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.
Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Mighty Ships sets sail for Season 8

From a media release:

MIGHTY SHIPS is set to shove off for its epic eighth season, delivering an unparalleled stem-to-stern journey alongside the world’s most sophisticated vessels, premiering Sunday, July 19 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT exclusively on Discovery. The long-running Canadian mega-hit series, produced by Bell Media’s Exploration Production Inc. (EPI) in association with Discovery and seen in more than 150 territories around the world, uses stunning cinematography to capture the spectacular scale and innovation behind everything from luxurious cruise ships and cargo haulers to warships and oil drilling rigs, along with the navigational challenges of stormy seas and extreme weather.

Season 8 kicks off with twice the might, featuring all-new back-to-back episodes showcasing “Quantum of the Seas” – the world’s most deluxe cruise ship, boasting extreme sports facilities and an observation pod that takes guests to staggering, skyscraper heights. And battening down the hatches for the second episode of the evening, “Hawk” takes viewers aboard one of the world’s most powerful semi-submersible transports – a vessel that must actually sink before she swims.

Episode highlights from MIGHTY SHIPS – Season 8 include:

Quantum of the Seas
Sunday, July 19 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT
Quantum of the Seas is the world’s most innovative cruise ship. Filled with big toys, guests can fly a trapeze, surf, or even skydive without ever leaving the ship. With an observation pod reaching 90 metres high, Quantum offers a bird’s eye view of herself. For the crew, this first full-length cruise is no time to play. Quantum’s indoor facilities get a workout during early winter weather off New Jersey. Later, her captain battles strong winds in the tight confines of Caribbean ports. Finally, a computer glitch undermines the big show in the most technologically advanced theatre at sea.

Hawk
Sunday, July 19 at 8 p.m. ET/9 p.m. PT
To transport one of the world’s largest oil drilling rigs halfway around the world, Hawk has to sink before she swims. To load, she sinks down in the water, submerging her expansive deck. Then, Hawk slips under the rig, expels her ballast and rises up – lifting  her towering cargo like a champion. From there, she embarks on a 25,000-kilometre voyage, beginning with the notorious traffic in Singapore, continuing through stormy seas off Western Africa, and finishing up with an unexpected drift in Norway that puts the ship and her cargo in jeopardy.

Happy Star
Sunday, July 26 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT
Happy Star is brand new and ready to lift and transport the world’s heaviest industrial equipment around the world. Her first major job takes her from China to Eastern Canada, carrying the massive components for a crane-and-conveyor system. Along the way, Happy Star’s crew faces a baffling engine problem that sets them adrift for 24 hours. Then through day and night, they crash their way through daunting ice. Arriving at port, the crew sets the mighty ship’s towering cranes to assemble the entire system, creating a new iron ore loading facility. But frigid temperatures threaten to bring the entire operation to a halt.

Algoma Equinox
Sunday, August 2 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT
Algoma Equinox is built to haul more cargo faster, using less fuel than any other Laker.  On this voyage, her crew scrambles to load and transport grain from one end of the world’s largest inland waterway to the other –  passing through four Great Lakes, as well as the mammoth locks and tight canals that comprise the St. Lawrence Seaway. Equinox and her crew battle the fierce ice and winds, encountering sudden and enormous shifts in water depth. And after offloading the grain, she takes on a load of iron ore heavy enough to bend the hull of the ship!

HDMS Peter Willemoes
Sunday, August 9 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT
HDMS Peter Willemoes is the pride of the Royal Danish Navy. One of three in a new class of frigate, she’s built to protect an entire battle group. On this voyage, Willemoes and her crew undertake the most intense battle training exercise ever seen on MIGHTY SHIPS. They engage every weapon aboard – from machine gun, to cannons to a Harpoon sea-to-sea missile – and undertake rapid evasive maneuvers. But Willemoes’ crew must do all of this while sustaining multiple simulated damages. If they prove they can fight while wounded, this warship and her crew will be cleared for active deployment.

Maersk Interceptor
Sunday, August 16 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT
The Maersk Interceptor is the largest rig of her kind. Purpose-built to drill for oil in the harshest seas on the planet, she plants her 207-metre long legs into the seafloor, then lifts her platform high above the raging seas, drilling as deep as three kilometres down. The biggest challenge comes at the start: towing the rig 170 kilometres off shore, positioning her, and readying her massive derrick for drilling. On this – her first-ever job – Interceptor’s crew is challenged by high stakes and the tough decisions required to survive the biggest storm to hit the North Sea in two decades.

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Uncategorized

Link: Ukrainians clamour for Canadian TV content and hardware

From The Canadian Press:

Ukrainians clamour for Canadian TV content and hardware
“The Littlest Hobo,” “Anne of Green Gables,” maybe even “Flashpoint” could find a new lease on life in Ukraine as the country’s broadcasting council scrambles to fill TV screens with something other than Russian programming, says a senior Ukrainian official. Continue reading.

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Industry News

Link: Why TV networks are dialling down divisions and sharing shows

1 Comment

From Simon Houpt of The Globe and Mail:

Why TV networks are dialling down divisions and sharing shows
Much’s audience has Snapchatted and Instagrammed and just plain wandered away lately, so this year its anxious corporate parent tried to win the channel some new friends by placing last Sunday night’s MMVAs on a cross-generational clutch of Bell’s TV properties: Not just Much, but also the main CTV network as well as CTV Two, MTV, MTV2 and M3. Continue reading.

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Dark Matter, Featured

Review: Wait … what?! on Dark Matter

Dark Matter just messed with my brain. After making a bunch of notes during Friday’s third episode, I basically had to throw everything I thought I knew out the window thanks to that final scene aboard the space station.

Yes, apparently, that was Jace Corso looking for the Raza and its crew members, causing me to sit forward and exclaim, ‘What the hell?!” This was, of course, moments after Five discovered the gun that killed the young man she found in the storage room earlier.

Written by Martin Gero, Episode 3 had the hallmarks of an Agatha Christie murder mystery, with a dead body found and the murderer among the folks trapped on the ship with no connection to the outside world. There were plenty of lingering camera shots at various team members, causing viewers to wonder which one was the culprit. It was easy to assume Three was the man responsible for killing the kid and even wiping their minds because he avoided the Android’s lie detector test until One literally put a gun to his head.

I’m still holding out hope the Android is somehow controlling everything on the Raza; every time Five came close to outing who had done the mind wipe something went wrong with the ship. I can’t help but feel the Android is controlling the situation no matter how innocent her face appears to be. (Remember Ash from Alien??) My assumption the faulty sensor was fake wasn’t true, but the gamma radiation scare certainly could have been.

Did Five program the Android? Is Three really single-minded, or is he an evil genius? Does One really have feelings for Two, or did he kiss her to gain her trust?

That’s the thing with Dark Matter. Just when I think I know what’s going to happen, a curve ball is thrown to make me reassess my assumptions.

In my opinion, that’s the mark of a great TV show.

Notes and quotes

  • Four’s martial arts skills are kick ass.
  • “Have a good time playing with your stick.” — Three
  • “It’s chocolate protein pudding day!” — Five
  • I wish I could initiate magnetic boots.
  • The Dark Matter set has really become an effective part of the cast, thanks to dark corners, fluorescent lighting, steam and that grimy and scuffed look.

Dark Matter airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on Space.

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Featured, Killjoys

Review: Building relationships on Killjoys

Compared to last week’s debut, Friday’s second episode of Killjoys was a bit of a step back. Not in action or excitement, mind you—there was plenty of both—but time was taken to build and establish relationships on two major fronts.

“The Sugar Point Run,” written by Jeremy Boxen, forced Dutch and D’avin to team up when Lucy was shot down in hostile territory on Westerley. While Johnny stayed behind to fix the damaged ship, those two set off to track down Simon (Michael Therriault), who was being delivered to his sister, Ryo (Irene Poole), in exchange for the Mayor’s daughter, whom she’d captured. But Ryo wasn’t interested in reuniting with Simon because she missed him. She wanted the round memory chip he’d hidden in his guts; it held the launch codes to a missile she’d stolen and aimed at The Company’s headquarters in Old Town.

As expected, D’avin impressed Dutch with his hand-to-hand fighting and deadly accuracy with weapons (he was a soldier, after all) so much so she offered him a Killjoys gig provided he passed the test. I’m guessing he passes the test; the show is called Killjoys and not Two Killjoys and a Flunkie. Did anyone else catch that little narrowing of the eyes from Johnny when Dutch offered his bro the job? Who else thinks the Brothers Jacobis may be battling for her affections before the season is done?

Of course, Johnny has a lady of his own, sort of. It was clear from this episode that he and Lucy have a pretty intense bond, one usually reserved for people. The fact Johnny knows Lucy’s most intimate parts and software hints at a long-term relationship between them and a loyalty that has bridged the gap between spaceship and homo sapiens.

 

 

Notes and quotes

  • That red box means Dutch is supposed to dispatch someone in the next week. But who? And why?
  • “She’s my partner. Boss. My partner-boss.” — Johnny
  • Is it wrong that I thought Dutch was sexy as heck wriggling out of the scavenger’s straps?
  • Lucy’s light sarcasm is fantastic.

Killjoys airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on Space.

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