TV, eh? | What's up in Canadian television | Page 626
TV,eh? What's up in Canadian television

CBC orders new original drama Frankie Drake starring This Life’s Lauren Lee Smith

We may not have another season of This Life to enjoy, but Lauren Lee Smith is staying with the CBC. Smith, who played Maggie Lawson for two rounds of This Life, has nabbed the lead role in Frankie Drake, a drama about Toronto’s only female detective in the 1920s.

The 11-episode first season of Frankie Drake will begin production this summer in Toronto and will debut this fall on CBC.

Frankie Drake takes on the cases no one else wants to handle and her gender puts her at odds with the social mores of the day. Undeterred, Frankie and her partner, Trudy, open Drake Detective Agency and tackle mysteries.


Related: Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci discuss Frankie Drake


“Frankie Drake is a real labour of love for us. It is a story about a spirited woman, breaking barriers and calling the shots, in a world that might not be ready for her. This is a one-hour detective series, set in the 20s, but this is not the roaring 20s we have seen onscreen before,” Christina Jennings, chairman and CEO, Shaftesbury said in a press release. “We are so pleased to bring this show to life, in partnership with our friends at the CBC, and with a creative team who have been part of our Shaftesbury family for many of our hit series. And of course—what a treat to work with the wonderful Lauren Lee Smith again. I can’t wait for the world to meet Frankie Drake.”

Now, some sad news for Murdoch Mysteries fans: Frankie Drake is created by Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci, which means they won’t return for Season 11 of Murdoch. Hay and Ricci also serve as executive producers on Frankie Drake; the series is executive produced by Jennings, Scott Garvie and Cal Coons, who also serves as showrunner. The series is produced by Jonathan Hackett and Julie Lacey.

We can’t wait to see the sass Smith brings to Frankie. What are your thoughts on this announcement? Will you tune in? Let us know in the comments below!

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Bellevue: Did you hear the one about the mayor, the priest, and the hockey coach?

**SPOILER ALERT** Do NOT read if you have not watched Episode 7 of Bellevue!

THAT episode of Bellevue was FREAKING INSANE! The kind of blow your mind storyline twists that we have come to expect from shows like The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones. Seriously! Bellevue may not be as epic or grand scale, but the twists are just as effective for dragging viewers down the rabbit hole.

So let’s get it out of the way right now … Brady killed Jesse! WHAT?!? Did ANYONE SEE that coming? To quote Annie Ryder: “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?” Turns out Brady, in an effort to talk Jesse (Sadie O’Neil) out of leaving town revealed to her that he was secretly in love with his sister Briana (Amber Goldfarb). Jesse’s repulsion sealed her doom, and Brady was forced to kill to keep his secret safe.

But let’s backtrack and sort out how we got there. We know Tom’s (Vincent Leclerc) alibi is blown because of his raving wife Jackie (Marianne Farley), and Peter (Shawn Doyle) calls him in for questioning. Tom finally admits he did pick Jesse up and took him to the church so that he, Lily (Janine Theriault), and Father Jay (Joe Cobden) can “talk some sense into him” and “get him on the right path again.”

Upset by all of this talk Jesse ran out of the church. She never got back into Tom’s truck. So now we know there is another white truck out there and Annie figures out that someone else was present in the church, lurking behind the curtain.

Meanwhile, we learn that The Riddler is Annie’s brother! Somehow she had entirely forgotten about him! Adam (Patrick Labbé) who at the age of 12—when Annie was three—was shunned by his father and sent away to military school because of his obsessive behaviour towards Annie. Now he is back, living in the woods, and keeping tabs on Annie with a police radio. Up until recently, he had been working at the local diner as a dishwasher under the alias Bobby Storms. Peter runs the alias through CPIC and calls up his list of priors including B&E’s, assault and a few counts of arson. Peter and Annie revisit areas in the woods Annie knows her brother frequented. Peter spots a campfire and they find Adam’s shelter. Peter pockets a note Adam intended for Annie, while Annie slips into the shelter and recognizes all of her possessions. Memories of her brother come flooding back.

Peter runs down the latest riddle at the church’s soup kitchen. Here he catches Adam off guard. Now, this is where our producers get a little audacious as they toy with viewers. Words are exchanged and are deliberately garbled for the audience. Adam says something that shocks Peter, but we are not privy to Adam’s message for Peter. Adam makes his escape leaving yet one more clue. Paraphrasing scripture from Jeremiah 4:7, and  loosely translated: “An impending calamity is about to happen; the final act of destruction.” Cheery thought, that.

On the Annie-Eddie (Allen Leech) front, Eddie is planning a move. He intends to take Daisy (Madison Ferguson) with him, and if Annie is not coming with them, he plans on fighting for custody. In the meantime Daisy, while hanging out with Bethany (Emelia Hellman) at the site where Jesse’s body was found, falls into the water. And conveniently, for investigative purposes, it happens a parasitic bacteria is present in the lake that requires a specific course of antibiotics to clear up. This means whoever killed Jesse would also require that same course of treatment. Whoever has recently been prescribed nitazoxanide would be a worthy suspect for Jesse’s murder.

Back at the station, Virginia (Sharon Taylor) picks up on an inconsistency with a CI account, and Brady is that CI’s contact. Annie decides to drop in on Brady and clearly, her spidey sense is tingling. Feigning a need to use the washroom, she checks through Brady’s medicine cabinet and garbage and there it is: nitazoxanide. Brady knows the jig is up and takes off in his truck. Annie looks in his garage and there she spots a white pickup truck, which we later find out belongs to Briana, registered in Sudbury. Unbeknownst to Annie, Brady is doubling back and takes her at gunpoint just as her call connects to Peter’s voicemail. Brady admits to being the man behind the curtain, and that he killed Jesse. And just as he is about to kill Annie, someone shows up in their own truck hitting Brady and sending his body into the windshield. Roll the credits!

Who is in need of some therapy after that episode? Huge shout out to Billy MacLellan for his performance in this episode, I was right there with him, feeling his emotional pain during his confession to Annie. Bravo!

And another shout out to Anna Paquin and Allen Leech for their hot and steamy scene! Beautifully done!

Now we know who killed Jesse, but what is the connection to Sandy Driver? Who killed her and why? We only have one episode left! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

The season finale of Bellevue airs Monday at 9 p.m. on CBC.

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Link: Updating Cancon rules for Internet age comes with political baggage

From Kate Taylor of The Globe and Mail:

Link: Updating Cancon rules for Internet age comes with political baggage
Ever since the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission first decided to exempt “new media” from regulation back in 1999, federal jurisdiction over content delivered via the Internet has proved mainly theoretical. If Ottawa wanted to intervene to make Canadian programming more discoverable online, it would certainly help if the government asserted its role by updating the Broadcasting Act, last revised in 1991. And if the government wanted Internet service providers, who don’t compensate the content creators who help build their profits, to contribute to the system, it would definitely need a whole new law – because in 2012 the Supreme Court ruled that ISPs are not broadcasters. Continue reading. 

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Link: Vancouver actress soars in chilling ‘Bellevue’

From Sabrina Furminger of Westender:

Link: Vancouver actress soars in chilling ‘Bellevue’
“The show is different for CBC. We’re addressing a very current issue – a transgender teen goes missing – and that’s different. And Anna Paquin’s character, Annie, is a different kind of female protagonist. She’s a mess, as well as being super-passionate and driven.” Continue reading. 

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Emerald Code, a new series about girls and STEM, gets the green light

From a media release:

Leading production company Shaftesbury, along with its digital studio Smokebomb Entertainment and branded entertainment agency shift2, welcome Shaw Rocket Fund as a partner on multi-platform digital series Emerald Code (20 x 3 mins), going into production this Spring. Shaw Rocket Fund joins an exciting roster of previously announced partners including Ubisoft and Let’s Talk Science. The series, aimed at inspiring and empowering girls 8-12 to pursue their interests in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) subjects in school and in life, will star newcomers, and real-life best friends, Anwen O’Driscoll and Star Slade, and will be directed by Michael Seater (Life with Derek, Murdoch Mysteries). A companion docu-series is also in the works (10 x 3 mins) that will celebrate real-life kid heroes of coding.

Emerald Code follows 15-year-old Simone Lang who, after discovering web design and programming at summer camp, is amazed at everything she can create by herself with science and technology. Inspiring her friends to do the same, Simone and her pals soon realize that they have tons of ideas and inventions that can make their lives easier, more connected, and more fun. They navigate the complicated and confusing world of high school by learning new skills and exchanging ideas in order to create unique and useful tools. Soon, Simone and friends are solving problems, coming up with wild schemes, and most importantly, cracking the code to living an awesome high school life!

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