From Eric Volmers of the Calgary Herald:
Life after cancellation? Bruce McCulloch says new broadcaster being sought for second season of Calgary-shot Young Drunk Punk
The search is on for a new home for the second season of Young Drunk Punk, which is based on Kids in the Hall alumni Bruce McCulloch’s years as an underemployed punk-rock aficionado in Calgary during the early 1980s. Continue reading.
I’m so used to watching series featuring gals dispatching biker demons, Second World War spies, vikings attacking Paris and serial killers slaughtering small-town folk that Sensitive Skin made an immediate impact.
Returning Sunday on HBO Canada for Season 2, the Kim Cattrall-led drama doesn’t feature a gun owned by Wyatt Earp, Nazis or longboat battles. It’s a slow, spare character analysis of a woman trying to find her place in the world. The first season ended with Davina Jackson (Cattrall) at a crossroads in her life. Unhappy in her life and marriage to Al (Don McKellar), things were shaken up when Al suffered a heart attack and then flatlined in the season’s closing moments.
Now, picking up after that incident, Davina is moving on. But how? Would finding a new place make her happy? Would living with sister Veronica (Joanna Gleason) and brother-in-law Roger (Colm Feore) fill a hole in her life? She doesn’t know, though Theodore (Clé Bennett) goes a long way to helping her come to a decision. And while Davina is certainly the focus of Sensitive Skin, I was constantly drawn to Theodore. Sure, he deals drugs outside of her condo building, but the guy definitely has some viewpoints on life and is dead-on about many of them. (“They’re building one of those bath bomb places across the street, so you’d have to be smelling that hippy shit all day. That ain’t no way to live, right?” is one of his sage statements.)
Several segments in Episode 1 are very much about words left unsaid. Rather than fill a scene with conversation, head writer Bob Martin’s scripts boast precious seconds slowed down and set to a simple horn and strings as Davina quietly contemplates her next life move. She caresses a kitchen counter here, stares out a ceiling to floor window there; you can see the internal discussion going on in Davina’s head without her having to say the words aloud. It sets Sensitive Skin apart from other series, and I like that. A lot.
Sensitive Skin airs Sundays at 8:30 p.m. ET/MT on HBO Canada.
From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:
Wynonna Earp: Emily Andras talks “Walking After Midnight”
“I think it’s good for Wynonna to start getting some allies in town in addition to her boss, the guy she has slept with and her sister. I like that Nicole doesn’t come with the burden of the history of the town and of Wynonna’s reputation in the town. I just love depicting female friendship on screen and is always something that can use a little more love in television. I like that they are so different.” Continue reading.
From Bill Brioux of the Canadian Press:
Sensitive Skin heads to Toronto’s islands in Season 2
When we last visited “Sensitive Skin,†things did not look good for Davina and Al. Particularly Al (played by Don McKellar), who was flatlining in a hospital after suffering a heart attack. Continue reading.
From Brad Oswald of the Winnipeg Free Press:
New wrinkle
As we age, change becomes difficult to contemplate and even harder to achieve. Sometimes, the only kind of change we can entertain is that which is forced upon us.
For Davina Jackson, the central character in the HBO series Sensitive Skin (played by Kim Cattrall), change is as uncomfortable as it is unavoidable. And as this clever Canadian comedy returns for a second season (Sunday, May 15, HBO Canada; check listings for time), change is also the most necessary element of her life. Continue reading.Â
From Jeanne Beker of The Globe and Mail:
Kim Cattrall on feeling good in the skin she’s in
A lot of people say, “Gosh I didn’t know that Sensitive Skin was Canadian. I just thought it was filmed in Canada.†And I say, “No, this is a Canadian woman that I’m playing. It’s not an American woman.” Continue reading.
From Nelson Branco of 24 Hours Toronto:
Six and the City: Kim Cattrall returns in HBO Canada’s Sensitive Skin
“As I’ve gotten better, stronger, and more confident as an actor, I’ve allowed more of myself to be available in the parts I play. I like to reflect life in my work … it’s not all tragedy. There’s love, companionship, and humour, but there is loss too. I like the characters I play to balance those qualities because it only enriches the stories I try to tell.” Continue reading.
From Nancy DeWolf Smith of The Wall Street Journal:
‘19-2’ Review: How well Canada does police drama
This season of the prizewinning Canadian police drama “19-2†opens with the most agonizingly realistic sequence imaginable of a mass shooting and the close-action chase after an active shooter. Continue reading.
