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.
This Life

Links: This Life Season 2

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: This Life’s Torri Higginson on Natalie’s struggle for control
“I think he was the love of her life and she’s still hurt by that. That translates to anger pretty easily. She’s also able to transfer her anger at being sick to him which is kind of a nice gift in a weird way.” Continue reading.

From Steve Gow of Metronews:

Link: CBC’s This Life kicks off its second season
CBC’s This Life won over so many fans with its intuitive tale of a 40-something single mother juggling a cancer diagnosis with family drama, it even turned trenchant TV critics into believers.

But with a highly-anticipated second season kicking off Sunday, the sophomore jinx is staring down the show’s star. Continue reading.

 

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Featured

Comments and queries for the week of September 30

Wild Archaeology in the U.S.?

Do you know if this is available online for U.S. watchers? —Courtney

We’re not sure if it’s geo-blocked or not, but try streaming Wild Archaeology on APTN’s website.

Tickets to The Goods?

Would I be able to get tickets to The Goods next Thursday? —Nicki

Follow the link to The Goods website and order your free tickets.

CraveTV continues to grow, Shomi shuts down

I think that both Crave TV and Shomi had to expect it would take a few years to grow. Netflix has had six years. It’s an expensive game to get into but it’s a necessary one. People are cord-cutting because they are finding stuff for free online and getting free TV streaming devices. I’ve said it before, but the only thing keeping me from cord-cutting is that I’m only allowed 20GB a month of data thanks to my only option of satellite Internet and my desire to watch Winnipeg Jets and the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Olympics. I’m actually thinking of moving to a nearby town that has unlimited Internet access, so I’m seriously considering it. If TSN releases an app of their own, I’d go with that for sure. Maybe TSN could somehow integrate with CraveTV? That would be an attractive feature, the ability to stream games. People would for sure go with it. I have Netflix Canada (I got tired of trying to keep switching it to Netflix U.S.) but truthfully, after having it for a while, you eventually watch most of what you want to watch on it, you need supplementary stuff so that’s why I had Shomi too. I actually subscribed to Shomi to watch specific shows, but stayed because I saw other shows I like. CraveTV has more shows I like, though. I’m still waiting for it to be made available on Xbox Live. —Alicia

Hulu have locked themselves out since they sold most of the shows to CTV/Global/City. In the States, CBS and The CW are doing their own streamers which somewhat have the same problem. You can sense Amazon is circling here. In addition to the links, they already do things with Prime that Netflix never will and smaller U.S. channels like Starz with Outlander and USA Network with Mr. Robot don’t have the resources to launch here directly themselves, they already sent their shows to Amazon UK. It’s only a matter of time. They just upped the minimum free shipping to $35. You know they know Canadians consider Amazon Canada overpriced and inferior and Prime Video would only help them. The thing is, can/would Rogers/Shaw just sell over the shows to Amazon? They’d recover some of the loss but they aren’t always known for doing things like that.

HBO and Showtime are much longer, depending on how long the recent deals with Bell are but eventually I don’t think they’d renew it rather than just stream directly to Canada themselves. The only funny bit is Bosch being an Amazon show on CraveTV somehow; though I believe Netflix officially launched in Australia while a local channel had Orange is the New Black and they just waited out the contract before putting it on Netflix Australia, so something like that could happen perhaps. —DanAmazing

 

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

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Kim's Convenience

Link: Korean-Canadian family sitcom ‘Kim’s Convenience’ aims to boost diversity on TV

1 Comment

From Lauren La Rose of The Canadian Press:

Link: Korean-Canadian family sitcom ‘Kim’s Convenience’ aims to boost diversity on TV
As “Kim’s Convenience” opens up shop in prime time, the Korean-Canadian family sitcom joins a rising number of shows seeking to boost visibility of Asian actors and characters.

“It’s so great to be able to add to that conversation in a positive way, because to be frank, a lot of that conversation is…. quite negative,” said series co-creator Ins Choi, who adapted his award-winning play for TV with showrunner Kevin White. Continue reading.

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Mohawk Girls

Mohawk Girls, Season Four debuts Tuesday, October 25 on APTN

From a media release:

APTN’s (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network) critically-acclaimed and award-winning dramatic comedy Mohawk Girls returns for season four. The show takes a comedic look at the lives of four modern-day women trying to stay true to their roots while navigating sex, work, love and what it means to be Mohawk in the 21st century.

Filmed and set in Montreal and the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, the eight-episode, fourth season of the half-hour dramedy premieres Tuesday, October 25 with weekly episodes airing on APTN E, and HD at 9:30 p.m. ET, APTN W at 9:30 p.m. MT and on APTN N on Sundays at 10:30 p.m. CT (premiering on Oct. 30).

Viewers can venture deeper into the world of Mohawk Girls via the interactive website, with a quiz app, behind-the-scenes secrets and entertaining graphic content. The devoted online community of the series can connect via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr .

This season, the girls are pushed further out of their comfort zones as they deal with interracial dating, politics, wedding planning, love triangles, career aspirations, all as they try to forge their own identities in a community embedded with rules and cultural traditions.

The dynamic cast of four leading women includes returning cast members Jenny Pudavick (Bailey), Brittany LeBorgne (Zoe), Heather White (Caitlin), and Maika Harper (Anna).  Meegwun Fairbrother (Butterhead), Kyle Nobess (Thunder), Jimmy Blais (Watio) and Shawn Youngchief (Ohserase), reprise their roles as the men they love. Also returning, Tantoo Cardinal as Zoe’s mom, Glen Gould as Bailey’s father and Jeffrey Wetsch as James. New this year is Dwain Murphy, who takes over the role of Leon.

The series was nominated for 4 Canadian Screen Awards this spring, including Best Comedy Series, Best Direction in a Comedy Program or Series, Best Writing in a Comedy Program or Series, and Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Comedic Role (Brittany LeBorgne). It has several awards to its name, including a Golden Sheaf Award in the Comedy category at the Yorkton Film Festival, the APTN Award at the Festival Présence Autochtone (Montreal First Peoples’ Festival) and a nomination for Best Sitcom at the Banff Rockie Awards. Spafax has licensed several episodes of the show, airing them on the Comedy TV channel on Air Canada enRoute Inflight Entertainment on domestic and international flights. US distributor GRB represents the show worldwide and Mohawk Girls debuted in Australia on the SBS network in June.

Mohawk Girls is created and executive produced by Tracey Deer and Cynthia Knight; Tracey Deer directs the episodes and Cynthia Knight is the head writer. The series is produced by Rezolution Pictures’ Catherine Bainbridge, Christina Fon and Linda Ludwick, and executive produced by Catherine Bainbridge, Christina Fon, Linda Ludwick and Ernest Webb. Innovate By Day is the Digital Media Producer. Monika Ille is the Executive Director, Programming and Scheduling for APTN.

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Children's Programming

Family CHRGD slugs it out with the Season 4 debut of Slugterra

From a media release:

Grab your gear, train your slugs and get ready for an epic battle of good vs. evil as Eli and the Shane Gang return to Family CHRGD for a fourth season of Slugterra. Debuting Tuesday, October 4 at 5 p.m. ET, the animated adventure follows Eli Shane and his crew as they collect and train slugs, while protecting the 99 caverns from mysterious evil forces. The season four premiere amps up the network’s Turbo Charged Tuesday lineup, airing alongside top-rated action series Turbo FAST, The Deep and Thunderbirds Are Go.

Season four begins with Eli and the gang returning to the 99 caverns from their Eastern adventure, only to find that the Gateway Cavern has been overrun with slugs. In their absence, the Shadow Clan has decided to put the slugs before the needs of people and the result is pure chaos. As war wages between the Shane Gang and their former allies, some unexpected help comes from a newcomer who has just arrived from the Surface. But soon, this recruit casts his own shadow and it’s up to Eli to restore the balance.

Slugterra’s fourth season debuts as part of Turbo Charged Tuesday, an action-packed weekly programming block featuring brand new episodes from Family CHRGD’s top series. Throughout October, Slugterra will air regularly Tuesdays at 5 p.m. ET, alongside underwater explorations from The Deep, race car adventures from Turbo FAST and international escapades from Thunderbirds Are Go. New episodes of Slugterra will also be available on the Family Channel App each Tuesday, immediately following the broadcast premiere and on Family CHRGD OnDemand the next day. To prepare for season four, slugslingers can catch up on seasons 1-3 now, on both the Family App and OnDemand service.

The adventure continues at CHRGD.ca where fans can learn more about their favourite characters and catch up on the show with cool clips and full length episodes. Kids can feel like they’re a part of the Shane Gang by taking inventory of slugs and gear in the awesome game “Slugterra Slug Arsenal,” and strategically placing slugs to help Eli win the Slugterra battle in “Slug Wars.”

Slugterra is produced by DHX Studios. Asaph Fipke, Chuck Johnson, and Ken Faier serve as executive producers for the series.

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