles to keep a lid on the hospital, Dr. Shahir Hamza (Huse Madhavji) develops a surprising new partnership, and Dr. Dana Kinney (Wendy Crewson) discovers a higher calling in a traumatizing case that hits a little too close to home. This season sets the stage for a journey into an ever-evolving Hope Zion Hospital that will continue to challenge its doctors, and in some cases, shake their foundations down to their core.

Joining the cast this season in recurring roles are three new Junior Residents including the eager to please Dr. Cassie Williams (Kim Shaw, THE GOOD WIFE), class clown Dr. Dev Sekara (Dejan Loyola, THE TOMORROW PEOPLE), and the competitive Dr. Asha Mirani (Parveen Kaur, THE STRAIN). The team also has to adjust to the arrival of two new General Surgeons, Dr. Patrick Curtis (Max Bennett, Anna Karenina) and Dr. Jeremy Bishop (Peter Mooney, ROOKIE BLUE), an old friend of Charlie’s. Travis Milne (ROOKIE BLUE) will also appear in a four-episode arc, and guest stars this season include Tara Spencer-Nairn (CORNER GAS) and Charlotte Sullivan (ROOKIE BLUE).

SAVING HOPE ranked in the Top 30 of Canada’s most-watched programs in the key A18-49 and A25-54 demos last fall, and ended its third season in February as the #1 Canadian drama series in the key adult demos, with 1.7 million total viewers watching the shocking Season 3 finale.

In the first episode of Season 4 entitled “Sympathy for the Devil” (Thursday, Sept. 24 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV), Dr. Alex Reid (Erica Durance) returns to work, arriving at Hope Zion Hospital with a car crash victim she encountered en route, and she’s forced to play nice with new General Surgeon on call, Dr. Patrick Curtis (Max Bennett, Anna Karenina). The day gets even more chaotic when Alex is called away to treat Ted Crenshaw (Travis Milne, ROOKIE BLUE), a convicted murderer brought in for emergency treatment. Meanwhile, Dr. Charlie Harris (Michael Shanks) begins to confront his feelings about the paternity of Alex’s child, all while juggling an insistent Dr. Shahir Hamza (Huse Madhavji) who is looking for backup on his proposal for a new Alzheimer’s study. In the ER, Dr. Zach Miller’s (Benjamin Ayres) patient is admitted with symptoms mirroring those of Ebola – putting himself and Dr. Maggie Lin (Julia Taylor Ross) at risk of exposure to the deadly virus.

 

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