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.
Featured, Masterchef Canada

Seeing red on MasterChef Canada

After taking over Claudio’s Origin in Season 1 and Michael’s Canoe in Season 2, it was Alvin’s turn to hand the keys to his restaurant to the Top 6 during Sunday’s instalment. The episode title, “Demon at the Pass,” certainly lived up to its name as Chef Leung barked orders to the Red and Blue teams as they cooked at Toronto’s R&D restaurant, launched by Season 1 winner Eric Chong (Rebel) and Leung (Demon).

And by the end of the episode, it was Dr. Shawn who surrendered his apron (and signature ball cap) and exited the competition. But back to the Restaurant Takeover for a second, where the Demon Chef lived up to his name by barking orders and refusing to mince words when plates delivered by the Red and Blue teams weren’t up to par. I felt badly for the Top 6, who not only had to learn and execute complex Asian dishes but served them to former MasterChef Canada competitors. Mary’s Red team of Veronica and April Lee gutted it out against Jeremy’s Blue squad of Matthew and Shawn and everything appeared to be evenly matched … until a second plate of wonky chow mein was sent back to the Blue kitchen. That spelled their defeat and sent the men to the Pressure Test.

Kudos to MasterChef Canada‘s producers for coming up with increasingly difficult challenges for the home cooks; making a Charlotte cake in just one hour seemed impossible and created some especially tense moments as Matthew’s glaze bled down the sides of his cake and Shawn’s lady fingers were chunky and child-like. The former edged out the latter when it came to taste, however, eliminating the good doctor from the competition.

MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Awards

Link: Calgary-based TV shows nab top prizes at Rosie Awards

From Eric Volmers of Postmedia:

Calgary-based TV shows nab top prizes at Rosie Awards
Two of Alberta’s highest-profile, Calgary-based television series took home major hardware at the 42nd annual Alberta Film and Television Awards in Calgary Saturday night, although the night was not without a few surprises.

The show, hosted by comedian Jebb Fink, took over the Hyatt’s Imperial Ballroom, as hundreds of Alberta’s film and TV workers dressed to the nines and competed in 55 categories for the awards, nicknamed the Rosies. Continue reading. 

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Children's Programming

Links: Raising Expectations

From Victoria Ahearn of The Canadian Press:

As a young star she fled fame for France, but Ringwald at 48 is comfortable now
The first episode of actress Molly Ringwald’s new Canadian family series “Raising Expectations” touches on an issue she’s deftly handled throughout her career: the perils of fame.

Airing Sunday on Family Channel, the comedy series première sees her character — a high-profile child psychologist and author and mother of five — recounting one of her husband’s tall tales at a conference. When the talk is posted online, it draws a flurry of accusations that the father (played by Jason Priestley) is lying and that the family isn’t as perfect as it seems. Continue reading.

From Tim Kelly of the Vaughan Citizen:

Vaughan’s Luke Bilyk sets sights on Raising Expectations
You may well know Vaughan’s Luke Bilyk as Drew Torres from Degrassi: The Next Generation where he starred for five years, but now the 21-year-old is hitting the small screen in a brand new show.
Debuting Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on Family Channel, Raising Expectations tells the story of a pair of “multi-exceptional parents” raising four “multi-exceptional children” and one not-so-exceptional child. Laughs and some life lessons ensue. Continue reading.

From Wendy Goldman Getzler of Kidscreen.com:

In Raising Expectations, DHX broadens reach
“We wanted to–within the regular Family Channel block–also think about [reaching] more people who frankly may not turn on Family Channel, who may not know about the channel or watch the channel. So we were thinking about a single-camera comedy that is age-appropriate for the core audience.” Continue reading.

From Jeremy Dixon of Kidscreen.com

Family quirks: A Q&A with Raising Expectations’ creator
“I wanted to tell a story that was very loosely based on a portion of my family, which is a family of nine. In other pilots that I’ve written, I like to dabble and draw from my family because we’re such a diverse bunch of characters. With Raising Expectations, I wasn’t thinking that I wanted to make a kids show. I wanted to make a show for a family, or a show that my family would want to watch.” Continue reading.

From Cynthia Reason of the Etobicoke Guardian:

Etobicoke School of the Arts’ Matthew Tissi stars in Raising Expectations
Matthew Tissi wasn’t even born when the Brat Pack had teens flocking to theatres in the ’80s and Beverly Hills 90210 had them glued to their TVs in the early ’90s, but he’s making up for lost time now by acting alongside two of that generation’s biggest stars. Continue reading. 

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Featured, Motive, X Company

Comments and queries for the week of May 6

1 Comment

X Company‘s creators discuss the heartbreaking finale and look towards Season 3

I like this show, but now Tom’s dead. I’m not watching it any longer. Killing the kid would have been better, I can’t stand him. But Tom was a much better character … and his death meant the death of the show for me. I’m done. —D

I suspect “the kid” will grow up if he survives the coming season. Very young people involved in causes often become fanatical about them—and not just those in the Nazi youth. With a little more life experience he’d have understood that his young German counterpart was a conscript who had no other choice, especially under a totalitarian régime (conscientious objectors were forced to clean minefields, where they were eventually blown up, among other things). Odd, I didn’t like Tom at first; I found him smarmy and a bit of a prequel to Mad Men. But he certainly became a fully-fleshed character and had to undergo quite the ordeal even pretending to be seriously wounded and then finally falling over the proverbial cliff. I miss René, who looks like a friend of mine (who is considerably younger than I am), but that wouldn’t have allowed me to watch much of the series. I do appreciate the development of the female characters. Some commenters are saying that it wasn’t realistic in light of female roles 70 years ago, but the very fact that so many men were off fighting meant that women had to take on new responsibilities (as we see at Camp X). And that was certainly the case in the Resistance, in many countries. —Lagatta

Motive‘s showrunner sounds off on the series’ final cases

We are disappointed that Motive is not continuing for another season. It is a terrific show with excellent actors and believable plots. —June and Brian

Person of Interest is now on Tuesday night in Motive’s time slot. Where is Motive? It was only on for four weeks!! —Stacey

The remaining episodes of Motive will air this summer on CTV.

 

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

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Children's Programming, Featured

Jason Priestley shows his comic chops in Family’s Raising Expectations

I’ve seen Jason Priestley guest-star on Spun Out, so I knew he could do comedy. But would he be able to headline a comic project on Family Channel? Indeed he can. As a matter of fact, he’s one of many reasons to tune in to Raising Expectations.

Debuting Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on Family Channel, Priestley’s Wayne Wayney plays a somewhat out-of-touch dad alongside wife Paige (Molly Ringwald) and their four “multi-exceptional” children. The fifth kid? Well, not so much. Emmett (Simon Cadel) lacks the academic and physical prowess of his siblings, but has the street smarts to keep everyone grounded. And though the emphasis in the press releases surrounding Raising Expectations plays up Emmett a lot, he doesn’t really come off that much different from his brothers and sister. What does, however, is Priestley’s Wayne. After seeing him play a teen for so long on Beverly Hills 90210, it’s definitely a shock to see him playing a father. Thanks to the writing, he’s a blast.

Created by the same folks behind Todd and the Book of Pure Evil—Episode 2 features Emmett wearing a Crowley High t-shirt—Raising Expectations is a showcase for Priestley’s comic chops (he’s directing some episodes too). Whether he’s wallowing on a couch, feeling badly for lying to his family and drowning his guilt in bags of chips and tubs of ice cream, mistaking Internet trolls for gnomes or doing battle with a sap-filled tree, Wayne is the focus. Taking nothing away from Ringwald or the young cast—who are great too—but the series would be hard to watch with anyone else acting opposite them.

Another mark in Raising Expectations‘ favour? No laugh track. There’s simply no reason to have it when the writing is sharp and the performances are well done.

Raising Expectations airs Sundays at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on Family Channel.

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