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Featured, Murdoch Mysteries

Interview: Murdoch Mysteries’ Hélène Joy lets her hair down

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It’s not often that Hélène Joy is able to really let her hair down. On Murdoch Mysteries it’s always drawn up in a no-nonsense tousle, part of the restrictive look of the times sported by Dr. Julia Ogden and the women of the 1900s. The hair and the wardrobe are so extreme, Joy says, she’s rarely recognized out on the street.

And while Dr. Ogden may be constrained by her wardrobe and the time’s social mores, Joy certainly isn’t. In this wide-ranging chat from the set, the Perth, Australia, native talked about her arm injury—suffered while biking in Toronto—the upcoming season, meeting fans (and how far some will go to meet the cast) and her interests outside of Murdoch Mysteries.

How is your arm?
Hélène Joy: I have a plate and 10 screws in it. It’s so nasty and it’s still a bit stiff. It’s at maybe 85 per cent of what it was. I’ve got a really good swing in softball now, I’m stronger than I used to be.

A young fan was on the set today and excited to meet everyone. What is it like meeting people who love this show and these characters so much?
Being here on the set working you sometimes forget the impact that you have on people when they watch you on the television. We were in Ayr, Ont., filming and somebody tried to get access. They pretended to be somebody’s brother to get into the makeup truck. It got a little rowdy.

The running joke is that I never get recognized in public because I look so different. With my hair down, it’s more of a transformation than it is with the guys. But when people do recognize me, it’s like, ‘Whaaaattt??’ I’ve met fans as me and they stare at me, like, ‘Where do I know her from?’ It happens to me all the time. I’ve met people who have told me I look 20 years older as Julia. I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not!

I’ve met people who have told me I look 20 years older as Julia. I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not!

Showrunner Peter Mitchell told me at the end of Season 8 that this upcoming season will feature more of William and Julia.
We did give the fans some of that last season, but they wanted more. What they did get, they loved. We’re allowed to play and flirt and be completely open and there is way more of that this year because we know how much the fans love it.

The next step for Julia and William is a baby…
I think that would be amazing. I think it would be hilarious because I think they’d be terrible parents. They’re a couple of nerds who don’t really have any idea what they’re doing. Neither of them would stop working, so how would they balance that?

You’re a member of Women In Film & Television. Do you feel as though women are being given more opportunities in TV and film than they were?
It’s always changing. If I think back 10 years ago, when I first came to Canada, my agent told me, ‘You haven’t made it, but you’ll work. There will be less roles for you as you get older, but you’ll work.’ That was the attitude that I came into. Like, if you’re not 22, it won’t be that easy. And I wasn’t 22. It’s no longer that way at all. The best roles for women are in their 30s and up. I’m glad to see that no one is buying into that and that directors aren’t buying into that.

People want to see lead women and women’s stories. I think the future is really bright.

What about producing and directing. Is that something you’re interested in doing?
Not producing, I’m not really interested in that. Directing is something I’d be interested in, but I’m not one to step onto a set and direct. If anything, I’d be directing my own short. I have a short that I’d like to make that I wrote some time ago and I have a support system to do it but it requires time. I’ve been doing this long enough that I know what I’d want.

What is the short about?
It’s set in Australia on Valentine’s Day in the heat, but because the seasons are different [between North America and Australia] maybe I’d set it in L.A. It’s a weird love story with a dark twist and not a lot of dialogue. Only one scene of dialogue, actually, and it’s very intense. I can see all of the camera work; it’s all done in my head. Now I just need a bunch of money!

Season 9 of Murdoch Mysteries returns Monday, Oct. 5, at 8 p.m. on CBC.

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Amazing Race Canada, Dark Matter, Featured

Comments and queries for the week of July 31

The key to Amazing Race Canada‘s Express Pass

You can really do one of three things with the Express Pass you have to give away:

A) Give it to another team you like out of friendship and maybe you can help each other on some random task down the line.

B) Give it to a weak team you feel sorry for. Perhaps hoping on the small chance they use it at a time when a stronger team is having a bad day so the Express Pass contributes to the stronger team’s elimination.

C) Give it to a strong team that probably won’t really need it but knowing it will probably make them a bigger possibility for getting U-Turned. And maybe the stronger team will help you on a task down the line. —Dan

Love/hate for Dark Matter

I think that Dark Matter S01E07 is one of this season’s best episodes, with an interesting, fast paced story and new interesting characters. I think it was a nice jump in quality, compared to the previous episode, that I found slow and not too interesting. —Juan

Not impressed with the addition of Ruby Rose to the great cast already in place. She is freaking annoying and not sci-fi material in my opinion. I’ll give her props in OITNB but this was not a positive for the show Dark Matter. It adds a sleazy feel. Last week we enjoyed wonderful character development. This week made me feel like I was watching The CW’s teeny B.S. —Not Happy

 

Got a comment or query about Canadian TV? greg@tv-eh.com or @tv_eh.

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Featured

Digging for more Canadian history on Backroad Bounty

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You never know what will be uncovered during an episode of Backroad Bounty. Will hosts Marty Gebel and Peter “Bam Bam” Bamford procure a cool neon sign hidden in a disused storage room, a box full of collectible Matchbox cars aching to see the light of day, or an old stand used to hold cans for a long-forgotten brand of car oil?

What these guys find, what they pay for them with plans to re-sell—and the stories behind those items—are at the heart of the Cottage Life series as it heads into its sophomore season. I hopped in the car and drove two hours outside of Toronto to Ingersoll, Ont., where Gebel and Bamford were busy searching for buried treasure. I found the pair climbing around the cluttered, humid third floor of E. W. McKim Quality Home Hardware in Ingersoll’s downtown, calling out to one another—and to store owner Bob Mott—when they discovered something cool. There was plenty to chat about. Among the items the fellows were interested in? Old ice skates, wooden boxes, vintage hardware store displays and a sign that once hung in front of the store. And while the items the boys found had interesting stories attached to them, the future episode’s setting did too: Mott recalls how the hardware store was a buggy shop during the 1800s.

“Searching for items is in their blood,” Joe Houlihan, president of Our House Media, Backroad Bounty‘s production company, tells me during a break in shooting. “They’d be doing this whether there was a TV show or not.” Season 1 of Backroad Bounty saw Gebel and Bamford tooling around cottage country, poking around decrepit hotels, barns, overflowing basements and garages in search of finds they could fix up and re-sell; this go-round has expanded its boundaries.

Backroad_Bounty

“This season feels more like a buddy road trip,” series producer and director Marshall Kaplan says. “It’s about the characters they meet along the way. It’s always about the amazing stuff that they find, but there’s humour and more of a story, more meat to the bone this year.”

Houlihan points out Backroad Bounty “sneaks history” into each episode through the tales told and items purchased; he himself has learned an incredible amount of Ontario history from his program. Among the areas the duo visit in Season 2 are Grand Bend, Quinte West, Harcourt, Port Dover, Walkerton, Wiarton and Owen Sound where the pair entertain each other as much as they do viewers.

“Marty is Bam’s best audience,” Kaplan says with a laugh. “Bam is a really good entertainer and Marty laughs at every one of his jokes. They may be interested in different things, but at the end of the day they both love the hunt.”

Season 2 of Backroad Bounty will air on Cottage Life.

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Amazing Race Canada, Featured

Review: Devil in the details on Amazing Race Canada

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Missed locations, wrong addresses, half-completed tasks and a missing passport were the norm during the messiest Leg of The Amazing Race Canada so far. Last week, I commented that this third trip around the world has featured some of the most difficult challenges I’ve seen in the franchise. But while the Leg in Halifax wasn’t particularly challenging, it derailed several teams.

Unfortunately for Hamilton and Michaelia, it also spelled the end of their Race. The pair played catch-up for the better part of their time in Nova Scotia after Hamilton left his passport on the plane, meaning they had to return to the airport to get it before they could check in with Jon Montgomery. Halifax Stanfield International is a 40-minute drive from the city, meaning they lost almost an hour and a half in trip time, allowing even the slowest team—Nic and Sabrina—ample time to reach the mat.

Oh, Nic and Sabrina. The married pair who are so strong with linguistics have faltered in other areas. Nic’s lack of observational skills took the duo off-course and to an empty marina when everyone else drove to Citadel Hill. His indecisive attitude at the Bubbles Detour—he doesn’t like to get his face wet—cost them valuable time at Dalhousie University before they swapped and delivered beer to three pubs for Suds. One of the strongest teams early on has been humbled by small things and they need to pick things up.

Meanwhile, Dujean and Leilani—a pair who have battled each other in the past—pulled it together and were the first to meet Jon at the Halifax Seaport Farmer’s Market. Sure, Leilani’s knowledge of Halifax (it’s her hometown) was integral to their success, but I also credit them for staying positive and, dare I say it?, having fun while they raced.

It’s a trait that Brent and Sean have embraced since Quebec City and as a result they’ve been in the middle of the pack and a joy to watch compete. That, and a kinship with Michaelia and Hamilton, scored them the oh-so-important Express Pass.

Here’s how the teams finished:

  1. Dujean and Leilani
  2. Brian and Cynthia
  3. Nick and Matt
  4. Brent and Sean
  5. Simi and Ope
  6. Neil and Kristin
  7. Gino and Jesse
  8. Nic and Sabrina
  9. Hamilton and Michaelia (eliminated)

Notes and quotes

  • I really appreciate Jon Montgomery telling us Buenos Aires makes some of the best barbecue he’s ever tasted. Yes, I’m being sarcastic.
  • Did the BMO lady at the airport talk the teams into getting bank accounts?

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

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Podcast

TV Eh B Cs podcast 28 – A Splice of Matthew Hannam

After Matthew Hannam moved to Toronto to attend the Canadian Film Centre, he stayed on to pursue a career in editing. He started  working with Bruce McDonald on The Tracey Fragments. His first feature was Matt Bissonnette’s Passenger Side, and soon he was making films with Bruce McDonald, Don McKellar, Leonard Farlinger, Aaron Woodley, Jamie Travis and Brandon Cronenberg.
HannamCronenberg’s Antiviral premiered at Cannes in 2012. Following that, he edited Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy for which he won a Canadian Screen Award. Most recently, he edited James White for Borderline Films (Martha Marcy May Marlene, Simon Killer). The film premiered at Sundance ’15 and won the “best of NEXT” audience award.
Currently he is editing The Expanse, a new series for Alcon Entertainment and SyFy. But we spent some time talking about a short documentary episode he directed for TMN’s Reelside about Don McKellar and Bruce McDonald.

Listen or download below, or subscribe via iTunes or any other podcast catcher with the TV, eh? podcast feed.

Want to become a Patron of the Podcast? We’ve got a Patreon page where you can donate a small amount per podcast and get a sneak peek of each release.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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