From BreakfastTelevision in Winnipeg:
Welcome to Sunnyside, the not-so-typical neighbourhood where anything can happen, and almost always does. City has greenlit the all-new original sketch-comedy series from award-winning creators Gary Pearson (This Hour Has 22 Minutes, The Ron James Show) and Dan Redican (The Kids in the Hall, The Jenny McCarthy Show).
Like a good action hero surviving gunshots and headbutts, Transporter: The Series made it through some serious Season 2 uncertainty.
The action project, based on the film franchise created by Luc Besson, was in the midst of production in 2011 when lead Chris Vance was injured during filming in Toronto. Then U.S. network Cinemax dropped the show and there were showrunner changes. Now, with X-Files veteran Frank Spotnitz running things, the co-production between France’s Atlantique Productions, QVF Inc. and M6, along with The Movie Network and Movie Central in Canada, the show roars back to the pay channels on Sunday night with the first two back-to-back instalments of a 12-episode run.
Vance is Frank Martin, a ex-Special Forces operative who skips around the world transporting packages of various value–Sunday’s first storyline finds him protecting a 12-year-old boy who witnessed a high-profile murder–with bad guys always in pursuit. Along for the ride are Violante Placido (The American) as former French Intelligence Officer Caterina Boldieu; Charly Hübner (Unter Nachbarn) as Dieter Haussmann, Frank’s mastermind car mechanic; François Berléand as French Police Inspector Tarconi; and Canadian Mark Rendall (30 Days of Night) as computer whiz Jules Faroux.
“Jules is sort of the odd man out,” Rendall explains. “He’s not slick, Â he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing most of the time, he’s not built for all the action and shit that Frank gets into. He’s the behind-the-scenes guy who does all of the computer hacking and stuff.” Jules is the opposite of Frank, a necessary break from the dark violence that is such a big part of the series.
Rendall divulges Jules is around for the back half of the season; the Toronto actor–who counts voicing Arthur the aardvark on the iconic animated kid’s series among his body of work–spent a week in Prague filming his Transporter scenes. By the end of his time shooting Rendall had come up with a pseudo-back story for Jules: he came from a military family, so he never really made any friends and rebelled against his father, who worked for government agencies, by learning to hack. As for how Jules came into Frank’s life, Rendall divulges his character was working for a rival Transporter before moving over to his current employer.
Unfortunately, other than acting like he was swaying back and forth inside the back of a tractor trailer, Rendall didn’t get a chance to partake in any of the fisticuffs that are part of Frank’s career and a stable of the Transporter franchise.
“The closest I came to any kind of stunts was standing close to something that exploded or riding a horse,” he admits. “I really wanted Jules to be in a fight scene and punch someone out accidentally or hit someone with a computer. Maybe next season. We’ll see.”
Transporter: The Series airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/MT on The Movie Network and Movie Central.
Thursday’s newest episode of Package Deal was called “Sex, Sex, Sex,” but “Sex, Sex, No Sex,” was more apt when it came to Danny and Kim. As per Andrew Orenstein’s script, the pair were suffering from a “sex slump” that left them wondering why they weren’t getting horizontal anymore. It should be noted that Julia Voth’s Kim has been dressed in sexy sleepwear every week, so perhaps the issue is actually Danny’s.
It’s always tough for a sitcom to advance the characters and any overarching themes within the boundaries of a 22-minute episode, but Package Deal is doing it. After a season of focusing on the brothers as a unit, they’re branching off into separate storylines this time around, making Sheldon and Ryan a little more rounded and adding an edge to Danny that was missing in Season 1.
But I digress. While Danny was having struggles, his brothers were busy spreading their wild oats. Ryan, who appears to be making up for the dearth of sex he had in Season 1, hopped into bed with a woman for the second episode in a row, though Julie (Genevieve Fleming) was even more adventurous than Nikki: she handcuffed Ryan during one experience and was begging him to add choking to his repertoire, something he didn’t feel comfortable doing. Ryan turned to Nikki for advice, she told him to go for it and he did–once–before showing Julie the door. I’m glad that Jay Malone’s Ryan has grown as a character in Season 2; having him be a germaphobe was funny last season, but a bit stifling when it came to where the character could go.
Sheldon, meanwhile, seemed to have landed the perfect woman in Emma (Erica Cerra, Rush) but he soon learned she was only interested in sex in hotel rooms. “Do you know how much those nightstand cashews cost?” he asked his brunette beauty. His credit cards maxed out, Sheldon attempted to woo Emma with Danny’s loft, to no avail.
Danny and Kim finally got over their slump in a scene skewering the cooking show genre. The two became hot and bothered watching an instalment of their favourite cooking competition, which featured a female chef barely able to wrap her hands around a pastry bag as it spurted icing all over a cake. The duo became so aroused Danny jumped Kim’s bones right there on the couch, and their troubles were over.
Package Deal airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on City.
This is my first time at the site; it’s nice to see you review Heartland, which is my favorite show and one of my all-time favourites. It became my favourite when I took a chance and bought the DVDs after having seen many of the commercials for the show but not having watched it on TV at that point.
Jack was reluctant, I think, given how Lou had reacted to their initial considering of marriage (when she was about to be married to Peter), given how the sisters tend to be overprotective of him, and because he is generally a private man. He has told them and others, more than once, that his love life is private, etc. Jack does love Lisa and isn’t ashamed of her or of how they chose to get married, but he is much more old fashioned and private than Lisa is.
As for Tim, he’s a likeable cad–a tamer version of a type of JR Ewing (Dallas) in the sense that he sometimes acts selfishly and in his own interests without thinking of others but he is a loving person. He is super competitive as was revealed in his relationship with Janice and with his ex-lady friend Miranda (with whom he had a son–though she didn’t tell him until many years later). It was definitely not “nice” of him to do what he did but he is very competitive and doesn’t always think of others before he acts.–Pat
On The Marilyn Denis Show, Sebastian Clovis showed how to update old 1980s cabinets with plywood flooring boards. Do you have this on video? I could not record the show.–Vera
Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? Email me at greg@tv-eh.com!
We’re four episodes into this latest season of Haven, and I’m getting a little impatient with the whole changing-Mara-back-to-Audrey thing. Sure, now Duke and Dwight know what Nathan already does–if you talk directly to Audrey she can fight off Mara for a bit–but this storyline has become one-note. As if reading my mind, Dwight admonished Nathan for being a broken record about it. Still, there were a few bright spots in Thursday’s newest, “Much Ado About Mara.”
The good
Duke’s gibberish Trouble
I laughed out loud at lines like “Mousie nudged my smelly belly,” “Froggie leg cream,” “Slip the drink in the pink” and “Delicious taco!” which were all lines of gibberish uttered by our favourite scallywag thanks to the Trouble Mara brought out to ease the pressure on Duke’s body. I wonder how many takes Eric Balfour needed to land those bon mots? I only wish the Trouble had lasted all episode.
Dave’s back story
I’m thrilled that we’re learning more about Dave and Vince this season. Viewers were given more insight into Dave’s past. Yes, he was adopted and is originally from the other side, but by episode’s end we learned something came through the doorway–something evil–and the only hint to what it is came via a time loss and the word “Croatoan” scratched on the therapist’s notepad. Croatoan, for those who don’t know, is part of a real-life mystery: the word was carved into a post on Roanoke Island in 1587 after a British colony there disappeared. The idea a historical mystery may be incorporated into Haven has got me jazzed.
The Troubling
Nathan and Mara
This is getting tedious. Nathan’s blind faith that Audrey can fight off Mara is admirable, but he needs to stop with the constant begging to everyone that Mara be saved from death. I sincerely hope the internal showdown between the two women happens soon … and once and for all. If the producers drag this storyline out all season long I’m going to be upset.
The Guard
I’m all for posturing and over-the-top shows of strength on my sci-fi/fantasy shows, but The Guard is becoming comic in their tough talk. I can only assume that once Audrey wins out over Mara they’ll back the heck off too.
Haven airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Showcase.
