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.
The Romeo Section

Link: CBC’s The Romeo Section looks at darker side of intelligence

From Dana Gee of the Vancouver Sun:

Link: CBC’s The Romeo Section looks at darker side of intelligence
For its second season creator Chris Haddock has planted the espionage thriller The Romeo Section firmly against the veiled landscape of dark government activity.

Set in Vancouver, the CBC-produced series’ central storyline has operative Wolfgang McGee (Andrew Airlie) investigating an alleged terrorist incident. In doing so he opens doors into the shadowy side of intelligence. Continue reading.

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Auction, Featured

Thank you! Kids Help Phone Charity Auction is closed

The auction has ended, items are being shipped out and the donation is being made. With the help of our prize donors, bidders and those who helped spread the word, we raised more than $8,000 for Kids Help Phone—a free, anonymous and confidential phone and on-line professional counselling service for youth.

If you’d like to contribute to Kids Help Phone, go directly to their website to make a donation.

Special thank yous to the following for the fantastic items and experiences:

Thanks again to the Canadian television community for supporting such a great cause.

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Featured, Kim's Convenience, Mr. D

Toronto Blue Jays wild card strikes out Kim’s Convenience debut for one week

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The Toronto Blue Jays’ regular season thriller may have been a boon for fans, but it’s caused one major headache for the CBC. The Jays one-game wild card faceoff against the Baltimore Orioles goes Tuesday night … straight up against the highly-anticipated debut of Kim’s Convenience.

Knowing baseball will decimate everything else ratings-wise in primetime on Tuesday, the network decided to move Kim’s Convenience‘s debut to next Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 9 p.m. for two back-to-back episodes. The days of solely relying on overnight ratings is a thing of the past; live plus-7 is where it’s at in the numbers game, so I don’t totally understand the decision to do this, especially after all of the media coverage for Kim‘s touting this week’s bow.

The other show affected by this is Mr. D. Season 6 of Gerry Dee’s comedy was slated to return on Oct. 11 at 9:30 p.m. It will debut a week later on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 9:30 p.m. on CBC.

Created by Ins Choi first as a play for Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre, Kim’s Convenience tells the story of the Kims, a Korean-Canadian family who run a convenience store in downtown Toronto. Mr. and Mrs. Kim immigrated to Toronto in the 80’s to set up shop near Regent Park and had two kids, Jung and Janet who are now young adults. However, when Jung was 16, he and Appa had a major falling out involving a physical fight, stolen money and Jung leaving home. Father and son have been estranged since.

Kim’s Convenience stars Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Appa, Jean Yoon as Umma, Simu Liu as Jung, Andrea Bang as Janet and Andrew Phung as Kimchee.

Kim’s Convenience debuts Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 9 and 9:30 p.m. on CBC.

Mr. D returns Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 9:30 p.m. on CBC.

Image courtesy of CBC.

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Featured, Heartland

Heartland goes through changes heading into Season 10

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I can’t believe it’s been seven months since Heartland signed off. And yet here we are, discussing the Season 10 return episode, “There Will be Changes.”

When we last left the folks at Heartland ranch, Lou had rebuffed Peter’s desire to get back together, Adam and Georgie were officially a couple, and Casey and Tim were on a break.

Sunday’s episode began with Amy having a bad dream and Ty waking her up. Amy turned away from the camera as she sat up, effectively hiding her belly and holding off on how much time has passed since the Season 9 finale. We also discovered Georgie had bought a horse, Tim was in a mood (and has been for some time) and Lou refused to wave to Jack and Mitch as she drove by the paddock.

What the heck has been going on at Heartland? It wasn’t until Adam announced it was he and Georgie’s anniversary—over five minutes in—that it was revealed three months had gone by between the Season 9 finale and Sunday night. The episode title didn’t lie: there have been a lot of changes since then. The biggest? Minnie the horse was having twins. In a brilliant bit of a head fake by showrunner Heather Conkie, it was the newest addition to the dude ranch that’s having two babies and not Amy. I admit, I totally fell for it, though I did wonder why Ty and Amy would rely on a DVD to find out what was going on with their baby.

heartland

To Tim that meant a worst-case scenario—the loss of one or both foals—but Ty had a more confident outlook. Amy, meanwhile, took the news hard and ran off to the barn. Clearly, it’s finally dawning on her how the coming human addition is going to affect everyone’s lives forever. That revelation went a long way to explaining why Amy was having those dreams about Spartan. Being pregnant means she can’t ride client horses or her favourite equine buddy; she worries she’ll “lose” the connection she has with Spartan. By episode end, the birth of Minnie’s foals had brightened Amy’s outlook and that only improved when Jack and Tim presented she and Ty with the cradle that’s been in the Bartlett family since … well, forever.

Meanwhile, Lou got some pretty amazing news; some New York City investors want to open a Maggie’s in Brooklyn. However, the one-off restaurant could very well cause her to choose between life on the ranch or in The Big Apple.

Heartland airs Sundays at 7 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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Industry News

Link: How the CRTC is like House of Cards

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From Kevin Tierney of the Montreal Gazette:

Link: How the CRTC is like House of Cards
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is an unknown entity to most Canadians, and that is probably not a good thing.

In recent days it has come under increased scrutiny for a number of reasons, both policy and personal/personnel, but the discussion in the media is almost always within the Business section of newspapers.

In and of itself that says a lot. Continue reading.

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