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, Street Legal

Comments and queries for the week of September 14

I welcome [the Street Legal] sequel to the original series. Admittedly, I was a young kid when my mom watched it back in the day so I only remember bits and pieces about it but I’m glad they are doing this as a sequel series rather than a reboot. I hate reboots and find the idea of a reboot lazy. Charmed, for instance, could have done much better as a sequel than a reboot. —Alicia

My wife and I were 37 and 32, our son was 10 in 1987 when the original Street Legal with its dynamite theme music showcasing Toronto and iconic CN Tower, the dynamic cast and crew and the fantastic episodes blasted onto TV sets in Canada, wowing Canadian viewers like never before. The 1980s were exciting times for Canada in many ways including Canadian TV shows. —Steve

It was an epic finish to the end [to The Amazing Race Canada]. Any of the three teams could have won. I wished CTV had an after show wrap-up like they did in the previous seasons. It would have been nice to see all the teams who competed all together. —Donna

I am so happy for Courtney and Adam. They overcame obstacles and having fans say they did not deserve to be in the finale. They sure did. I picked them to win right from the start. They saved the best till last. I am so proud of them and they deserve the win. Congratulations Courtney and Adam. —Debbie

A decent finale and quite an upset for the underdogs to take it all. Congratulations. Also, Canada’s first co-ed team to win. The airport calling was a good mental task. The dog/skiing task didn’t seem hard but had some good scenery and that epic face plant-flip of Taylor’s. I liked the tension of shopping for the memory task rather than just a typical puzzle. I particularly enjoyed the journey to the Mat at the end rather than just having it right next to the memory task. A decent finale and an OK season. Still, the overall sameness of the locations/tasks/casting archetypes does prevent it from being as great as it could be. No After the Race this year? I hope that’s not a bad sign. —DanAmazing

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? Email greg.david@tv-eh.com or via Twitter @tv_eh.

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Killjoys

Link: Killjoys: Kelly McCormack on Dutch and Zeph’s growing trust

From Kelly Townsend of The TV Junkies:

Link: Killjoys: Kelly McCormack on Dutch and Zeph’s growing trust
“I love all my stuff with Dutch and there’s more of it to come. It really has such a beautiful, altruistic, positive power behind it because we’re so different, but we both seem to have the exact same philosophical views on what we want and what we want for our found family.” Continue reading.

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Industry News

Global greenlights new primetime medical drama Nurses

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From a media release:

Adding to its acclaimed roster of Canadian original series, Global proudly announces new primetime medical drama Nurses (working title), set to premiere on the network in 2019. From independent studio Entertainment One (eOne), the 10×60 series is executive produced by Ilana Frank (Rookie Blue), of ICF Films and Vanessa Piazza (Dark Matter) of Piazza Entertainment, with Adam Pettle named as writer, showrunner, and executive producer, and Tassie Cameron serving as executive producer. The series follows four young nurses working on the frontlines of St. Jude’s hospital dedicating their lives to helping others, while figuring out how to help themselves.

Stationed in every tendril of a busy downtown trauma centre and thrust into frontline medical action, Nurses sees four recent graduates beginning their careers in a high-stakes hospital with pressure cooker training. Forming an inextricable bond, the nurses struggle to find a work-life balance that matches and counters the intensity of their new job. Their interaction with patients, relatives, and staff quickly leads them to the discovery that nursing isn’t just about biology, chemistry, and anatomy, it’s also about psychology, compassion, and romantic complications.

Nurses executive producer, Ilana Frank, appears today on the Corus Entertainment-sponsored panel, The Future of Scripted: Women in Power Tell All. Hosted at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Toronto, the panel takes place during C21 Media’s Content Canada conference, a part of TIFF’s industry offering. With opening remarks from Corus’ Executive Vice President and COO, Barb Williams, and moderated by Divya Shahani, Entertainment Lawyer, Hall Webber LLP, the featured panelists are: Ilana Frank (Rookie Blue, Nurses), Sheila Hockin (Vikings), Tassie Cameron (Mary Kills People), Julia Sereny (Ransom), and Alex Zarowny (Private Eyes). For more information visit www.contentcanada.net.

This newly greenlit series comes on the heels of Global’s recent renewals for Ransom, Mary Kills People, Private Eyes, and Big Brother Canada.

Nurses is produced by ICF Films, in association with eOne and Corus Entertainment, with the participation of the Canada Media Fund and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit.

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Industry News

Vice Canada names Vanessa Case as senior vice president, head of studio

From a media release:

VICE Media Canada, Canada’s leading youth media company and digital studio, is pleased to announce senior media executive Vanessa Case as Senior Vice President, Head of Studio, effective immediately.

Vanessa was most recently EVP Content at Blue Ant Media and is a senior media executive with deep expertise in content strategy, delivering business growth, and development and execution for global companies, including owned intellectual property (IP), co-productions and international financing.

With a career spanning two decades, Vanessa has been a critical player in the launch and development of several world-renowned brands landing in Canada, including BBC Earth, HGTV Canada and National Geographic. Prior to her role at Blue Ant Media, having held positions at Shaw, CanWest and Alliance Atlantis, she commissioned hundreds of hours of original content, developed original production slates and led scheduling and acquisition strategies for some of Canada’s top speciality channels.

In her new role, Vanessa will head up all VICE Studios’ productions in Canada including development, production, financing, sales and licensing, as well as overseeing VICE’s production and post-production facilities located in Toronto.

ABOUT VICE MEDIA
VICE is the world’s preeminent youth media company and content creation studio. Launched in 1994, VICE now operates in over 30 countries and distributes its programming to viewers across digital, linear, mobile, film and socials. VICE includes an international network of digital channels; a weekly and daily news programming partnership with HBO; a television and feature film production studio; a magazine; a record label; and an in-house creative services agency.

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