From Lauren Davis of io9:
Orphan Black’s Crazy Bioweapon Actually Exists In Nature
This season, Orphan Black introduced a line of genetically male clones to its tale, and with them came a scary new twist in the Orphan Black biology. How scientifically realistic is this weird new development? Well, something like it does happen in the real world — but only with fruit flies, not humans. Continue reading.
From a media release:
Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana is thrilled to announce that an array of industry-leading partners have joined forces on the brand-new, wholly original series, Mysticons, which will make its global debut in 2017.
Nickelodeon will serve as the global broadcast partner, including in the U.S. Nelvana Studio is actively developing the franchise and will begin production of the series later this year, working closely with the core group of partners including The Topps Company, which was acquired by Michael Eisner’s Tornante Company and Madison Dearborn Partners in 2007. Mysticons is written by veteran kids series writer Sean Jara (RedaKai, Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5, The League of Super Evil, Naturally Sadie).
The series tells the epic tale of four girls who transform into legendary warriors and undertake a mythic quest to find a magic tome known as the Codex. They must reach the Codex before Necrafa, the Queen of the Undead, gets to it first and uses it to spread darkness and destruction. The Mysticons come from different walks of life, from princess to street kid, but are brought together by fate to save the world. With their incredible magical weapons and abilities, our masked Mysticons are modern day heroines.
The series is executive produced by Michael Eisner and Noel Bright for The Topps Company and Corus Entertainment’s Doug Murphy, Colin Bohm and Irene Weibel.
The Canadian network upfront dust has settled and 2015-16 schedules have been revealed. How does their Cancon stack up in terms of quantity, before we’re able to judge much on quality? Let’s take a closer look based on their recently announced lineups for fall and winter:
The public broadcaster’s lifeblood is original programming, making it unique among the major networks. Budget woes mean more creativity, if you can call reduced seasons an example of creativity, but also new arts and factual programming as well as international acquisitions. CBC gets a half point for airing City’s original production Young Drunk Punk; I admire the cooperative spirit that allows both networks to spread out their Cancon spending without the benefit of appropriate specialty channels of their own, like the biggest private networks who can air one show across multiple channels. With additional factual and news programming, including new shows this summer, CBC is the home of hope for a homegrown television lover.
I’m grading on a curve for this smallest of the networks, and hoping they have more originals up their sleeve despite their minimalist fall announcement. Seed, Package Deal and Meet the Family are dead, but they recently ordered more episodes of sketch comedy show Sunnyside for fall. While Young Drunk Punk will benefit from CBC’s bigger reach, Mr. D may get some new eyeballs but a larger audience than its CBC run is highly unlikely. A second season of Young Drunk Punk hasn’t been announced yet, and City didn’t take the upfronts as an opportunity to do so.
They recently cancelled homegrown medical drama Remedy while picking up the requisite American medical drama, and Rookie Blue may or may not be ending this summer. Unless Global rushes their greenlit The Code and Houdini and Doyle into production and finds a cancellation in its simsub schedule during the regular television season, they’re unlikely to have any scripted original shows until at least spring 2016 — on par with their 2014/15 schedule.
Original productions on CTV are positively abundant compared to their rival Global — though some credit goes to their increased Cancon spending requirements after Bell’s purchase of Astral. Even then, they have one scripted show each starting in fall and winter, with Saving Hope out of the gate first in a plum timeslot. They still have a produced season of the sadly tainted Spun Out waiting in the wings. Will they schedule it when gaps appear in their simulcast schedule due to U.S. cancellations, or burn it off quietly some Saturday evening, or kill it entirely? Would they be able to kill it entirely without issues with the funding agencies? Will we hear soon about more new original series for CTV? So many questions, and we can only wait for answers.
From Robin Levinson King of the Toronto Star:
8 Degrassi stars who made it big
Shed a tear for the final season of Degrassi, which is set to begin July 20. MTV announced Thursday that the show would not be renewed for another season. But the classic teen soap opera will live on in the hearts and minds of fans, as through the Instagram profiles of the show’s famous alumni. Continue reading.
From Tony Wong of the Toronto Star:
It’s not curtains for Spun Out, says CTV
CTV hasn’t ruled out airing the second season of controversial sitcom Spun Out. The show was cancelled after voyeurism charges were laid against one of the actors, after two women discovered hidden cameras in a condo they were renting. Continue reading.
