From Historica Canada:
Terry Fox inspires the nation with his Marathon of Hope, a cross-country run to raise money for cancer research. (1980)
Find out more about Terry Fox’s Heritage Minute—and others in the series—at Historica Canada’s website.
From a media release:
After two seasons battling blackflies, bears and the odd spring blizzard, Andrew and Kevin Buckles, the creative duo behind the Cottage Life series, Brojects, bring the cottage indoors with Brojects: In The House, a new 13-episode half-hour series featuring more of what the ‘bros’ do best — turning traditional home and cottage projects on their head. This time, the real-life brothers transform a former Masonic Lodge into the ultimate escape destination, complete with an indoor outhouse, a bike bar and a retractable sleeping platform — just to mention a few of the projects they have planned.
Among the one-of-a-kind concepts currently under construction at the former Lodge is an indoor skatepark, which features two quarter-pipes at the opposite ends of the living room area that can be turned upside down, creating a domed sleeping area below and a top bunk above.
Now in its third season, Brojects has been an unqualified success for Cottage Life and its distribution arm, Blue Ant International. Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. recently announced that the series will make its U.S. television premiere this fall on Great American Country as Lake Guys.
Brojects: In The House launches Spring 2016 on Cottage Life. Principal photography began June 29, 2015 in Great Village, Nova Scotia.
Brojects: In The House is produced by Farmhouse Productions Inc. The series was created by Kent Sobey and Andrew Buckles; producers are Kent Sobey, Andrew Buckles, Howard Ng and Kevin Buckles. Farmhouse Productions Ltd. is a film, television and digital media production company based in Toronto, Ontario. Productions include Brojects, SOS: Save Our Skins, Papillon, The Time Traveler and Air Guitar in Oulu.
There’s something horrifying about watching a tractor trailer, weighed down with supplies, sliding slowly off an icy highway and into a ditch. It’s a bit of a mind-blower to witness the effect millimetres of frozen water has on such a big beast. But it’s something Jamie Davis and his staff see almost every day during winter travel on the Coquihalla Highway and he’s made a career out of it.
This Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on Discovery, Highway Thru Hell rolls on with 13 new episodes, documenting the successes, drama and disappointment that involves Davis, his staff and competitors. It takes a special type of person to go into the freezing cold and pull rigs off chunks of highway with nicknames like “The Smasher,” but it’s just another day for Big Al, who’s at the helm of Quiring Towing; within minutes of the Season 4 return he’s helping the occupants away from their smashed car, worried they’ll be injured by a sliding rig.
Meanwhile in Lac La Biche, Davis is busier than ever, and has expanded his fleet to cover not just the oil fields but Edmonton itself.
And while you can rest assured the Coq gets slippery in winter, there are changes afoot in Season 4. Davis’ right-hand man, Howie, left to work for a city-based towing company to be closer to his family, and Adam cut ties to work for a rival outfit in B.C., meaning Colin has to step into the role. Colin’s first job? To pull a tractor trailer upright using the rotator, a tougher machine to operate than a tow truck, and newbie John has two decades of towing on his resumé, but must prove he belongs on the B.C. team.
What I like about Highway Thru Hell is the lack of extra fluff. Sure, we learn the personal stories of the folks working these snowy strips of asphalt, but the focus is almost always on the men and women putting their lives on the line to help others out of a tight spot. (And kudos to the producers, who often include a quick science lesson as to how these trucks ended up in their precarious positions.) I may not have the skill-set to drive a tow truck and haul rigs around, but I can certainly appreciate and salute those who do.
And man, does it look stunning in HD.
Highway Thru Hell airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Discovery.
I enjoy watching shows about guys who are more manly than me. Dudes who go into the woods and put life and limb on the line trying to eke a living out of the earth. Real men like the fellows on Discovery’s Fool’s Gold, returning Tuesday with two back-to-back episodes at 8 and 8:30 p.m. ET.
I only wish the guys would spend more time working to find gold than talking about it. Back for the sophomore season is boss Todd Ryznar, head of Shotgun Exploration, and his crew of men—foreman Roj, builder extraordinaire Jimmy and workers Grizz, Matt and Mike—who meet up nine months after the last mining season in Atikokan, Ont., northwest of Thunder Bay.
The bills have piled up and Todd is desperate to find gold to pay them. His solution? Spend $16,000 on a hammer mill that will extract gold flecks from rocks more quickly and efficiently on Straw Lake. But to reach the 100 ounces of gold Todd aims to mine by the end of the season—enough to pay everyone and those pesky bills—he needs all of the equipment to work flawlessly. That, of course, doesn’t happen … leading to plenty of frustration for both team members and viewers. There’s a lot of bleeped expletives, befuddled expressions and thrown shovels as the hand-made trommel and newly-purchased hammer mill both crap out.
By the end of Episode 2, everything is back up and running smoothly, but a lot of time was wasted on a needless competition pitting Roj and Jimmy against Matt and Mike to see which pair pulled the most gold out of the earth.
The boys of Shotgun Exploration manage to score gold, but I wish they’d stop fooling around so much.
Fool’s Gold airs Tuesdays at 8 and 8:30 p.m. ET on Discovery.
From Jim Bawden:
Discovery Canada’s Fool’s Gold Is Sheer Fun
I have this thing for Canadian TV reality shows.
Which is why I was excited to chat on the phone with Atikokan’s Todd Ryznar who leads a rag tag bunch of prospectors in the often funny reality series Fool’s Gold. Continue reading.
