From Jim Bawden:
Many Canadian Cable Channels Could Disappear
For years I’ve been trying to find someone else who watched the lowly Cable channel Outdoor Life. I’m still trying.
I rather like the oddball service which has Ghost Hunters as well as various editions of Storage Hunters as its main fare. But I fear it will be one of the first Canadian cable channels to go as the CRTC orders the “unbundling” of current consumer choices. Continue reading.
From Konrad Yakabuski of The Globe and Mail:
Pick-and-pay TV will lead to better Cancon
Slapping a “Canadian†label on a TV show has been a ticket to the high life for a small elite who couldn’t make it in Los Angeles. There is a strong argument for public support for Canadian programming that is culturally important but commercially dubious. But the current scam has endured too long. Continue reading.
Join Greg and Diane on Mondays as we debate a TV-related issue that’s on our minds. This week: What channels will you select for Pick & Pay?
The CRTC announced what everyone in the Canadian TV industry suspected was coming: a pick and pay model of television. As Kelly Lynn Ashton outlined in her latest Wonk Report, starting in March 2016 cable and satellite companies must implement a skinny basic at $25 that includes local channels, mandatory carriage channels, educational channels and provincial legislature channels. They must also offer either the opportunity to pick and pay for individual channels or small packages that they either build or are themed.
By December 2016, cable and satellite companies must offer both individual and small package choices on top of skinny basic.
So, what pick and pay channels would we choose to be part of our cable lineups in addition to the basic cable package we’ll already have? Below are Diane’s and my picks; let us know yours in the Comments section or via @tv_eh.
He Said:
She Said:
Ooh, Hugh Grant movies. But I have DVDs, Netflix and Xbox Video to cover me on that. Sorry, W Network.
I have a whole other decision to make before I get to picking channels: do I even want to go back to cable? I’ll have to look at the options when skinny basic and pick and pay is available, including whatever package deal I might be able to get with internet, before seeing if I’m even moderately tempted. It’s really, really nice not to have that cable bill. Between an over the air antenna, Netflix, and Chromecast to see online shows on my TV set, I don’t feel I’m missing anything right now.
The one thing that might tip the balance is if I could get a cheap skinny basic package that included the US channels (which I can’t pick up where I live on OTA) from a provider that offers a discount with internet and also offers CraveTV. And a pony? As long as Crave still has the HBO library that might be enough to tempt me back.
Even then, I’m skeptical. I’m looking at the channel listing right now thinking … hello old friends. I don’t really miss you.
That said, if I did decide to go back, and I did decide to supplement skinny basic, here’s what I’d want:
Hmm, listing all those great series makes me think going back to cable might not be such a long shot after all. Still, no cable bill is awfully nice, and I suspect my picks would have my skinny basic getting fat very quickly.
So your turn … what channels would you stick with?
I feel like guest casting is a science. Score the right person in a role and you get gold. Nab the wrong person and it can ruin a storyline or episode. Motive has always been great at finding the right people to come and play; last season’s standouts for me were Brooke Nevin (Cracked) and Jason Dohring (Veronica Mars) both playing against type. This season Motive has been firing on all cylinders and Sunday’s newest episode was no exception.
“Oblivion” featured two veteran actors portraying characters opposite from what we’ve traditionally seen from them to great effect. Stephen Lobo, who often plays jerks—most recently as Kellog on Continuum—was the good guy this time around. His Isaac was fiancé/developer Isaac, who had his life turned upside down when Robin dumped him and disappeared. By the time Angie and Vega showed up at his office Isaac was beside himself with grief, wondering what had happened to the woman he’d loved so much. Shockingly, Isaac had nothing to do with the murder of Jeff Armstrong, a city planner who stood in the way of Isaac’s next project getting off the ground.
Instead, it was Robin herself who murdered Jeff by swapping out his scuba tank of oxygen for one filled with nitrous oxide. Former Gilmore Girls lead Alexis Bledel was simply stunning as Robin. She was cold and calculated in her dispatching of Jeff and at first I’d assumed she’d done it—and made like she’d been murdered to throw off the police—because she was so devoted to Isaac that she’d do anything for him.
But in a great twist, Robin and Jeff had once been together and a car accident had killed their unborn baby and rendered Robin sterile. Furious that he had moved on with his life—and that he was in the way of Isaac’s project going forward—she killed him. I was totally sympathetic to Robin and her feelings, and understood her rage at Jeff’s insensitive comment that she move on. It was easy for him to say—he had a baby on the way with his new gal pal while Robin could never conceive—and for once I cheered for Motive‘s murderer of the week.
Well done, Motive, well done.
Notes and quotes
Motive airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.
You’re only as good as your last dish. Michael Bonacini’s point was certainly driven home on Sunday when David found himself in the bottom two next to Kwasi. It was a pretty stunning fall for David, who has up until this point wowed the judges with his creative take on several recipes, earning him challenge wins and spots as team captain.
And yet it almost ended during “One Potato, Two Potato,” first when his red team and Sabrina’s blue team lost the Team Challenge to Line’s ragtag group of misfits on the green squad. I was sure that David’s bacon-topped poutine would win him votes from hungry University of Guelph students, and they very well might have if the contest had taken place right after the campus pub closed for the night. Instead, the kids—seemingly sober after a day full of classes—opted for Line’s butter chicken on fries and she walked away with the win and safety for her team.
That meant strong chefs like Michael, Christopher, Sabrina and Cody battled it out in the Elimination Challenge re-creating tortellini for the judges. And though Cody, Sabrina and David were confident their flavours would triumph, all three were criticized for lacklustre attempts. Luckily for them, Kwasi’s African and Italian-inspired pasta filling confused the judges, leaving them the easy task of sending him home.
Notes and quotes
MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.
