From Ian Bailey of The Globe and Mail:
Link: Heritage Minister says she will not reverse Cancon rules for TV industry
Federal Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly says Canada’s TV production sector, alarmed at new CRTC regulations that reduce the need to hire Canadians to obtain funding, should not count on her for any immediate help to reverse the situation. Continue reading.
From a media release:
Today, shomi announced the streaming service will be shutting down operations as of November 30, 2016.
“We’re really grateful to Canadians who enthusiastically invited us into their living rooms and took us with them on their phones, tablets and laptops,†said David Asch, Senior Vice President and General Manager, shomi.
“The business climate and online video marketplace have changed markedly in the last few years. Combined with the fact that the business is more challenging to operate than we expected, we’ve decided to wind down our operations,†Asch said. “We’re proud of the great service we created and the role we played in the evolution of Canada’s video landscape.â€
Current shomi members can keep streaming and binge-watching their favourite shows and movies online, via their Shaw or Rogers set-top box, on select tablets, mobile devices, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, Apple TV, Chromecast, and PS4 until November 30, 2016.
From a media release:
CBC has commissioned 21 THUNDER, a new original eight episode, one-hour drama series from PMA Productions and Generic Productions. Set in Montreal, the series takes viewers into the fiercely competitive and high-stakes world of an under-21 soccer academy, following the players and coaches who risk it all for a shot at the pros. Production started in late August in Montreal and will continue until November 15, with the series set to premiere in summer 2017 on CBC.
In the cutthroat world of pro soccer, a club lives and dies by the stars on its under-21 team. They are the future and lifeblood of any franchise, but most will never make it. 21 THUNDER is the story of the Montreal Thunder U21 team, following the team’s star players on and off the field. A story of love, crime, race, sex and athletic glory, at its core the series is about how a group of players and coaches unite as family in the whirlwind of life, one step away from the pros.
Helping to coach the team are Christy Cook (Stephanie Bennett, The Romeo Section, Descendants), an Olympic soccer hero forced on the team for PR reasons; and Davey Gunn (former Scottish footballer Ryan Pierce, who played as Ryan O’Leary), an international soccer superstar who is on the run from both the paparazzi and his past. The team consists of striker and former gang-member Nolan Gallard (RJ Fetherstonhaugh, Wayward Pines); Ivory Coast midfielder Junior Lolo (Emmanuel Kabongo, Hemlock Grove), a brilliant new arrival; and team captain, goalie and academic prodigy Alex el Haddadi (Andres Joseph, The Flash). Together they strive under notorious coach Albert Rocas (Conrad Pla, 19-2) to win games for the club, and a future for themselves.
Commissioned by CBC, 21 THUNDER is produced by PMA Productions and Generic Productions, and executive produced by Kenneth Hirsch (Extraordinary Canadians, Outbreak: Anatomy of a Plague), Michael Levine (Republic of Doyle), Adrian Wills (The Surrogacy Trap, All Together Now), Riley Adams (Crossing the Rubicon: The Journey, Flashpoint) and Malcolm MacRury (Republic of Doyle, Saving Hope), who also serves as showrunner. Riley Adams is co-creator along with Kenneth Hirsch and Adrian Wills.
I’m a massive Stephen King fan; two of my favourite works are The Stand and The Mist. In the former, the world is brought down by a plague and the Americans that survive make their way across the nation to Boulder, Colo., recreating society out of a country with no power and no law. In The Mist, a cataclysmic thunderstorm tears a hole into another dimension, unleashing awful beasts that claim our planet as their own.
There’s plenty of both scenarios going on in Space and Syfy’s new series, Aftermath, and that’s just fine with me. Created and run by William Laurin and Glenn Davis (The Pinkertons, Missing), the 13-parter debuts Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on Space, with Joshua (James Tupper) and Karen Copeland (Anne Heche) trying to keep their family safe from an approaching hurricane. A hurricane on its own isn’t a big deal, except the Copelands live in Washington state, nowhere near warm water where those storms spin. Battery-powered radios crackle alternately of the end times and science and … horrors … cell service is nonexistent. If no texting wasn’t bad enough, some folks have gone nuts and are skinning each other alive.
It’s with this as the backdrop that Tuesday’s debut, “RVL 6768,” sets up one hell of a ride. (Keep an eye out for the episode title to show up in one memorable scene.) With so much going on in the first 10 minutes, I worried I’d be overwhelmed with information. Sci-fi series can do that as the world, the characters and parameters are set up, but that wasn’t the case with Aftermath. I credit that to Tupper and Heche’s characters who are islands of calm as the world goes to shit. Josh is a university professor who studies world cultures and beliefs, so he picks up on the significance of fish and snakes dropping out of the sky. Karen is a former Air Force pilot whose no-nonsense attitude and survival training will keep her family—son Matt (Levi Meaden) and twin sisters Briana (Taylor Hickson) and Dana (Julia Sarah Stone)—safe.
Her skills are called upon early and often as increasingly violent and odd folks begin popping up. Incredible CGI and effects turn merely scary situations into horrifying ones and one such scene causes the Copelands to leave their home in the rearview mirror and explore what America has become. And what it’s become is a terrifying place.
Aftermath airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on Space.
Images courtesy of Bell Media.Â
The wait is over, Murdoch Mysteries fans! Season 10 is upon us, and we couldn’t be happier, especially after getting a peek at six images from the first episode!
As previously announced, Downton Abbey‘s Samantha Bond guest-stars in “Great Balls of Fire, Part 1,” but what we don’t know was that Wynonna Earp‘s Dominique Provost-Chalkley would be appearing as well. Here’s an episode description for Episode 1001:
In the wake of Ogden’s (Hélène Joy) near-death experience at the hands of a deranged former patient, Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) is trying to create some normalcy in their shared life by moving ahead with plans to build a house. Ogden appears to be recovered but her physical well-being hides trauma to her spirit and psyche. The doctor masks it well as the couple spends a night on the town at the Grand Hotel for an elegant debutante ball. Ogden’s friend, Lady Suzanne Atherly (Samantha Bond), has recently arrived from London and is using the event to introduce her daughter Elizabeth (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) to Toronto society and the very eligible bachelor Rodney Strong (Kyle Cameron). As Ogden entertains her guest, Murdoch is assailed by George Crabtree’s (Jonny Harris) commentary on the young women vying for the affections of the wealthy suitor.
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Season 10 of Murdoch Mysteries debuts Monday, Oct. 10, at 8 p.m. on CBC.
