From Sofie Mikhaylova of Paste:
Canadian Sitcoms: Local, Lonely and Short-Lived
This March, Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek was renewed for a second season by American broadcasting network Pop. This is a big deal—generally, Canadian comedy doesn’t matter. Continue reading.
From Cinefilles.ca:
Gimme Five: Reasons we love Degrassi
With all the sadness at the recent cancellation of Degrassi: Next Generation, soon followed by the announcement of Degrassi: Next Class to dry our tears, we thought there was no better time to address the reasons we hold the teen series so dear to our hearts. Continue reading.
The short answer is yes, Canadians are just a polite as we’re believed to be. That is the finding of Fool Canada, CBC’s televised social experiment where hidden cameras capture everyday folks plunged into outrageous situations and confronted with outlandish characters.
Debuting Tuesday night, Fool Canada stars Will Sasso (MADtv) as the king court jester, who along with Craig Lauzon, Sam Kalilieh and Sara Hennessey goof on everything from our love of street hockey to mistaken identity.
“I would feel bad,” Sasso says. “The producers would be talking in my ear, telling me to push it a little further and I wouldn’t want to. ‘This person is on their lunch break, they don’t need to deal with me in a wig!'” And yet deal with Sasso they do, whether he’s dressed up like a European tourist and testing the patience of a passerby by having a dozen pictures taken or portraying a traffic cop and pulling over a girl for “speeding” on her skateboard.” The B.C. native describes Fool Canada as longform improv he found scary and daunting … exactly the reasons he signed on.
Though Sasso admits not all of the bits he participated in were stellar, several in Tuesday’s debut are. The aforementioned tourist bit goes from awkward to amazing and a segment where a city staffer (played by Kalilieh) drops off raccoons for placement in city homes is snicker-worthy. The laugh-out loud moment of the half-hour show? Two dudes playing street hockey … with two dolls strapped to their chests dressed up like real babies. The look of horror on the folks who walk by to see pucks bouncing off the fake infants is worth tuning in for.
“These things don’t work unless I’m in the comfy bosom of my countrypeople,” Sasso admits. “There is this meter where you wonder how far you can push. And when you reach that spot on the meter it becomes fun.”
Fool Canada airs Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. on CBC.
From a media release:
Shaw Media and Paperny Entertainment announced today that Brad Smith (The Bachelor Canada) will host the new season of Food Network Canada’s high-stakes culinary competition series, Chopped Canada. Brad Smith takes the helm as host for the third season of the wildly popular series, with production underway on 31 episodes jammed with new twists and supreme specials, including a Chopped Canada Teen Tournament, a food truck showdown, and the return of past season favourites aiming to redeem themselves in the kitchen arena. The third season of Chopped Canada will join the Food Network schedule later this year.
A seasoned CFL veteran, Smith made his move to television as the Bachelor for the opening season of The Bachelor Canada in 2012. After the show, Smith became an entertainment reporter, interviewing celebrities and keeping his finger on the fast pulse of Hollywood for viewers. Smith brings a loyal fan base to Chopped Canada with his larger-than-life personality, infectious smile, and a personal penchant for food.
Joining the judges’ table for season three is celebrity chef, author, and television personality Mark McEwan. Long considered one of Canada’s most respected chefs and restaurateurs, McEwan is no stranger to competitive culinary television, having been the Head Judge on Food Network’s Top Chef Canada for four seasons. He and returning Chopped Canada judges Lynn Crawford, John Higgins, Antonio Park, Anne Yarymowich, Eden Grinshpan, Massimo Capra, Michael Smith, Susur Lee, and Roger Mooking will judge 120 competitors from every corner of Canada.
Each episode of Chopped Canada pits four chefs against the clock – and each other – for a chance to win $10,000. Cooking off in head-to-head challenges before a rotating panel of expert judges, the competitors put their skill and ingenuity to the test in an attempt to turn baskets of mystery ingredients into an extraordinary, three-course meal within a limited amount of time. Course by course, the judges chop the chefs from the competition until only one remains.
Chopped Canada Season 3 will launch later this year.
From a media release:
Space has Friday nights locked and served as the series debut of the Space original series KILLJOYS drew an average preliminary overnight audience of 286,000 viewers, making KILLJOYS the #1 entertainment specialty program of the day. During its 9 p.m. ET timeslot, Space was the #1 entertainment specialty network with total viewers, an increase of 133% compared to the timeslot average this broadcast year-to-date. Combined with the encore midnight airing on Space, and the June 20, 10 p.m. encore broadcast on CTV, the series premiere of KILLJOYS saw a total audience of 694,000.
Also on Friday night, new Canadian sci-fi drama DARK MATTER continues to be a hit with Space viewers in its 10 p.m. ET timeslot drawing an audience of 262,000 viewers for its second episode, making Space the #1 entertainment specialty network in the timeslot for total viewers and among adults 25-54. During the back-to-back airing of KILLJOYS and DARK MATTER, Space was the #1 entertainment specialty network overall in the 9p.m.-11p.m. ET timeslot.
Genre fans were also lighting up Twitter as #Killjoys and @Killjoys resulted in 4.5 million impressions from 1,119 tweets in Canada over the weekend, and 21.5 million impressions from 9,493 tweets worldwide. Both #Killjoys and #DarkMatter were a trending topic across the country, with #DarkMatter trending worldwide during its timeslot.
On the next episode of KILLJOYS, “The Sugar Point Runâ€Â (Friday, June 26 at 9 p.m. ET), a hostage exchange with a vengeful warlord turns deadly when the Killjoys find themselves stranded in Sugar Point – a restricted, bombed-out city on Westerley overrun with dangerous gangs and scavengers.
In Episode 3 of DARK MATTER, (Friday, June 26 at 10 p.m. ET), when the ship mysteriously drops, suggestions of sabotage abound, fueling the onboard paranoia. A perilous EVA (space walk) is required to bring The Raza’s systems back online. Meanwhile, “5†makes a shocking discovery.
