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

Link: Chris Haddock talks about his return to the CBC with The Romeo Section

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From Ian Bailey of The Globe and Mail:

Chris Haddock talks about his return to the CBC with The Romeo Section
Chris Haddock’s new TV series is about spies, but he is keeping other aspects of what he’s working on top secret. However, the creator of such acclaimed Vancouver-set shows as Da Vinci’s Inquest and Intelligence will declassify one point: He is excited to be back in command of a TV show.

Eight years after CBC cancelled Intelligence, the crime drama that is his most recent series, Mr. Haddock is working toward the October debut of The Romeo Section. Although Mr. Haddock, the show’s creator, executive producer, writer and director, is keeping his secrets about The Romeo Section’s premise, promotional material from the CBC describes it as a “contemporary espionage thriller” about a veteran agent who sets out to recruit a high-value informant. Continue reading.

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Children's Programming, Featured

The Next Step hits the dance floor for Season 3

Spoiler alert: not every member of the A-Troupe dancers will last until the end of Season 3 of The Next Step. That shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise for anyone following the tween drama—kids get older and graduate all the time—but this exit will be a bit of a shock nonetheless.

We were on the show’s Scarborough, Ont., set during filming, and watched that pivotal scene from a vantage point just out of camera range. We won’t give it away, but the announcement sends shock waves through the group. How it all happens, and how it affects the crew going into Internationals, rolls out when The Next Step returns to Family Channel on Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT.

To watch filming of an episode of The Next Step is to see television production set at double speed. Unlike most series that take a week to film one episode, The Next Step does it in just over a day and lines are written in a different manner too.

dance2

“Traditionally, you write a script and then you find actors to read the material,” says writer and executive producer Frank van Keeken (The Kids in the Hall, Winging’ It). “We write very involved outlines, and on the day of shooting we talk about the scene and then we just start playing.” The result? A serialized drama that feels very real and authentic.

Returning to The Next Step Dance Studio are, among others, Brittany Raymond as Riley, Victoria Baldesarra as Michelle, Alexandra Beaton as Emily, Trevor Tordjman as James, Lamar Johnson as West, Jennifer Pappas as Chloe, Brennan Clost as Daniel, Zac Vran as Hunter, Bree Wasylenko as Kate, Natalie Krill as Phoebe and So You Think You Can Dance Canada Season 4 winner Jordan Clark as Giselle. Newbies include Ella Gilling, a semifinalist from Season 2 of the UK talent television show Got To Dance. Each one—when they weren’t celebrating the show’s catering or discussing injuries and the bonding element on-set—spoke of how van Keeken is a mentor to them. It’s a label he isn’t comfortable wearing, but understands the sentiment.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, so there are certain skill sets I’ve developed,” he says. “Because they’re green, or were, I had to spend the time just educating them. It’s been a good relationship. After they saw the cuts they realized, ‘He just cuts the bad bits.’ Once you make that transition as an actor then they just go.”

As for who exits the troupe early? You’ll just have to tune in to find out.

The Next Step airs Monday to Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on Family Channel.

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Featured, Motive

Review: The relationship’s the thing on Motive

Taking nothing away from what makes Motive such a compelling show—the crime and the guest stars—but so far it’s been the Season 3 relationship twist that has been entertaining me the most.

Heck yes I was thrilled to see Ally Sheedy and Bonnie Somerville in “Calling the Shots,” battling toe-to-toe over money invested in a Ponzi scheme that led to murder. Did I have a crush on both at points in my life? Why yes I did. (I still miss Somerville’s Kitchen Confidential.) Having Sheedy play Stephanie Carson, an uptight mom who viewed the death of Somerville’s Erica Gray as not only dispatching a rat but also helping further her own daughter’s chances at scoring a gymnastics scholarship? Immensely entertaining.

But it was the relationship between Angie, Lucas, Vega and Betty that had me grinning with pleasure the most. And why not, thanks to back-and-forth conversations like the following?

“The proof is in the pudding,” Vega opined to Angie upon learning a prison inmate was killed over the creamy dessert.

“The plot thickens,” Angie shot right back.

And later, during the murder investigation and subsequent clearing of a virgin who Erica had given the bum’s rush to meet with Stephanie: “Are you ready for this? They had rhubarb pie and watched Doctor Who,” Vega exclaimed to his partner. It’s exactly that witty dialogue that sets Motive apart from other shows in the genre and keeps me tuning in.

The cherry on top of this Sunday night confection is Lucas. It’s only taken the rookie detective six months to go from babbling young cop to confident crime-solver—four solves in four cases—something that has put Angie on her heels. She’s used to being the lead and not having to clear anything with Lucas. But now she has to, and it’s definitely going to be a learning curve. I hope her education continues so that we get more awkward morgue scenes between the four like we did this week.

Motive airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Featured, Heartland

Review: Broken Heartland

Kids say the darnedest things, don’t they? And in the case of Katie, it was a doozy.

“Divorce!” she piped up during the most awkward family dinner on Heartland in, like, forever. Thus the main focus of Sunday’s newest episode, “Faking It,” dealt with the effect of Lou and Peter’s separation becoming pubic knowledge. And while some handled the it pretty much like I thought they would—Tim made a bad situation worse by blaming it all on Peter—Jack stepped up and did the thing he does best: make those hurting feel better. The most touching scene of the night was clearly when he hugged a weeping Georgie and told her everything would be all right. Clearly it won’t—any child of divorced parents will tell you that—but it isn’t the end of the world either.

Kudos to Heartland‘s writers for having Georgie ask some pointed questions of her parents and not fall into any trite, lines other TV shows have already over-used. By the time Georgie climbed up on her horse and did her extreme riding tricks she was able to concentrate and nail a spot on the team. Take that, Olivia!

Meanwhile, Jesse—who has been pretty quiet all season long—unleashed his master plan on Ty and Caleb. After luring Caleb into a partnership, Jesse called in the loan and made ready to not only re-claim his family’s land but drive Amy out of business. Ty, of course, handled it badly and will likely have some assault charges added as insult to injury. Maybe Ty and Amy will be married in jail?

Notes and quotes

  • “You’ll still be a family. You’ll just look a little different is all.” Jack makes the best of a bad situation.
  • When is Tim going to learn that his first assumptions are always wrong? Reggie = Regina, dude.
  • I know everyone will adjust, but seeing Peter portrayed as the enemy was tough to watch.

Heartland airs Sundays at 7 p.m. on CBC.

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Featured, Heartland

Comments and queries for the week of March 13

With only a few more episodes to go, Heartland fans were torn over whether Peter and Lou’s marriage really is on the rocks and several readers weighed in on this week’s He Said/She Said column regarding how “Canadian” Canadian TV shows should be.

I don’t want them to separate because of the girls but I think Peter has been kind of selfish throughout their relationship (not that Lou hasn’t made her share of mistakes) I’d like to see a bit more character growth on the show though. Seems like every character is stuck in their own ways. Especially Tim and Lou.—Amber

I personally wouldn’t want Lou and Peter to separate, but I have to agree it would be interesting to see how the writers wold have it happen. I think they will end up being together but it’s sure going to be a rough[er!] ride. I don’t know how they would do it. As for the vow renewal, maybe it’s kind of selfish but I wouldn’t like to see them “steal” Amy and Ty’s moment hahaha! This was an amazing episode. Got me in tears! The show just keeps getting better and better!—Luiza

I always liked Peter, and do hope that he and Lou can work things out. (Plus, I’ve loved Peter’s interactions with Georgie, and Katie seems to miss him when he’s not around.) It’s not as if Heartland hasn’t had the theme of divorce lurking in the background; Tim and Marion divorced. Lisa is a divorcée (Dan Hartfield was her first husband). Most notably, Caleb Odell and Ashley Stanton split not long after they got married. This would be the first time one of “the family” came undone front and centre (and not as a matter of ancient family history).

But I like what you’ve posited: If Lou and Peter can get their act together, it sure would be nice to see them renew their vows when Amy and Ty make their vows (though I think there would be some in the Amy/Ty camp who would want it to be *their* day, and their day alone).—TheRealTC

 

Wow, Diane. You said things perfectly. To me, setting is important. I look at my favourite 20 current shows (Downton Abbey, Orphan Black, Call the Midwife, Outlander, Nashville, Parenthood, Vikings, The Originals, The 100, Empire, Revenge, Finding Carter, Chasing Life, Grey’s Anatomy, Hard Rock Medical, Hart of Dixie, Orange is the New Black, Longmire, Arrow and Mohawk Girls) and only two–Orphan Black and Finding Carter–don’t have defined settings. However, neither seem to go out of their way to hide their setting; they just don’t clarify it.

What I have a problem with when it comes to several Canadian shows is that they seem to go out of their way to hide their Canadianness or they take on an American identity. That aggravates me more than anything else. Americans have enough stories if their own being told on television and we shouldn’t be telling more for them. We have our own stories to tell and our setting isn’t a negative. I go to a lot of U.S. TV sites and I never hear a complaint from Americans if there’s something Canadian in a show. The same goes for British dramas and the British accents: Downton Abbey, Sherlock, Broadchurch and The Fall all get great ratings in the States yet U.S. networks keep trying to remake them as Americanized stories.—Alicia

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? greg@tv-eh.com or head to @tv_eh.

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