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.
Canada's Smartest Person

CBC casting for Canada’s Smartest Person

From a media release:

CBC’s popular competition series CANADA’S SMARTEST PERSON is back for a second season, and inviting Canadians to compete for the ultimate title. The national search for competitors kicks off online today and interested participants can apply or nominate someone online at cbc.ca/smartestperson. Competitors don’t have to be a math whiz or trivia buff to apply.  Competitors last season were a diverse group of Canadians and included a radio host, an Olympian, a firefighter, a surgeon and a stay-at-home mom.

Based on the ground-breaking Theory of Multiple Intelligences, CANADA’S SMARTEST PERSON redefines what it means to be smart. Competitors go head-to-head in mind-bending, action-packed challenges that showcase their strengths in six categories of intelligence: logical, visual, physical, linguistic, musical and social.  Most people excel in two or three of these categories, but only a few excel in all meaning it can be anyone who takes the title.

CANADA’S SMARTEST PERSON is looking for dynamic and enthusiastic Canadians from all backgrounds who have well-rounded smarts. Apply or nominate someone online at cbc.ca/smartestperson.  Applicants must be 16 years of age or older by Jan. 1, 2015 to apply.  The deadline to apply is June 21, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

CANADA’S SMARTEST PERSON was the number-one new Canadian series of the 2014 fall television season. The series also features an interactive television component that allows viewers to play along on mobile devices. It is one of the most popular interactive experiences ever produced in Canada, with over 180,000 app downloads and one million intelligence tests completed.

CANADA’S SMARTEST PERSON, hosted by Jessi Cruickshank, will return with all-new episodes this fall on CBC Television.

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X Company

Link: X Company Deserves Its Second Season

From James Bawden:

X Company Deserves Its Second Season
X Company is CBC’s new World War II drama that probably seems even better than it is. That’s because of the sheer lack of competition: the conventional Canadian networks simply will not make anything they cannot sell to the U.S. market.

Witness the cruel fate of Global’s Combat Hospital –one dazzling summer run followed by a cancellation after ABC pulled the plug in the U.S.

Of course I expected X Company to be greatly entertaining fare. After all it was created by Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern who created the CTV hit Flashpoint. Continue reading.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: Survivorman searches for Sasquatch

I’ve always enjoyed Les Stroud’s show, Survivorman. I know I’d be dead if I was left in any of the situations he has been in, but it’s fun as heck to watch him fight to survive in hostile settings like the Arctic, jungle and plains.

Stroud returns Wednesday for six special episodes on OLN that focus on a legendary creature I’ve been fascinated with since I was a kid: Bigfoot. Stroud was given special permission by a Native Canadian band to stake out a spot in Klemtu, B.C., an area known as such a hot spot for Sasquatch that it’s not even a question of whether the hairy beasts exist because townsfolk have seen them walking down the main street and in their back yards.

Small-screen searches for Bigfoot have been around for years—Finding Bigfoot may be the most popular—and none have captured real, tangible evidence of the animals save for screams in the night and plaster casts of footprints. And the same holds true for Survivorman, at least until the last segment of Wednesday’s debut. It’s then that Stroud, who is virtually unshakable in all of his survival experiences, catches a major case of the willies thanks to something happening that he can’t explain.

Unlike traditional episodes where Stroud is dumped in a location, sets up camp and starts recording with cameras right away, the premiere spends several minutes taking sweeping shots of the town with eyewitness accounts flashing on-screen. This isn’t about surviving on what he catches in the water or in traps, or about keeping warm, this is about encountering a Bigfoot. Along the way, Stroud outlines how hoaxers have, over the years, faked footsteps, and addresses Bigfoot naysayers who say the lack of any found skeletons means the animals don’t exist.

Does Stroud finally pull back the curtain on one of our biggest mysteries? You’ll have to tune in to find out.

Survivorman: Bigfoot airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on OLN.

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Orphan Black

Link: Ksenia Solo says her Orphan Black character is no Kenzi

From  Cassandra Szklarski of Canadian Press:

Ksenia Solo says her Orphan Black character is no Kenzi
Lost Girl fans still mourning the loss of beloved character Kenzi may be surprised by actress Ksenia Solo’s turn on Space’s Orphan Black.

Solo says it’s a much different role, and fans of the Showcase serial shouldn’t be expecting some sort of resurrection of their spunky heroine.

“I think maybe in people’s minds they imagine Kenzi coming into clone club,” Solo said Tuesday while also promoting her upcoming role in the AMC series Turn: Washington’s Spies. Continue reading.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

BNN shakes up business with The Disruptors

From a media release:

With a flood of innovative Canadian companies set to go public this year, the next vanguards of our economic growth are popping up everywhere. These are the companies that see and exploit inefficiencies, disrupt the large and lazy and can keep future generations competitive. But few of them will make it to the public markets or the “big exit” without a lot of luck and a lot of help. Airing Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. ET beginning April 16, BNN’s all-new, original series THE DISRUPTORS traces the most exciting international business news and trends from incubators and venture capitalists, to young entrepreneurs and CEOs of some of the most innovative companies in the world, offering expert analysis and advice to smaller Canadian companies looking to scale up fast. BNN anchor and reporter Amber Kanwar co-hosts the new weekly, half-hour series along with Bruce Croxon, one of the country’s indisputable disruptors, who co-founded the wildly successful online dating site, Lavalife.

Each week, the duo analyzes pitches from the hottest prospects, offering a frank assessment of whether they stand a chance of becoming the next Uber, Airbnb, or Facebook. Hard-nosed, scoop-loving business reporter Kanwar believes innovation has its place, but it better be profitable. Croxon mostly agrees, but the digital disciple also believes no profitable company is safe from the next disruption. THE DISRUPTORS also welcomes leading CEOs of Canadian and international companies who share their own success stories, along with their thoughts on the risks faced by start-ups fighting for traction.

Behind the story pitch that resulted in the creation of THE DISRUPTORS, BNN’s Kanwar specializes in equity markets and is constantly digging for stocks flying under the radar, trends that are about to emerge, and curating research to make it accessible to viewers. Kanwar has interviewed CEOs from across the C-Suite, and brings the day’s biggest business stories to viewers on BNN, CP24 and CTV News Channel.

THE DISRUPTORS is produced by BNN, with additional research provided by BetaKit, the nation’s foremost source for Canadian start-up news and tech innovation.

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