All posts by Greg David

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.
Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: Cut-off Canadian communities rely on High Arctic Haulers

I’ve made no bones about the fact I love to watch documentary series about folks doing unique jobs in the most inhospitable of climates. Great Pacific Television produces some of the best, including Highway Thru Hell and Heavy Rescue: 401.

Now Great Pacific Television is back with a new series called High Arctic Haulers. Debuting Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBC, the seven-episode adventure heads north, way north, to spotlight the people who bring goods to Canadians via ship. How far north are these communities? So far that food and the necessities of life come once a year. It’s imperative the ships and their cargo get through in the short summer months.

Filmed in Nunavut, High Arctic Haulers kicks off in the ice-choked Ungava Bay, where the Sedna Desgagnés is trapped. Surrounded by icebergs and growlers, Captain Michel Duplain and his first mate, Simon Charest, attempt to shake free of the ice.

Meanwhile, over on the Taïga Desgagnés, Captain Olivier Nault is having issues of his own. Steaming through the Foxe Basin north of Hudson Bay, shallow water, high winds and unpredictable conditions could spell disaster. Awaiting the Taïga is the community of Hall Beach, population 748. Built in 1957 as a military base to detect Soviet Union bombers at the height of the Cold War, the community is relying on the Taïga to deliver critical items like septic tanks, plumbing, housing materials, vehicles, clothing and food. But with screaming winds coming across the bow, it may be too dangerous to use the crane to offload items to the ship’s tug boat and barges.

Next up for the Taïga is the town of Igloolik, where citizens converge to gather supplies and send items south. Among them are sculptures by Bart Hannah, destined for spots in art galleries in Ontario.

The secret to the success—and why I watch—series like High Arctic Haulers is the focus on what the ships and their crews mean to the communities they serve. I learned more about Nunavut from one episode of High Arctic Haulers than I ever have in a Canadian history class. I look forward to learning more.

High Arctic Haulers airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Image courtesy of CBC.

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Featured, Schitt's Creek

Sarah Levy says goodbye to Schitt’s Creek

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It’s the beginning of the end for Schitt’s Creek. The CBC series, which has garnered acclaim in Canada and the U.S.—where it airs on Pop TV—bows its final episodes beginning Tuesday at 9 p.m. on CBC.

To say Schitt’s Creek, co-created by and starring Daniel and Eugene Levy, has been groundbreaking is an understatement. What began as a snicker-worthy word gag because of its title has evolved into a truly wonderfully heartfelt series about acceptance, love and family. And, the characters have evolved with it, including Twyla. When we were first introduced to Twyla, she was friendly, but a little dim. Now, she and fellow supporting characters like Patrick, Ted and Ronnie have become fan favourites, equal to main characters David, Johnny, Moira (Catherine O’Hara), Alexis (Annie Murphy), Roland (Chris Elliott) and Stevie (Emily Hampshire).

We spoke to Sarah Levy about how she scored the role of Twyla, playing a beloved character, saying goodbye to the series and what her future holds.

I’m sorry that Schitt’s Creek is ending, but I respect Daniel deciding this would be the final season and concluding the series the way he wants to.
Sarah Levy: I think that’s exactly it. I mean, so often we see shows really just go for as long as they can. I admire that but on the other hand, I think that it’s necessary that when you’re telling a story, there is an ending to that story. And quality does decrease when you just kind of keep it going for the sake of keeping it going. So I give a lot of credit to Daniel and dad for ending a good thing while we’re on top.

Let’s go back to the beginning. In the first season, Twyla was introduced as a well-intentioned waitress who seemed a bit dim. How did you end up on the show in the first place? Did you have to audition or was it assumed you’d be a part of it?
SL: It was kind of insane. I had majored in theatre at university. I studied it and then I moved out to L.A. to pursue acting. So I had been here for a couple of years and then Daniel moved here once he finished up with MTV. [He and my dad] had this idea and they asked if I wanted to be a part of it if it was even something that I want it to be a part of. And of course, it was. The opportunity to work with my family seemed a really wonderful thing. And we obviously had no idea where it would go, but I went along for the ride gladly.

Twyla has grown over the last five seasons and become very much a beloved character, alongside Ronnie and Patrick. What has it been like seeing these characters evolve?
SL: I think it’s incredible and it’s a testament to the writing as well, that these characters aren’t getting lost. They’re all so well crafted and unique and well written and we have wonderful people playing those characters, Noah Reid and Karen Robinson. So it’s been incredible the support that we’ve gotten from fans when it comes to our characters because they aren’t necessarily onscreen all the time, but they make their mark and I think that’s the most important fan part.

The other thing that has been amazing is how the writing room has introduced LGBTQ storylines. Very often that can be done very heavy-handed in primetime television. I’ve loved the way that it’s just been subtle; this is just the way the people are.
SL: That was something, again, that Daniel had been very strategic about. We’re so used to seeing these relationships on television being made a huge deal out of it and drawing attention to it, and is it good or is it bad and everybody kind of has a say in it. He was so adamant about it just being another relationship on television. We’re not trying to make it anything more than just a beautiful love story between two people.

We saw Patrick and David the proposal happened and the acceptance. Is it safe to assume that there’s a wedding in this final season?
SL: I think it’s safe to assume that there’s something of a wedding.

Are you happy with the way that the show ends? Do you think that fans will be happy?
SL: I’m more than happy with how it ended. I still love watching it like everybody else, all the fans, I don’t like to see anything really before it airs and I watch each episode as it airs. I think everyone is going to be so satisfied with this ending. I think that’s the beauty of being able to end it when you want that you can craft it in a way that ties everything up in a beautiful bow without cutting anything short before its time. And of course, it’s bittersweet, it was a sad day but we can’t deny that is a beautiful ending and I really think that everyone’s going to just cry some happy tears.

What can you say about Twyla’s storylines for the sixth season?
SL: It’s more of advice-giving. One of my favourite things about Twyla and Alexis is they’ve developed this really wonderful friendship where they give each other advice … more Twyla giving Alexis advice on things that she should probably do or not do. We get into a couple of those scenarios. I think everyone is going to be thrilled and excited and so pleased with her future.

You’ve signed on to a new series. Tell me about it.
SL: It’s called Best Intentions and it’s for Pop TV. We don’t know exact dates of when that starts, but sometime in the spring and it has a great cast and it’s written by Adam Herz who actually wrote American Pie. So we’re in wonderful hands and it’s very full circle for me actually because we shot the pilot last year, which marked the 20th anniversary of American Pie. And it was very surreal to now have my own working relationship with Adam because he works so closely with my dad. So it was a really fun shoot and hopefully, we can continue that.

Finally, you released a Christmas song just before the holidays. How did ‘Big Christmas’ come about?
SL: I’ve been writing music for as long as I can remember and I play piano and guitar and music has always been a huge part of my life growing up. My grandmother was a great singer, my mom is a great singer, songwriter and dad won a Grammy for songwriting. So maybe it’s this subcategory of our family dynamic that not many people know about. I’ve been working with a writing partner, a woman named Shevy Smith, who’s a fantastic writer and producer and singer. We’ve been working through the fall just writing some stuff. And I went to her and said, ‘Should we really be writing a Christmas song?’ I’ve always thought it was a really daunting challenge because Christmas is so saturated.

We just tried to write something that we loved, and that was really the point of it. Something that had a positive message and was about being together with the people you love, whoever those people are, whether it be family or friends or someone you love. And we just wrote it in about a session and a half and then it took no longer than a week before we recorded it and put it out. So it all happened very quickly but we’re so thrilled, it’s so exciting.

Download Sarah’s single, “Big Christmas” on Spotify or iTunes.

Schitt’s Creek airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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Featured, Nurses

Global’s Nurses brings viewers into the trenches with frontline medical workers

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I first spoke to Adam Pettle during what turned out to be the last season of the medical drama Saving Hope. He and I—along with co-producers Noelle Carbone and Patrick Tarr—discussed, among other things, Saving Hope‘s longevity and its possible end.

Now Pettle is back with a new group of folks in scrubs, saving lives in a hospital. Debuting Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Global, Nurses is a departure from Saving Hope, focusing almost solely on the nurses at the fictional St. Mary’s Hospital. Sure, there are doctors and surgeons flitting about, but the focus is on nurses Grace Knight (Tiera Skovbye), Ashley Collins (Natasha Callis), Keon Colby (Jordan Johnson-Hinds), Nazneen Khan (Sandy Sidhu) and Wolf Burke (Donald MacLean Jr.).

Pettle doesn’t pull any punches on the five in Monday’s debut. Moments after reporting for duty on their first day, they are thrown into the melée following a vehicle attack on pedestrians.

Days before Corus announced Nurses was renewed for a second season, we spoke to Pettle about how Nurses came about, why he was eager to re-visit the medical drama genre and what viewers can expect in Season 1.

Were you champing at the bit to get back into the medical stories, and this time focus on nurses? 
Adam Pettle: My dad’s a doctor. My mother’s a nurse. I kind of grew up in and around hospitals and so it’s always been a genre I’ve been really into. When I was making Saving Hope, [executive producer] Ilana Frank had read a book called A Nurse’s Story, which is a memoir by Canadian nurse Tilda Shalof. Ilana was like, ‘You know, I’ve always wanted to make A Nurse’s Story.’ We started talking about it and then I had been doing a Burden of Truth on CBC, and we continued to kind of talk through some ideas and, and then we landed on writing a show about five young, newly-graduated nurses.

On Saving Hope and most medical shows, the nurses are usually relegated to background performers. We thought it would be really great, especially in this time we’re living in. We know there’s some pretty selfish leadership going on all over the world, and I was really drawn to this idea of a job about caring and how we care for people as opposed to big splashy medicine, and kind of front line heroes. Unsung heroes.

What immediately struck me watching Episode 1 was what I loved about ER. Noah Wyle’s character is the viewers’ in because he was this fresh face coming in and you were learning about the intricacies of the ER through his eyes. On Nurses, you’ve got the same scenario.
AP: That’s exactly it. It’s like we are with them. Their newness and rookie mistakes, which have life and death stakes. It’s one thing to learn a job, but when it’s that job, I find it quite noble and heroic. It seems like it’s a lot of grunt work and shitty work. And it’s not just caring for patients, it’s caring for family members. I’ve talked to one nurse who was like, ‘It’s more about psychology and spirituality than it is about biology.’ And I love that idea.

There’s a guy named Mike Denby, who has kind of been my main consultant who’s a young, super handsome real-life nurse at The Hospital for Sick Children. He’s kind of connected me with a few nurses there. I went to St. Michael’s Hospital and interviewed, I think it was five or six ER nurses at different stages of their careers, which is fascinating too.

Why did you decide to use a vehicle attack as the main event in the debut episode to introduce us to everybody?
AP: I thought it was raw. It’s such a horrific local event that really terrified me when it happened. It’s very loosely based on that event. I really wanted a first-day event that all the stories kind of sprung from. The show, for me, was like seeing the different characters as body parts. Everything stemmed off of an event, I wanted quieter stories like the ICU story and like the pregnancy story, but I wanted them all to spring up out of the same inciting incident.

Something [like that] affects everybody and is so random and senseless. But the impact it has, on all ages, on all races on the whole. And I also wanted to throw them into the deep end as far as work.

Nurses airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Global.

Images courtesy of Corus Entertainment.

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Featured, Murdoch Mysteries

Preview: Murdoch Mysteries, “Parker in the Rye”

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A new year is here and with it the remaining new episodes for Season 13 of Murdoch Mysteries. When we last left them, William and Julia were on the outs after he learned she was behind the assisted death of a severely wounded young woman.

So, will the pair make up on Monday night? Here’s what the CBC has released as an official episode synopsis for “Parker in the Rye,” written by Dan Trotta and directed by Mars Horodyski.

Murdoch sends Parker undercover to investigate the brutal slaying of a whisky baron and his family.

And here are more tidbits of information from me after watching a screener.

Julia and William talk
It’s brief, it’s off the top of the episode and it shows things are definitely NOT all right between the pair.

Parker and Crabtree work the streets
I love this pairing. I do miss Higgins and Crabtree working the beat together, but seeing the city through Parker’s eyes has refreshed the series for me somewhat. And it’s always nice to have an American around to make queries about how we do things in Canada.

Julia shines
She may not know what’s going on with her relationship with William, but Julia knows how to talk, listen and offer reassurance. She uses all three when speaking with Jacob Quincannon, played by Sean Dolan. Their scene together is wonderfully tender and emotional.

Gord Rand returns to Murdoch Mysteries
Last seen in 2014’s “Blast of Silence” as Travis Macquire, Gord Rand is back, this time playing a very bad man named Leon Bronson.

Murdoch Mysteries airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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Coroner, Featured

Coroner creator Morwyn Brebner previews explosive second season

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I love Canadian television. If I didn’t, this site wouldn’t exist. My girlfriend, on the other hand, is very picky when it comes to her time and devoting any of it to television, regardless of what country it originates from. So, when she immediately became hooked on Season 1 of Coroner, I knew the CBC had something really special.

Much of Canada agreed. Created, executive-produced and showrun by Morwyn Brebner (Saving Hope, Rookie Blue), Coroner was the highest-rated new series on CBC. Now Coroner roars back with an explosive—and tragic—Season 2 premiere on Monday night.

When we catch up with Jenny (Serinda Swan), she and Donovan (Roger Cross) are investigating a fire in a low-income apartment building.

We spoke to Morwyn Brebner ahead of Monday’s return.

It must’ve been pretty mind-blowing to be the No. 1 new show on CBC, and have great reviews from critics and fans.
Morwyn Brebner: We were so blown away because we felt like when we were making Season 1, we felt so much love for the show. I think there was a feeling on set from everybody, from the cast, from the directors, from the crew, from everyone that we were making something that’s felt special to us.

And so, when people liked it … because you never know how anyone’s going to feel, right? We knew that we had this incredible cast lead by Serinda and Roger. And so, it’s was kind of overwhelming. And then when we got to make Season 2, we just feel so lucky. To have lived with the characters for a season, and now to be able to know them more, it’s like you start Season 2 with a leg up.

We’re thrilled by the response and we’re thrilled people seem to really care about the characters.

When I spoke to Serinda Swan ahead of Season 1, she had a very good idea of who Jenny was as a character and where she wanted the show to go. How important is it to have someone that’s No. 1 on the call sheet that has a clear vision for a show?
MB: Oh, I mean it’s really important. Serinda embodies Jenny. She embodies her in this way that no one else can. It’s such a collaboration with the actor. Her really strong sense of Jenny and her connection to her and the way she embodies her physically … and Serinda’s so smart. And so, her and her guiding intelligence for how she portrays the character is really part of it.

Was there anything after Season 1 was done where you sat down and did a post-mortem and said, ‘OK, this worked, maybe this didn’t work so well. Here are some things we want to do more of in Season 2’?
MB: We did. We have many post-mortems. We have sort of rolling post-mortem. One of the things we really felt was that we wanted to spend more time with the characters. We have these amazing characters. And so, this season is more serialized. We still have great cases. That was something you wanted to keep. We have this incredible case that starts out with a bang. And then that case is like a ribbon that twines itself through the season.

And we have guest characters who also sort of exist through the season and bring out things in our characters that are surprising and are involved. We’ve tried to make this season even more character driven, which is an incredible opportunity to just get to know everyone better. And to feel more complete rooted in who they are.

We have Donovan who has always pushed away personal connections forcing to be connected and not being able to avoid it. And we’re trying to bring it all back also to sort of the cases and the empathy that Jenny feels for the dead that she speaks for.

You’re really delving into the brain in a couple of very serious storylines. When it comes to Jenny’s mental health or even with her father, Gordon, is there someone that you’ve consulted to just make sure that you’re doing it right?
MB: We do. Anxiety is a really interesting disorder in that it manifests in different ways at different times. I live with anxiety, some serious anxiety as do many people. I mean it’s the condition of the age and it’s also a specific thing. We had a consultant. We talked to a psychiatrist. We talked to doctors. This season we’re trying to find new manifestations to visually show what she’s going through.

One of our favourite episodes from last season was the Thanksgiving episode. You could have easily not had a holiday episode or a Thanksgiving episode. A lot of shows don’t. Why did you choose to do one?
MB: We wanted an episode last season that would be much more character, character, character, where we got to see the family and where we got to really feel Jenny as someone struggling. Not just with work, with her family. And it really was one of my favourite episodes too. I mean I love them all, but I felt like that episode … the feeling of just going home with her, it felt real, you know? We all are trying to deal with shit, right?

And in this season we have an episode, it’s not a holiday episode, but it’s sort of, again, a non-work work episode. We were with Jenny much more. We’re with the characters personalized much more this season. But even then, it’s just good to take a break. Like you want to just breathe with people, you want to feel them, you want to live with them, you know?

And that episode, which Noelle Carbone wrote, I love that episode so much.

Another thing I love about Coroner is conversations. The dialogue is very natural. 
MB: Oh, that’s such a nice compliment. Thank you. Well, we have great writers. I like the thing where you’re not always on the beat. If you just take yourself off the on-beat. What I like is to be disciplined but loose. I like to live in the humanity and in the moments. They can talk like people and be with each other. That’s the goal, and if it’s working, I’m glad to see it register.

Coroner airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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