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Featured, The Goods

CBC delivers the goods in daytime with The Goods

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You simply can’t fake chemistry on television. Viewers catch on when folks don’t click. It’s the reason networks recast roles during pilot season; if co-stars don’t connect with each other, they simply won’t with an audience.

The Goods explodes with chemistry and makes for a wild daytime ride. Debuting Monday on CBC and marking Steven Sabados’ return to television, The Goods combines lifestyle, food, relationships and home and design into a fun package. Yes, the daytime market is packed with such U.S. fare as The Chew, The View and The Talk while Canadian rival CTV offers The Social, but The Goods is a welcome addition thanks mainly to its cast.

Surrounding Sabados on the panel is style maven Jessi Cruickshank, relationship and wellness expert Andrea Bain and Levetto chef Shahir Massoud covering all things culinary. Earlier this week, I was invited down to watch a taping of The Goods and experienced a well-oiled machine despite having just seven episodes already in the can.

(l-r) Bain, Cruickshank, Sabados, Massoud
(l-r) Bain, Cruickshank, Sabados, Massoud

“You always feel, on some other shows, as if people are trying to take away airtime,” Sabados says after the three-hour taping in front of a studio audience of just over 100 concluded. “There is that battle of, ‘You said that, so I have to say this,’ … Shahir didn’t have a segment today, but it’s all good because he’s still part of the show. We’re all here, so it’s all good.” It’s true. While Massoud didn’t contribute content-wise, he was still front and centre in a comedic role both unintentionally during Sabados’ decor quiz when he asked how to spell “teak” and on purpose during Cruickshank’s style bit when he walked the runway decked out in overalls, a baseball cap propped rakishly on his head.

Massoud explains he and his co-hosts come up with what their individual segments will contain with their own producers. Once that’s decided, the producers and hosts compare notes and figure out who will be interacting with who. Yes, The Goods is scripted when it comes to what segments make up an episode, but the interaction itself is done on the fly. That came into play Tuesday when Cruickshank dashed off to the control room and requested a hula hoop challenge be re-cut and slowed down for broadcast. The result was a very funny replay of Bain’s facial expressions and body language as she owned the hula segment (“I will never Iive that down,” Bain says with a laugh.) Cruickshank set herself up for criticism during her style portion, suggesting that sometimes socks can be worn with sandals. She was met with a chorus of good-natured boos from the audience.

“Where else can you get an audience who feels comfortable enough to boo the host?” Cruickshank asks. “There is this feeling of being in the round and we make sure people know they’re supposed to yell. They’re part of the show.”

The Goods airs Monday to Friday at 2 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Wild Archaeology: Innuvialuit—A Race Against Climate Change

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This week on Wild Archaeology, Jenifer and Jacob are off on their own to experience salvage archaeology, without the supervision of Dr. Rudy. On this adventure, we are travelling to the far north where climate change is creating a desperate situation for archaeologists. Shorelines are facing accelerated erosion due to rising seas and rising temperatures resulting in a loss of artifacts to the sea.

Our duo travels to the Kuukpak dig site on Richards Island, north of Inuvik, on the Beaufort Sea where the Innuvialuit people would traditionally summer while hunting for beluga whale and store the meat, returning throughout the year. We learn the island was at one time covered in a series of camps and was a thriving summer community centuries ago.

The Innuvialuit people had no written history, and this is truly an example of traditional knowledge being rooted to the land. The land, because of climate change, has been forced to reveal the knowledge it held for centuries. If archaeologists fail in their mission to gather all of the artifacts, that knowledge will be lost forever.

In the initial site tour by Dr. Max Friesen, archaeologist at the University of Toronto, Jenifer spotted an ancient snow knife exposed by erosion. Continuing along the shore, ancient beluga bones were seen exposed and came across an old dog sled runner fashioned from bone and a number of ulu blades. Dr. Friesen estimates many of these finds are up to 500 years old.

I spoke briefly with Jacob on Tuesday, and he had this to share about his experiences on the show:

“I really loved the opportunity to work on this show and I learned a great deal throughout our travels. I have a new understanding of our natural history and discovered how scientists are in fact starting to tell stories that are parallel to those First Nation and Inuit people have been telling for a long time. The show is educational, but it was also an amazing adventure that I hope we can continue in the future.”

Jacob, I really hope your adventure does continue. This show is an absolute delight and I am so happy I decided to cover it.

Artifact tally tonight? Jacob: a rare, intact Innuvialuit arrowhead and a dog sled runner made from bone. Jenifer: a bi-face end scraper. Seems like Jacob is now in the lead.

Wild Archaeology airs Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. ET on APTN.

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Bachelorette Canada, Featured

Cackles, crying and crafts on The Bachelorette Canada

The sun was shining and the abs were on display in Week 2 at the Sandals resort served as the backdrop for this week’s Bachelorette Canada episode. Of the 13 men remaining, David was the only one who didn’t go on some sort of date with Jasmine last week.

“Dateless Dave” continued his streak off the top as Scott the carpenter was selected for a group date alongside Mike, Drew, Thomas, Benoit and JP. Drew kept up his douchebaggery by mocking Dave and asking if he wanted to go in Drew’s place. I think Dave got off easy, as Jasmine and the chosen few headed off to dance. Kudos to the show’s producers for throwing two tests at the boys that challenged not only their skills (singing last week, dancing this week) but how willing they were to be outside their comfort zone. Conray and Andrew of Shady Squad demanded a lot of the fellows, encouraging them to instil confidence in their dance routines. Scott, who has had almost zero airtime, grabbed a lot on Tuesday as he admitted to having no signature moves. Infuriatingly, moments after Drew told producers he tells girls exactly what they want to hear, he was doing it with Jasmine, leading her to believe that had a pure connection. Was it careful editing, or is Drew really a bad guy who’s playing Jasmine?

The boys hit the street to perform, where Scott did an arm spasm, Mike ate an imaginary banana, Thomas whipped his hair around, JP did pushups, Benoit shook his butt and Drew did Drew things. At dinner, JP piped up to the rest of the guys that he didn’t trust Drew. That’s two guys who don’t think he’s there for Jasmine. In an interesting twist, Drew let his guard down and revealed he’d been engaged, showing a side no one had seen. The most awkward conversation of the night went to Scott, whose social skills mirrored that of the dance floor. Drew got the ever-important rose and the expression on JP’s face was classic.

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Next up was Kevin W. and a one-on-one with Jasmine. After connecting with her on a personal level last week, I wasn’t really surprised. Kevin is a modern-day superhero, a former soldier, firefighter and all-around good guy. The pair headed aloft in a helicopter where hand-holding gave way to a make-out session before feasting on jerk chicken and caving before having dinner in a grotto. (Hope no bat guano fell into their Two Oceans wine.) But after flying high, Jasmine was brought down to earth when he admitted to being a serial first dater. Now, it may just be he hasn’t fallen in love with anyone and is very particular, but it was a red flag for her nonetheless. An awful story about his brother being stabbed later, and Kevin was given a rose and several smooches.

David didn’t go 0-for-6 as he joined Mikhel, Kyle, Andrew, Kevin P. on an art-related group date. Each guy was tasked with creating a piece of art for someone special—Jasmine, obviously—with help from students. But where guys like Kyle, Kevin P. and Andrew had fun with the kids, Mikhel struggled and admitted he was intimidated. Kevin P. was awarded precious one-on-one time with Jasmine and a rose.

At the rose ceremony, Mikhel landed a massive kiss on Jasmine and presented her with a coral necklace; Chris talked kids’ charity; and Kevin W. interrupted Scott, frustrating the other guys. Sticking around for another week with the Kevins and Drew were Andrew, Mike, Kyle, Mikhel, Chris, Thomas, David and Benoit. I was shocked JP was shown the door, though perhaps Jasmine wasn’t a fan of him being a butler-in-the-buff. As for Scott, well, he was too awkward and shy to make a real connection.

Are you hoping one of the guys tells Jasmine that Drew is there for the wrong reasons? Comment below or via Twitter @tv_eh.

The Bachelorette Canada airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on W Network.

Images courtesy of Corus.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Mohawk Ironworkers: Training for Steel

How does someone become an ironworker? It is not like it was decades ago; nowadays you need considerable formal training.

Episode 4 of Mohawk Ironworkers gives us the inside scoop on how to become an ironworker. Elder and retired ironworker Paul Deer—and my personal favourite in this series—shares how things were done in the past. There was nowhere to go to learn, so the skills were shared through family. Fathers taught sons and uncles taught nephews … it was in the blood. Today, you need 1,000 hours of training along with thousands of hours more as an apprentice before you can become a certified Journeyman Ironworker.

We visit a couple of schools that provide this training in Quebec. One such program is offered jointly by Kahnawa:ke and the Local 711 Ironworkers Union. The nine-month in-class program covers the schooling and gives students an opportunity to learn their craft safely in a controlled environment. Upon completion, candidates must find their own apprenticeship positions in order to gain enough hours to finally be tested and certified.

Another program is offered in Akwesasne, offering both apprentice and probationary training for ironworkers. This allows students to receive supervised on the job training in preparation for unionization.

Some of the students are showcased, with many of them coming from long lines of ironworkers. I found it interesting that physical fitness was a part of the training program. It makes absolute sense that you be physically able to manoeuvre at the heights that these men and women do but I was surprised this was a part of the actual training.

Mohawk Ironworkers airs Tuesdays at 7 p.m. ET on APTN.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Taken: Marie Jeanne Kreiser — A Case of Intergenerational Trauma

In this episode of Taken, host, creator and director Lisa Meeches introduces us to Marie Jeanne Kreiser, a residential school system survivor.  By all accounts, Marie Jeanne was a loving mother known for her kindness. However, Marie Jeanne also struggled with alcoholism, depression and suicide attempts. While in the custodial care of the residential school, Marie Jeanne fell prey to abuses that scarred her, making her vulnerable to dangerous relationships as an adult, like so many other RSS survivors. In addition to suffering from abuse, she also became pregnant; Marie Jeanne carried her child to term and the child was forcibly taken from her and adopted by an unknown family. No one knows the whereabouts of her child.

Family and officials are concerned about the man named Al that Marie Jeanne was last involved. Al was described as a very cold, incommunicable man, known to have a violent history, who fell victim to his own dependence on alcohol and, ironically, was killed by a drunk driver.  Marie Jeanne was last seen in September of 1987 in Westlock, AB.

After nearly 30 years from the time of her disappearance, Marie Jeanne’s remains have yet to be found. Originally, her case was listed as missing, but in 1990 the RCMP officials upgraded it to suspicious. (I did a little bit of online research and I found it interesting the web page the CBC has dedicated to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls still has Marie Kreiser listed as missing.)

Jody Stonehouse, researcher of Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, discusses some of the effects RSS survivors face as a result of their abuses. Children apprehended from their communities oftentimes suffered from depression and post traumatic stress disorder. When returning home, these same children no longer knew the language of their parents and did not know who they were, so they abandoned their home communities and returned to a large urban centre where they began to use alcohol or other substances as sedatives, particularly when they had suffered abuse.

The underlying theme of this episode of Taken focuses on the lateral violence and intergenerational trauma Indian Residential School survivors and their families face. Multiple generations across Canada were forced to attend these schools; as a result when these children grew into adults, the life partners they chose also struggled with the same issues of depression and PTSD. This results in descendants of these families living with the symptoms of their parents’ trauma as their own trauma.

Once again, this episode brings attention to the discriminatory clichés authorities sometimes use to repeatedly brush off this sexualized and racialized violence.

Taken airs Fridays at 7:30 p.m. ET on APTN.

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