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.

Link: Molly Ringwald molds ‘multi-exceptional’ kids in ‘Raising Expectations’

From Bill Harris of Postmedia Network:

Molly Ringwald molds ‘multi-exceptional’ kids in ‘Raising Expectations’
So for all these years Molly Ringwood has been married to Jason Priestley? Wow, they did a great job of keeping that secret.

“I know!” Ringwald said with a laugh. “Who knew?” Continue reading. 

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Wynonna Earp’s Alex Zarowny teases The Stone Witch’s debut

“I can say that The Stone Witch darkens the doorsteps of many characters. She will become super-prominent this season. We will definitely see more of that pink Lincoln.” Alexandra Zarowny wasn’t kidding: days after the writer and executive producer said it, The Stone Witch makes her first appearance during Monday’s new episode of Wynonna Earp, “Diggin’ Up Bones.”

Constance Clootie (Rayisa Kondracki), a.k.a. The Stone Witch, bursts onto the scene, turning heads and hinting at a very complicated relationship with Bobo Del Rey. Throw in faulty heating at the police station—causing several characters to doff their tops—and “Diggin’ Up Bones” becomes sweaty, sexy, bloody good fun. We spoke to Zarowny about what brought her to Wynonna Earp, who originally auditioned for the role of Agent Dolls and what’s to come for Nicole and Waverly.

How did you get involved in Wynonna Earp? Did Emily Andras have you in mind from the get-go if you were available?
Alex Zarowny: Emily and I had worked together for years on Lost Girl. We both had babies on that show and got to know each other really well and discovered we shared a very similar language, a very similar love of genre and keeping genre light and fun and fast and not taking itself too seriously or being too sullen. And because of that I think she felt I was a very natural fit. And she and I have developed an excellent rhythm when working together. The joke is that we share a brain sometimes. She can shorthand something to me and I can run with it. We can share some duties because sometimes I can predict where she wants to go with something. There is a great level of trust there.

Were you there from the beginning? Were you involved in the casting on Wynonna Earp?
Definitely. That was such an exciting, tumultuous time. There are so many actresses to choose from and I remember when we first saw Melanie’s [Scrofano] audition. Our jaws literally dropped because she was so different and fantastically wounded, but without having a chip on her shoulder because she was going to fight through it no matter what. She’s made Wynonna such an accessible character that way, as has Emily through her writing. Melanie picked up on that so fast.

And Tim Rozon was just … the second he spoke we were all like, ‘Clearly this is Doc.’

But Tim originally auditioned for the Agent Dolls role.
He did. We watched him auditioning for Dolls and we thought, ‘That’s Doc.’ He wasn’t doing the Southern accent or anything, but we said, ‘No, that’s Doc.’ Tim himself is a real gentleman and Doc is a real firecracker and as amoral as they come, but he’s a gentleman because he comes from a certain era. If you’re going to pay a woman for sex, you’re still going to open the door for her. Tim really brought that gentlemanly element to the role and it was something I was so excited about.

It was revealed that Doc isn’t sick anymore, but he’s not necessarily immortal.
Doc knows that he was given longevity and that his sickness was cured, but he was not promised immortality. Very under the radar he says he can still be killed by a knife of a gun. If he gets hit by a bus, yup, he can die, but he was given longevity and he doesn’t know what that means. Does it mean he’ll never mean he’ll get sick again? Probably. Does it mean there’s an end to his life? We don’t know. He was given this longevity be someone who is also very hard to pin down.

Was there ever a discussion that Doc might be immortal?
Yeah, definitely. And we might find out that he is, but I think for right now it makes things more interesting not knowing because that’s how life works. Nothing is ever written in stone until it is.

MichaelEklund1

Bobo Del Rey is fantastic and I’m giddy every time Michael Eklund is in a scene. You must have been having a ball seeing him recite your scripts.
I screamed so many times watching dailies. I probably screamed more with Bobo than with anyone else. The thing about playing a character like Bobo in a genre show is that it’s easy to go arch in expected sort of ways. Michael really takes it to a different place and made Bobo a kind of creature. Yes, he’s a revenant, but what kind of revenant? He’s playing a long game as well, along with many of the other characters. He’s crazy and dangerous, but he’s got a squishy, nougaty centre somewhere in there. Where that is, who put it there and who it belongs to—if anybody—we’ll find out eventually. I think, more than anyone, we get the sense that he was human and he was a different person. Through him, we really get the struggle of the revenant.

Let’s switch gears and talk about a relationship that’s really hit with the fans. It’s clear Officer Haught likes Waverly; what can you say about that pair?
Coming from Lost Girl, it’s an important part of storytelling that’s been on Emily and my plate for several years. When it comes to Wynonna Earp, why would you ever take it off the plate? It’s a part of our world and part of this world and it’s something we want to explore just like we explore myriad things. There are fans who are coming from Lost Girl to this show and it’s a bit of a tip of the hat them. We hear you and the stories that you want us to tell and dammit we’re going to tell them. As for the relationship itself, Nicole definitely knows what she wants and she wants a piece of Waverly. Waverly, because she is the Earp that stayed in town, I think she feels she’s had to represent the Earps in a  very different way than they’ve been represented which means she has to be the upright citizen. She’s been playing that role to the nth degree and playing it so well; I think she’s getting tired of it and re-examining what her role is and if it’s been truthful.

The Stone Witch has been mentioned a few times and we got a glimpse of that pink car. What can fans expect from that storyline as the season rolls on?
They can expect some delicious storytelling. I can say that The Stone Witch darkens the doorsteps of many characters. She will become super-prominent this season. We will definitely see more of that pink Lincoln.

Wynonna Earp airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on CHCH.

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Astronaut Chris Hadfield blasts on to MasterChef Canada

The devil is, as they say, in the details. And, on a night when the home cooks were flying high after a visit from Colonel Chris Hadfield, it was Terry who came crashing down to earth and exited MasterChef Canada.

Terry was humble in his defeat, admitting fault after he and Shawn mixed up the filling in one hors d’oeuvre, and tearfully said goodbye. It was unfortunate to see Terry eliminated that way because it was a plating issue rather than one of taste. And Terry’s elimination was another instance of a plan backfiring on the contestant who set it up. Matthew stunned everyone (including himself, I think) by winning the Mystery Box challenge after Col. Hadfield and the resident judges deemed his smoked salmon parfait to be the best of the bunch constructed of space age ingredients. Matthew, who was awarded immunity for the week, paired up his competitors, putting Jeremy with Mary to slow her down and Shawn with Terry to help them out. Instead, Jeremy and Mary won the tag team and the other two faltered.

I must say it was pretty cool to see Col. Hadfield appear in Sunday’s new episode “Out of this World.” Not merely there for his star power, Hadfield helped taste and judge the plates and interacted with the home cooks while offering insight into how meals are prepared in space: a needle injects lukewarm or hot water into the plastic packets to rehydrate the contents.

As for the Elimination Challenge, I was impressed the home cooks were able to plate all 15 bites, let alone anything that would taste good. There were miscues when it came to mirroring the example set out by the judges, but nothing major. At least, not until the wrong filling was put in Terry and Shawn’s coronets. Now, with just six homes cooks remaining, it really is anyone’s season to win now that Terry is not longer in the hunt.

Next week, Mary and Jeremy are team captains for a Restaurant Takeover that, if evidenced by Alvin’s yelling, is tough for everyone.

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

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Link: Judge dismisses battery charge against ‘Trailer Park Boys’ star Michael Smith

From Kate Morawetz of ET Canada:

Judge dismisses battery charge against ‘Trailer Park Boys’ star Michael Smith
A judge has rejected the domestic battery case against “Trailer Park Boys” star Michael Smith.

Known as the loveable, but dim-witted Bubbles on the long running comedy, Smith’s dismissal is a result of insufficient evidence, TMZ reports. Continue reading.

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Link: Wynonna Earp: Emily Andras talks “Diggin’ Up Bones”

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Wynonna Earp: Emily Andras talks “Diggin’ Up Bones”
“He’s the Anna Wintour of demons! Because he’s fashion first and he’s Bobo Del Rey and he knows what works for him. I like that he’s committed. He’s has hundreds of years to figure out what works for him fashion-wise so he’s going classic wool fur coat. I like that.” Continue reading. 

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