Yearly Archives: 2015

Featured

Coppermine by Keith Ross Leckie gets our CanLit adaptation vote

In a poll that couldn’t possibly be multiple choice given the plethora of great Canadian literature to choose from, we asked you what you’d like to see adapted by the CBC next. (I mean, if Bell wanted to tackle a book adaptation I wouldn’t complain — and they do have Bitten — but we all know CBC is our best chance for this.)

Coppermine by Keith Ross Leckie emerged as the winner with just three votes, amid a heap of singular suggestions. Bonus: Leckie has already written miniseries for CBC, including Everest!, Shattered City, Milgaard, The Arrow, and Lost in the Barrens, so we’ve even saved our public broadcaster from having to search for a screenwriter.

Coppermine is based on the true story of two Inuit hunters arrested for the murder of a pair of missionaries. From the publisher: “Part epic adventure, part romance, and part true-crime thriller, Coppermine is a dramatic, compelling, character-driven story set in 1917 in the extremes of Canada’s far north and the boom town of Edmonton.”

Other books on the wish list included:

  • Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan (2 votes)
  • The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston (2 votes)
  • Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden (2 votes)
  • Room by Emma Donoghue (a feature film was recently shot)
  • Solomon Gursky was Here by Mordecai Richler
  • Bear by Marian Engel
  • Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
  • No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
  • The John Cardinal books by Giles Blunt
  • More of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny
  • A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
  • Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers
  • The Sea Captain’s Wife by Beth Powning
  • Graffiti Knight by Karen Bass
  • The Orenda by Joseph Boyden
  • The Sisters  Brothers by Patrick deWitt
  • Something else besides Jpod by Douglas Coupland
  • Any of Miriam Toews’ novels: All My Puny Sorrows, A Complicated Kindness, or A Boy of Good Breeding.
  •  Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
  • Annabel by Kathleen Winter
  • Galore by Michael Crummey
  • Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
  • The Birth House by Ami McKay
  • A mini-series on Emily Carr based on her autobiographical books Book of Small, House of All Sorts, Klee Wyck, Growing Pains and Hundreds and Thousands
  • A Breed Apart by Tony German
  • The Canadians by Robert E. Wall
  • I Am Hutterite by Mary-Ann Kirkby
  • Jean Pare: An Appetite for Life by Judy Schultz
  • Canada’s History magazine

Thanks everyone who commented on the “official” poll on the site, and those who gave suggestions via Twitter as well.

So CBC … your move.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Schitt's Creek

Link: Dan Levy Discusses Schitt’s Creek, His Eyebrows & Being a Sex Object

From Michael Martin of Out.com:

Dan Levy Discusses Schitt’s Creek, His Eyebrows & Being a Sex Object
Dan Levy is making it look easy. The 31-year-old actor has come out of nowhere (OK, MTV Canada) to co-create and star in one of the funniest sitcoms of the year. Schitt’s Creek is the story of the wealthy Rose family, whose entire estate is seized in a tax lien, forcing them to live in a small town they bought as a joke. Continue reading.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
This Life

Link: English adaptation of acclaimed Nouvelle adresse to be set in Montreal

4 Comments

From Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette:

English adaptation of acclaimed Nouvelle adresse to be set in Montreal
For years, many of us have been grumbling, with good reason, about the lack of English-language TV series set in Montreal. For the longest time, it seemed like everywhere in Canada — from a tiny truck stop of a town in Saskatchewan to St. John’s, Newfoundland — had the right to a national TV series, but not us. Continue reading.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Masterchef Canada, Motive

Ratings: Masterchef Canada, Motive

From a media release:

Sunday Sizzles on CTV as MASTERCHEF CANADA Has Season-High Overnight Audience of 1.4 Million Viewers

  • CTV’s hit original drama MOTIVE returns with 1 million viewers, ranking as the #1 non-sports program in its timeslot with total viewers and in the key A18-49 demo
  • MASTERCHEF CANADA returns Sunday, March 22 on CTV
  • New episodes of MOTIVE continue next Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on CTV

CTV was firing on all four burners Sunday night as MASTERCHEF CANADA kicked off the evening with a season-high overnight audience of 1.4 million viewers, preliminary overnight data from Numeris (BBM Canada) confirms. Sunday also saw the return of CTV’s hit original drama MOTIVE, which premiered to 1 million viewers growing its lead-in of SECRETS AND LIES (926,000 viewers) by 8%, to battle it out to become the #1 entertainment program in its 10 p.m. timeslot with total viewers and A18-49.

MASTERCHEF CANADA kicked off a strong Sunday for CTV, with the network leading Global from 7-11 p.m. by 47% with total viewers and 81% among A25-54, and with more than double the audience among A18-34 and A18-49. CTV delivered the Top 4 conventional programs with A18-49 with MASTERCHEF CANADA, ONCE UPON A TIME, MOTIVE, and SECRETS AND LIES.

A closer look at Numeris (BBM Canada) preliminary data for Sunday:

  • Once again winning its 7 p.m. timeslot, MASTERCHEF CANADA was up 23% among total viewers from last week’s episode.
  • Building upon its lead-in, the Season 3 premiere of MOTIVE (1 million) on CTV led the simulcast of BATTLE CREEK (837,000, Global/CBS) at 10 p.m. by 19% with total viewers, 10% with A18-34, and 4% with A18-49. Last night’s season premiere was also up 8% with total viewers over its Season 2 premiere just over a year ago.

In the next new episode of MASTERCHEF CANADA (returning in two weeks on Sunday, March 22 at 7 p.m./8 p.m. CT), the home cooks’ second Team Challenge takes place on the University of Guelph campus, home to the school’s ground-breaking food research department which has developed numerous food products, including the Yukon Gold potato. After being divided into teams, the home cooks test their culinary and entrepreneurial skills by creating crowd-pleasing poutine dishes to sell to hundreds of hungry students. Back in the MASTERCHEF CANADA kitchen, the members of the losing team must master a difficult stuffed pasta dish or face elimination.

In next week’s episode of MOTIVE, “Calling The Shots” (Sunday, March 15 at 10 p.m. ET on CTV), Detectives Brian Lucas (Brendan Penny), Angie Flynn (Kristin Lehman) and Oscar Vega (Louis Ferreira) investigate the homicide of a high-end call girl, and their shocking discovery about the victim’s double life complicates the investigation. Meanwhile, Angie adjusts to playing a supporting role to Lucas, who is the primary investigator, and finds herself distracted when new details of the Montgomery case emerge. Ally Sheedy guest stars.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Ascension, Murdoch Mysteries

Tonight: Murdoch Mysteries, Ascension, 19-2

Murdoch Mysteries, CBC – “The Keystone Constables”
When a vaudeville comedian is murdered, Crabtree and Higgins go undercover to investigate the other performers, including W.C. Fields.

Ascension, CBC – Episode 5
Lorelei reveals a secret from beyond the grave that disrupts Ostara and provokes a power struggle on Ascension.

19-2, Bravo – “Babylon”
After an accidental death, violent protesters occupy an abandoned building and the squad must clear them out.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail