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

CRTC releases 2014 financial results for Canadian local TV stations

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From a media release:

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today released statistical and financial information on Canadian local television stations for the broadcast year that ended August 31, 2014.

In 2014, private stations invested $619.3 million in the creation of programs made by Canadians, including local news and drama series, and employed over 5,900 people. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Société Radio-Canada (CBC/SRC) invested an additional $789.8 million in this type of content. In total, local television stations spent more than $1.4 billion to fund the creation of new Canadian programs for viewers.

Canada’s local television stations continued to operate within a challenging advertising market. Private stations brought in $117.1 million less in advertising revenue, which contributed to a 7.2% decrease in overall revenues, from $1.94 billion in 2013 to $1.8 billion in 2014.

For its part, CBC/SRC reported $474.6 million in advertising revenues in 2014, a 43% increase from the $331.1 million generated in 2013. This increase is largely attributable to the broadcast of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, the FIFA Soccer World Cup in Brazil, and an entire season of National Hockey League games.

Each year, the CRTC compiles financial data on Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications sectors to produce a series of reports. The CRTC will soon publish the financial results for cable and satellite companies, specialty, pay, pay-per-view and video-on-demand services, and AM and FM radio. Following the publication of these reports, the CRTC will issue its annual Communications Monitoring Report.

These annual reports help interested parties to stay informed about the state of the Canadian communication industry and to participate in the CRTC’s public consultations.

Quick facts

  • Private local television stations saw their revenues drop by 7.2%, from $1.94 billion in 2013 to $1.8 billion in 2014. Expenses went from $1.85 billion in 2013 to $1.84 billion in 2014, a slight decrease of 0.4%. Profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) declined from -$2.3 million to -$138.7 million, and the PBIT margin decreased from -0.1% to -7.7%.
  • Investments by private local television stations in Canadian-made programs increased by 2.3%, from $605.4 million in 2013 to $619.3 million in 2014.
  • Private local television stations invested $60.4 million for drama series, $5.3 million for feature films, $84.7 million for general interest programs, $361.1 million for news programs, $6.3 million for long-form documentaries, $29.3 million for other information programs, $22.3 million for music and variety shows, $1.1 million for sports programming, $19 million for game shows, $25.5 million for reality TV shows, $3.7 million for awards shows and $0.5 million for other programs.
  • As part of these investments, local television stations paid $138.6 million to Canadian independent producers.
  • Revenues from the sale of local advertising declined from $351.2 million in 2013 to $333.6 million in 2014, a 5% decrease. Private local television stations also experienced a 7.8% decline in national advertising revenues, from $1.28 billion in 2013 to $1.18 billion in 2014.
  • In 2014, CBC/SRC reported advertising revenues of $474.6 million, which represented a 43.3% increase from the $331.1 million generated the previous year.
  • CBC/SRC’s programming expenditures totalled $810.8 million, 97% of which was spent on Canadian programs.
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Children's Programming, Featured

Jonathan Torrens scores comedy touchdown with Samantha Bee on Game On

Jonathan Torrens never expected he’d be the hero of the Nova Scotia film and television industry. But he sprang to its defence when the government announced they’d be cutting the province’s tax credit in the newest budget, effectively killing a burgeoning community of creative people. A recent full day of rallies in Halifax—with Torrens addressing the crowd from on-stage—led to the Liberal government backing off on some of its proposed changes. There is still a lot of talking between sides to take place, but things aren’t as dire as they were a few short weeks ago.

“I have so many things that I’d rather be doing, I did not want to take this on,” Torrens tells TV, Eh? “But I said from the get-go that I would not be speaking up if I didn’t know in my heart and see in my town that it’s working.”

When he’s not fighting for the future of the craft he loves, Torrens is starring in one of several projects. He’s set to return to Trailer Park Boys to play J-Roc next month, followed by Season 5 of Mr. D, and is one-half of the hit podcast Taggart and Torrens with former Our Lady Peace drummer Jeremy Taggart.

His latest TV project—Game On, debuting tonight on YTV—finds Torrens in a familiar setting, portraying a sports commentator named Bob opposite The Daily Show‘s Samantha Bee as Geri. The duo serve as offbeat play-by-play reporters for the life of Toby Martin (Grayson Gurnsey, The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell), an awkward 14-year-old whose most embarrassing moments and personal triumphs are noted in Game On.

“I feel like I’ve done the ‘guys in sport coats’ thing, so that it was a woman, and that it was Samantha Bee specifically, and that it was directed by Jacob Tierney, was the neapolitan of flavours that brought me to the table,” Torrens says with a smile. A long-standing respect for what Bee has done in her professional and personal life was a major draw, and he hoped they’d mesh during filming scenes in Montreal. The pair provide what Torrens calls “traffic copping” with dialogue describing Toby’s movement and interaction with friends Seth (Jamie Mayers) and Jessica (Alice Morel-Michaud), sister Mel (Teale Bishopric) and parents Erica (Rebecca Croll) and Jeff (Marcel Jeannin), with the opportunity to riff during the intros and extros.

The chance to ad-lib provides hilariously uncomfortable moments; in Monday’s first of 20 episodes, “Small Change,” it’s hinted Geri and Bob may have been in a relationship that fizzled because one of them “closed their borders” to the other. Having that creative space to play, Torrens explains, came via Game On‘s executive producer and director, Tierney (The Trotsky), who encouraged going off script.

“Sam is every bit as funny, cheeky and acerbic as you’d hope,” Torrens says. “But it takes somebody in the driver’s seat to say, ‘Yeah, take five seconds and pan for gold.”

Game On airs Mondays at 7 p.m. ET/PT on YTV.

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Mr. D

Link: Jonathan Torrens host and winner at Screen Nova Scotia awards

From The Chronicle Herald:

Jonathan Torrens host and winner at Screen Nova Scotia awards
Jonathan Torrens, host of the inaugural Screen Nova Scotia awards, was also a winner at the ceremony, earning the best male supporting actor nod for his role as the vice-principal in Mr. D.

Screen Nova Scotia, ACTRA Maritimes and IATSE 667 & 849 presented the awards at Casino Nova Scotia in Halifax Saturday night. Continue reading.

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Featured, Masterchef Canada

Review: High end to Southern comfort on MasterChef Canada

“I may not have won MasterChef Canada, but I definitely was the best-looking throughout.” And with that, the series said goodbye to Michael, one of the most compelling and entertaining characters in the franchise.

In the early stages of this season, Michael was painted as the villain, a well-dressed home cook with high-end tastes who looked down on his small-town competitors. But as with all reality TV, the story is all in the editing; as Season 2 has progressed Michael not only was shown to be a likeable dude but a valuable team player to have in your corner. Unfortunately, it all came to an end on Sunday after a raw piece of fried chicken resulted in him hanging up his apron for good. It was a shame, really, because Michael would have been great as a finalist. Still, I’m sure we’ll see him as a sous chef for the two competitors who do go into the finale on May 24.

Luckily, Michael was able to show off his skills in a professional kitchen, as “Fine Dining Under Fire” began with the Top 6 ascending 54 storeys to cook in Canoe, Michael Bonacini’s landmark restaurant. It was there the Blue Team led by Cody and with David and Christopher on board faced off against Line captaining the Red Team with Michael and Sabrina.

The results were eerily similar to Season 1’s venture to Claudio Aprile’s Origins: both teams struggled early before getting into a groove and serving up respectable plates to the 60-odd seated in the restaurant. Cody took a more collaborative approach to his leadership and the Blue Team flourished, finishing their service with just a couple of blips. The Red Team never recovered from a slow start and Sabrina stepped in to lead when Line got overwhelmed. It got so bad that Chef Bonacini donned his whites and got in there to help out.

That, paired with plating that was a little off, handed the win to Cody, David and Christopher and sent Michael, Line and Sabrina to the Elimination Challenge, to prepare fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans in just 45 minutes. And though Michael’s chicken breast was the best of the bunch, that raw leg was his undoing.

Next week the finalists get teary when their families drop by for support and to cheer them on.

Notes and quotes

  • I was playing “find the Canadian TV industry people” during the episode and spotted Bell Media execs, one television critic and Marilyn Denis.
  • “She’s acting like my daughters did when they were teenagers.” Line with the line of the night about Sabrina.
  • “I’ve been working on a fried chicken recipe for 10 years.” And I would like to sample it, David.

MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Children's Programming

Link: Jonathan Torrens scores with new YTV series with Daily Show’s Samantha Bee

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From Jim Slotek of Postmedia Network:

Jonathan Torrens scores with new YTV series with Daily Show’s Samantha Bee
“Are you a fan of the Norwegian original?” Jonathan Torrens says, straight-faced, before breaking into a smirk.

I’m guessing virtually no one who’s not Norwegian has seen Kampen, the show that inspired YTV’s live-action series Game On with Torrens and Samantha Bee. In it, a 14-year-old boy (Grayson Gurnsey) has play-by-play delivered on his life by an unseen male-female anchor team. Continue reading.

 

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