TV, eh?

From a media release:

RABBIT FALL

• Season 1 – Tuesdays at 10p.m. ET, beginning September 16
• Season 2 – Tuesdays at 10p.m. ET, Beginning October 28

A professional indiscretion lands Métis cop Tara Wheaton in the remote northern town of Rabbit Fall. She soon discovers the picturesque community is plagued by a chilling history of violent crimes and unexplained events that have some believing a supernatural force is at work. Tara rejects the theory but as the bodies pile up, Rabbit Fall slowly tears away at everything she knows to be true. Season 2 is produced in association with SPACE.

From a media release:

Tune in to Citytv as we highlight some of the most fascinating episodes of “Suvivorman”, a true reality show which documents the exciting and sometimes dangerous travels of Canadian adventurer Les Stroud. “Survivorman” premieres Friday, September 12 on Citytv.

Broadcast schedule is as follows:

Citytv Toronto Friday, September 12 at 8pm ET
Citytv Winnipeg Friday, September 12 at 8pm CT
Citytv Calgary Friday, September 12 at 9pm MT
Citytv Edmonton Friday, September 12 at 9pm MT
Citytv Vancouver Friday, September 12 at 8pm PT

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From Alex Strachan of Canwest News Service:

• Hope it’s a comedy to beat the band, not another half-cocked idea
  “Cock’d Gunns are the Hanson Brothers of rock ‘n’ roll.” Read more.

From a media release:

ANNA & KRISTINA’S GROCERY BAG

Anna and Kristina try Betty Crocker’s version of beer-battered fish and chips as they road test the Betty Crooker Cook Book on Wednesday, October 1 at 8 p.m. After a test to find the best beer, Anna and Kristina are confident that they can create a dish good enough to impress the owner of a British pub. But will Anna’s culinary gaffes make this dish the one that got away? Anna and Kristina’s Grocery Bag airs Wednesday evenings at 8 p.m.

From Bill Harris of Sun Media:

• ‘Reality Obsessed’ breaks down genre
  “Some people have said it’s ironic that we’re doing a reality show about reality shows, but it’s ground-breaking,” said Jaffer, whose 13-part series Reality Obsessed debuts tonight across Canada on TVtropolis. Read more.

From Bill Harris of the Toronto Sun:

• Tough climb for Everest
  “We all have heard the cliche about climbing a mountain because it’s there. But seriously — why? Early in the CBC mini-series Everest, which airs tonight and tomorrow, that very question is raised expansively during a poignant scene in an airport.” Read more.

From Michael D. Reid of the Victoria Times Colonist:

• Conquering the goddess
  “If there’s one thing as challenging as scaling the world’s tallest mountain, it’s trying to make a TV miniseries about it.” Read more.

From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail:

• Haute hosers do Everest
  “First, note that Everest is old-fashioned in a very specific way. The CBC doesn’t make miniseries any more, and it certainly doesn’t seem to make miniseries about recent events in Canadian history. That’s so old-regime. Thus, Everest may be the last of its kind - close to us in terms of history and based on real Canadians who achieved something. It’s not what the CBC mucky-mucks want on the network now and it has, apparently, been on the shelf for two years - even though it is a big-budget production, costing $10.5-million.” Read more.

From Eric Volmers of the Calgary Herald:

• Series celebrates historic climb
  “There were times when Edmonton actor Eric Johnson felt he was channeling the same thrill-seeking spirit that fuelled Calgarian Laurie Skreslet’s harrowing 1982 ascent of Mount Everest.” Read more.
• Climbers say producers soaped up story
  “As TV characters, they are presented as underdog heroes who made history as the first Canadians to conquer the highest peak in the world. But mountaineers Laurie Skreslet and Pat Morrow — the first and second Canadians to make it to the top of Mount Everest — say viewers should take CBC’s upcoming dramatization of their harrowing, death-filled expedition with a grain of salt.” Read more.

From Alex Strachan of Canwest News Service:

• Everest series not quite an epic
  “True stories don’t always make for compelling drama. Everest, the two-night miniseries that debuts Sunday and concludes Monday, bears the dreaded label ‘based on a true story.’ And while there are moments of compelling drama, it never feels real.” Read more.

From Elizabeth Withey of the Edmonton Journal:

• Everest explores Canadian first
  “Above the treeline, Eric Johnson commutes with class. During the filming of Everest, a new mini-series about the first Canadians to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain, the Edmonton-born actor went to the ‘office’ by chopper, chairlift, snowmobile, snowcat, 15-seater van and glacier bus. Oh, and he hiked, too.” Read more.

From Brian Gorman in the Brantford Expositor:

• Shooting Everest is almost as hard as climbing it
  “It’s hard to decide who is more obsessed: the people who climb Mount Everest or the people who set out to make a TV movie about it. In making the two-part docudrama “Everest” — airing Sunday and Monday, Aug. 31-Sept. 1, on CBC Television — the dangers may not have been great, but the logistical challenges that were overcome are pretty impressive.” Read more.

From Brendan Kelly of the Ottawa Citizen:

• A tall mountain to climb
  “Campbell is proud to point out that this stunning-looking miniseries set in the Himalayas was almost entirely shot in and around the Rockies. Some exteriors were shot in Nepal but virtually everything you see was filmed in the mountains of Alberta and B.C.” Read more.

From Al Beeber of the Lethbridge Herald:

• Lethbridge actor on top of the world in mini-series
  “When a two-part mini-series on the first Canadian expedition to conquer Mount Everest premieres on CBC Television Sunday night, many southern Albertans will recognize a familiar face. Lethbridge-raised actor Kevin Kruchkywich, who made his feature length film debut in the 2005 comedy ‘Chicks with Sticks,’ plays real-life mountaineer Rusty Baillie, one of a daring group of Canadians who attempted to summit Everest in 1982.” Read more.

Another Blogcritics article based on the TV, eh? Blogtalkradio interview with producer J.J. Johnson:

• Unexpected Moments Bring Joy To Treehouse TV’s Are We There Yet?: World Adventure
  “For the new season, the cameras were rolling when TJ and Tristan took their first ever plane trip, and one brother said, ‘I can see heaven. I can see God dancing.’ ‘Of course I’m punching the cameraman, did you get it, did you get it?” Johnson laughed. ‘You can’t write that, or the look in his eyes. I don’t think there’s better programming out there when you get those moments.’” Read more.

From Blogcritics, based on my TV, eh? Blogtalkradio interview with producer J.J. Johnson:

• Preschoolers Rock Out to Treehouse TV’s Roll Play
  “I confessed to him that I may have listened to the preview CD a few more times than was strictly necessary to prepare for our interview, but it’s hardly like confessing to a secret fondness for the sound stylings of Barney the Dinosaur. The goal of Roll Play is to get children exercising in fun and imaginative ways, but the music makes it easy enough for adults like me to shrug off the fact that the lyrics are about centipede sisters or Tasmanian devils having temper tantrums.” Read more.

From a media release:

Chris and John Return to the Rescue… on Season Two DVD

• Alluvial Filmworks Releases Complete Second Season of Hit TV Series Featuring Comical Gay Culture Saviors

“…What could be more charming than two cute, witty gay boys offering affectionate advice to those in Need?” - The Advocate

“…raucously humorous” - Xtra! Magazine

That’s always good to hear! On Oct. 14, Alluvial Filmworks will release Chris & John to the Rescue: Provincetown!, the second season DVD of the outrageously funny hit reality TV series featuring two gay best friends called upon to remedy various sticky situations. This time, best friends Chris Carter and John Simpson hit up small-town America for some summer fun on the gayest beach resort under the sun, P-Town, also known as Provincetown, Mass.

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