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Link: The awful, unending appeal of home-renovation shows

From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail:

The awful, unending appeal of home-renovation shows
Don’t mock me: I’ve been watching the Love It or List It shows. Lots of people do. Real estate shows are a surefire draw. Love or List it Vancouver (W network) is mind-boggling. And not just the eye-watering real estate values. There is also the matter of Jillian Harris. Continue reading.

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Link: How much Ben Mulroney can Canada take?

From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail:

How much Ben Mulroney can Canada take?

In the annals of Canadian television, few persons – man, woman or child – have the status of Ben Mulroney. This is, after all, a man who tied with the Canadian Tire Guy for Most Irritating Canadian (TV-related) back in the year 2004. And now, people of Canada, prepare yourselves. Mulroney will co-host CTV’s new morning show Your Morning. He’ll be on the national network for three hours in the morning, day after day after day. Continue reading.

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Viceland announces first scripted series Nirvanna The Band The Show

From a media release:

VICELAND Announces New Slate of Original Programming with Six All-New Canadian-Produced Series

  • Pilot episode of VICE’s first-ever scripted comedy series, Nirvanna The Band The Show, premieres this fall
  • VICELAND is available on an extended free-preview period until Sept. 30, 2016

Rogers and VICE today announced six additions to the 2016 summer/fall schedule for Canadian specialty channel VICELAND, including the network’s first-ever scripted series, Nirvanna The Band The Show. Commissioned by Rogers, the newly announced original programming slate will all be produced by VICE through VICE Studio Canada.

From the creative team behind the critically acclaimed and internationally celebrated films The Dirties (2013) and Operation Avalanche (2016), Nirvanna The Band The Show is a 10-part, 30-minute comedy series following two lifelong best friends and roommates as they plan the greatest musical act in the history of the modern world. Without ever playing a note, Nirvanna the Band will take Toronto by storm, one scheme at time.

Canadian content and culture take a front seat as VICELAND brings a fresh approach to linear programming for viewers at home and abroad with a diverse programming lineup spanning a vast array of themes, including culinary adventure program Dead Set on Life, starring celebrity chef Matty Matheson, and tech docu-series Cyberwar, hosted by VICE journalist Ben Makuch.

Please see below for additional programming descriptions and broadcast details. VICELAND is available on an extended free-preview period until September 30, 2016.

Cyberwar: Tuesdays at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT (check local listings), beginning July 5
**Series Premiere**
A 16-part, 30-minute doc series tapping into the geopolitics of hacking and government surveillance. Ben Makuch travels around the world to meet with hackers, government officials, and social dissidents to investigate the world’s cyber warfare mysteries.

Abandoned: Wednesdays at 11 p.m. ET/PT (check local listings), beginning July 6
**Series Premiere**
In this 10-part, 60-minute series, legendary skateboarder Rick McCrank embarks on a journey exploring abandoned landmarks and architectural remains with the people who lived, breathed and held these places dear.

Dead Set on Life: Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT (check local listings), beginning July 7
**Series Premiere**
An eight-part, 30-minute doc series, Dead Set on Life takes viewers on a culinary adventure from the mind of Matty Matheson – a boisterously warm Canadian chef. From $6 subs at gas stations to the most sought-after ingredients on the planet, Matty eats it all and meets amazing people on the way.

RISE: ***Broadcast details to be announced at a later date; special sneak peek of the pilot episode to air June 19 at 11 p.m. ET/PT
**Series Premiere**

RISE brings viewers to the frontlines of Indigenous resistance in this eight-part, one-hour documentary series. Sarain Carson-Fox and Gitz Crazyboy travel to Indigenous communities to meet people engaged in protecting their homelands and rising up against threats to their survival.

Payday: ***Broadcast details to be announced at a later date
**Series Premiere**

This eight-part, one-hour documentary series follows millennials as they navigate the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Each episode’s distinct city serves as the backbone of the narrative analyzing each character’s economic situations. Payday is ultimately a critical examination of a disillusioned generation who are highly educated and streetwise yet facing mounting debt, struggling to find decent jobs, and working to survive post-economic collapse.

Nirvanna The Band The Show: ***Broadcast details to be announced at a later date
**Series Premiere**
Matt and Jay can’t catch a break. Jay is a savant, a talented musician who can play any song on piano by listening to just a few bars. Matt is less musically inclined, but is somehow the brains of the operation. Together, they are Nirvanna the Band and are trying to make it big in the Toronto music scene. From the creative team behind the independent films The Dirties (2013) and Operation Avalanche (2016), this scripted series is created by and stars childhood friends Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol.

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City greenlights Second Jen and Bad Blood: The Vito Rizzuto Story

From a media release:

City Greenlights Two Original Scripted Series,
Second Jen and Bad Blood: The Vito Rizzuto Story

  • Coming-of-age, digital-first comedy Second Jen stars co-creators Samantha Wan and Amanda Joy
  • Inspired by true events, series Bad Blood follows the life and death of notorious underworld figure, Vito Rizzuto

City adds two new original scripted series to its lineup with millennial-focused, digital-first comedy Second Jen, and limited event drama Bad Blood: The Vito Rizzuto Story.  Currently in pre-production, these new original series join the City 2016/2017 prime-time schedule alongside fan-favourite survivalist thriller, Between. Broadcast details to be announced in the coming months.

Created by and starring Samantha Wan (Sudden Master) and Amanda Joy (Trapped in Terra),Second Jen is a coming-of-age comedy about two second-generation Chinese and Filipino-Canadian millennials and best friends experiencing all of life’s “firsts”.  Produced by Don Ferguson Productions, the new digital-first comedy is set to begin shooting this summer with showrunner Jeff Biederman helming the project, who also acts as an executive producer alongside Don Ferguson, Lucy Stewart and Kevin Wallis of Don Ferguson Productions.  Romeo Candido is slated to direct. This six-part, 30-minute, digital-first scripted series will premiere on Citytv.com in fall 2016, and will air on City and OMNI Television at a later date.

Inspired by reputed mobster Vito Rizzuto, and based on the best-selling book, Business or Blood: Mafia Boss Vito Rizzuto’s Last War by Antonio Nicaso and Peter Edwards, Bad Blood: The Vito Rizzuto Story is a six-part, 60-minute scripted limited event series debuting on City and FX in 2017. While imprisoned in Colorado’s Supermax Prison for the murders of three Bonanno family members, Rizzuto watches helplessly as the thriving empire he built is dismantled, and his closest friends and family members are mysteriously murdered one by one. When Rizzuto is finally released from prison, a Shakespearean-level revenge tale plays out – leading to the brutal murders of his closest companions, and ultimately the death of Rizzuto himself. Bad Blood: The Vito Rizzuto Story is produced by New Metric Media, Sphere Media and DHX Media. Writers and Executive Producers are Michael Konyves (Barney’s Version) and Simon Barry (Van Helsing).

 

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Ben Mulroney and Anne-Marie Mediwake to co-host CTV’s new morning show

From a media release:

Welcome to YOUR MORNING: CTV’s New Morning Show to Premiere this Summer

  • Trusted news veteran Anne-Marie Mediwake (CBC TORONTO NEWS) and ETALK anchor Ben Mulroney announced as Hosts, along with Co-Anchors Melissa Grelo (THE SOCIAL), Lindsey Deluce (CP24 BREAKFAST), and Kelsey McEwen (CTV MORNING LIVE) –

CTV reaffirmed its commitment to original daytime television with the announcement today of a new, daily, morning program. From Bell Media In-House Productions, the live, three-hour program YOUR MORNING will premiere at the end of the summer. The network also confirmed that trusted news veteran Anne-Marie Mediwake (CBC TORONTO NEWS) and entertainment journalist Ben Mulroney (ETALK) will host the series.

YOUR MORNING is a new approach to morning television. The series will deliver an original perspective and unique insight into the stories of the day, while showcasing lifestyle topics of interests to Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast. News on the program will be delivered by CTV News, Canada’s most-watched news organization.

YOUR MORNING will air weekday mornings on CTV (Ontario, Québec, and Eastern Canada) and nationally on CTV News Channel from 6-9 a.m., kicking off CTV’s leading original daytime lineup.

To be broadcast from Bell Media’s downtown broadcast centre at 299 Queen St. West in Toronto, the series comes from the same production team as the top two Canadian daytime series, THE MARILYN DENIS SHOW and THE SOCIAL, and will be helmed by the same executive producer, Michelle Crespi. With a Masters in Journalism from Western University, Crespi returns to her roots in morning television, after starting her career on CANADA AM.

 

Joining hosts Mediwake and Mulroney on YOUR MORNING are dynamic co-anchors Melissa Grelo (THE SOCIAL) as Late Morning Anchor, Lindsey Deluce (CP24 BREAKFAST) as News Anchor, and Kelsey McEwen (CTV MORNING LIVE CALGARY) as Weather Anchor.

CTV will introduce a member of the YOUR MORNING team every day this week on THE SOCIAL, as they guest host in celebration of the new series.

In addition to their roles on YOUR MORNING, Mulroney will continue as anchor of ETALK, while Grelo will continue as co-host on THE SOCIAL. Deluce and McEwen will continue their current roles with CP24 and CTV MORNING LIVE CALGARY respectively through the end of June.

Meet YOUR MORNING Personalities:

Anne-Marie Mediwake, Host (@AnneMarieYYZ)
Anne-Marie Mediwake is an accomplished journalist who brings almost two decades of news and current affairs experience back home to CTV where she began her network career as the host of the Gemini Award-winning investigative program 21C, and reporter for CTV National News. Previously, the six-time Canadian Screen Award (CSA) nominee was the highly respected co-anchor of CBC TORONTO NEWS and GLOBAL NEWS TORONTO. During her expansive career, the Alberta-raised Mediwake has provided award winning coverage of some of Canada and the world’s biggest news stories, including the 2014 Ottawa Terror Attacks and the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing. Smart and compassionate, the multi-faceted journalist has co-anchored the last six municipal, provincial, and federal elections, reported from London during the Royal Wedding and Queen’s Jubilee, and hosted a documentary from her native Sri Lanka on the 2004 South Asian Tsunami. A mother of triplets, she is a passionate advocate for women and children’s issues, which saw her named Toronto Woman of the Year 2011.

Ben Mulroney, Host (@BenMulroney)
With a history degree from Duke University and a law degree from Laval University, Ben Mulroney is a veteran journalist with more than 16 years of experience at Bell Media. No stranger to live television, Mulroney got his start on talktv’s THE CHATROOM in 2000, and for six seasons, hosted CANADIAN IDOL, at the time the most-watched English language Canadian television show on record. Canada’s premiere entertainment journalist, Mulroney is now in his 14th year with ETALK, a series he has helped develop into Canada’s most-watched entertainment newsmagazine. As Anchor, Mulroney delivers entertainment news daily from the ETALK studio in Toronto, but also travels across the globe to interview the world’s biggest stars. He is a veteran of the industry’s biggest red carpet events, including the OSCARS®, GOLDEN GLOBES®, and THE JUNO AWARDS. Mulroney has also appeared on GOOD MORNING AMERICA, guest hosted LIVE! WITH KELLY, and was a member of the broadcast team for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Mulroney works closely with a number of charitable organizations including The Brain Project and Cystic Fibrosis Canada. He is most proud of his family: his wife Jessica and his twin boys and young daughter.

Melissa Grelo, Late Morning Anchor (@melissagrelo)
Smart, opinionated, and informed, Melissa Grelo is co-host of THE SOCIAL, and also acts as the show’s moderator. Previously, Grelo was the long-time co-host of the most-watched morning news program in the Greater Toronto Area, CP24 BREAKFAST, and has anchored and reported on the biggest stories in Canada’s largest news market. The mother of an adventurous young daughter, she is active in the community, specifically with the GTA’s youth, and is the Celebrity Ambassador in Canada for The Prince of Wales’s Campaign for Wool.

Lindsey Deluce, News Anchor (@LindseyDeluce)
Lindsey Deluce is currently the News Anchor for CP24 BREAKFAST. She joined CP24 in June 2009, as a Remote Host and Anchor. Deluce has demonstrated her keen ability to get the story. She covered the Federal Election 2011 live from Michael Ignatieff’s campaign headquarters, captured the mayhem of the G20 protests on the streets of Toronto in 2010, and got the dirt on the City of Toronto garbage strike in 2009. A volunteer with several events in the community and a mother of two young children, she has also hosted charity events throughout the year including The Walk So Kids Can Talk.

Kelsey McEwen, Weather Anchor (@KelseyMcEwen)
Currently the Meteorologist on CTV MORNING LIVE and CTV NEWS AT NOON in Calgary, Kelsey McEwen’s weather career began as a young girl in Alberta, where she would watch thunderstorms with her parents on the front step of their Calgary home. Since her career in journalism began, Kelsey has covered avalanche control in the Kootenay Pass in British Columbia, the 2011 and 2013 floods in Saskatchewan, the record breaking #skstorm tornado season in 2012, and the June 2013 floods in her home province of Alberta. An active volunteer in her community and mother of a young son, McEwen is passionate about science education, and proud to be part of the SkyWatch ‘Weather in the Classroom’ program with CTV.

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