TV, eh?

From a media release:

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is pleased to announce the nominations for the 25th Annual Gemini Awards, recognizing the year’s best in Canadian English-language television. This year’s celebrations will be held in Toronto over three nights in November. The Industry Gala Presentations will take place on Tuesday November 2nd and Wednesday November 3rd at the Kool Haus Entertainment Complex; the Broadcast Gala will take place on Saturday November 13th at the historic Winter Garden Theatre and will be broadcast live-to-tape on Global and Showcase.

The drama Flashpoint leads the 2010 Gemini Awards nominations with 15 nominations including Best Dramatic Series. Coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games garnered 13 nominations including Best Live Sporting Event. Bloodletting And Miraculous Cures, Guns, Stargate Universe, and The Summit are up for awards in 9 categories each; Less Than Kind and Love, Hate and Propaganda each received 8 nominations.

For the complete list of nominations, please visit www.geminiawards.ca.

From CBC:

• Actor Maury Chaykin dies at 61
  “Maury Chaykin, the prolific and award-winning actor recently seen in the hit TV comedy Less Than Kind, has died. The veteran actor died in Toronto early Tuesday, his 61st birthday, his agent Paul Hemrend told CBC News.” Read more.

From the DGC website – nominations include Being Erica, Flashpoint, Sanctuary, The Bridge, Death Comes to Town, G-Spot, Less Than Kind, Little Mosque on the Prairie, Degrassi, Heartland, How to be Indie, Overruled:

• The Directors Guild of Canada Announces the 2010 DGC Awards Nominees “The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) announces the 2010 DGC Awards nominations. Comedian Dave Foley will host the annual gala on Saturday, September 25, 2010 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. The Guild will celebrate the career of acclaimed director Sidney Furie (The Ipcress File, Lady Sings the Blues) and the extraordinary contributions of Don McCutcheon and Paul Bronfman to the DGC and the Canadian film and television industry.” Read more.

From a media release:

2010 CANADIAN COMEDY AWARD NOMINEES ARE ANNOUNCED!

The race for the 2010 Canadian Comedy Awards is on! Canada’s finest comedians will go head to head for the coveted BEAVER statuette this October in Toronto, as The Canadian Comedy Awards Foundation in association with The Comedy Network today announced the nominees for the 2010 Canadian Comedy Awards. At a media conference held at Yuk Yuk’s in Toronto, emcees Deb McGrath and Colin Mochrie highlighted the nominees in all 21 categories.

Winners will be declared at The Comedy Network Presents the Canadian Comedy Awards & Festival Awards Show on Monday, October 18 to be held at the Isabel Bader Theatre.

To view a complete list of the 2010 Canadian Comedy Awards nominees and to access nominee bios, please go to www.canadiancomedy.ca.

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From a media release:

AWARD-WINNING COMEDY SERIES, LESS THAN KIND PICKED UP FOR THIRD SEASON BY HBO CANADA

Ira Levy and Peter Williamson, Executive Producers at Breakthrough Film and Television, and Phyllis Laing, Executive Producer at Buffalo Gal Pictures, are pleased to announce that their multi award-winning comedy series, LESS THAN KIND, has been picked up for a third season by HBO Canada, which airs on Astral Media’s The Movie Network (Eastern Canada) and Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central (Western Canada). Breakthrough and Buffalo Gal will begin production on thirteen half hour episodes later this year.

Returning for the new season will be Maury Chaykin as Sam Blecher, Jesse Camacho as Sheldon Blecher, CCA Award-winner Wendel Meldrum as Anne Blecher, 2009 Leo winner and 2009 Gemini nominee Benjamin Arthur as Josh Blecher, Nancy Sorel as Aunt Clara, 2009 Gemini-nominee Brooke Palsson as Miriam Goldstein as well as Ross McMillian as Mr. Lubbe, Tyler Johnston as Danny Lubbe and Mike O’Brien as Mr. Goldstein.

Last year, LESS THAN KIND received rave reviews and was nominated for an outstanding number of awards, including: ten Gemini nominations; four Writers’ Guild of Canada noms; two from the Canadian Comedy Awards; and one Leo. The wins were: Benjamin Arthur for a Leo – Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series; Kelly Makin for a Gemini – Best Direction in a Comedy Program or Series; Garry Campbell for the Canadian Writers’ Guild – Best Episodic Writing; and the Canadian Comedy Awards went to Wendel Meldrum – Best Performance by a Female on Television, and Best Performance by an Ensemble,.

LESS THAN KIND is an edgy and witty comedy series that follows the Blecher family: a reckless, self-destructive driving instructor father, his pyromaniac wife, and his two sons – one a teenage genius, the other an egotistical actor. They are forced to find ways to revive the failing family business: Blecher’s Driving School. They’re obliged to love each other but they don’t have to be nice about it.

The series is produced by Breakthrough Films & Television and Buffalo Gal Pictures and is helmed by executive producer, writer and show runner Mark McKinney. The series is also written and Executive Produced by former Winnipegger Marvin Kaye and Vancouver-born Chris Sheasgreen, who created the series based on Kaye’s semi-autobiographical one-act play, THEY HAVE MAYONNAISE IN MONTREAL. Executive producers also include Peter Williamson and Ira Levy for Breakthrough Films & Television and Phyllis Laing for Buffalo Gal Pictures. Paula J. Smith is producer and Rob Sheridan is consulting producer. In addition to McKinney, the second season of the series was written by Garry Campbell, Marvin Kaye, Chris Sheasgreen, Jenn Engels and Jennifer Beasley.

From a media release:

Canada’s top screenwriters honoured at the 2010 WGC Screenwriting Awards

The Writers Guild of Canada celebrated the winning words of Canadian screenwriters tonight at the 14th annual WGC Screenwriting Awards. 148 scripts were nominated in the Awards’ 11 categories, and 43 finalist scripts vied for the winners’ circle.

Screenwriters Robert C. Cooper (Stargate Universe), Jacob Tierney (The Trotsky), Garry Campbell (Less Than Kind) and Kate Barris (Max and Ruby) were just of few of those recognized for outstanding scripts. A complete list of winners follows.

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From Judith Klassen of Movie Entertainment:

• Jude’s Blip, Less Than Kind, Shades of Finkleman
  “Every now and then a Canadian sitcom gets made that has no stink of compromise. It happened back in the ‘90s with The News Room, and it has happened again with the HBO Canada series, Less Than Kind.” Read more.

From the WGC:

• Finalists Announced: The Writers Guild of Canada congratulates the 2010 Finalists

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 Bill Harris of QMI Agency:

• ‘Less Than Kind’ finds new home
  “OK, we realize Mark McKinney has a vested interest in this, since his show Less Than Kind has moved from network TV to cable TV. Nonetheless, McKinney — who is best known as a member of The Kids in the Hall — believes that in a broader sense, cable TV is the place to be.” Read more.

From Rob Salem of the Toronto Star:

• Less Than Kind more than happy with its switch to HBO Canada
  “‘It actually feels like coming home,’ writer/producer Mark McKinney says of the move this week of his second-season sitcom, Less than Kind, to HBO Canada.” Read more.

From a media release:

LESS THAN KIND ONLINE ­ The Interactive Companion Website for LTK2 Launches January 19, 2010

Rolling out one month before the Season 2 premiere of LESS THAN KIND, Breakthrough New Media is launching LESS THAN KIND ONLINE, (www.lessthankind.ca ) on Tuesday, January 19, 2010. LESS THAN KIND (Season 2) debuts on HBO Canada, a multiplex channel of Astral Media¹s The Movie Network (Eastern Canada) and Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central (Western Canada) on Friday, February 19 at 8:30 p.m. ET/MT.

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LESS THAN KIND (Season 2)

Friday, February 19 at 8:30 p.m.

This half-hour Canadian comedy series follows overweight Winnipeg teenager Sheldon Blecher as he attempts to survive his awkward teenage years with a dysfunctional family that includes Sam Blecher, Sheldon’s self-destructive driving-instructor father; Anne Blecher, his unstable pyromaniac mother; and Josh Blecker, his failed-actor brother. As season two begins, the abrasive Sam is at Death’s door. But even Death won’t answer when Sam comes knocking. As a result, Anne’s anxiety reaches a breaking point while Josh is torn between obligations to his dying acting career, family and his girlfriend. As the turmoil at home escalates, Sheldon is dealing with seismic developments of his own as his best friend – braceface Miriam Goldstein – is becoming more than just a friend. Together they endure the explosive shift from their life as innocent geeks to being sixteen – a world on the cusp of sex, drugs and even rock ‘n roll. For Sheldon, this is a year of bullies and girl bullies, cliques and parties – just to add a little gasoline to the fire. Starring Maury Chaykin, Jesse Camacho, Wendel Meldrum, Benjamin Arthur, Brooke Palsson, Tyler Johnston, and Ross McMillan.

From a media release:

THE MOVIE NETWORK AND MOVIE CENTRAL ACQUIRE THE AWARD-WINNING COMEDY SERIES, LESS THAN KIND

Astral Media’s The Movie Network (Eastern Canada) and Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central (Western Canada) have secured full rights to the critically acclaimed, award-winning Canadian comedy series LESS THAN KIND, produced by Breakthrough Films & Television and Buffalo Gal Pictures. The new second season will premiere on Friday, February 19 at 8:30 p.m. ET/MT on HBO Canada, a multiplex channel of The Movie Network and Movie Central. Subscribers will also have the opportunity to catch the entire first season on The Movie Network OnDemand and Movie Central On Demand beginning Tuesday, February 23.

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From Alex Strachan of Canwest:

• Great Canadian TV: What you might have missed
  “Canadians love Canadians. Canadians love television. But Canadians don’t always love Canadian television. There is, however, some great TV being created north of the 49th parallel, despite our national boob-tube inferiority complex.” Read more.

From CBC:

• Young People F—ing wins big at comedy awards
  “The TV series Less Than Kind and The Jon Dore Television Show were among the multiple winners at the awards show presented by The Comedy Network.” Read more.

From a media release:

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is pleased to announce the nominations for the 24th Annual Gemini Awards, recognizing the year’s best in Canadian English-language television. The 2009 Broadcast Gala will take place on Saturday November 14th in Calgary, Alberta and will be broadcast live on Global and Showcase.

The drama Flashpoint leads the 2009 Gemini Awards nominations with a record 19 nominations, followed by The Tudors with 11 nominations. Being Erica, Diamonds, Less Than Kind, and The Border each received 9 nominations.

Click here for more information and a full list of nominees.

From a media release:

The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) announces the 2009 DGC Awards nominations. Comedian Shaun Majumder will host the annual gala on Saturday, October 24, 2009 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. See nominees here.

From a media release:

TELEVISION NOMINEES

Taped Live Performance
Debra DiGiovanni – “Halifax Comedy Festival”
Laurie Elliot – “Just For Laughs Gala”
Jeremy Hotz – “Just For Laughs Gala”
Jeremy Hotz – “What a Miserable Show This Is”
Ron Sparks – “Comedy Now”

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From a media release:

NEW CANADIAN PRIME TIME PROGRAMS THIS FALL:

CONVICTION KITCHEN – A Citytv Original Production – 10 PM Sunday

World-renowned executive chef, Marc Thuet, and his wife and business partner, Biana Zorich, put their reputations on the line with a high-stakes challenge that will push them – and their charges – to the limit In Conviction Kitchen, Marc and Biana have just three weeks to train a staff of former bank robbers, thieves and minor offenders, completely outfit a brand new business, and create an Italian menu around fresh and seasonal ingredients… But the real challenge will be making it beyond opening night — Because once the eatery opens, the restaurant’s motley crew have only three months to turn a profit – or their bosses will pull the plug, and they’ll lose their second, and for many – the last chance to turn their lives around.

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