TV, eh?

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• This Week’s Podcast: 22 Minutes and More

From Etan Vlessing of the Hollywood Reporter:

• Canadian sitcoms, reality TV outdo dramas
  The funny thing about Canadian TV nowadays are sitcoms and light reality fare are outperforming edgy homegrown dramas in primetime. The March 5 two-hour series premiere of the CTV police drama “The Bridge” from E1 Television debuted Friday night with 998,000 viewers, just shy of the 1.009 million viewers that tuned in to the recent series premiere for the CBC’s P.I. drama “The Republic of Doyle.” Read more.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• House Call Bad Medicine for Hiccups, Dan For Mayor

8:30 p.m.

What was going to be a straight-forward race for Mayor gets complicated when more candidates come forward, but luckily Dan’s (Fred Ewanuick) good friend Jeff (Paul Bates) is there to help him run his campaign.

From Myles McNutt of Cultural Learnings:

• Series Premieres: CTV’s Hiccups and Dan for Mayor
  “CTV has effectively gotten two shows out of one, with Butt creating (and starring in) Hiccups featuring fellow Corner Gas alum (and wife) Nancy Robertson, and Fred Ewanuick taking on the title role in Dan for Mayor as a follow-up to his role as Hank on Butt’s former show. And as someone who had lost my taste for Corner Gas (while maintaining my respect for the show’s starting point, considering I wrote a thesis chapter about it), it’s nice to see the talented people involved bringing two new series to the table.” Read more.

From a media release:

CTV’s HICCUPS and DAN FOR MAYOR Debut with 1.9 Million Viewers Each

• Two new homegrown comedies win timeslots against HOUSE and THE BACHELOR
• Inaugural CTV.ca live online chats a great success with almost 700 comments submitted
• HICCUPS and DAN FOR MAYOR latest to join CTV’s online line-up at CTV.ca

CTV’s newest homegrown comedies, HICCUPS and DAN FOR MAYOR, premiered to 1.9 million viewers each last night, becoming the most-watched premieres of any scripted Canadian series this season. The two new series won the 8 – 9 p.m. ET timeslot against both HOUSE (Global/FOX, 1.3 million) and the season finale of THE BACHELOR (City/ABC, 1.3 million, 8-9 p.m.). Head-to-head, HICCUPS delivered 240% more viewers than 18 TO LIFE (CBC; 558,000) at 8 p.m. ET, while DAN FOR MAYOR delivered 374% more viewers than LITTLE MOSQUE ON THE PRAIRIE (CBC; 404,000) at 8:30 p.m. ET.

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From Amber Dowling of TV Guide:

• Passing ‘Gas’
  “During Fred Ewanuick’s six-year tenure on Corner Gas as Brent Butt’s loveable but spacey sidekick Hank Yarbo, the 38-year-old actor became one of the most recognizable faces in Canada. His gentle absurdity coupled with his competitive larks made him a comedic staple to the show that revitalized Canadian comedy.” Read more.

From Alex Strachan of Canwest News Service:

• Fred Ewanuick enters the political ring for laughs on Dan for Mayor
  “Fred Ewanuick has met a few mayors in his time, but none as shiftless, ne’er-do-well or sad sack as Dan Phillips, the lazy fella who decides one day to run for mayor of his hometown, the fictional hamlet of Wessex, Ont., in the new TV comedy Dan for Mayor.” Read more.

From Robert Cushman of the National Post:

• The return of Dog River’s finest
  “Tonight, CTV unwraps two new comedy shows that, while not exactly spinoffs of Corner Gas, trade in the same kind of gentle urban-folksy humour. An American sitcom, even one as sophisticated as Seinfeld, virtually screams at you “aren’t these people crazy?” A Canadian sitcom is likelier to roll its eyes and ask you to identify with its people while suggesting that they are, really, rather odd. Both Hiccups and Dan for Mayor look, on the strength of their first episodes, mildly promising, with an emphasis on the adverb.” Read more.

From Patricia Treble of Macleans’ Magazine:

• The good, the funny, and the ugly
  “Canadians have endured a zillion promos for CTV’s three new shows—The Bridge, Dan for Mayor and Hiccups. Are they worth watching?” Read more.

From Rob Salem of the Toronto Star:

• Corner Gas stars out from behind Butt
  “Nancy Robertson and Fred Ewanuick, the former Wanda and Hank, return as Millie and Dan in two separate new CTV sitcoms” Read more.

8:30 p.m. – DAN FOR MAYOR – SERIES PREMIERE
When Dan Phillips’s (Fred Ewanuick) ex-girlfriend Claire (Mary Ashton) tells him that she is engaged, Dan reacts by telling her that he is running for Mayor against an unbeatable incumbent.

From a media release:

Viewers Can Chat Live with Stars of HICCUPS and DAN FOR MAYOR as Series Premiere March 1

• CTV.ca offers interactive experience for CTV viewers to complement broadcast premieres
• Features HICCUPS’ star Nancy Robertson and DAN FOR MAYOR’s Fred Ewanuick

For the first time on CTV.ca, viewers can interact live with the stars of two new series as the shows premiere on CTV. Fans can get online and engage with CORNER GAS stars Nancy Robertson and Fred Ewanuick as they launch HICCUPS and DAN FOR MAYOR, back-to-back on Monday, March 1.

Bringing viewers closer to the stars than ever before, CTV.ca launches its first LIVE chat with HICCUPS’ Nancy Robertson from 8 to 8:30 p.m. ET. Then, from 8:30 to 9 p.m. ET, viewers can stay online at CTV.ca to connect with Fred Ewanuick of DAN FOR MAYOR to get exclusives on his new series. Viewers watching the tape-delayed premieres in other time zones can log on to read the chats in their entirety.

Viewers can log on to CTV.ca to weigh in with thoughts and comments about the show, ask questions and get real-time answers straight from the stars themselves.

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From Bill Harris of QMI Agency:

• ‘Corner Gas’ actor takes the lead
  With his new sitcom Dan For Mayor mere days from broadcast, Fred Ewanuick used a puck-and-ice analogy to describe his emotions. “It’s like getting ready for a big hockey game, and you’re playing a team you’ve never played before but you’ve heard stories about how awesome they are,” Ewanuick said. Read more.

From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail:

• What to catch in between the gold medals
  “Meanwhile, back in the TV Racket: The Olympics are mere cover for feverish activity. New shows coming. New shows in production. Casting decisions made. Many shows ready to go to air as soon as the Olympics end. Some have even snuck onto the schedule already. Herewith, a summary of what’s happening.” Read more.

From a media release:

Original New Comedy Series DAN FOR MAYOR Gets Inducted into CTV Line Up, March 1

• New comedy stars CORNER GAS’s Fred Ewanuick
• Original series joins Monday night comedy block at 8:30 p.m. ET
• Created by three of Canada’s most talented comedy writers and producers
• Three real life Mayors make cameo appearances
• New episodes available post-broadcast on CTV.ca

CORNER GAS and ROBSON ARMS alumnus Fred Ewanuick stars as Dan, an average 30-something bartender whose off-the-cuff comment spirals into his haphazard candidacy for mayor in the half-hour Original Comedy Series DAN FOR MAYOR, premiering Monday, March 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET on CTV (visit CTV.ca to confirm local broadcast times). Created and written by three of Canada’s most respected comedy writers and producers – Mark Farrell (CORNER GAS; THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES), Paul Mather (CORNER GAS; THE RICK MERCER REPORT) and Kevin White (CORNER GAS; THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES) – DAN FOR MAYOR follows Dan on his new-found quest to make it big in local politics.

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From the Writers Guild of Canada:

• Dan for Mayor podcast

From a media release:

Olympic Games Launch Pad: New CTV Original Series HICCUPS, DAN FOR MAYOR, and THE BRIDGE Get Post-Olympic Games Premieres

• Brent Butt, Nancy Robertson and Fred Ewanuick return in HICCUPS and DAN FOR MAYOR, March 1
• Aaron Douglas heats up Friday Nights in new police drama THE BRIDGE, March 5

CTV announced today it has strategically scheduled three new Original Canadian series to debut next month, immediately following the conclusion of the VANCOUVER 2010 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES. The three series will benefit from weeks of promotion during what is to be one of the most-watched television events of the year.

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From Joel Rubinoff of the Waterloo Record:

• There’s a new Mayor in town
  “He is, in his own words, ‘that guy from that show,’ and as he observes the filming of a new Canadian sitcom in which Kitchener-Waterloo stands in for the fictional Canadian city of Wessex, it’s hard to believe he’s the star.” Read more.

From a media release:

Production Underway on CTV Original Comedy Series DAN FOR MAYOR

• CORNER GAS’ Fred Ewanuick leads comic cast currently shooting in Toronto, Kitchener and Waterloo, ON
• Creative team helmed by three of Canada’s most-respected writers

CTV and The Comedy Network, in association with Sad Glasses and QVF Inc., announced today that production is underway on the original Canadian comedy series, DAN FOR MAYOR in Toronto, Kitchener and Waterloo, ON. Starring CORNER GAS and ROBSON ARMS alumnus Fred Ewanuick as the lead character Dan, the 13, 30-minute episode series will continue principal photography through November.

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