Yearly Archives: 2015

Motive

Link: CTV’s MOTIVE Returns for Season 3, March 8

From a media release:

CTV is set for a killer new Sunday night as hit original crime drama MOTIVE returns for Season 3, Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT, beginning March 8 on CTV and CTV GO. The third season continues with the program’s signature “whydunit” format, revealing the killer and victim at the start of each of its 13 new episodes. And it arrives with an incredible list of guest stars: Dylan Walsh (UNFORGETTABLE), Alexis Bledel (MAD MEN), Chris Klein (WILFRED), C. Thomas Howell (GRIMM), Ally Sheedy (The Breakfast Club), Billy Boyd (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), Charles Martin Smith (Dolphin Tale 2), and more appear, joining previously announced guest stars Victor Garber (Argo, ALIAS), Jessica Lowndes (90210), and Luisa D’Oliveira (CRACKED), as a new set of murders unfolds for viewers each week.

Set and shot in Vancouver, Season 3 of MOTIVE begins with Detective Angie Flynn (Kristin Lehman, THE KILLING), returning to the Homicide team after a six-month, self-imposed absence. A lot has changed for the team – Detectives Oscar Vega (Louis Ferreira, SGU STARGATE UNIVERSE) and Brian Lucas (Brendan Penny, THE ASSISTANTS), Sergeant Mark Cross (Warren Christie, ALPHAS), and Dr. Betty Rogers (Lauren Holly, NCIS) — since then, and now Angie will have to find a way to fit in. In the six months since she left, Detective Lucas has begun giving orders, and is now the primary on key cases; Detective Oscar Vega has made a genuine effort to fill in the gaps Angie left behind; and he and Sergeant Mark Cross are getting along. But this season Vega will have more to focus on than just his work, facing a crisis that threatens not only his career, but his personal life as well. And viewers will see a new side of the always confident and charming Dr. Betty Rogers, when she comes up against a dangerous and threatening adversary. As Angie adjusts to the changes, she finds herself fixated on her first case back, and on one intriguing character in particular who will draw the team – and viewers — in from the very first episode of the season.

In the season three premiere entitled “Six Months Later” (Sunday, March 8 at10 p.m. ET/PT on CTV), Detective Angie Flynn (Kristin Lehman) finds herself in a new role within the Metro Police Department, away from Homicide. But news concerning her former partner, Detective Vega (Louis Ferreira), lures her back to help investigate a case involving his father and the death of a beautiful young socialite. A recovering addict, the victim’s past points to a potential overdose as a cause of death. But as details emerge, it becomes clear her death was no accident. Victor Garber (Argo, Titanic), Jessica Lowndes (90210), Tony Plana (UGLY BETTY, Primal Fear), and Luisa D’Oliveira (CRACKED) guest star.

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Vikings

Tonight: Vikings, The Nature of Things, Doc Zone, Storage Wars Canada

Vikings, History – Season 3 premiere
In Season 3, Ragnar (Travis Fimmel), the former farmer, is now King and has great responsibility resting on his shoulders. With the promise of new land from the English, Ragnar leads his people to an uncertain fate on the shores of Wessex. The ever-ambitious Ragnar searches for something more – and he finds it in the mythical city of Paris. Rumoured to be impenetrable to outside forces, Ragnar and his band of Norsemen must come together to break down its walls and cement the Vikings legend in history.

The Nature of Things, CBC – “The Great Human Odyssey: The Adaptable Ape (Episode 2)”
Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015 at 8 p.m. on CBC-TV
In this episode, join Dr. Niobe Thompson on another scientific adventure as he reveals the answer to the great mystery of how humans made it out of Africa, and proves our ancestors did it twice as early as scientists once thought possible. Thompson travels with desert Bedouin, and goes into the groundbreaking excavations in the United Arab Emirates, where the discovery of stone tools is doubling the dates for our out-of-Africa exodus. In Papua New Guinea, the most malarial place on earth, Thompson meets a remote tribe almost immune to malaria and other endemic diseases, and discovers how our ancestors’ interbreeding with Neanderthals and Denisovans may be why we survived in a world that we had no immunity to. In the most remote region of Arctic Russia in the depths of winter,Thompson lives with reindeer nomads to discover firsthand how a tropical ape, Homo sapiens, outwits the cold.

Doc Zone, CBC – “The Age of the Drone”
Drones are here – pilotless flying bots, usually equipped with cutting-edge cameras and GPS navigation. Whether you know it or not, they’re up there, and soon there will be many, many more of them. Drones are a cutting-edge growth industry. More drones are sold every three months than the entire US military uses. There’s lots of upside to the increasing use of drones. The RCMP has saved lives using their flying robots in Search & Rescue missions, Amazon and Google plan to deliver goods to your doorstep, and startups in Silicon Valley are figuring out how to use drones to deliver medicine to locations where there are no roads.
But unlike Canada, where the laws regarding drones are relatively lax, restrictions in the U.S. have so far stopped most commercial use of drones. Drone use is almost impossible to police. They can hover over you in the privacy of your backyard or watch you through your bedroom window. Imagine paparazzi drones! New technology will allow super-surveillance drones 30,000 feet up to see objects six inches across and track your movements all day long, every day. With recent NSA revelations, how far can the data go towards tracking any of us? Should we allow private Investigators to use them?

Storage Wars Canada, OLN – “Knockout Punch”
Roy is up to his usual antics at an auction in the Old Weston neighbourhood of Toronto – only this time, Ursula strikes back with full force. Paul and Bogart are the epitome of the blind leading the blind, while Rick and Cindy’s locker is more than meets the eye.

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Canada's Smartest Person

Link: Electus Picks Up U.S. Rights to ‘Canada’s Smartest Person’

From Etan Vlessing of The Hollywood Reporter:

Electus has secured the U.S. format rights to produce an American version of Canada’s Smartest Person.

The reality competition series that sees brainiacs battle to be named the country’s smartest person first aired on the CBC in Canada and is produced by Toronto-based Media Headquarters, in association with Group M Entertainment. Continue reading.

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Featured, Vikings

Kevin Durand goes from Vikings fan to major player

It would seem like a no-brainer to have Kevin Durand join the cast of Vikings. The Thunder Bay, Ont., native is tall, muscular and has piercing eyes, three prerequisites needed to participate in the Canada/Irish co-production’s pillaging of early England.

And yet Durand—who is currently in production on Season 2 of The Strain in Toronto—was a little nervous about hopping on board the show’s longships as it launches into Season 3 on History on Thursday.

“It was scary to commit to a show that you’re a big fan of,” Durand says with a laugh. “Vikings is way up there for my wife and I, but when I read the words he had written, it just set me afire and I wanted to step up and live up to it.”

The “he” is Michael Hirst, Vikings‘ creator, showrunner and lone writer, the man who has crafted Ragnar Lothbrok’s (Travis Fimmel) journey from lowly farmer to King. Season 3 picks up soon after the events of the last adventures, with Ragnar, Rollo (Clive Standen), Floki (Gustaf SkarsgÃ¥rd), Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick), Athelstan (George Blagden) and Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig) once again venturing across the Atlantic to meet with King Ecbert (Linus Roache) and claim the farmland he’d promised them. Of course, things never go exactly as planned, and Ragnar finds himself caught up in a family feud between Princess Kwenthrith (Amy Bailey) and her uncle and brother, who have teamed to steal her kingdom of Mercia.

Durand plays Harbard, a mysterious figure who shows up in Kattegat while Ragnar and most of the men are in England, and he has a almost spiritual effect on Siggy (Jessalyn Gilsig), Helga (Maude Hirst) and Queen Auslaug (Alyssa Sutherland). Punching the name “Harbard” into Google brings up a couple of references, most notably the Norse gods of Odin and Loki.

“It’s so difficult to expand on what you’ve already found out,” Durand admits. “All I can really divulge is that he wanders into Kattegat and there is something influential and magical about him. Some are sucked in by him and others are skeptical. His actions will be felt for a time to come. Who he is will take some time to reveal.”

It didn’t take Durand long to fully immerse himself into the character of Harbard thanks to the show’s incredible sets, wardrobe and, especially, makeup. He recalls the beard created Harbard and thinking how weird it was as it was first being applied to his face. Two hours later and he didn’t recognize himself.

“I’m looking in the mirror at hair that goes down to my waist and a beard that just screams, ‘I am so virile! I will conquer!'”

Vikings airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on History.

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Featured, Saving Hope

Review: Explosive Saving Hope season finale kills off character

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When I figured Alex would have to make her final choice between Charlie and Joel, I never imagined it would come the way it did during the Saving Hope season finale.

Spoiler warning: turn back now if you haven’t seen Wednesday’s game-changing episode.

Sure, it was a given that Alex would end up going into labour at the same time she was writing her surgical boards, as the two most important events in one person’s life usually happen at the exact same time on television. And sure, it was clear something terrible was going to happen given the ominous white horse Charlie kept seeing all around the hospital. But Joel essentially self-sacrificing himself for Zach and getting blown up by the bomb post-surgery? Certainly didn’t see that one happening.

It was predictable, but I’ll admit that it was funny seeing Alex tell herself she’d be able to get through the surgical boards before delivering her baby. There’s absolutely no way I could write any test, let alone an oral surgical board exam, knowing I was inches away from popping a baby out. Erica Durance certainly sold the labour scenes extremely well, but no more so when she screamed at Maggie not to break her baby during the actual delivery. Also deserving serious props was Maggie for ditching the test with one to go to deliver her BFF’s baby.

After missing out on what sounded like a really cool surgical experience to Joel, Charlie wasn’t really up to anything too exciting at the hospital. Instead, what was so intriguing was how he kept seeing the white horse running around the halls, something I wasn’t sure had significance for an earlier episode or not. He had said he hadn’t been sleeping well and that he had a bad feeling, so I wasn’t sure if the horse vision had shown up before another bad incident or if Charlie was just a big equestrian fan. But when Charlie did declare his bad feeling I was on high alert for each of the characters.

Obviously, the birth of Alex’s baby could’ve easily been one where Charlie’s bad feeling came from. And for a few minutes it did look like there was a life-threatening complication. But when the birth of Luke went smoothly, I knew it was going to be either Zach or Joel’s life in danger. For some reason I pegged Zach as the one who’d end up hurt somehow, even going so far as to suspect he’d be in a car accident when Joel tricked him into leaving the dangerous surgical procedure to remove the bomb from the middle of the resident base bomb expert (how ironic, as they said). And the surgery generally seemed to be going ridiculously well, given how difficult it was to get the thing out from the bones of the soldier. Right up until Joel had the bomb in his hands I figured everything would be OK, although I did wonder why no one was on hand to either defuse or get rid of the bomb immediately after it was pulled from the soldier’s abdomen.

But then the horse appeared, and suddenly it all made sense. I jumped a mile when the bomb went off and needed a minute to comprehend that the show had actually just killed off such a serious main character—one of which was about to propose to Alex, nonetheless.

As much as I’ve absolutely loved the presence of Daniel Gillies throughout the show’s run, this past season has certainly made me feel like Joel and Alex were meant to be best friends more than lovers. Meanwhile, it was clear Alex’s heart still belonged to Charlie, particularly so at the very end of the season. So in the end if someone had to die, I think it was the right choice to have it be the sweet and beautiful Joel, whose death will certainly shake up everyone’s emotions at the hospital—none more than Zach.

How will Zach cope with survivor’s guilt? And will baby Luke end up being Joel’s after all? Those are two questions we’ll be taking with us until Saving Hope returns for another season.

Notes:

  • Anyone else hope Dawn and the two-finger guitar player start hooking up? Just me? OK.
  • Team Shalex t-shirts forever.
  • I wish we could be given a full list of the paternity pool and whom everyone was betting on.
  • How is Team Joel doing? Remember, you’re all in this together.

Thoughts? Let us know through the comments below or via @tv_eh.

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