From the Canadian Press:
Link: Unité 9 locks up Prix Gémeaux victory; District 31 takes Prix du public
Unité 9, a gritty show about a group of women in a Quebec prison, won the award for best year-long drama at the Prix Gémeaux gala Sunday night.
It was the fourth consecutive year the hugely popular show took the prize. Continue reading.Â
Hot on the heels of Baroness von Sketch Show‘s well-deserved Canadian Screen Award wins and continued kudos from American attention thanks to IFC picking the program up, the funny Canadian ladies are back for Season 3 on Tuesday at 9 p.m. on CBC.
Once again, writers, stars and executive producers Carolyn Taylor, Meredith MacNeill, Aurora Browne and Jennifer Whalen simply nail it with hilarious characters and dead-funny views in sketches both timely and evergreen. While some Canadian periodicals write lazy columns decrying a lack of funny at the CBC, I say the network has never been stronger because of Baroness, Still Standing, Schitt’s Creek, Mr. D and Kim’s Convenience. (The jury is still out on 22 Minutes, thanks to behind the scenes shakeups.)
The return episode, “Is that you Karen?” bursts out of the gate with immediate laughs, as two ladies who haven’t seen each other in 20 years reconnect in the oddest and most ludicrous of ways. And that’s before the revamped opening credits roll. Then, in the rat-a-tat roll out of sketches, viewers get reflections on the rites of spring (with three of the four ladies dressed as dudes), the dangers of accepting a ride home from a co-worker, rogue cops and what could happen when the barista gets the name wrong on your coffee cup.
Whenever I speak to folks about the television shows Baroness von Sketch almost always comes up. There’s a reason for that. With tight writing, stellar performances (MacNeill’s over-the-top physical comedy is a standout) and truly relatable topics, the baronesses are hitting a comedy home run every week.
Baroness von Sketch Show airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.
At long last, Jonny Harris and Still Standing are back on our television screens. In a bit of a shakeup, the programming folks moved Still Standing—and its Tuesday night partner Baroness Von Sketch Show—from summer until fall. That gives folks of Harris a double dose of the baby-faced comedian in this and his long-running gig on Murdoch Mysteries.
In the Season 4 return, Harris arrives in Tignish, PEI, a small community to—as is the series formula—showcase the place, the people, the struggles they’re enduring and then celebrate them through laughs and anecdotes. It’s a formula that works by playing to Harris’ strengths as a storyteller and wry observationalist. Still Standing isn’t a “woe is me” tale but one of making the best of things and/or striving to make them better.
That’s certainly the case in Tignish, located on the western tip of the province. Far away from the Confederation Bridge and Anne of Green Gables is this group of just over 700 citizens. The area, it turns out, was a favourite stomping ground for Stompin’ Tom Connors. The legendary singer-songwriter even wrote of the area in his tune “The Song of the Irish Moss.” The moss industry may have long gone, but the memory remains in that song and hoping to cash in on that Tignish built the Stompin’ Tom Centre. The facility, in addition to including Connors’ boyhood home and the one-room schoolhouse he attended, houses a concert hall where his gold and platinum records, guitar and hat and boots are on display.
Also keeping Tignish on the map is, of course, the lobster industry, which Harris gets an education on, and the life of dew worms. Both make it into his stand-up act and are very, very funny.
Upcoming locations on Harris’ journeys include Carcross, Yukon; Rogersville, Nova Scotia; Fraser Lake, British Columbia; Cobalt, Ontario; and New Denmark, New Brunswick.
Still Standing airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on CBC.
Image courtesy of CBC.
From Heather M. of TV Goodness:
Link: Julian Doucet talks about Killjoys’ “The Kids are Alright”
Typically, the next-to-last episode of a TV season has a ton of buttoning up as the various threads are resolved in anticipation of, and to set up, the finale. Doucet had to wrangle both of those pieces and fold in a specific story. Continue reading.
From Kelly Townsend of The TV Junkies:
Link: Killjoys: Julian Doucet talks “The Kids are Alright?”
Killjoys delivered a shocking and heartbreaking episode, along with some powerhouse performances, with “The Kids Are Alright?â€â€“and, frankly, we’re not alright. Continue reading.
From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:
Link: Wynonna Earp: Why Dani Kind is so happy to be back in Purgatory
“She wasn’t in it a lot but there was something between her and Wynonna. They said they were friends but the way it was written the connection was something else. It was sort of like ‘why do these women even like each other? They are so different!’” Continue reading.
