Everything about Featured, eh?

Featured, Podcast

TV, eh? podcast episode 215 — Fishing in Honey Holes

Recording on Halloween night means talking The Hilarious House of Frightenstein before the scariness of the November calendar.

Greg recounts his Anne of Green Gables set visit where he spoke to Martin Sheen, who portrays Matthew Cuthbert in the YTV TV-movie before talking about his next trip: the set of CBC’s Pure. Then he and Anthony close out by discussing APTN’s foray into the U.S. in 2017 with All Nations Network.

Listen or download below, or subscribe via iTunes or any other podcast catcher with the TV, eh? podcast feed.

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Featured, Shoot the Messenger

Choices are made on Shoot the Messenger

I’m still reeling from that image of Judge Reeves and Orlandio shagging, and the quick recap ahead of Monday’s new episode further burned the picture into my mind. It also caused me to say out loud: what’s next on Shoot the Messenger?

“Careful What you Pray For” began like a gunshot, quickly and unexpectedly, with Khaalif feeling he’d avenged his brother’s death and all debts paid. Not so much, as it turned out. The police had the final say, breaking down the door and sweeping Khaalif and his crew up in a guns and gangs raid.

In the very next scene, Simon was saying goodbye to Cassie. She was off on a week-long business trip and before hopping in the cab uttered a line that is the basis for everything unravelling on Shoot the Messenger: “You always have a choice.”

Simon’s choice seems to be—at this point anyway—whether he’ll let little Simon take command of big Simon and head back into bed with Daisy. That didn’t happen, and perhaps it didn’t because that’s what I expected would occur, and Shoot the Messenger is unique because it doesn’t go with the obvious. Yes, Daisy was having an affair with Lutz and slept with Simon, but she appears to have stopped with the pillow talk; by episode end she and Simon shared a mutual respect. They’re going to need each other’s backs going forward because the video of Sam and Khalid in bed together is going to blow the roof off the story.

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It certainly pushed Judge Reeves and Orlandio to the background, and that was unexpected too. I assumed Reeves and her husband, Glen, were sexual deviants who would do anything to keep their bedroom tastes quiet—going to far as to murdering Khalid to keep it under wraps—but instead we were treated to a scene where they broke down and supporting each other, realizing their careers are likely in the gutter. (Also? I was convinced Mary was going to stifle what Daisy and Simon has uncovered.)

Juxtaposing scenes of grief, shock and resignation were a quiet few moments between Lutz and his son, Noah. Lutz was helping Noah get ready for school and the soccer practice afterwards; it offered a sweet respite from the drama swirling in the other storylines.

Production-wise, I love the camera angles Sudz Sutherland uses, especially during intense, loaded conversations. Everyone is always just off-centre, I imagine to show no one in Shoot the Messenger is being totally honest with the other and are always a little crooked.

Shoot the Messenger airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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Featured, Murdoch Mysteries

Murdoch Mysteries’ Simon McNabb discusses “Concocting a Killer”

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Murdoch Mysteries fans are used to seeing William and Julia solve every crime placed in front of them by using their wits and technology. But what if technology failed and caused them to imprison the wrong man? That was the thrust of “Concocting a Killer,” as Gus Shanley (Jonathan Goad) was sent to jail for killing his friend with poison-laced cocoa.

Monday’s new instalment also introduced viewers to Det. Watts (Daniel Maslany), who—despite being a great detective in his own right—could not have been more different from Det. Murdoch. We got Simon McNabb on the phone to discuss his episode and what’s to come next week.

This was a great episode. ‘A Study in Pink’ was pretty heavy, with a lot of aliases and characters floating around and ‘Concocting a Killer’ felt lighter and with a bit more humour. And I liked the fact that William and Julia may have made a mistake 12 years ago.
Simon McNabb: The whole idea for ‘Concocting a Killer’ was to explore the idea that Murdoch and Ogden may have made a mistake at some point in their careers. We’re so used to watching these stories with them where their theories along the way may be or incorrect, but at the end of the day, they’re always right. The inspiration for this episode was, ‘Well, what happens if that’s called into question?’ We explored how to do that and an interesting way. The most fun part for me was figuring out what that self-doubt meant for them as characters. How did they each approach it? Murdoch is usually so logical, but is there an emotional angle to his response to being wrong and he’s not used to that. I thought it was nice to see him get his back up, both for his own conviction and his confidence in Julia.

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Let’s talk about Daniel Maslany as Det. Watts. I’m glad he’ll be back because he was quirky, feisty and Murdoch’s polar opposite when it comes to his investigating style. And Daniel was really great in Four in the Morning playing a somewhat similar character.
It was a long conversation in the writers’ room about how to bring in a detective who could play off Murdoch and, as you alluded to, be his opposite and not be a terrible detective. With Murdoch being the most brilliant detective in Toronto and the world, you could bring in someone and have him be a bad detective or you could make him rough and tumble like Brackenreid. So we thought about how to come up with someone who is totally unlike Murdoch but still very much a classically great detective and in the mold of your Sherlock Holmes’. We found a nice balance. He’s a character who is a little hard to get a handle on with regard to what he’s going to say—he’s a bit of a loose cannon and has very little in regards to social graces—so it was really fun to see them play off each other and I think the actors did too.

Regarding Daniel, we hadn’t seen Four in the Morning when he was cast. I think he was either still shooting it, or the episodes were in the can but no one had seen it yet. It was only when we saw the show when it premiered that we realized there is a bit of similarity in character there … he’s a bit of a live wire. But, if you get to meet Daniel, he couldn’t be further from that. He’s very calm, very polite, kind and gracious. Even though he has that energy in him, he’s nothing but a calm, cool, professional on set.

Yannick doesn’t often get the chance to do comedy on Murdoch Mysteries; seeing his facial expressions as he reacted to Watts was pretty enjoyable.
For me, I think Yannick is hilarious. He has perfect comic timing and instinct and he gets to play the heroic lead on this show which means he doesn’t get to do the comedy the other guys get to do.

I also enjoyed Watts’ catchphrases. Brackenreid has ‘Bloody hell!’ and Watts has ‘Hellfire!’ and ‘Sweet Mary!’
[Laughs.] Yeah, I guess that could be his ‘Bloody hell!’ if he sticks around long enough.

We always think of Murdoch as leading that front edge of technology, but this episode showed that, 12 years ago, the technology wasn’t there with regard to the spectroscope and analyzing metals.
That’s one of the things that was particularly interesting to me and why I wanted to embrace some of the details of the poisons and the detection methods that were available at the time. As you say, the technology was advancing so rapidly—this was the age of invention—and we give Murdoch and Odgen every tool they have to offer because they’re so cutting edge at the time. They had investigated something to the absolute best of their abilities 12 years earlier, but 12 years later there was a hole in the methods that they used. We liked landing on that as a ‘mistake’ because it allowed our guys to legitimately question themselves and, hopefully, it allows the audience to question them too. We’re so conditioned to Murdoch and Ogden getting everything right that it’s hard to put in front of the audience that they were wrong this time and have them believe it. So, we thought, ‘What if they were wrong 12 years ago because their tools just weren’t good enough?’

What can you say about Episode 5?
The episode is called ‘Jagged Little Pill.’ Rebecca James is in her second season on the show and one of the things that we wanted to do in Season 10 was give her a least a couple of opportunities to really shine and do something cool and interesting and have a pivotal role in one of our stories. In part because we think Mouna is great and in part because we thought the episode she headlined least year, ‘Colour Blinded,’ turned out really, really well.

Murdoch Mysteries airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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Featured, Travelers

Travelers puts the future in jeopardy

What would you do if given the opportunity to go back in time and save the lives of others? It’s a well-worn trope that’s been discussed in literature, film and television. And it’s covered in Monday’s new episode of Travelers too. That’s not unexpected. Sure, this team has missions to complete, but they’re not robots. These people have feelings, and in the case of one, they buckle under the guilt of not being able to prevent the deaths of others and tries to protect one. That, of course, puts their team in danger.

Here are some other non-spoilery plot point we can tell you about Episode 3, “Aleksander,” written by Tara Armstrong (Mary Kills People) and Mika Collins.

We can’t help but love David
He’s a bit of a greek and super-awkward around pretty girls, so we’re naturally cheering for David and Marcy to become a couple. That aside, scenes are fun as heck when he’s in them, alternately trying to get information from Marcy or recoiling at her nakedness.

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Philip is feeling guilty
In all the excitement from last week’s first mission, I had totally forgotten about Steven, the drug addict who overdosed next to Philip in Episode 1. Future Philip has no clue how close he and his friend were, but Steven’s grieving mother certainly lets him know. If the travellers were hoping to interact with these present people and not be affected by them, they were sorely mistaken. For Philip this is doubly true: he inherited the need for heroin when his consciousness entered this body.

Grant shakes things up
Going tie-less to work? Choosing vegan for dinner? If Kat doesn’t suspect something weird is up with her husband then she’s just not that observant.

Is someone on to the travellers?
There is security footage of Marcy’s arrival and a character we’ve already met is linking it to someone he knows.

Jennifer Spence alert!
Although it hurt a bit to reminded of Continuum, we were thrilled to see Jennifer Spence in “Aleksander,” and involved in a pretty great storyline to boot.

Who is Aleksander?
Let’s just say he’s very important to one team member, but not for the reason you’d expect.

Travelers airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Showcase.

Images courtesy of Corus Entertainment.

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Featured, This Life

Writer Céleste Parr on This Life’s small, meaningful moments

Spoiler warning: Do not read this article until you have seen This Life Episode 204, “Communion.”

Sunday’s episode of This Life, “Communion,” was a rough one for several members of the Lawson family. Natalie’s custody battle with David came to an abrupt end after Caleb chose not to testify against his father, and Matthew made a desperate move to save his marriage by bringing Nicole to meet his son. Meanwhile, Maggie made a disturbing discovery about Oliver.

Céleste Parr co-wrote the episode with series showrunner Joseph Kay. A veteran of feature films, she turned her attention toward television in 2014, writing a pilot that caught Kay’s attention and eventually landing a spot in This Life‘s Season 2 writers’ room.

“We both have a deep appreciation for the small and the understated,” Parr says of Kay. “They strike us both as being more emotionally powerful and resonant.”

Joining us by phone from Montreal, Parr breaks down the major plot points in “Communion” and explains the importance of the show’s small, emotional story beats.

Several scenes in this episode really resonated with me, including the two bathroom scenes with Nicole looking at the clothes of Julian and then later Abby. What’s the key to making quiet scenes like that work?
Céleste Parr: I know that in my case, having worked in low-budget film, you sort of become very aware of small moments in your life that resonate and learning how to say a lot about an emotional moment or an emotional shift and to do so in a quiet and down-to-earth way. I actually find that it’s easier to create a visceral emotional response with small moments like that, because they trigger a sense of recognition in our lives. So I think it’s actually easier to tell an emotional story in small moments like that, small visual cues that ring true broadly just on a human emotional level.

Natalie decides to stop fighting David in court after Caleb backs out of testifying. What is Natalie’s relationship with David going to be like going forward?
Natalie, I think, is realizing now that she has no choice. Obviously, so much that’s going on with her is that she’s afraid that she’s not going to survive her illness, so she’s trying to parent her children posthumously. But to do that, she would have to control uncontrollable variables. She wasn’t able to control what happened in Matthew’s marriage, and she can’t control David, who’s elusive and inconsistent and, God forbid, more complex than the deadbeat she’s made him out to be in her mind. And she doesn’t even realize the extent to which her children are already outgrowing her control, and so moving forward with David, she’s going to have to open her eyes to a version of him that she used to be very close to, and loved even, and to recognize he’s a complex human being and that he might actually bring something to the lives of their children.

I’m surprised that David has become one of my favourite characters. He’s so complex and real. Do you enjoy writing him?
I love writing David. I’ve always been very drawn to writing characters who on the surface may appear antagonist or a villain or characters who present a threat, and I’ve always found it very rewarding to understand them. Instead of having a knee-jerk reaction of judging or reducing them to their worst qualities, really trying to connect with them and understand them, and to recognize bits of myself in them so that I can do justice to them as people, not just characters there to move the plot forward.

This Life 204

Caleb moves out of Natalie’s house at the end of the episode. What’s that going to mean for him and for Natalie?
For Caleb, it’s going to take some time for him. He’s going to have to spend some time in limbo trying to figure out who he is outside of what Natalie and his sisters have needed him to be, and who he is outside of trying to fill the shoes of David, who was absent for so many years. So, in this episode, Caleb has to make this difficult decision that, to him, he may worry that he may be perceived as letting down the family, but he’s finally stepping up for himself, and coming of age in this way, and becoming an adult. And we see this in [Episode] 203 with the fridge, he knows that he never has been able to be a father. You know, he was the man of the house before he was a man, and now he has to break off and grow into a man.

And that’s going to part of Natalie having to let go of the things that made her feel safe and in control. She’s been able to count on Caleb and not realizing to what extent she was robbing Caleb of his own agency and his own identity. So she just has to trust in herself and the girls, and she has to trust in Caleb that he’s going to take care of himself.

The scene between Matthew, Nicole and Beatrice was so hard to watch. What was Matthew’s plan there?
We all recognized it as this great, terrible plan, bringing Nicole and Beatrice together. But I think the beauty of it, even though it is a terrible idea, is that he’s not wrong. He knew that if Nicole could see Julian, she would recognize the innocent life he’s trying to protect and nourish, which reminds her, heartbreakingly, of why she loves this man. And she sees traces of him in his son, so, of course, instinctively, she’s going to love that little boy, too, and connect emotionally to Matthew’s decision to be a father to his son. She’s really a mother at heart and she’s a deeply compassionate woman. Compassion, though, it also has a way making matters of the heart very complicated, because it was almost too easy and convenient for her to villainize Matthew and dismiss him as a con, but now she can’t.

Nicole tells Matthew that she can’t move forward with him. Is there any way she can forgive him in the future?
I think what we see in her in this episode is forgiveness. I think she does forgive him after this journey. But forgiveness is one thing, to continue to be vulnerable and intimate and to trust this man, that’s a whole other story. She’s going to have to look inside and see whether or not that’s a possibility for her, or whether she’s going to have to stand on her own.

Maggie goes to Oliver’s studio and finds it in a deplorable state. What’s going on with him?
Oliver is clearly struggling, and he’s a very private person, and he’s a very solitary person. So we’re going to discover at the same time as his family what’s happening with Oliver. That’s going to be a journey we take with the people who love him. But what we will see is that, with Matthew and Natalie’s lives imploding in these really spectacular ways, these really striking ways, the noise that creates within the family has made it too easy for others who are struggling to slip between the cracks unnoticed.

Raza delivers some truth to Maggie this week. Their marriage might have been a bad idea, but is he good for her in a way?
I think Raza is a much-needed touchstone for her. He’s not got much invested in making her happy. It’s not like he’s counting on getting lucky at the end of the night. So she comes to him and wants a dose of the truth, and he’s going to tell her the truth. And he, standing on the outside, has perspective that nobody else has, and he has no agenda here, so he can just level with her.

Do you have a favourite scene in the episode?
I was really surprised by the scene with Caleb and David at the end of the episode. I was blown away by the chemistry that those two actors have, but also physically, the difference between them on screen, the size of them. David being someone who is so comfortable in his skin and his body, and he’s just sort of processing his day, and then Caleb shows up sort of vulnerable and also having had kind of an epiphany. This bonding moment between them after all those years and all those feelings of betrayal and disappointment, for them to just connect in this moment, to actually see it, to feel the chemistry between them was really surprising.

And then just at the end of the scene, the focus shifts—I mean literally the focus of the image—shifts from David to Caleb, and Caleb just sort of looks at his father with those big blue eyes, and he looks like a boy. And it’s like I’m seeing a boy and his father, and it really moved me. Something like that, you can’t put that on the page. Everyone does their job and you get these moments of magic like that.

This Life airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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