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TV,eh? What's up in Canadian television

#WombWednesdays are here! Womb Envy debuts May 10 on AMI and OUTtv

From a media release:

When a gay party boy’s estranged small-town best friend shows up expecting him to play baby daddy, even a lover who is partially sighted and an imaginary drag queen can’t stop his womb envy.

Accessible Media Inc. (AMI), in partnership with Border2Border Entertainment and OUTtv, is thrilled to reveal the debut date of the web series Womb Envy on AMI.ca, the AMI-tv App and OUTtv.com.

The first two episodes of Womb Envy debut Wednesday, May 10, on AMI.ca, the AMI-tv App and OUTtv.com; two episodes will debut online on subsequent Wednesdays. Additionally, the first episode will be available on AMI’s, OUTtv’s and Border2Border Entertainment’s YouTube channels in a special sneak peek prior to May 10.

Created by Toronto drag artist Champagna, Womb Envy (12 x 15 minutes) is written by Mark Keller, directed by Jake Horowitz and produced by Charlie David of Border2Border Entertainment for AMI-tv and OUTtv.

“We’re making queer content, we’re making accessible content and with shows like Womb Envy, we’re creating challenging conversations on
cisgendered, non-binary, trans, disabled and queer bodies,” said Charlie David, President and Producer, Border2Border Entertainment. ”Most importantly, we’re providing a BIG sand box in which to play and inviting more people to join us. We’re working hard to ensure that at each stage of a production we’re inclusive. We don’t make the kind of shows that most companies make and I’m proud of that—it sets us apart.”

“Womb Envy is a fantastic project,” said Philip Webb, COO OUTtv Network. “OUTtv is proud to be supporting creators like Champagna, Mark and Jake to make accessible, life affirming and beautiful shows which celebrate our community.”

“We are proud and excited to bring Womb Envy to our audience,” says John Melville, Vice President of Content Development and Operations, AMI. “Truly inclusive storytelling is at the heart of what AMI does, and Womb Envy is proof of that.”

Max (Daniel Fernandes, The Space) is stuck in a rut. Nearly 30 years old, he is wanting more than the tired beat of the Toronto gay dance floor and needs a purpose in his life other than vodka and a deteriorating septum. Meanwhile, Maggie (Storm Steenson, Sunshine City) is pregnant and desperate to escape the clutches of her religious zealot mother, Dorothy (Helen Holtham), and the small town that her and Max grew up in.

Showing up on Max’s door one day after years of separation, Maggie convinces Max to pretend to be her baby daddy, since he was the only man her mother ever approved of. They create rules to ensure the success of their half-baked idea, which causes Max’s fragile queer ego to create a drag queen apparition—The Divine (Champagna, Drag Heals, Call Me Mother)—who constantly fights against this new assimilation to heteronormativity. Confusing things even more, Max soon falls head over heels in love with their Lamaze instructor, Patrick (Jeffrey Haase, Haunted Hospitals). Patrick, who is partially sighted, soon becomes an important part of Max’s life, throwing a huge wrench in their charade.

Internalizing the chaos in his life, Max develops a rare condition known as couvade syndrome, bizarrely displaying pregnancy symptoms which become increasingly more difficult to hide. Everything in their lives quickly unravels, and soon Max and Mary are forced to see what’s important in life, even if that’s the hardest thing for them to do.

Womb Envy is the first scripted project developed with Integrated Described Video (IDV) by Border2Border Entertainment for AMI, and the first collaboration between AMI and OUTtv, which was sparked at the Primetime conference in Ottawa in January 2020, where a conversation was started between the two Canadian networks about their similarities in serving marginalized audiences.

Womb Envy is created by Champagna, written by Mark Keller and directed by Jake Horowitz. The producer is Charlie David, Champagna is associate producer.

Womb Envy was developed with the Ontario Creates IDM Development Fund and produced with the participation of the Ontario Creates IDM Production Fund, Bell Fund, Border2Border Entertainment, AMI and OUTtv.

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Netflix announces new limited series Tall Pines with creator and co-showrunner Mae Martin

From a media release:

  • Netflix today announced a limited series order for TALL PINES, a thriller from Mae Martin. Martin will also play a leading role in the show.
  • Logline: TALL PINES is a thriller set in a bucolic but sinister town that explores the insidious underbelly of the “troubled teen industry” and the eternal struggle between one generation and the next.
  • Format / Episodes: 8 episode Limited Series
  • Creator / Co-Showrunner / Executive Producer: Mae Martin (Mae Martin: SAP, Feel Good, The Flight Attendant)
  • Co-Showrunner / Executive Producer: Ryan Scott (Servant, Treadstone, Fear The Walking Dead)
  • Executive Producers: Ben Farrell, producing through his company, Objective Fiction (Feel Good, The Gold), Hannah Mackay (Peep Show, Year of the Rabbit), Jennifer Kawaja (Sort Of, The Porter, Cardinal), Bruno Dubé (Transplant, The Sticky)
  • Production Company: Sphere Media
    • Mae Martin: “Tall Pines is a story I’ve been dying to tell for years, and I’m beyond excited for people to see what we have in store! It’s going to be an insane roller coaster and so different to anything I’ve done before. Very very grateful to Netflix for supporting it, and I can’t wait to get going.”
    • Ben Farrell, Chief Creative Officer, Executive Producer, Objective Fiction: “Tall Pines is a truly gripping, intergenerational mystery thriller. Objective Fiction is delighted to be partnering with Netflix and Sphere Media to bring Mae Martin’s latest creation to the screen.”
    • Jennifer Kawaja, President English Scripted, Executive Producer, Sphere Media: “This is a fantastic project and Sphere is thrilled to be part of the team, with Netflix and Objective Fiction, producing work with a unique Canadian voice at its center.”
    • Danielle Woodrow, Director, Content – Canada, Netflix: “Tall Pines is a wildly entertaining story that explores the complex and sometimes twisted relationship between teens and adults. We’re thrilled to be working with a singular talent like Mae and bringing their unique voice to one of our first commissions for Netflix Canada.”

About Sphere Media

Sphere Media is one of Canada’s preeminent scripted content companies. In current release are several multi-award award-winning series – half hour Peabody notable dramedy Sort Of (CBC/HBO Max/Sky/Viaplay), currently nominated for a Rockie award and multiple Canadian Screen Awards; Primetime Emmy and Indie Spirit nominated 1920s period drama The Porter (CBC/BET+); and International Emmy nominated Transplant (Bell Media/NBC/NBCU), both also nominated for multiple CSA’s.  Other recent credits include Variety Top 25 Trickster (CBC/Sky/ AMC), critically acclaimed Cardinal (Bell Media/BBC/Hulu) and 19-2 (Bell Media). They are currently in production with new seasons of Sort Of, and Transplant as well as The Sticky, a limited half hour series with Blumhouse and Amazon. 

About Objective Fiction

With bases in London and Los Angeles, Objective Fiction is a leading producer of distinct and celebrated scripted stories for the screen. Productions include multi-award-winning Feel Good for Netflix; Year of the Rabbit for IFC; Toast of Tinseltown, Eric, Ernie and Me and Witless for BBC; The Larkins for ITV; Peep Show, Toast of London, GameFace and Fresh Meat for C4, and via Tannadice Pictures, The Gold for BBC/Paramount+. Objective Fiction is part of Objective Media Group, an All3Media company.

Image courtesy of Joseph Sinclair.

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CBC Gem’s Macy Murdoch is worthy of the Murdoch moniker

Murdoch Mysteries is a worldwide brand. With it comes expectations, so a spinoff associated with it leads to extra scrutiny. Thankfully, Macy Murdoch not only meets but exceeds those expectations.

Available now on CBC Gem, the Murdoch spinoff web series Macy Murdoch stars Canadian Screen Award winner Shailyn Pierre-Dixon as Macy, the great-great-great granddaughter of Detective William Murdoch. Set in the present day, Macy and her pals Zane (Beau Han Bridge) and Billie (Raffa Virago) travel back in time after a villain uses a time machine to frame William for murder, the trio goes back to 1910 to find the real perpetrator of the crime. Along for the ride in 1910 are Murdoch Mysteries‘ Constable Henry Higgins-Newsome (Lachlan Murdoch) and Mrs. Violet Hart (Shanice Banton), who help the kids with the case.

Initially developed by JP Larocque and Jessica Meya, we spoke with executive producer/showrunner Jennifer Kassabian (Frankie Drake Mysteries, Carter) and co-executive producer Robina Lord-Stafford (Frankie Drake Mysteries, Moonshine) about the project.

Jennifer, can you tell me how Macy Murdoch came to you?
Jennifer Kassabian: JP and Jess developed it with Shaftsbury before my time. I finished working with Jennifer McCann, who’s one of the series executive producers on Ruby and the Well. Around July, she reached out to me to say that Jess and JP were moving on to other opportunities and would I be interested in this project that she had because we had worked so well together. I said, ‘Well, let me just read everything,’ because I didn’t know if I wanted to keep my foot in the kids’ world, but then the bible that Jess and JP created blew me off my feet. I’ve never read a bible that good. It was so rich, and it was so interesting. I said yes, I’m in. I want to run the show. We didn’t have the money for a writers’ room. It was freelance scripts that were half assigned and half to be assigned, but I could have a No. 1, someone to help me shepherd the show through. 

Robina was the only name on my mind from the time we met on Frankie Drake. Sometimes those relationships on a show make you friends off a show. We were friends in real life, I already had a shorthand with her and I said, ‘Would you come on as the No. 2, and will we do this together?  

Obviously, anything with the word Murdoch in it is going to come with extra scrutiny. Robina, any nervousness on your part about it having the Murdoch name and William Murdoch involved in it? 
Robina Lord-Stafford: I didn’t really have enough time to think about it. I was on Pretty Hard Cases and Jen was like, ‘You’ve got to come and do the show with me.’ And I was like, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’ Once I was in it, it was like, ‘OK, we really have to make sure we’re doing the Murdoch world justice. We were lucky enough to get two characters from the world, so that was super exciting. Getting to shoot on the Murdoch lot was super exciting and that all kept elevating the production value of the show. We did consult with Murdoch writers to make sure that when we were going back into 1910 and creating a world for our characters to be in, that seemed authentic and real. We also binged a ton of Murdoch because we wanted to make sure that Henry Higgins-Newsome and Violet Hart’s voices were really authentic to what the Murdoch world has created already. 

Robina, when it came to the writers’ room, is it different to write for the web as opposed to an episode of broadcast television? Does each web episode represent story beats in a larger project?
RLS: Great question. We did have all those beats already. When Jen and I got onto the project, there were already, I think, two scripts written by previous writers. And so it was like, ‘OK, let’s continue this on,’ and then we had another writer that joined us. One of the things that we did maybe a little bit differently than what I’m used to doing in one hour is that we knew what the beginning, middle, and end of the whole series was going to be. We could then break it down into different episodes on how we were going to then achieve all of that to make sure that we were getting all the juice that we needed and the great cliffhangers at the end of each episode. 

You really pack a lot into each 11-or-so-minute episode.
JK: I think there is a misconception that when you hear 11 minutes it’s easy peasy and not that much content. You can get the story in when it was our primary goal and character development for sure. 

The young cast was simply amazing.
JK: We had a full day of chemistry reads between people’s favourite casting picks. We had already had Shailyn cast when we went out to cast Billie and Zane. Raffa and Beau sparkled in their solo auditions and then when we partnered up Raffa and Beau we had the magic of the Billie and Zane friendship right off the bat. This is Raffa’s first thing that she’s ever been on screen. She’s such a special talent. They did become fast friends on set, just good people who just really wanted to bring their A-game. 

Macy Murdoch is available now on CBC Gem.

Images courtesy of Shaftesbury.

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TV, Eh? Podcast Episode 260: More Transplant on CTV, new seasons of CBC comedies ordered and CSAs, Part 2

Welcome back to another bi-weekly chat about the latest news in Canadian TV! First, Greg goes through debuts and returns on the Canadian TV calendar.

Then, we cover the latest Canadian TV news, which includes a Season 4 renewal for Transplant, more seasons of Run the Burbs, Son of a Critch and This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and a new comedy series from CBC, APTN and Netflix. We conclude with Part 2 of our discussion about the Canadian Screen Awards, focusing on Best Lead Performers in the Comedy and Drama categories.

This podcast brought to you by coffee.

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Preview: TVO’s Tripping Train 185 is a lazy, lovely trip into Ontario’s north

I’ve covered Mitch Azaria’s excellent real-time Tripping documentary series before. From the first, Tripping the Rideau Canal, through followups Tripping the Niagara and Tripping the Bruce, they all embrace the “slow TV” genre of broadcasting a trip from beginning to end, in real-time.

Azaria’s latest, Tripping Train 185, has a special connection for me.

Debuting Friday on TVO at 7 p.m. ET and post-broadcast on TVO.org and TVO’s YouTube Channel, Tripping Train 185 immediately revived beloved memories of chasing trains with my Dad when I was a kid. He and I used to tool around the back roads of Brantford, Ont., watching passenger and freight trains at level crossings through the countryside. It was exhilarating and felt a little dangerous too. Tripping Train 185 also recalled Cochrane, Ont., my Dad’s hometown and the base of a similar train in the Polar Bear Express. In fact, Azaria was initially planning the board the Polar Bear Express and track its journey from Cochrane to Moosenee, Ont.

“[The Polar Bear Express] a great run in that it ends in a particularly cool spot, but the ride itself is a bit of a tunnel,” Azaria says over the phone. “It doesn’t have the sweeping views that Train 185 has, and that’s just the nature of the country it’s going through.” You can’t argue with him on that. Tripping Train 185 shows the rugged and wildly varying terrain between Sudbury and White River, a beautiful chunk of the Canadian Shield showcasing rocks, valleys, endless forests, marshes, rivers and lakes.

Azaria (third from left) and his crew, next to Train 185.

Operating three times a week, Via Rail’s Train 185 is a flag-stop train, meaning all one has to do to snag a ride on it is stand next to the tracks and flag it down between scheduled station stops. That in itself makes Tripping Train 185 a unique documentary; seeing the train slow down and wondering who and what will be hauled on board is particularly fun, especially when the reality is that train is their only connection to the outside world. But the train itself has a story to tell and attracts enthusiasts from around the world.

Train 185 is the only remaining Rail Diesel Car (RDC) line in North America. Nicknamed Budd Cars because they were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia in the 1950s to service rural areas around the world, each car has its own twin diesel engines as well as compartments for passengers, conductor and baggage. Like a bus, an RDC provided inexpensive commuter service into remote areas where short rail spurs had been abandoned because of the high cost of traditional, multi-car trains.

“The Budd Cars have a bit of a cult following,” Azaria says. “It’s such a unique type of train that they want to ride the last one in North America.”

As with past Tripping projects, Azaria has compiled a staggering amount of factual information to tell the history of the train, route, and the country itself, which is presented via on-screen visuals. It’s through them that a very cool story about educating the north is told. Using CGI and old CBC footage, we learn of Bill Wright, a teacher who used a revamped Canadian Pacific Railroad passenger car in a schoolhouse/living space for him and his family.

“For 40 years, he worked out of this car,” Azaria recalls. “It would stop on the tracks and any kids in the area would find their way to it. They would be taught for a week and then receive three weeks of homework. Then he’d move up the line and do the same for the next group of kids. He probably taught a few thousand kinds in the time he was up there.”

Tripping Train 185 airs Friday at 7 p.m. ET on TVO. Stream it anytime post-broadcast at TVO.org and the TVO YouTube Channel.

Images courtesy of Tripping Train 185.

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