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.
Awards, Featured

Anne, Alias Grace, Kim’s Convenience and Baroness von Sketch Show win big at Canadian Screen Awards gala

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Alias Grace, Baroness von Sketch Show, Anne, Schitt’s Creek‘s Catherine O’Hara, Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany, Cardinal‘s Billy Campbell, Kim’s Convenience‘s Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and the series itself were among the winners at this year’s Canadian Screen Awards gala on Sunday night at Toronto’s Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.

Meanwhile, Murdoch Mysteries executive producer Christina Jennings made the fans’ night by revealing that Season 12 of the top-rated series had been ordered by CBC. Production starts soon.

The Academy Icon Award was delivered to Rick Mercer Report, Peter Mansbridge was given the Lifetime Achievement Award and Clark Johnson received the Earle Grey Award. Carmilla‘s Elise Bauman captured the Audience Choice Award.

The pre-broadcast winners were:

Golden Screen Award for TV Drama or Comedy
Murdoch Mysteries, CBC

Golden Screen Award for TV Reality Show
The Amazing Race Canada, CTV

Best Reality/Competition Program or Series
The Amazing Race Canada, CTV

The main television category winners were:

Best Lead Actress, Comedy
Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek

Best Lead Actor, Comedy
Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Kim’s Convenience

Best Performance, Sketch Comedy (Individual or Ensemble)
Baroness von Sketch Show, CBC

Best Lead Actress, Drama Series
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black

Best Lead Actor, Drama Series
Alexander Ludwig, Vikings

Best Drama Series
Anne, CBC

Best Comedy Series
Kim’s Convenience, CBC

Best Lead Actor, Drama Program or Limited Series
Billy Campbell, Cardinal

Best Lead Actress, Drama Program or Limited Series
Sarah Gadon, Alias Grace

Audience Choice Award
Elise Bauman, Carmilla

Best Limited Series or Program
Alias Grace, CBC

Here’s a list of the winners from Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday‘s industry awards.

What did you think of last night’s awards? Did your favourite television show, actor or actress win? Let me know in the comments below.

 

 

 

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Murdoch Mysteries

Canada’s most watched drama Murdoch Mysteries renewed for Season 12

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From a media release:

Canada’s #1 homegrown drama, Murdoch Mysteries, has been renewed by CBC for Season 12 (18 x 60), as just announced by Shaftesbury CEO Christina Jennings at tonight’s Canadian Screen Awards Broadcast Gala. The series, which won the Golden Screen Award for TV Drama or Comedy given to the most-watched series, is watched around the world and draws an average of 1.2 million viewers per week* on CBC.

Season 11 continues tomorrow night with the season’s penultimate episode, “Shadows are Falling.” In the episode, Murdoch and Ogden must put aside dealing with a personal matter when an old friend is charged with murder. The episode airs tomorrow night at 8:00pm/8:30pm NT on CBC.

The current season of Murdoch Mysteries concludes next week with “Free Falling.” In the intense finale, an argument leads Murdoch to help a man search for his missing wife, while Crabtree considers his future with Nina, and the Station House No. 4 team work to solve a grisly murder.

Murdoch Mysteries stars Yannick Bisson, Hélène Joy, Jonny Harris and Thomas Craig, and airs Mondays at 8:00pm/8:30pm NT on CBC.

One of Canada’s most successful and longest-running dramas, Murdoch Mysteries (12 seasons; 186 x one-hour episodes; 3 x two-hour specials) has become a staple for CBC and broadcasters around the world with its winning formula that brings together compelling mysteries, unique slices of turn-of-the-century history, ingenious inventions and personal moments for each character. The series is licensed to broadcasters in 110 countries and territories including the U.S., U.K., France, Finland and China.

With millions of fans worldwide, Murdoch Mysteries also boasts one of the most engaged fan communities in the world, including over 130,000 likes on Facebook and 146,000 followers for the series and its cast on Twitter.

Murdoch Mysteries is based on Maureen Jennings’s popular Detective Murdoch series of novels and premiered in Canada in January 2008. Murdoch Mysteries is developed and produced by Shaftesbury, in association with CBC, ITV STUDIOS Global Entertainment and UKTV, and with the participation of the Canada Media Fund, the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit and the COGECO Program Development Fund. Shaftesbury Sales Company and ITV STUDIOS Global Entertainment hold worldwide distribution rights for the series. The series is executive produced by Christina Jennings, Scott Garvie, Yannick Bisson and Peter Mitchell, who also serves as showrunner, and produced by Stephen Montgomery and Julie Lacey.

 

 

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Ransom

Season 2 of Global’s intense original drama Ransom returns April 7

From a media release:

Global raises the stakes this spring as Season 2 of original suspense drama Ransom returns Saturday, April 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT in simulcast with CBS. From Entertainment One (eOne), Korda Studios, Big Light Productions and producers Sienna Films, the 13-episode series returns to the life-and-death world of crisis and hostage negotiator Eric Beaumont (Luke Roberts, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) and his elite team of experts. This season, as they negotiate with top-ranking criminals and delve deep into the world of high-stakes hostage situations, the team members struggle to balance their personal lives in a criminal world that knows no boundaries.

New this season, Karen LeBlanc (Mary Kills People), joins the series as new team member Cynthia Walker, a confident, charming, and clever, corporate lawyer in whom Eric (Roberts) quickly meets his match.

Along with Luke Roberts as hostage negotiator Eric Beaumont, Season 2 also welcomes back Tony Award nominated Sarah Greene (Penny Dreadful), as Maxine Carlson, the young newcomer eager to prove herself; Canadian Brandon Jay McLaren (Graceland), as Oliver Yates, the psychological profiler on the team; Canadian Nazneen Contractor, (Heroes Reborn) as ex-cop Zara Hallam; Emma de Caunes (Mr. Bean’s Holiday) as Nathalie Denard, a sometime client of Crisis Resolution; and Canadian Morgan Kohan (Star Trek: Discovery) joins the cast as Evie Beaumont, Eric’s 15-year-old daughter.

The Season 2 premiere entitled “Three Wishes,” picks up moments after Season 1’s cliffhanger, where Eric’s longtime adversary, Damien Delaine (guest star Carlo Rota, Jane the Virgin), has taken Eric and Nathalie’s (de Caunes) daughter, Evie (Kohan), hostage. Delaine appears at Crisis Resolution and demands that Eric fulfill his ‘3 wishes’ in order to release Evie, threatening to kill her within hours if he doesn’t comply. In a race against time, the team works to fulfill Delaine’s strange demands which include Eric answering a series of emotionally compromising questions and performing ethically questionable tasks. Tensions rise when Damien challenges Eric with a final wish that will force him into making an impossible decision.

Ransom is inspired by the professional experiences of distinguished crisis negotiator Laurent Combalbert, who along with partner, Marwan Mery, are considered to be among the top negotiators in the world. Today, they travel around the globe to help multinational corporations and governmental agencies with complex negotiations and conflict resolution.

Ransom was created by David Vainola (Diamonds, Combat Hospital) and Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files, The Man in the High Castle). Ransom is a Canada-Hungary treaty co-production and is produced by eOne with executive producers Jennifer Kawaja and Julia Sereny via their Sienna Films banner and Spotnitz, via his Big Light Productions banner. Wildcats Productions’ Valérie Pechels and Odile McDonald will executive produce with Daniel Kresmery and György Rajnai of Korda Studios co-producing. Ransom is developed in association with Corus Entertainment Inc., with the participation from the Canada Media Fund, and is produced with the financial assistance of the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit. eOne controls worldwide rights to the series.

 

 

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Carter

Bravo original series Carter starring Jerry O’Connell premieres May 15

From a media release:

As announced yesterday at BANFF Connect TO, Bravo’s cheeky mystery-crime drama CARTER, starring Jerry O’Connell, premieres Tuesday, May 15 at 8 p.m. ET. CARTER joins Bravo’s exciting roster of diverse, exclusive dramas which includes LIFE SENTENCE, COLONY, SHOOTER and THE HANDMAID’S TALE. The entire season streams on CraveTV, after its exclusive run on Bravo.

Harley Carter (O’Connell) was living the dream. After moving to Hollywood from small-town Canada, he became a huge star as a detective on America’s #1 TV show. But years in the limelight and an endless blur of parties, premieres, and 16-hour workdays were starting to take a toll. It all bubbles over with a public showdown on a red carpet, prompting Harley to return to his hometown to reconnect with his roots. But as he tries to settle back into his old life, he finds himself in an odd new reality of playing a real-life detective with his childhood friends, no-nonsense police veteran Sam Shaw (Sydney Poitier Heartsong) and street-wise, coffee truck owner Dave Leigh (Kristian Bruun). Together, they’re solving crimes, with mixed results.

When Harley returns to his hometown, it’s difficult for people to see past his TV character and take him seriously, including his two best friends Sam and Dave, who think he might be having a midlife crisis. The mayor sees him as a potential tourist attraction for the town, while the police chief wants him nowhere near a crime scene. But Harley has turned a corner in his life and wants to prove that he’s more than a pretty face. It’s time for him to show the world that he doesn’t just play a detective on TV, but can solve real crimes, including the mystery of his mother’s disappearance 25 years ago.

In the premiere episode, “Koji the Killer” (Tuesday, May 15 at 8 p.m. ET), Carter returns to his hometown of Bishop, Ontario after a public scandal in Los Angeles. His housekeeper-turned guardian of 30 years has been accused of murder, and Harley demands to be included in the investigation. Along the way, he discovers that he has a knack for real detective work and may not return to L.A. so quickly after all.

CARTER also features Brenda Kamino and Koji Yasuda as Harley’s housekeepers/loving guardians; Varun Saranga as Vijay Gill, Harley’s enthusiastic but indecisive junior agent; John Bourgeois as Chief Angus Pershing; Joanne Boland as Nicole Walker, the town’s brilliant yet shifty pathologist; Matt Baram as Wes Holm, a highly competent and uptight forensic technician; and Sherry Miller as Mayor Grace Hamilton.

CARTER is written by Garry Campbell (MADTV), developed with writer John Tinker (CHICAGO HOPE), and produced by Amaze Film + Television. Scott Smith (THE MAGICIANS, CALL ME FITZ) directs. Executive producers are Amaze Film + Television’s Teza Lawrence and Michael Souther (THE STANLEY DYNAMIC and CALL ME FITZ), and producer is Victoria Hirst (THE STANLEY DYNAMIC).

CARTER is an original series for Bravo and the latest partnership between Bell Media and Amaze Film + Television, who produced the series for Sony Pictures Television Networks’ international channels, including AXN.

 

 

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