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, Murdoch Mysteries

Preview: Murdoch Mysteries heads Home for the Holidays

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In what has become a welcome Christmas present from Murdoch Mysteries, CBC and Shaftesbury, this year’s special TV-movie, Home for the Holidays arrives this Monday at 8 p.m. on CBC in all its bow-wrapped glory.

Written by Peter Mitchell and Simon McNabb, the two-hour spectacle directed by Gary Harvey boasts snow, holly, presents and a murder. Here’s the official episode synopsis from the CBC:

Detective Murdoch and Dr. Ogden travel to Victoria to visit Murdoch’s brother, RCMP officer Jasper Linney (Dylan Neal). There, they investigate a murder connected to an archaeologist (Megan Follows) who has uncovered an ancient Indigenous settlement, leading to a trek through the rugged beauty of British Columbia and encounters with the Songhees and Haida nations.

And here are a few more morsels we can add after watching the project.

Have no fear, the Brackenreids are here
Margaret and Thomas weren’t left out of Home for the Holidays. Their storyline involves an investment opportunity that, well, doesn’t turn out exactly as planned. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Skiing, anyone?
Crabtree and Higgins plot a holiday at a ski chalet with Nina Bloom (Erin Agostino) and Ruth Newsome (Siobhan Murphy). We might not always agree with the way Higgins conducts himself on the job but we love seeing he and Ruth together. As for Crabtree and Higgins, a trip sounds like fun until they find out exactly what snow skiing is. Kudos to Lachlan Murdoch for a very, very funny scene outside Station House No. 4.

Guest stars galore
The stockings are stuffed with familiar faces from Canada’s deep stable of actors. Among those participating in Home for the Holidays are Jake Epstein, Wayne Baker, Trevor Carroll and Simon R. Baker, as well as Dragons’ Den‘s Jim Treliving and ET Canada‘s Sangita Patel.

The West Coast does us proud
British Columbia is a beautiful province and is a stunning backdrop for this year’s A-storyline. There might not be any snow, but the lush vegetation is breathtaking.

Murdoch Mysteries: Home for the Holidays airs Monday at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

 

 

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Featured, Letterkenny, Podcast

TV Eh B Cs podcast 74 — A Stern Reflection

Born on Friday the 13th, 1989 in Toronto, Evan Stern is known for his work in RoboCop. Stern was most recently seen in a supporting role in the feature film The Void and currently plays Roald in the CraveTV original series Letterkenny. A graduate of Queen’s University, he spent his first year at The Bader International Study Centre, Herstmonceux Castle in the United Kingdom. Stern completed a four-year program in Drama Studies, receiving his B.A. (Hons.) in 2011.

Stern hosts a podcast called Sleep Tight Fcker, where he and his friends watch and discuss horror movies.

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

Want to support TV, eh?’s work? Become a Patreon!

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Industry News

Link: Jay Switzer invested with the Order of Canada

From Bill Brioux of Brioux.tv:

Link: Jay Switzer invested with the Order of Canada
Switzer built his reputation in the TV business from the bottom up. He started, at 16, on the Citytv switchboard. According to the colourful bio passed along by his Hollywood Suite corporate partner, David Kines, Switzer did everything during those early days at City, even the daring job of wiring up notorious Dutch madam Xaviera Hollander with a lav mic. Continue reading.

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Letterkenny

Don’t Even Needs to sugar coats it, another six-pack of Letterkenny to launch Christmas Day

From a media release:

CraveTV just announced that a brand new six-pack of its scrappy original comedy LETTERKENNY launches Christmas Day. More than just a break from chorin’, to be fair, this latest six-pack of the award-winning series was shot last summer in Sudbury. And while everyone’s waitin’, an all-new FERDA EDITION is available to stream on Friday, December 8, featuring exclusive audio commentary from the cast who dish on the making of the Winter season six-pack. And if that doesn’t stuff your holiday sacks, you can check out the upcoming season’s trailer here, buds. Created by and starring Jared Keeso, the award-winning half-hour comedy is produced by New Metric Media in partnership with DHX Media and Playfun Games.

This upcoming LETTERKENNY six-pack finds The Hicks holding court back at the produce stand, shootin’ the breeze in the spirit of (literal) harmony and MoDeans 2-getherness. Wayne (Jared Keeso) tries to forget his former sweetie, Rosie (Clark Backo), and Katy (Michelle Mylett) finally chooses between Hockey Players Reilly (Dylan Playfair) and Jonesy (Andrew Herr), leaving one half of the tight duo to lift solo. The Skids might still be on drugs and Christian leader Glen (series director, Jacob Tierney) is actin’ weird again.

LETTERKENNY revolves around the dustups Wayne and his buds get into with their small-town rivals. The Hicks, The Skids, and The Hockey Players get at each other about the most mundane things, often ending with someone getting their ass kicked. Key residents of LETTERKENNY are Daryl (Nathan Dales), Wayne’s free-spirited younger sister Katy (Mylett), and Wayne’s buddy, Dan (K Trevor Wilson) – all Hicks. CSA-nominated Daniel Petronijevic returns as Hick McMurray and Melanie Scrofano as doting Mrs. McMurray. Dylan Playfair and Andrew Herr reprise their roles as hotshot Hockey Players Jonesy and Reilly. Tyler Johnston and Evan Stern return as Skids Stewart and Roald. Lisa Codrington returns as lusty bartender, Gail, Mark Forward returns as the temperamental Coach of the Letterkenny Irish and Tiio Horn is back as badass leader of The Natives, Tanis. Keeso’s 19-2 co-star, Adrian Holmes, guest stars in this six-pack as MoDeans 2 bouncer Bradley. Cara Gee (Strange Empire) and Jade Willoughby are Tanis’ new rez rivals Shyla and Shania.

Based on the internet sensation Letterkenny Problems, the half-hour comedy is currently a top performer and marquee program for CraveTV since its memorable launch on Super Bowl Sunday in 2016. Season 1 of LETTERKENNY took home three 2017 Canadian Screen Awards for Best Comedy Series, Best Writing in a Comedy Program or Series, and Best Direction in a Comedy Program or Series. As well, series creator Jared Keeso and co-writer and director Jacob Tierney have been recognized with a Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Award for TV Comedy.

Seasons 1 – 3, along with special episodes “Ferda Edition”, “The Haunting of MoDean’s II”, “St. Perfect’s Day,” and the original web series Letterkenny Problems are currently streaming on CraveTV. LETTERKENNY is also available on iTunes and Google Play. Season 1 of LETTERKENNY is currently available on DVD wherever DVDs are sold.

CraveTV recently announced a 40-plus episode production commitment and comprehensive multi-year with series producers New Metric Media. The deal also supports a 30-city LETTERKENNY LIVE! tour starring Keeso, Dales, Wilson, and Forward.

LETTERKENNY is produced by New Metric Media, in partnership with DHX Media and Playfun Games in association with Bell Media, with the participation of Canadian Media Fund, OMDC Tax Credits and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and distributed by DHX Media. Jared Keeso is executive producer, co-writer, star, and creator, Jacob Tierney is executive producer, director, and co-writer and Mark Montefiore is executive producer for New Metric Media.

 

 

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Featured, Travelers

Preview: Travelers closes in on Season 2 finale with “Update” and “21C”

With just one more week until Travelers‘ Season 2 finale, Showcase has gifted fans with back-to-back episodes this Monday and next. Yup, that’s four jam-packed instalments in just 14 days. Clearly, we all made it onto Santa’s “nice” list!

And while we’re thankful for so much Travelers, that means things are quickly coming to a close and there is still a lot to cover story-wise. How will Philip continue to be helpful to the team now that his knowledge is no longer valid? What will happen to Grace? Is Kat going to be OK? Will Marcy seek out the memories she lost when Grace reset her?

Here’s what Showcase has revealed about Monday’s first episode, “Update,” written by Pat Smith and directed by Amanda Tapping:

Philip’s timeline receives an update with some unwanted side effects, Trevor makes a disturbing discovery about his host’s past, and MacLaren deals with the return of a traveler he thought had gone away for good.

Here’s what the network says about the second instalment, “21C,” written by Brad Wright and directed by Will Waring:

While MacLaren, Carly, Trevor, and Philip work with another traveler team to protect a child important to the future, Marcy takes measures to remember her past life – but uncovers more than she bargained for.

And we’ve some info on both episodes after we watched screeners. Bonus: we’ve got some sweet images to share too!

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Rick Hall returns
Yup, that’s Motive alum Louis Ferreira turning in another stellar performance as the man who wanted to take over running MacLaren’s team. The last time we saw Rick he’d been arrested. I love it when Mac goes head-to-head with someone over loyalty to his squad and we get some great footage between to these two as Rick plots a little payback with help from Luca (Douglas Chapman). What Rick does is shocking, terrible and made me hate him even more.

Philip receives an update
I don’t want to give anything away regarding this scene and what it means going forward, but Amanda Tapping did a beautiful job filming it, the soundtrack is sublime and Reilly Dolman brought a tear to my eye with his performance.

Trevor gets an education
It’s been awhile since we’ve seen Kyle (Dylan Playfair) and he shows up to fill in some blanks with regard to what the pair endured while playing on the football team. We love Playfair on Letterkenny, but it’s nice to see him in a meaty dramatic storyline too.

David does a good deed
We love David, and his actions in “Update” and “21C” only further those feelings.

A Continuum star drops by
Oh, Omari Newton, how we’ve missed you! Newton appears in “21C” in a key role linked to Marcy’s past.

Vincent re-appears
It’s been a few weeks since Enrico Colantoni was seen on Travelers; he guests in the second episode on Sunday in a truly “Holy crap!” bunch of moments.

Travelers airs back-to-back episodes this Monday and next at 9 p.m. ET and 10 p.m. ET on Showcase.

Images courtesy of Jeff Weddell for Corus.

 

 

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