All posts by Greg David

Prior to becoming a television critic and owner of TV, Eh?, Greg David was a critic for TV Guide Canada, the country's most trusted source for TV news. He has interviewed television actors, actresses and behind-the-scenes folks from hundreds of television series from Canada, the U.S. and internationally. He is a podcaster, public speaker, weekly radio guest and educator, and past member of the Television Critics Association.
Industry News, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

W Network partners with Mark Burnett and Insight Productions on New Series Pilot, Destination Detour

From a media release:

Corus Entertainment’s W Network announced today an agreement with Mark Burnett, United Artists Media Group, Omnicom Canada Corp.’s Highway Entertainment and Insight Productions to develop a new series format and pilot episode of the travel-reality series, Destination Detour(working title). The format is being developed for Canadian and international markets and will air on W Network in 2016.  Production of the one-hour pilot, begins in August in Ontario, Canada.

Destination Detour  takes three couples on what they expect will be their own meticulously planned, once in a lifetime dream vacation but throws a major curveball into their plans. The three couples from vastly different walks of life, personal interests and temperaments must face this massive detour head-on. The couples will be immersed in worlds they never dreamed of entering and face challenges that will scare, excite and ultimately redefine them. Only time will tell if the couples embrace this Destination Detour or if it will turn out to be a holiday from hell.

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Featured, Spun Out

Review: Russell Peters highlights Spun Out’s return

Better late than never. Five months after Spun Out was supposed to debut on CTV immediately following the Super Bowl, Dave Foley’s Canadian sitcom returned to the air. There’s been a lot written about the reason for the delay—co-star J.P. Manoux’s arrest—and the resulting burn-off of the sophomore sitcom over the summer months that was announced just two days ago.

Manoux grabbed a lot of headlines, but changes occurred on the show too. The first season was filmed in front of a live audience, but this second go-round jettisoned that. With a new way of filming and high-profile guest star Russell Peters dropping by, how did Episode 1 of Season 2 of Spun Out fare?

Written by Fraser Young and Nick Beaton and directed by Dave Foley, Peters brought great energy to “My Brother’s Speaker,” playing Ray, Nelson’s (Al Mukadam) DJ brother.

It didn’t take long to discern there was no love lost between Ray and Beckett (Paul Campbell) thanks to an arm bar and a chirp about living in your parents’ basement (“Remember your parents basement from this morning because you just left there because you still live there?”). But rather than fall back on an easy back-and-forth, episode long feud between Ray and Beckett, it was Nelson who ended up angry with Ray after he’d arranged for a DJ showcase and Ray didn’t bother to show up. The reason? Not because Ray was a jerk, but because he had a day job he was ashamed of.

Holly Deveaux—who I really enjoyed in Season 1—was given a lot more to do as Abby on Tuesday night, fully involved in a storyline where she and Stephanie (Rebecca Dalton) thought they were being hustled at poker by Bryce (Manoux) and Gordon (Darcy Michael). Stephanie was a portrayed as a vacuous blonde in Season 1 and it looks like the writers have backed off on that a bit, which is a welcome change. (Michael continues to be a bright spot too; his out-there comments as Gordon always make me laugh, though I wonder what skills he has to stay employed at DLPR.)

My biggest pet peeve about this new season of Spun Out is going to be the canned laugh track. Rather than just letting the jokes stand on their own merit, punchlines are juiced in post, something I hate because it assumes the audience doesn’t know when to laugh. Spun Out certainly isn’t the first show to do this, but I don’t think it’s needed.

What did you guys think? Comment below or via @tv_eh.

Spun Out airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Survivorman star injured in car accident

Best wishes go out to Survivorman star Les Stroud, who was injured in a car accident in Mongolia recently.

The news broke Tuesday afternoon on OLN’s Facebook page, detailing the veteran survivalist was filming new footage for Survivorman when the incident occurred.

“After being out in the field for a few weeks, shooting new footage for Survivorman featuring Les Stroud, he headed out to Mongolia where he got into a car accident,” the post read. “He is back home now, recovering from a dislocated shoulder, a couple broken ribs, and a collapsed lung. Get well soon, Les!”

Well-wishers were quick to lend their support to the writer, producer, author, TV host and singer/songwriter in the comments section on the post.

Stroud’s most recent series for the network, Survivorman: Bigfoot, found him traveling the world over the course of six episodes seeking out the mythical, mystical Sasquatch.

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Uncategorized

Link: CBC gets creative with new online shows

From Laura Beeston of The Globe and Mail:

CBC gets creative with new online shows
Niche programming tends to do well online. In addition to its slapstick 1990s revival show Body Buds and gendered gags on Womanish, Punchline recently released Riftworld: Chronicles, a fantasy/sci-fi comedy based in Toronto. The eight webisodes range from four to seven minutes each and will be available online all at once for our binge-watching pleasure. Continue reading.

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