Prior to becoming a television critic and owner of TV, Eh?, Greg David was a critic for TV Guide Canada, the country's most trusted source for TV news. He has interviewed television actors, actresses and behind-the-scenes folks from hundreds of television series from Canada, the U.S. and internationally. He is a podcaster, public speaker, weekly radio guest and educator, and past member of the Television Critics Association.
Link: Meredith MacNeill has funny bones The worst time to interview Meredith MacNeill is during a pandemic. She’s too covered up. MacNeill is a performer who does so much with her face, her voice, her body that, even on a regular day—when we couldn’t both die from sharing the same room—the fewer barriers between her and the audience, the better. Continue reading.
From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:
Link: Pretty Hard Cases creators preview the new CBC series “Our friendship was born out of a professional relationship, and we have so many great female friendships with people that we worked with. We wanted to reflect the kind of joys and challenges of complicated female friendships, especially in your 40s and 50s, and celebrate that.” Continue reading.
Link: How COVID-19 infused Coroner Season 3 with purpose When the COVID-19 global pandemic hit, film and television productions all over the world were shut down. Thankfully, due to strict safety guidelines and vigilant cast and crews, many productions were able to resume filming in the latter half of 2020. Continue reading.
AMC Networks, the entertainment company behind some of the most popular and award-winning brands in television, streaming and film, and award-winning production company Shaftesbury, announced today they have entered into a new strategic partnership. Through its investment in Shaftesbury, AMC Networks will gain access to Shaftesbury’s award-winning slate and expand its content and development capabilities in Canada. Shaftesbury CEO and Chairman Christina Jennings will continue to spearhead the creative focus of the company and lead the day-to-day operational control alongside Executive Vice President, Scott Garvie. Jennings, Garvie and Shaftesbury board member Michael Levine will remain on Shaftesbury’s Board of Directors. They will be joined by two new AMC Networks directors, Harold Gronenthal, EVP of Programming and Marketing for AMC Networks International, and Matt Graham, GM of the AMC Networks-owned Acorn TV streaming service. Shaftesbury and its shareholders were advised on this strategic investment by RBC Capital Markets.
The new partnership will create growth for Shaftesbury’s existing and future slate of content across all genres, creating more opportunities for Canadian creators in front of and behind the camera. The partnership also builds on AMC Networks and Shaftesbury’s existing production relationship. Shaftesbury is the studio behind some of the biggest titles on Acorn TV, including all 14 seasons of Murdoch Mysteries. In addition to Acorn TV, AMC Networks operates the entertainment brands AMC, SundanceTV, BBC America and the fast-growing streaming services AMC+, Shudder, Sundance Now and ALLBLK.
[Spoiler alert! Do not continue reading until you have watched “Murdoch Checks in.”]
“It’s great to see Murdoch and Ogden together in such an informal setting, and just enjoy each other’s company. They work so well together, their skills combine to create a perfect detective team.” That’s what Noelle Girard, writer, and co-producer on Murdoch Mysteries, had to say about Monday’s newest episode. And we totally agree.
“Murdoch Checks In,” written by Girard, saw our favourite couple in the woods and part of a group headed to a lodge for a little getaway. Of course, no time away with these two is ever spent truly relaxing and this was no different. Sadly, the death of art collector Derek Ferdinand meant William and Julia were on the case.
Meanwhile, back in Toronto, Higgins and Crabtree teamed to identify a head buried in a garden allotment and Miss Hart’s relationship with Carmichael moved to the next level.
We had an email chat with Noelle Girard to find out how the episode came together.
Noelle, how has the pandemic affected the way you write? Are you comfortable writing by yourself or do you like the noisiness of a writer’s room? Noelle Girard: While it’s always been the case at Murdoch that we write the outlines and drafts by ourselves, I did miss going into the writer’s room every day and chatting about the script. We had our notes sessions via Zoom, and while it got the job done, there’s just something about the long, sometimes meandering talks in the room that can point you in a better direction or bring out something you missed while writing alone.
How did the idea for the main storyline of a trek through the woods and murder at the lodge come about? Was it inspired by anything in particular? NG: We like to have an episode where Ogden and Murdoch get away by themselves, and of course it’s always a busman’s holiday for them as there is always a murder to solve (or two, or three). It’s funny that while Julia does enjoy tramping and sleeping in a tent with Murdoch, this time she’s chosen their getaway, and it’s at a cozy inn.
We also wanted to bring back the character of Derek Ferdinand. That character inspired us to do something a bit different, as we typically have the murder Murdoch is investigating happen in the tease, or early in act one. But with the irascible Mr. Ferdinand, we thought it would be better to spend a bit of time with him before he’s offed.
I really enjoy it when Murdoch and Julia head outdoors. It’s the chance to see them in a new—and sometimes unfamiliar—environment. Do you enjoy that change of setting when you’re writing? NG: It’s great to see Murdoch and Ogden together in such an informal setting, and just enjoy each other’s company. They work so well together, their skills combine to create a perfect detective team. I also love their more informal outfits, it’s a treat to see what the costume department comes up with.
Professor Leamington is a lot of fun. I laughed out loud when he first spoke of the genus of woodpeckers. Did he come fully-formed on the page or did the actor bring his own ‘foibles’ to the table? NG: The actors always bring so much to the scripts, of course. We wanted to have a few ‘types’ as suspects, such as the flirty widow and the tweedy professor, to annoy Murdoch and Ogden, and it’s fun to play someone who thinks he knows it all off Murdoch, who actually does know it all. We had a larger cast of suspects planned and had to whittle down the numbers due to pandemic restrictions, but I think it turned out better with a smaller group of characters.
I’m not a fan of gardening, but even I know a human head isn’t supposed to be planted next to my beans. Where did that macabre detail come from? NG: It was actually stolen from an article I read a year or two ago. A woman in France was furious that her industrious co-worker was making her look lazy by comparison. She killed the woman with a wine bottle, then buried her head in her allotment. Very gruesome. I did get second thoughts halfway through the process, but by then the prop department and the model artist were having too much fun making the head!
It was enjoyable to have Higgins and Crabtree work a case together. Do you relish the opportunity to write for a pairing like theirs and a meatier storyline for them? NG: I just love the two of them together. I think every script I’ve written for Murdoch Mysteries has at least one daft conversation between those two. Crabtree, of course, is up to the challenge of taking on a murder investigation, and Higgins’s oblivious laziness is on full display.
Higgins is having a hard time staying focused. Clearly, the future baby is having an effect on him. NG: Doesn’t Higgins always have a hard time staying focused? It doesn’t take a lot to divert his attention. And I have to say I’m so excited that Henny and Ru-Ru are having a baby. I’m sure their parenting will be sweet but absolutely chaotic.
And yet, his interrogation of Miss Irwin was well done. NG: When we discussed the interrogation scene with Higgins and Crabtree in the early stages, it made us laugh that Higgins would be the one that cracks the suspect and gets the confession. While Higgins isn’t the murdering kind, it makes sense that he could understand her motivations, and sympathize a little bit.
Giving Miss Hart a romantic storyline is a welcome addition to Season 14. Has that evolution of her story come naturally? Yes, that was planned from our early talks about this season. We wanted to continue our exploration of what makes Hart tick. We’ve seen what she will do to get ahead, how she deals with her past coming to haunt her, and now we wanted to see her clash with a romantic interest. Arthur Carmichael, being so wealthy and cocksure, has more than met his match in Violet Hart.
The theme of racism arose during Miss Hart’s date with Carmichael at the restaurant. What’s it been like writing that storyline, and dealing with racism during this time period? NG: Hart and Carmichael’s relationship, for me, is all about power, class, and scandal. We were interested in showing the shifting power dynamics in their relationship. Carmichael is attracted to Hart but also attracted to the scandal he is causing by courting a Black woman. Of course, Hart is not one to be trifled with and soon asserts her power, intriguing Carmichael even more. The effects of racism are a part of Hart’s story, as well as her relationship with Carmichael. It’s perhaps at the root of most of their power imbalances, and it will be so interesting to see how Hart shifts all those imbalances throughout the season.
Sherry White and Meredith MacNeill are no strangers to CBC. White’s most recent project for the network was as director, executive producer and writer for Little Dog. MacNeill, meanwhile, has just come off five seasons as co-creator, writer, producer and star of Baroness Von Sketch Show. Now the two have paired for one of the most entertaining new series on the network, Pretty Hard Cases.
Debuting Wednesday at 9 p.m. on CBC, MacNeill stars as Sam Waszowski, a guns and gangs detective—and single mom—who finds herself teamed with drug squad detective Kelly Duff, played by Adrienne C. Moore (Orange Is the New Black). Together, the pair are trying to take down a neighbourhood gang dealing drugs and weapons. Co-created by White and Tassie Cameron—who previously worked together on Rookie Blue—Pretty Hard Cases is notable not only for its tone but its focus: telling the stories of two women in their 40s.
We spoke to Sherry White and Meredith MacNeill about the first season of Pretty Hard Cases.
Sherry, can you give me the background on how the show came about? Did you and Tassie Cameron keep in touch over the years and say ‘Let’s try and find something together’? Sherry White: Tassie and I worked on Rookie Blue together and I was on that from the first season until the end. We got really close during the making of that. We moved on to do other things and there was a couple of times when people approached me with, ‘Could I take on some young writer’s cop show and try and help elevate it.’ Somebody came to Tassie and said it, and I’m like, ‘If there’s a demand for this, why don’t we do this ourselves?’ and really reflect more where we are now in our career. Rookie Blue is more about the early days of these characters and their careers.
This show is more about women who are in their 40s, who had given it all to their career and are finding themselves a little wanting for a full life. They’ve sacrificed a lot of their own personal goals in order to have their career, which is totally where Tassie and I were. We wanted to reflect our friendship and we wanted to reflect where we were in our careers and that sort of, what next? How else do we get a full life? We also wanted to have fun. We wanted it to be more in this sort of Paul Feig kind of… the ways he can celebrate women and be really raw and honest and funny about whatever situation they’re in, and I think we accomplished that with the show.
Meredith, did Sherry or Tassie come forward and say, ‘Hey, listen, we’ve got this character for you.’ How did you end up playing the role of Sam? Meredith MacNeill: I was approached by Sherry and Tassie for the role, so I didn’t have to audition. When I was talking to Sherry about the role, I remember the absolute shock and pleasure and being completely thrilled.
How did you decide how you were going to play Sam? Did you have to learn how to rein her in a little bit? MM: I was really fortunate to have Sherry and Tassie, who knew my work from Baroness. Actually, there was a lot of freedom on the floor. When I got the part, we talked a lot about, in terms of the physicality and the part, and the part was really on the page. I didn’t have to deviate much from that. In terms of feeling free to do whatever I wanted to bring to it, Sherry and Tassie, I would say, they were my rein-ers. Sherry directed some episodes and because she knew my work so well and we had such a great trust I’d be like, ‘I’m going to do this.’ And she’s like, ‘Great. Do it.’ In terms of reining in my physicality, Baroness and Pretty Hard Cases are such different shows, so the way it used my physicality was a bit different.
Sherry, how tightly scripted is Pretty Hard Cases? SW: That was one of the major questions we had going into this because we knew we wanted them to find their way and all that stuff but as everyone knows, improv can get unwieldy and we didn’t want to have 65-minute episodes. We found a really good system where we mostly stuck to the text and certainly, for all the procedural stuff, there’s not a lot of improv room in that. You need just the facts, you need what that content was. In the more personal scenes, there was a lot more play and we would always allow for [Meredith] to, once we nailed it, just go. Just do something else if you wanted to play. I would say it was mostly not improvised, but definitely, enough to bring a special flavour that Meredith and Adrienne would bring themselves.
The relationship between Sam and her son is fascinating. Can you talk about how complicated this relationship is going to be as we see this first season roll out? MM: It’s going to be extremely complicated. Sam is desperate for attention and the love and respect of her son. I’m a single mom and my daughter’s only 10 and I’m starting to feel like she would rather be with her friends. So imagine that amplified. And then Percy [Hynes White] is incredible to play opposite of. We had good chemistry as well, so we were finding a lot about the relationship as it was going. One of Sam’s big storylines for the show is her relationship with her son. It gets pretty exciting.
SW: And again, because loneliness is a theme in this show, there is nothing more lonely than being a single mother about to be an empty nester.
MM: I was so grateful because it’s been my therapy because it’s going to happen to me. I used to call Sherry and sometimes I’d just start crying at the thought of it.
Sherry, what can we expect to see in Season 1? SW: The core of the series is Sam and Kelly building a friendship, finding a friendship despite their differences and relying on each other, and finding this common ground as they are working together. They’re dealing with the main neighbourhood gang. But then, through that, they have personal stories that develop and challenge their professional life and vice versa. It’s a lot of fun. I think every episode brings a lot of laughs and also it can get pretty sad sometimes.
Pretty Hard Cases airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.
