TV, eh?

From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail:

• 2008 Great between the crises
  “Flashpoint (CTV, CBS) changed everything. It benefited from the paucity of new shows available in the United States, thanks to the Writers Guild of America strike, but as soon as it became a hit, it brought the Canadian TV industry alive with hope and ideas. It also got better, episode by episode. And it showcased great Canadian actors to Hollywood and the world.” Read more.

From Rita Zekas of the Toronto Star:

• Talent for power tools, power roles
  “Nellie McClung existed in the same time, in 1890, that my (Murdoch Mysteries) character did. I am intrigued with women of that time who had more open minds than some women in our time. Look at what’s happened today – brainless body-obsessed Pussycat Dolls – and it sickens me. We’ve come so far and we’re going there?” Read more.

From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail:

• Self-esteem issues of a cultural kind
  But the good reviews for MVP suggest something else. The series is doing well because it’s vaguely different. It doesn’t feel like a copy of a U.S. show so it’s got a freshness and appealing zip to it. Ironically, I suspect that’s precisely why MVP was never a big hit in Canada – most viewers expect soapy Canadian drama to look and feel like a show made in Hollywood. And at that point, I give up. It’s all too complicated. There are validation issues and self-esteem issues too complex for me.” Read more.

From Lee-Anne Goodman of the Canadian Press:

• CBC’s cancelled ‘MVP’ soap getting good reviews in U.S. – even from The New Yorker
  “While Canadian reviewers were lukewarm about the CBC’s cancelled nighttime hockey soap, “MVP,” the show is getting high praise from television writers in the United States, where its first and only season is airing on the cable channel Soapnet.” Read more.

From Brian Lowry of Variety:

• MVP
  “Ignore those funky Canadian accents, and MVP is a passable nighttime soap — using hockey (!) as a slick backdrop to its bed-hopping shenanigans. The first hour alone features every imaginable serial cliche, from a sudden death to the sex-tape-making stud and the spoiled rich girl who says, ‘You work for me. Now take your pants off!’ All told, it’s a natural fit for Soapnet — ABC’s second-chance cabler for daytime serials — and receives an overtime showing on ABC following this week’s Daytime Emmys. So nothing new here, but like, not bad, eh?” Read more.

From Bill Harris of Sun Media:

• At least this time, CBC got it right
  ” A “gotcha” mentality has crept into most conversations about MVP, the cancelled CBC series that gets a crack on ABC tonight. But even though this will make us even more unpopular among our colleagues, we have to defend CBC on this one.” Read more.

From Buddy TV:

• ‘MVP’ Starts Tonight
  “Here’s one made just right for me – at least on paper.  SOAPnet unveils its latest sizzling new baby, when MVP – about the Canadian Mustangs hockey team – premieres tonight at 11.  This is right up my alley for the simple reason that ice hockey is my sport of choice to follow.” Read more.

From the New York Daily News:

• ‘MVP’ is everyone’s favorite sport, plus hockey
  “The Mustangs are an unusual hockey team. They only seem to recruit players who look like their previous experience came in a Calvin Klein ad. They also don’t seem to play any hockey – or at least we never see any hockey on opening night of SoapNet’s latest steamy drama, MVP.” Read more.

From Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times:

• For a Hockey Player’s Workouts Off the Ice, Go Straight to the Videocam
  “Within the first few minutes of MVP, a new drama — and I use that term as one might call Big Momma’s House a film — a young woman barely out of her teens is straddling a guy upstairs during a party at her parents’ Disney World castle of a house, and making royal demands: ‘You work for me now. Take your pants off.’ More trousers tumble, going forward: off the hips of a practically mute underwear model as well as a coke-addicted hobby pornographer, who secretly shoots his one-night stands from the vantage point of what appears to be a stuffed-donkey cam. He’s not a Democrat; he’s Canadian, and a hockey player. When he picks up a new conquest at his team captain’s funeral, he labels the tape of their lascivious efforts at mourning Funeral Chick. MVP, which begins Thursday on SoapNet, is itself a Canadian import, and it forces us to ask: Really, what has Nafta wrought?” Read more.

From Blogcritics, based on the TV, eh? Blogtalkradio interview :

• MVP: The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives Goes Into Overtime
  “MVP: The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives was cancelled by CBC a few months ago, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at the TV schedule. The first season will start airing on the US network SOAPnet – a cable sibling of ABC – starting June 19. Then ABC itself will air the first episode following the Daytime Emmys on June 20. Not to be left out, CBC is re-airing season one starting June 13, so Canadians who missed it the first time around can catch it. Plus, the DVD is being released July 15 with loads of bonus features.” Read more.

Mary Young Leckie, co-creator and executive producer of MVP, was my guest today on the TV, eh? Blogtalkradio show and she was fabulous, sharing the history of this show that refuses to disappear — cancelled by CBC, but seeing new life on that network, SOAPnet, ABC, and on DVD, all making a season two a definite possibility.

The interview’s about 16 minutes: listen below, visit the show site, or subscribe via iTunes or with any other program via the TV, Eh? feed.

Here’s the dates to remember for MVP:

• Friday, June 13 is the start of season one reruns on CBC.
• On June 19, MVP premieres on Soapnet, with weekly airings Thursdays at 11 pm Eastern.
• June 20, it airs at 10 pm Eastern on ABC following the Daytime Emmys.
• July 15, watch for the DVD release.

For a show that was cancelled in March by CBC, MVP: The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives is having a very good year. In April, SOAPnet announced they’d picked up the first season of the show, which is set to air on that American cable network starting June 19. This week, ABC — the broadcast network sibling of SOAPnet — announced the first episode would air immediately following their telecast of the Daytime Emmys on June 20.

Is there still hope for a second season then? I’ll ask that and more of Mary Young Leckie, co-creator and executive producer, on Sunday’s TV, eh? Blogtalkradio show. Listen live at 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern (call in with your questions at 646- 200-4063) or catch the podcast afterwards.

From Lee-Anne Goodman of the Canadian Press:

• ‘MVP’ finding new life in the U.S., airing on ABC after daytime Emmys
  “MVP: The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives, the cancelled CBC nighttime soap about the sordid private lives of NHL players, is about to get some massive American exposure – it’s airing on ABC following the live broadcast of the daytime Emmy Awards next month.” Read more.

From Heidi Wicks of the St. John’s Telegram:

• White at work
  “Sherry White is one of this province’s most active and enthusiastic young filmmakers. Since one of her early accolades (writing and starring in the feature film “The Bread Maker,” which premiered at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival), she has gone on to star in CBC’s “Hatching, Matching and Dispatching,” and co-starred/co-wrote/co-created the pilot episode of CBC’s “Rabbittown.” Her most recent CBC-TV tie is as a writer for “MVP: The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives.”" Read more.

From Douglas Bell of Toronto Life:

• Boob Tube
  “The CBC thinks it knows what you want: American-style trash with a Canadian twist. But its most commercial effort—a series about oversexed hockey wives—was canned after two months. What now?” Read more.

From Gayle MacDonald of the Globe and Mail:

• MVP picked up in U.S. after CBC put series on ice
  “Three weeks after CBC Television pulled the plug on its steamy hockey drama MVP: The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives, an American cable network, SOAPnet, has signed a deal to purchase the first season of the show, set to air June 19.” Read more.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Can Sophie Survive Survivor?
  “Did CBC jump the gun on that Sophie renewal? Ever since CBC announced they were picking up two of their four January starts, Sophie and The Border, the rookie comedy series, starring Mimi Kuzyk and Natalie Brown (right), has been sinking like a rock. This Wednesday it was down to 290,000 viewers.” Read more.

• Global Keeps its Guard Up
  “Global announced today that it is renewing three of its rookie shows: The Guard, ‘Da Kink In My Hair and the summer series The Best Years. Hey, the more Canadian shows the better, jobs are jobs and this news keeps people working in Vancouver and Toronto. But Global’s release suggests that these renewals are “based on solid statistics of the first seasons.” Perhaps, but in the case of ‘Da Kink at least, earning brownie points before the CRTC had to be a factor.” Read more.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Mercer Tops CBC Winter Numbers
  “Numbers are in for how the CBC shows have fared over the first ten weeks of 2008 and the Rick Mercer Report stands at the top of the list, both in total households and in the 25-54-year-old demographic, CBC’s targeted demo.” Read more.

From the Toronto Sun:

• Leafs put blame on CBC shows
  “CBC spokesperson Katie Heath-Eves said yesterday that all shows are ultimately renewed or dropped based on performance and there would be Canadian produced shows to eventually replace MVP and others.” Read more.

From the Barrie Examiner:

• CBC excuse a lame one
  “In the first place, would the CBC really be foolish enough to count on revenue from the Leafs making the playoffs? Toronto hasn’t played a playoff game since 2004. What about ratings? Despite MVP attracting what’s being called ‘an unprecedented new youth-skewed audience’, that audience just wasn’t big enough. About 349,000 viewers tuned in during its January debut, which isn’t great. And it’s been look out below since then.” Read more.

From Kathy Rumleski of Sun Media:

• ‘MVP’ benched after one season
  “MVP didn’t score with enough viewers so CBC cancelled the highly touted, steamy show — filmed mainly in London — about hockey players’ private lives. Its last episode airs tonight.” Read more.

From Bill Harris of Sun Media:

• CBC batting .500: Sophie, The Border are big hits but jPod and MVP strike out
  ” Two-for-four. That’s a great average in baseball, and decent in TV, too. But as far as the CBC’s marquee January launches are concerned, the hits weren’t necessarily the expected hits, and the strikeouts weren’t necessarily the expected strikeouts.” Read more.