TV, eh? | What's up in Canadian television | Page 253
TV,eh? What's up in Canadian television

The Amazing Race Canada: One Way fun day in Edmonton

During last week’s teaser for Tuesday’s episode of The Amazing Race Canada, the double One Way was teased. How would this latest wrinkle affect the teams? We found out in Edmonton, the location for the latest Leg.

Aarthy and Thinesh departed Revelstoke, B.C., first, aiming to land one of two spots on the first airplane to Edmonton; the rest would follow two and a half hours later. That was the biggest advantage of this season so far. Close to three hours head start can give a struggling team the cushion they need to succeed. The double One Way, new in Season 7, enabled two teams to anonymously decide the Detours two other teams must complete. The advantage? It forces a team to complete a Detour they might not be good at. The possible backfire? Giving a team a Detour they master quickly.

Dave and Irina had bullseyes on their backs and were determined to get to the One Way board before anyone could target them. Anthony and James, meanwhile, were excited to return to their home turf, hoping it would give them an advantage. (Kudos to TARC‘s producers for letting the couple acknowledge they were wearing skirts to honour the missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.) Dave and Irina were on the board for Flight No. 1, as were Aarthy and Thinesh. Everyone else had to settle for Flight No. 2 and the possibility of being One Way victims.

I had totally forgotten Dave and Irina had an Express Pass to give until they offered it to Anthony and James who had inadvertently helped them during the tree planting in B.C. The first location in Edmonton was to The Source, which I totally forgot even existed. There, they would get their next clue and put on a (sponsor alert!) Samsung fitness tracker; the team with the lowest number of steps for the Leg pocketed a $5,000 gift card for The Source. That turned out to be Lauren and Joanne.

A man and a woman look at a shopping display.The next location? The high level bridge streetcar, to find their next clue … and dole out some One Way pain. Aarthy and Thinesh aimed to be the team with the last steps taken and allowed Dave and Irina to pass them on the way to the streetcar. Who cares if you win $5,000 if you’ve been eliminated?

This week’s Detour choices were Celebrate (performing with a youth choir at the Royal Alberta Museum) or Elevate (climbing aboard the funicular and completing two puzzles of the city skyline). Dave and Irina chose Elevate and did not One Way any other team. “We’ll let the peasants fight for last place,” Dave joked. Aarthy and Thinesh chose the same Detour and didn’t One Way anyone either, but didn’t mention anything about peasants. The two puzzles contained pieces from each, meaning teams had to use the funicular several times to complete the images. Dave and Irina completed the puzzles first and left for the Old Strathcona Antique Mall.

The second flight arrived, and third to show up at the streetcar were Anthony and James who opted not to punish anyone. Lauren and Joanne became the first team to utilize the One Way and targetted Trish and Amy for Celebrate. Sarah and Sam, who picked Elevate, One Way-ed Sean and Gilles for Celebrate too. Meaghan and Marie opted for Celebrate, meaning three teams were set to sing and dance. Amy was worried her hearing impairment was going to be a problem and asked their instructor to speak up. Meaghan and Marie needed just two attempts to master the dance and song and left for the antique mall, followed by Trish and Amy.

At the antique mall, Racers were tasked with finding a Jon Montgomery bobblehead somewhere in the 27,000 square foot building. Dave and Irina found Jon’s bobblehead first, amid wrestling figures, and departed for the Kurimoto Japanese Garden to locate the Ozawa Pavillion. Sam spotted Jon in seconds; he and Sarah leapfrogged others into third place as they headed to the pavilion. Anthony and James and Lauren and Joanne were close behind. Trish and Amy located Jon, but it was a picture in an Olympic magazine.

Two women look through a pile of posters.The Leg’s Road Block challenged one team member to master an Ichiban flower arrangement by watching a silent demonstration and replicating it. Irina took it on, as did Thinesh. Irina seems to get stressed out at the littlest things and threatened to shake her confidence. But, right after the commercial break, she realized her mistake—the flowers were touching—and corrected it. Anthony, Sarah and  Lauren all arrived at the same time and Sarah was left alone after the others were done first because her flowers were touching. Things were even worse for Amy, who didn’t see that one leaf hiding behind the pot and keeping her from leaving the pavilion. The same mess was messing with Gilles.

This Leg’s Pit Stop was the Agha Khan Garden, where the real Jon waited. With 20 minutes of the episode still to go, Dave and Irina landed in first place and a trip to Casablanca, Morocco. Aarthy and Thinesh completed the Leg in second place and were feeling confident. Amy and Gilles’ massive delays with their flower arrangements meant they were the bottom of the pack. And, sadly for Gilles and Sean, it meant an elimination.

Here’s how the teams finished this Leg of the Race:

  1. Dave and Irina
  2. Aarthy and Thinesh
  3. Anthony and James
  4. Lauren and Joanne
  5. Sarah and Sam
  6. Meaghan and Marie
  7. Trish and Amy
  8. Sean and Gilles (eliminated)

The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Links: Holy Schitts! Emmy goes up the Creek with nominations for Levy, O’Hara and the series

From Bill Brioux of Brioux.tv:

Link: Holy Schitts! Emmy goes up the Creek with nominations for Levy, O’Hara and the series
That yelp you hear from Canada are folks cheering the multiple nominations for Schitt’s Creek, which originates on CBC and also airs Stateside on Pop TV. The series and lead actors Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara were all nominated. Continue reading.

From Aisha Harris of The New York Times:

Link: Eugene Levy on His Emmy Nods and the Heart of ‘Schitt’s Creek’
“It’s very nice to know that your show is seen on the same playing field with a lot of great television comedies that are out there.” Continue reading.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Hudson & Rex: Jessie Gabe on writing for a series where a dog is the star

Jessie Gabe took a bit of a circuitous route to writing for television. Initially interested in acting, she moved from Montreal to Toronto where she performed and wrote sketch comedy. But it was on a train where her professional writing career took off.

“I met a guy on a train and I very luckily wound up, through him, meeting his cousin, who is now my agent and who got me my first job as a writer on Being Erica,” Gabe says. A stint on Being Erica was followed by co-creating Agnes & Harold (which she also starred in), penning the film Cas & Dylan, and a writing and executive producer gig on Mr. D and Frankie Drake Mysteries.

She also was part of the writing staff and co-executive producer on Season 1 of Hudson & Rex. In this week’s episode, the team moves quickly when Donovan’s ex wakes up with blood on her hands and a dead roommate. We caught up with Gabe, who is freelance writing scripts for Season 2 of Hudson & Rex and co-writing a feature film on the life of Canadian Phil Hartman.

Had you ever considered writing before?
JG: I had written, but I actually had never considered being a professional screenwriter. I don’t think it had occurred to me. I was in my 20s, and I had written sketch and by a total fluke, I had written a couple of spec scripts quite a bit before that, just because a friend of mine was considering being a writer and it was an activity that I did with him. I had them on file, but it was like a game at the time. And I was working on a feature, that again, with really no knowledge of anything, no outline, just Page 1, fade in, because my roommate was a filmmaker and thought, ‘We don’t anything, and you’ll write it, and you’ll star in it, and I’ll film it.’ We were both struggling artists. Luckily, it didn’t get made, thank god. It turned into Cas & Dylan, and it got made with, thank god, not myself in the lead role.

A dog stands, looking into the camera.You were on Mr. D, then you were on Frankie Drake Mysteries. And once you were in the Shaftesbury door, I’m assuming that’s part of the reason you ended up on Hudson & Rex, is that true?
JG: Yeah, they just moved me over. I was winding down on Frankie, and they were like, ‘Hey, we need writers on Rex.’ Initially, I was hired to just do one script and four weeks on the show, and I really thought it was just a short little stint, because they initially had, what was it, 8, or 10 episodes?

And then I suddenly got a call saying, ‘They’ve just expanded it, can you do another script?’ And I was like, ‘Great!’ And then a few weeks later, they’re like, ‘We just found out now that the order is 16. Would you do another script?’ And it kept expanding, so I kept getting a few more weeks, and then another script, and a few more. And now, I’m freelancing on Season 2, writing another script.

What were your first thoughts when it came to writing Hudson & Rex?
JG: I think the initial challenge was what is the tone of the show? Probably everybody assumed going in that it was going to be extremely lighthearted and comedic. And that’s my wheelhouse anyway, so I figured that’s what I’m going to bring also. Comedy is more my thing really. And then I get into the room, and the storylines are pretty heavy and dark. And I thought, ‘What is happening here?’ But it’s interesting, it’s just not what I initially expected, and I think maybe I wasn’t alone to think that, so we started to adapt. Making the dog the star of the show and trying to tell a mystery that would be impossible to solve without the dog—the dog is supposedly Charlie’s superpower—that is the goal that we always strive for anyway. It can be challenging, but it’s interesting that the show itself is more like just a cop procedural. So it doesn’t have that childlike, or younger, tone that maybe we initially expected going on.

Even though the writers’ room is so collaborative, when it comes to writing, do you go off on your own, do you have a soundtrack that you listen to while you write, do you need to be in a Starbucks or something with some background noise, how does it work for you?
JG: I don’t like listening to music, because I’ll start singing along, or even humming to a tune. I’m not hearing the words and the dialogue, so I like being quiet. But at the same time, I’m happy to work in a coffee shop, so background noise doesn’t bother me. But I tend to work at home. I’m flexible. I don’t have only one way that I can do it. I have a four-year-old and sometimes it’s wherever.

Is there anything that you’re working on that you talk about at this point, or is it all just about focusing on Hudson & Rex?
JG: A feature that I’ve been working on, it’s a biopic about Phil Hartman. I have a co-writing credit with Jonas Chernick. He wrote the initial script that I was brought on to rewrite, but we’re co-writers on it. So yes, story biopic about Phil Hartman, and we’ll see where it goes. It’s being produced by Tyler Levine at Carousel Pictures. Phil Hartman’s daughter has been very supportive and got the creators of The Simpsons on board with us.

Hudson & Rex airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Citytv.

Images courtesy of Rogers Media.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

CBC announces fall 2019 premiere dates for new and returning series

From a media release:

CBC today announced broadcast and streaming premiere dates for its fall 2019 slate of new and returning original series, featuring a wide range of Canadian stories across drama, comedy, factual, arts, kids, news, and documentary programming. The fall schedule launches Monday, September 16 on CBC and the free CBC Gem streaming service.

CBC’s Fall 2019 primetime schedule launching Monday, September 16:

All following times local with the exception of Newfoundland, please add half an hour to all times.

MONDAYS
7:30 PM – CORONATION STREET (weekdays at 7:30 p.m., moves to 7 p.m. the week of December 23)

8 PM – MURDOCH MYSTERIES Season 13 (18×60) premieres September 16

9 PM – FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES Season 3 (10×60) premieres September 16

TUESDAYS
7:30 PM – CORONATION STREET (weekdays at 7:30 p.m., moves to 7 p.m. the week of December 23)

7:30 PM – FAMILY FEUD CANADA (60×30) Tuesdays to Fridays; premieres the week of December 16 at 8 p.m., moves to its regular time of 7:30 p.m. beginning the week of December 23

8 PM – STILL STANDING Season 5 (13×30) premieres September 17

8:30 PM – THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES Season 27 (19×30) premieres September 17

9 PM – TALLBOYZ (8×30) new sketch comedy series from executive producer Bruce McCulloch premieres September 17

9:30 PM – BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW Season 4 (10×30) premieres September 17

WEDNESDAYS
7:30 PM – CORONATION STREET (weekdays at 7:30 p.m., moves to 7 p.m. the week of December 23)

7:30 PM – FAMILY FEUD CANADA (60×30) Tuesdays to Fridays; premieres the week of December 16 at 8 p.m., moves to its regular time of 7:30 p.m. beginning the week of December 23

8 PM – THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW Season 3 (8×60) premieres September 18

9 PM – NORTHERN RESCUE Season 1 (10×60) premieres September 18

THURSDAYS
7:30 PM – CORONATION STREET (weekdays at 7:30 p.m., moves to 7 p.m. the week of December 23)

7:30 PM – FAMILY FEUD CANADA (60×30) Tuesdays to Fridays; premieres the week of December 16 at 8 p.m., moves to its regular time of 7:30 p.m. beginning the week of December 23

8 PM – BATTLE OF THE BLADES (1×120, 6×60) premieres with a two-hour special September 19

9 PM – DRAGONS’ DEN Season 14 (10×60) premieres September 26

FRIDAYS
7:30 PM – CORONATION STREET (weekdays at 7:30 p.m., moves to 7 p.m. the week of December 23)

7:30 PM – FAMILY FEUD CANADA (60×30) Tuesdays to Fridays; premieres the week of December 16 at 8 p.m., moves to its regular time of 7:30 p.m. beginning the week of December 23

8 PM – MARKETPLACE Season 46 (22×30) premieres September 27

8:30 PM – IN THE MAKING Season 2 (8×30) premieres September 27

9 PM – THE NATURE OF THINGS Season 59 (18×60) premieres September 20 with two back-to-back episodes *NEW NIGHT*

11:30 PM – CBC ARTS: EXHIBITIONISTS Season 5 (6×30) premieres September 20

SATURDAYS
Mornings – MOLLY OF DENALI (38X30) *special premiere date Monday, September 2*

Mornings – TRUE AND THE RAINBOW KINGDOM Season 3 (10X30) premieres September 7

Afternoons – ROAD TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES Season 5

6:30 PM – HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA

SUNDAYS
7 PM – HEARTLAND Season 13 (10×60) premieres September 22

8 PM – ANNE WITH AN E Season 3 (10×60) premieres September 22

9 PM – THE FIFTH ESTATE Season 45 (14×60) premieres September 22

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

CBC original legal aid drama Diggstown rolls on second season

From a media release:

Production is underway in Halifax, Nova Scotia on the second season of the CBC original one-hour drama Diggstown (6×60). Produced by Circle Blue Entertainment, Freddie Films Inc., and Waterstar Entertainment Inc. and created by Halifax’s Floyd Kane (Across The Line), the series will premiere in winter 2020 on CBC and stream on CBC Gem.

In the first season of Diggstown, viewers were introduced to the fierceness of Marcie Diggs (Vinessa Antoine, Being Erica, Heartland) and the emotionally and ethically devastating world of legal aid. Season 2 follows Marcie and her fellow crusaders at legal aid as they continue their fight against a criminal justice system that shows no mercy to their most at-risk citizens.

Marcie dives deeper into criminal law, testing her ethics as a lawyer at every turn. Pam (Stacey Farber, Grace and Frankie), focuses on her work as her personal life crumbles around her. While preoccupied with staving off her boss, Colleen (Natasha Henstridge,  Species), struggles to keep the Halifax Legal Aid team in line. Reggie (C. David Johnson, Street Legal) is surprised when a reluctant favour turns into a new exciting interest. Doug (Brandon Oakes, Arctic Air) makes a potentially devastating professional blunder and Iris (Shailene Garnett, Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments) dives into her dream career.

Cory Bowles, Kelly Makin and Lynne Stopkewich are back as directors, with Sharon Lewis joining as an additional director.

A CBC original drama, Diggstown is co-produced by Circle Blue Entertainment, Freddie Films Inc., and Waterstar Entertainment Inc. Kane is creator, executive producer and showrunner, and Amos Adetuyi (Jean of the Jones), Brenda Greenberg (Being Erica), Karen Wentzell (Seed) and Todd Berger (Wynonna Earp) are executive producers.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail