Yearly Archives: 2012

Call Me Fitz, Heartland

New tonight: Heartland, Over The Rainbow, Call Me Fitz

Heartland, CBC – “Train Run”
Janice brings Cisco Kid (and her emotional baggage over Tim) to Heartland for Amy to figure out why Cisco’s lost that winning feeling.

Over The Rainbow, CBC – “Performance #7”
The remaining Dorothys compete, singing a mixture of Broadway and pop songs for a chance to star as Dorothy in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz, to be staged at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto.

Call Me Fitz, HBO Canada – “The Totally Legitimate Death Of Meghan Fitzpatrick”
No episode description available.

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Flashpoint, Ratings

Flashpoint continues ratings climb

From a media release:

CTV’s FLASHPOINT Grows Lead over ELEMENTARY With Season High 1.7 Million Viewers

Last night’s explosive all-new episode of FLASHPOINT hit the target with a season-high overnight audience of 1.7 million viewers on CTV, expanding its lead over a simulcast episode of ELEMENTARY (1.5 million, Global/CBS) to 12%, its largest margin to date. Up 11% versus last week, FLASHPOINT won its 10 p.m. timeslot nationally and with the key A18-49 demo. In the key Toronto market, FLASHPOINT won its hour with total viewers and all key demos. The series is averaging 1.7 million viewers in its final season.

In next week’s all-new FLASHPOINT episode “Forget Oblivion” on Thursday, Nov. 1 at 10 p.m. on CTV, a young man (Sebastian Piggott, Saw 3D), cursed with a perfect memory, is abducted and forced to penetrate a high-tech research facility and memorize the design of a new ‘smart gun.’ Ed (Hugh Dillon) risks his life to save him as the Team faces off against a weapon they’ve never seen before – and a criminal desperate enough to use it.

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Featured

Rewind: Radio Active

By Dexter Brown:

Fellow prisoners, welcome back to the wacky world of Upper Redwood High, as Rewind takes a look back at Radio Active.

Teen sitcoms are all the rage these days. Between Nickelodeon’s iCarly and Victorious and Disney’s ANT Farm and Shake It Up!, kids can’t seem to get enough. Homegrown stations YTV and Family Channel are also producing their own, including the likes of How To Be Indie, Mr. Young and Debra!, most of which have been sold overseas.

While the market may currently seem lucrative, it hasn’t always been that way. Teen sitcoms on networks such as YTV and Nickelodeon were rarities just a few years ago. They were often lost among a sea of absurdist cartoons like Angry Beavers and Animaniacs. Canadian kids networks concocted the likes of Angela Anaconda and Stickin’ Around for the 90s absurdist cartoon era.

While the 90s were dominated by cartoons, Nickelodeon did find success with Clarissa Explains It All and YTV later found similar success in Radio Active (1998-2001), a show about a bunch of students who run a high school radio station, which was also named Radio Active.

Radio Active was based on the 1995-2001 Canal Famille (now Vrak.TV) show Radio Enfer and it also aired on Nickelodeon. Both shows were early examples of the teen sitcom renaissance which soon came into full force shortly after the shows’ runs.

Radio Active‘s humour holds up fairly well and with only a few dated posters and an old Macintosh really holding back as a relic of the 90s. The show follows a group of high school students who had to maintain a C average to keep the radio station alive, so they would often try to help each other study and grew to be a tight knit group of friends. They were a rather quirky bunch and their antics throughout the show’s run included using the school radio system to help a fellow student pass an oral exam and broadcasting gossip over the radio.

As with many Canadian shows of the time, some elements felt a bit unpolished. In the pilot you could see the end of a set wall and a bit of what looks like a camera or light on screen. It also had only a handful of sets and lacked extras such as other students and teachers to the point where you might start to wonder if the stars of the show were the only ones in a really, really small school.

Despite that the characters felt well rounded and distinguishable. Kevin was a bit of an egotist and brought most of the physical comedy to the series. He was ball of energy and not all that smart. Morgan was down to earth and had a bit of a sarcastic vein in her. Sarah, Morgan’s younger sister, often came in rolling in on roller skates, squeaky and was rather quiet annoying. Tanya was a sweet and naive bookworm. Eaton was money hungry but boring. And spiky haired George was a weirdo, often calculating some sort of odd conspiracy theory. As the series went on Kevin and Eaton were replaced by Blair a buff, popular but dimwitted athlete and Roger a lanky smart guy.

Even while watching the show in its original run I felt there was a great age disparity between the actors. In the TV world, actors in their early to late 20s often portray high school students. In fact Vanessa Lengies, the actress who played Sarah, still plays a high school student on Glee.

While the kids of Radio Active didn’t feel as if they mere caricatures, the school staff fell more into that pitfall. Mr. Noseworthy was the one who usually fit into whatever teacher role the plot needed and was genuinely a nice guy who often went on with stories from his youth. Ms. Atoll on the other hand was simply a ruthless authority figure.

With the similar theme of high school broadcasting, Radio Active could be compared to the some what similar current teen sitcom, What’s Up, Warthogs!. While Radio Active followed the zany world of high school radio, What’s Up, Warthogs! follows the antics of a high school TV news show. Considering that this was a sitcom, the Warthog’s news show plays out more like Weekend Update than your typical evening newscast. As Canadian television production has gotten arguably better since the late 90s, it could be said that it has rubbed off on What’s Up, Warthogs!. The show has more believable sets than Radio Active and the production value seems miles better. The same can’t be said in the writing department; the jokes feel more set up. The overall humour of the series seems a bit different than Radio Active choosing to go more for silly and absurd things.

The situations  in What’s Up Warthogs! don’t feel exclusive to a school environment as did most of the ones in Radio Active. In fact you might wonder if these kids have class at all. For example, the episode of What’s Up, Warthogs! I caught involved opening a time capsule and a character attempting to travel back to the past. It’s a scenario that feels like it could be applied to virtually any mainstream sitcom, in one way or another.

See how What’s Up, Warthogs! stands up to Radio Active by catching up with Radio Active or discovering it for the first time yourself with YouTube.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Two weeks left for Over The Rainbow

From a media release:

ONLY TWO WEEKS REMAIN IN CBC’S OVER THE RAINBOW, WHO WILL BE CANADA’S NEXT BIG STAR?

  • Canada decides who will play the iconic role of Dorothy

With the series finale of CBC’s live competition series, OVER THE RAINBOW just around the corner, Andrew Lloyd Webber will make a special appearance this week and will join the judging panel formed by Arlene Phillips, Louise Pitre and Thom Allison during finale week.

Canada’s votes mean more than ever now in casting the country’s next big star, and Lloyd Webber is urging fans to make their votes count via a special video message.

Following the final performance episode by the Top 3 contestants on Sunday, November 4 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT), Canada decides who will become Dorothy in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new stage adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, opening this December at the Ed Mirvish Theatre, in Toronto, ON.

The Toto judging panel formed by comedians Deb McGrath and Colin Mochrie, along with award-winning dog breeder, Mike Macbeth will be the special guests during the live results episode on Monday, October 29 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT). Following this episode, Canada will have 24 hours to vote online for their favourite pooch, with the top dog winning the title of Canada’s Honorary Toto and the chance to perform live with the Dorothys in the season finale.

CANADA’S TOP 4 DOROTHYS ARE:

AJ Bridel – 18, Kitchener, ON

AJ graduated from Eastwood Collegiate Institute’s Integrated Arts Program, where she trained in vocals, drama and dance. Her theatre credits include playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Rusty in Footloose, Mimi in RENT, and Pepper in Annie. She is also a solo vocalist in the KW Symphony Orchestra and has sung the National anthem at various functions across her city.

Colleen Furlan – 19, Winnipeg, MB

Colleen is in her first year at the University of Manitoba. She was the 2012 Recipient of the Rainbow Stage trophy and scholarship and holds the title of 2012 Provincial Highland Dance Adult Champion. She has had principle roles in productions of A Funny Thing Happened at the Office, Snapshots, Get Your Act Together and Street Scenes.

Danielle Wade – 20, La Salle, ON

Danielle recently completed her second year at the University of Windsor, where she studies acting. She has over 10 years of vocal training and recently played Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, The Musical, Cinderella in Into The Woods and was part of the cast in Carner & Gregor’s Barely Legal Showtune Extravaganza in New York City. Her previous stage credits include playing Belle in Beauty and the Beast and Sandy in Grease.

Stephanie La Rochelle – 18, Ottawa, ON

Stephanie is a recent high school graduate, a musician/songwriter and the 20th most viewed musician on YouTube (Canada). She is trained in singing, dancing, acting, guitar and piano. Her theatre credits include playing Anne in Anne of Green Gables and parts in Willy Wonka and Annie Warbucks.

OVER THE RAINBOW, hosted by Daryn Jones, broadcasts live one-hour performance episodes at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) each Sunday, where the Dorothys will perform a variety of Broadway, standards and pop numbers in front of a live studio audience. Then on the weekly half-hour results episodes airing on Mondays at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) the bottom two Dorothys, as determined by a public vote, will go head-to-head in a live sing-off. Judges Arlene Phillips, the famed UK TV judge, dance choreographer and director, Louise Pitre, Canada’s first lady of musical theatre, and one of Canada’s most popular leading men, Thom Allison, will then determine who will be sent home.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

New tonight: Marketplace, The Fifth Estate

Marketplace, CBC – “High Steaks”
In the wake of the biggest beef recall in Canadian history, new questions are emerging about how our meat is handled. Is the steak you buy as safe as you think? In this week’s episode of MARKETPLACE, Tom Harrington puts beef to the test, and reveals what you’re not being told. MARKETPLACE takes a sharp look at a little-known industry practice which could affect what you eat. Meat tenderizing makes many steaks and roasts tender, but critics say it can also make beef more susceptible to bacterial contamination. Experts say it should be cooked to 71°C to kill all the bacteria, equivalent to medium-well. But regulators don’t require tenderized meat to be labelled, so you can’t tell if you’re buying tenderized meat. Would you want to know?

The Fifth Estate, CBC – “Lost In The Struggle: The Next Chapter”
The summer of 2012 will be recorded as one of the bloodiest in Toronto’s history. However, it was seven years ago, during the so-called summer of the gun, that the fifth estate began working on a story about kids from tough neighbourhoods who get into trouble and see no way out. That story took Gillian Findlay to three young men in Toronto’s storied—some say notorious—Jane and Finch neighbourhood. For almost a year, the fifth estate followed them, capturing the reality of their lives in the ‘hood. On Friday, Oct. 26 at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT), on CBC-TV, Findlay takes us back to Jane and Finch, to find out what became of those young men. Three different personalities. Three different sets of challenges. And seven years later, three very different outcomes.

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