• Shattered fails to break
  “The first new show of the 2010-11 network season opened to a BBOE (Below Brampton Overnight Estimate) 428,000 viewers Canada wide.” Read more.

• So You Think You Can Dance Canada: Yonni and Bree’s exit interview
  “They say it’s better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all: that’s how Yonni Fournier and Bree Wasylenko feel about So You Think You Can Dance Canada. The day after their elimination, they were still shocked but grateful to have had the experience of being in the show’s top 20.” Read more.

How to Be Indie and Men with Brooms Join 2010 Actors’ Fund Film & TV Charity Challenge

The 2010 Film and Television Charity Challenge continues to showcase the creativity and generosity of those working in the industry with the latest contributions coming from two new productions.

Returning YTV series How to Be Indie took the idea of creative fundraising seriously, holding a bake sale on its Toronto set. Led by cast member Sarena Parmar, cast and crew members participated by contributing sale items or buying each other’s goods. The event raised over $500 for the Fund and was an enjoyable break in the day, proving that taking part in the Charity Challenge can be fun and easy.

Winnipeg’s Men with Brooms, a comedy series set to debut this fall on CBC, raised $2,150 for the Challenge before the first episode has even aired! Cast member Joel Keller and Production Manager Dave Mahoney led cast and crew in showing their support of the Fund, resulting in a collection of over $1,000 to help industry members in need. Producer Ari Lantos agreed to match what was raised through individual donations.

Whether it’s by holding a bake sale or collecting individual donations, every production can find a way to participate in the Challenge. Past events have ranged from donating proceeds of a prop and costume auction to throwing a barbeque for 400 people, complete with silent auction, pony rides and live fiddlers. Some of the more popular ideas have been to hold a 50/50 draw on set with half the proceeds going to the Actors’ Fund, encouraging cast and crew to sign up for the Reel Friends payroll donation plan or raising money at the wrap party. Productions who want to do something splashier could plan a community event in keeping with the theme of the show. For more ideas and updates on the challenge please visit actorsfund.ca/charitychallenge

The Actors’ Fund of Canada is the lifeline for Canada’s entertainment industry. The Actors’ Fund is not just for actors: performers and those who work behind the scenes in film and television, theatre, music and dance can apply for emergency financial aid from the Fund, which recently set a new record for the amount of financial aid delivered to industry members in a single year, topping $600,000 in 2009. The Fund has helped over 10,000 entertainment industry workers recover from illness, injury or other circumstances causing severe economic and personal hardship since it was founded in 1958. The Actors’ Fund of Canada is a registered charity. It receives no government funding and is wholly sustained by support from individuals and entertainment industry organizations.

• ‘Princess’ targets spendthrift women
  “In Princess, author and money maven Vaz-Oxlade – also the host of Til Debt Do Us Part – attempts to rehabilitate real-life princesses. And when we say real-life princesses, we aren’t talking about anyone with royal blood. Rather, the focus is on financially irresponsible young women whose reckless behaviour is threatening to put themselves and their loved ones in the poor house.” Read more.

• Brandon Walsh would be shocked by Jason Priestley’s new role, but hey, it’s 09/02/10
  “Priestley plays Richard Fitzpatrick, the title character in HBO Canada’s Call Me Fitz, who in the first episode alone receives sexual favours from the receptionist, puts an unconscious woman in the driver’s seat after he steers a car off a cliff, and tries to sell that same car to the woman after she falls into a coma, all while drinking steadily and cursing like a sailor. If Brandon had a day like that, he would have immediately joined a monastery.” Read more.

• Review – Shattered: Pilot (S01E01)
  “But unluckily for Ben, and indeed the whole show, Canada seems to be the go-to place for shows to die.” Read more.

“To Serve or Protect” – After stumbling on gruesome evidence that Andy’s ex-cop father may have committed a murder during a drunken blackout, Andy and Swarek furiously search for proof of his innocence. Meanwhile, Chris and Dov show they’re not superhero crime fighters when a masked vigilante dressed like a caped crusader robs their squad car and the unintentional consequences help a drug dealer.

• The award for ineptitude goes to … the Geminis
  “We produce some excellent television in Canada. But there is one reason to despise the Canadian TV racket as 10th-rate, unsophisticated and utterly mediocre, and that reason is the Gemini Awards.” Read more.

BREE and YONNI are Eliminated From So You Think You Can Dance Canada Leaving 18 in the Running to Become Canada’s Favourite Dancer

It was announced tonight that BREE Wasylenko, 22, a Contemporary dancer from Toronto, ON and YONNI Fournier, 27, a Salsa dancer from Montreal, QC would be leaving the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE CANADA stage. The results were revealed live during tonight’s broadcast after host Leah Miller revealed the three couples with the lowest number of votes would dance for their lives and await their fate. Eighteen dancers are now in the running for the chance to be crowned Canada’s Favourite Dancer.

The bottom three couples who performed their solos for Canada this week were BREE and EDGAR Gilbert-Reyes, 22, a Hip-Hop dancer from Calgary, AB who hit the floor with a Dance Hall routine; Jera Wolfe, 19, a Ballet dancer and Breaker from Inverness, NS and Kirsten Wicklund, 20, a Contemporary Ballet dancer from Vancouver, BC who danced a fiery Paso Doblé and CLAUDIA Primeau, 26, a Ballroom dancer from Montreal, QC and YONNI who danced a sultry Foxtrot. Following the reveal, each dancer had the opportunity to dance for their lives before the judges deliberated and decided that BREE and YONNI would be the next two dancers eliminated from the competition.

Also as announced earlier today, the Gemini-Award winning SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE CANADA picked up four nominations for the 25th Annual Gemini Awards, categories include:

Best Music, Variety Program or Series
Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series – Leah Miller, Montreal/Edmonton Auditions
Best Photography in a Variety or Performing Arts Program or Series – Jean Renaud, Vincent Colbert, Finale
Best Picture Editing in a Comedy, Variety or Performing Arts Program or Series – Peter Hordylan, Owin Lambeck, Toronto Auditions

Before the results were revealed tonight, the Top 20 opened the show with a Bollywood group number choreographed by Longinus Fernandes, the choreographer behind the Academy Award®-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. Dressed in bright, beaded costumes, the Top 20 performed intricate but flowing movements to “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire.

Performing next week in front of judges Jean Marc Genereux, Tré Armstrong and Blake McGrath as well as guest judge Melissa Williams on Monday, September 6 at 9 p.m. ET on CTV (go to ctv.ca to confirm local listings) are:

Amanda Cleghorn, 19, a Contemporary dancer from Mississauga, ON
Charlene Hart, 24, a Contemporary Jazz dancer from Abbotsford, BC
CLAUDIA Primeau, 26, a Ballroom dancer from Montreal, QC
Danielle Gardner, 21, a Contemporary dancer from Surrey, BC
Denys Drozdyuk, 25, a Ballroom dancer from Toronto, ON
Edgar Gilbert-Reyes, 22, a Hip-Hop dancer from Calgary, AB
Janick Arseneau, 20, a Contemporary dancer from Bathurst, NB
Jeff Mortensen, 22, a Contemporary dancer from Edmonton, AB
Jera Wolfe, 19, a Ballet dancer and Breaker from Inverness, NS
Jesse Weafer, 25, a Contemporary dancer from Aurora, ON
Jonathan Arsenault, 26 Contemporary dancer from Kitchener, ON
Julia Harnett, 26, a Latin Ballroom dancer from Calgary, AB
Kirsten Wicklund, 20, a Contemporary Ballet dancer from Vancouver, BC
Kloé Schultz, 20, a Lyrical-Jazz dancer from North Bay, ON
Mackenzie Green, 20, a Contemporary dancer from Regina, SK
Nathalie Heath, 23, a Contemporary dancer from Surrey, BC
Sebastian Mersch, 21, a Contemporary dancer from Toronto, ON
Shavar Blackwood, 25, a Hip-Hop dancer from Toronto, ON

Next week, the Top 18 will work with returning choreographers Sean Cheesman, Stacey Tookey, Sho-Tyme, Gustavo Vargas, Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin, Sabrina Matthews, Maria Torres and Benji Schwimmer. The Performance show will also feature choreography by judge Luther Brown.

An encore of the Top 20 Performance and Results episodes will air on MuchMusic Saturday, September 4 beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET, and the Top 18 Performance and Results episodes will air Saturday, September 11 beginning at 5 p.m. ET (visit muchmusic.com to confirm local broadcast times).

Highlights from the weekly SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE CANADA episodes, including performances, and behind-the-scenes interviews will be available on demand on the CTV Video Player at CTV.ca. For up-to-date information, visit the series’ official website, dance.ctv.ca which gets fans up close and personal with their favourite dancers, judges and choreographers through exclusive photo galleries and blogs, while also providing news, episode recaps, a music guide, quizzes, forums and more.

• ‘Being Erica’ TV character transfixes Toronto Jews
  “With much of the character derived from the life experience of the show’s creator and executive producer, Jana Sinyor, this fictional 30-something Toronto Jew is resonating with many young Canadian Jews who see in her something of themselves.” Read more.