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.
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Forgotten African-Nova Scotia stories the focus of CBC’s new Studio Black

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From The Chronicle Herald:

Stories based on Fauset collection in production now, to be shown on CBC-TV

A new series on CBC-TV aims to “reveal, revise and reinterpret important forgotten stories” from African-Nova Scotian folklore.

Picture Plant Ltd. of Lunenburg began production on the four-part series Studio Black! at CBC’s Bell Road location in Halifax on Dec. 8.

The series is based on a collection of stories by Arthur Fauset, “who in 1923 travelled to Nova Scotia from Philadelphia, visiting many black communities, much like Dr. Helen Creighton,” a news release says. “He documented these stories and assembled them into a book published by the American Folklore Society in 1931.” Continue reading. 

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Comedy is hard, says Corner Gas: The Movie star

After an extended stay in movie theatres, Corner Gas: The Movie lands on CTV and CTV Two tonight. Stripped of the pre-show and feature film credits, the two-hour flick takes on the structure fans of the series are more accustomed to, a super-sized episode of a project they loved dearly.

For those who didn’t venture out to the movie theatre, here’s a short refresher on what to expect: Dog River, Sask., has hit on hard economic times and is in danger of ceasing to be a town. Everyone has crazy ideas on how to make ends meet, from entering Dog River in a contest to win the cash to pay off debts to prepping for the end of the world. Coming up with a script for a 90-minute movie was a tough task according to creator/executive producer Brent Butt, executive producer Virginia Thompson, writers Andrew Carr and Andrew Wreggitt and executive producer/director David Storey, who took over two years to come up with something everyone was happy with.

Comedies are just harder to make says Butt’s co-star, Nancy Robertson.

“You laugh or you don’t,” she says during a press junket in support of the project. “In comedy, you don’t have the help of mood lighting or music. Those all help to set up a drama, but they screw up a comedy because they get in the way of the timing. It’s far more delicate.”

“I think when people see a comedy and they burst out laughing they think it’s a surprise,” the gal who played Wanda Dollard for six seasons continues. “There is nothing further than the truth. They have no idea of the work that has led up to that laugh, that smile. Because the laugh is impulsive, I think people think what led up to it was impulsive.”

All of that work has paid off. Corner Gas: The Movie is a wonderful salute to the fans who wanted more of Oscar (Eric Peterson), Emma (Janet Wright), Davis (Lorne Cardinal), Wanda, Lacey (Gabrielle Miller), Karen (Tara Spencer-Nairn) and Hank (Fred Ewanuick). The feature film structure allows for an expansion of a couple of characters, most notably Oscar and Davis. The former attempts to go full commando and live off the land (when he’s not calling people “jackass”), leading to several laugh-out loud moments. Davis, meanwhile, tries his hand at being a private investigator; the resulting scenes make me wish CTV, Butt and everyone else involved had the time and cash to pull of a Davis spinoff where he’s a small-town P.I. working in a big city like Calgary or Vancouver.

For now we’ll have to be content with Corner Gas: The Movie, a loving return to those odd folks in that little town where there’s not a lot going on, knowing that there was in fact a lot going on behind the scenes to make it happen.

Corner Gas: The Movie airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CTV and CTV Two; and Monday, Dec. 22, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The Comedy Network.

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HBO Canada kicks off homegrown doc series Sports on Fire

From a media release:

– Directed and created by Pete McCormack and produced by Toronto-based Project 10 Productions Inc. and Vancouver-based Two 4 The Money Media –

Untold perspectives from moments when history and sports collide are revealed in SPORTS ON FIRE, a six-part, half-hour original documentary series from Movie Central and The Movie Network debuting Friday, Jan. 9 at 9 p.m. ET/MT on HBO Canada. Each episode of SPORTS ON FIRE brings a fresh angle and new insight into iconic moments in sport, through interviews and archival footage presented in a rapid-paced, hard-hitting style.

Directed and created by Pete McCormack (Facing Ali, I Am Bruce Lee), SPORTS ON FIRE digs deep into moments where some of the world’s greatest athletes are caught up in monumental events that change the course of history. These powerful stories are told from the point of view of elite athletes, key witnesses, experts, and historians including, nine-time gold-medalist and Olympic legend Mark Spitz, Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman, gold-medalist and Lance Armstrong teammate Tyler Hamilton and four-time Super Bowl champion Bill Romanowski.

In the series premiere, SPORTS ON FIRE gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look into the 1972 Summit Series, played at the height of the Cold War, as remembered by journalists, Russian historians, and three unforgettable hockey legends. Canadian greats Paul Henderson, Bobby Clarke, and Ken Dryden reflect on the Series, questioning the boundaries and the potential glory of the win-at-any-cost mentality that ultimately led to a stunning victory in Moscow.

SPORTS ON FIRE is produced by Project 10 Productions Inc. and Two 4 The Money Media, in association with The Movie Network and Movie Central. Pete McCormack is director and executive producer. Andrew Barnsley (SPUN OUT), Jeff Aghassi (The Games of 1940), Kim Arnott (Emmy Award® winner, R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour), and Kevin Foley (Four Days In April: The Mike Weir Story) serve as executive producers. The series is distributed internationally by eOne Distribution and is produced with funding support from the Rogers Cable Network Fund.

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Preview: Ice Pilots flies into the sunset

For the last six seasons, viewers have been able to experience what it’s like–visually at least–to climb aboard a DC-3 and jet around Canada’s north. Now it all comes to an end as Ice Pilots NWT takes off for the final time.

Airing Wednesday night on History, the series-ender “D-Day” is unlike most episodes of Ice Pilots in that it was recorded in June–the polar opposite to the sub-zero filming in Yellowknife’s winter months–and the only cargo are human beings. But what a group of human beings. Mikey McBryan’s two-year dream of celebrating the 70th anniversary of D-Day in Europe has finally arrived. He’s got 12 Canadian troops and 12 American Green Berets flying up to Yellowknife to participate in the event, a commemorative jump into Alberta’s Abraham Lake from just 1,200 feet off the ground. Not only that, but Mikey and long-time Buffalo Airways employee Corey are jumping too, in a separate exit from the DC-3 at 12,000 feet.

ice_pilots

But, like the D-Day jump that was postponed due to weather, all of the planning and plotting Mikey had done seems for naught when Hurricane “Buffalo” Joe McBryan arrives on the scene and unhappy about the landing zone. Add to that a wall of bad weather and the entire project is set to be scrubbed.

I won’t ruin what happens next.

I was lucky enough to fly up to Yellowknife during a press junket for Ice Pilots NWT. The highlight, of course, was climbing into the back of the DC-3 and flying to and from Hay River with Joe in the cockpit. Bundled up in layers of clothing and packed into that fuselage, I realized I was one of a small group who’d had the opportunity to do it in real life. It was an experience I’ll never forget. Thanks, guys, for six great years on the air, and for welcoming a TV critic from the south into your lives for a day or two.

The Ice Pilots NWT series finale airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on History.

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Blackstone, Featured

Review: Did Blackstone just kill off a character?

“Mom? Mom?” Alan’s drug-induced, hazy question to an open cell phone line was the shocking ending to what had otherwise been a very Jumbo-centric episode of Blackstone.

“Wolves vs. Sheep” concluded with the ultimate cliffhanger: Debbie, drunk and frustrated that Alan hadn’t come by to pick her up and drive her to see Andy, headed out behind the wheel. Alan’s call to her over an hour later arrived as she was ready to pull onto the highway and she missed the visual and aural tip that a tractor trailer was coming her way. The truck’s grille, splattered with blood, means Debbie is either dead or practically there. No way she’s unscathed.

That will leave the two Fraser men guilt-ridden; Alan for tossing his troubled mother to the side like a bag of trash and Andy for being unable to protect Debbie from harm.

As for Jumbo, his health is in question too. Over $50,000 in debt to Jack, the jig was up for Daryl’s right-hand man after both Gina and Alan confessed Jumbo was skimming funds from the club to pay for his increasing gambling addiction. His truck seized by Jack’s thugs, Jumbo has just five days to pay off the rest of what he owes. That’s going to be a major problem now that he’s unemployed. Unfortunately, Jumbo seems to have cost Daryl the only meaningful relationship I’ve seen him enjoy on Blackstone. That’s too bad, because at the beginning of Tuesday’s instalment it looked like Daryl was one two-minute hand-hold away from telling Gina he loved her. Now that’s up in the air thanks to Jumbo’s indiscretion.

How desperate is Jumbo to raise the funds to pay off Jack? Is he willing to take drastic measures, like steal from a bank, or will he flee the city and hope Jack and his men don’t find him?

Meanwhile, life for Victor has gotten a lot more complicated. The immediate money troubles the band is suffering from–the government is considering holding back on funds because of files burned up–could be alleviated by the oil company that wants to start fracking on the reserve. Victor’s flaw is that he wants everyone to be educated on the long-term effects fracking will have on Blackstone while the young men want the jobs and money ASAP. Victor has the support of folks like Wilma and Leona, but that appears to be it, especially after he was shot at and had “Frack You” spray-painted on the side of his truck.

Speaking of Leona, she and Gail at least talked about the latter’s alcoholism. Good on Leona for standing up to Gail’s excuses with her comment that she’s a recovering alcoholic too. I understand what Gail is going through, but enough is enough. If she truly wanted help she’d seek it out rather than make excuses, which is the classic denial phase of the issue.

With just two more episodes to go before the end of this season, there are a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up, the most pressing of which is: is Debbie dead?

Blackstone airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on APTN.

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