From Simon Houpt of The Globe and Mail:
Link: Orphan Black producers see bright future for Canadian TV
“There wasn’t enough money in the [Canadian] system to make great shows. Now, we’re in an era where there’s way more buyers, and Canadian broadcasters are much more inclined to support higher budget shows, because it’s actually in their own interests.†Continue reading.
From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:
Link: This Life writer on the challenges of deep character dramas
“As a writer of character drama we really have to have an empathy gene to us. We talked about our lives but also talked about the lives of people we knew. But more than writing our own experiences, it was bringing these characters alive so that they felt like they existed.” Continue reading.
The wait is over, Murdoch Mysteries fans and we’re plenty thankful Season 10 is finally here. After a dramatic Season 9 finale, “Cometh the Archer,” that saw a final showdown between Julia and Eva Pearce, the series returns on Monday to tackle one of the biggest events in Toronto history: the Great Fire of 1904.
It all begins with “Great Balls of Fire, Part 1″—written by showrunner Peter Mitchell—and a debutante ball where a handful of the city’s most notable single ladies vie for the affections of bachelor Rodney Strong (Kyle Cameron). Among the gals are Elizabeth Atherly (Wynonna Earp‘s Dominique Provost-Chalkley) who has the unwavering support of her mother, Lady Suzanne (Downton Abbey‘s Samantha Bond).
Here are some other non-spoilery episode notes to get you primed for Monday night.
Crabtree is a gossip hound
George always has his finger on the pulse of the latest “thing” in society, and the debutante’s ball is no different. A very funny scene between Crabtree and Murdoch has the former educating the latter about who—and who doesn’t—have a shot at winning Rodney’s heart.
Julia isn’t herself
The events of “Cometh the Archer” has affected Julia in a very dramatic way, and while those closest to her try to help, Julia is in a fragile emotional state. I personally like the fact Eva’s death isn’t just glossed over, and that Brackenreid steps forward to help the good doctor.
Who started the fire?
A certain constable has picked up a dirty, smelly habit, and may very well be the person who starts the conflagration that consumes part of Toronto.
Murdoch Mysteries airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBC.
Related—Videos: Unlock the Mysteries of Murdoch: The Ultimate Insider Conference
From Teresa Jusino of The Mary Sue:
Link: Dark Matter‘s Torri Higginson talks S3 renewal, aging in Hollywood, and why it’s awesome to be a woman in sci-fi
“When you get older, in the past especially, it has been harder to have a presence in a straight narrative. I think sci-fi and genre stuff in general has been more open to the Female Commander of a Spaceship, so you can have a bit of age and a bit of gravitas for that.†Continue reading.
Jennifer Holness and Sudz Sutherland have been creating gritty, thought-provoking projects for television for years. There was 2009’s Guns, a two-part miniseries for CBC about Toronto detectives following a 23-year-old gun trafficker. Before that was 2006’s Doomstown, a TV-movie documenting the violence in a housing project. Now the writers and executive producers (and real-life couple) are back with Shoot the Messenger.
Debuting Monday, Oct. 10, at 9 p.m. on CBC, the eight-part series stars Elyse Levesque as Daisy Channing, an entertainment reporter at Toronto’s fictional newspaper The Gazette, who’s finally got her big scoop since transferring to the news department: the death of a young Somali man. Eager to impress her editor Mary Foster (Alex Kingston), Daisy makes a rookie mistake, throwing her into a foreign world she’s unprepared for, and turning to co-worker Simon Olenski (Lucas Bryant) for guidance.
“She wants to be in investigative journalism and prove herself,” Levesque says alongside Bryant during a break in filming. “She is massively ambitious to a fault, and receives a phone call about a huge tip that will blow the lid off this town.” Levesque and Bryant just finished filming a scene outside, where Daisy and Simon met to discuss the latest regarding the story. Standing on the top of a high-rise (in real life the TIFF Bell Lightbox complex) with Toronto below them, the danger of what Daisy uncovered hit home. Why was this young man killed? Who is involved in the conspiracies? The only thing she knows for sure is she’s in way over her head.
Complicating things for Elyse even more? She’s romantically involved with the detective on the case, Kevin Lutz (Lyriq Bent). That causes problems during the investigation and could jeopardize his career.
“Kevin wants to be an ordinary dude,” Bent says. “He wants to have a normal life away from work. He’s caring, considerate and thoughtful. And I think his relationship with Daisy is refreshing for Canadian TV and definitely for CBC.”
Shoot the Messenger‘s supporting cast is a whos who of the Canadian television world, including Nicholas Campbell, Ron Lea, Kim’s Convenience leads Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Jean Yoon, as well as appearances by The Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson, the Toronto Raptor’s Jamaal Magloire and ex-NBAer turned television star Rick Fox.
“He is my dickhead cousin,” Bryant says of Robertson’s role. “He’s a sports agent and he’s really good. I was a huge Barenaked Ladies fan and was looking forward to meeting him and he was humble, funny and fantastic. He told me that all he ever wanted to do when he was growing up was be a rock star and star in one of Sudz’ movies.”
Shoot the Messenger airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on CBC.
Images courtesy of CBC.
