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.
Featured, Haven

Review: Audrey returns to Haven

When we last left the fine folks of Haven–in last week’s “The Old Switcheroo”–Gloria and Dwight had switched bodies, as had Nathan and Duke and Dave and Vince; a situation that had everyone reeling. Nathan had just found out about Duke and Audrey smooching in Colorado, and was rightly POed. Problem was, the man responsible for the Trouble was on the run.

“The Old Switcheroo Too” picked up with Duke and Nathan (still “all Freaky Friday” as Duke/Nathan said) realizing that Mara had been playing the two by acting like Audrey had fought her way to the surface. That cagey chick. Again, I’m thrilled that the producers decided to lighten things up with this Trouble. It’s allowed all of the cast involved in the story to flex some comedic muscles. And while the Dwight/Gloria switch is the best ever, Nathan and Duke have been pretty fun too.

“Your whole body is numb!” Duke marvelled, slapping Nathan’s face repeatedly. “Yeah? I didn’t realize you went … commando,” Nathan grimly observed. (I’d love to know how many takes that scene took to film.) More seriously, though, Duke was getting ready to explode and needed to expel an old Trouble. The two came up with a novel idea: release a reincarnation Trouble that would bring Audrey out of Mara. It was at this point I got a little confused. Not with the idea, but the fact that I sometimes lose track of who’s really speaking. Regardless, the plan sounded good to me.

And the boys were right: Mara had been acting like Audrey as a ploy to escape. Problem was, Nathan was too weak to unleash the Trouble and things looked like they were headed back to same-old, same-old. When Duke said, “I’m sorry that we can’t all find TRUE LOVE like you, Nathan,” I almost slapped my forehead. If Nathan has to jump through this many hoops for true love, maybe he should give it up.

Vince and Dave attempted to right everything down in North Carolina, but the thinny was making it hard for them to reunite the Doohan brothers and reverse the Trouble. After a few tense seconds they managed to save each other from entering the portal and resolved never to go near it again. I have to assume that at some point a thinny will end up sucking in Dave. His “other side” and adoption background is revving up to be one heck of an intriguing story and I’m glad Haven‘s creative team have decided to give the Teagues’ some quality airtime. I was particularly excited about Dave/Vince’s vision of a man running through the forest and carving “Croatoan” into a tree before being touched by an unidentified hand that released black smoke from his eyes.

The Doohan brothers’ reunion reversed the body swap Trouble, opening the door for Duke to release a reincarnation Trouble to rid Audrey of Mara for the last time. Did it work? After a massive flash and sound blast, the answer came in the form of a nekkid Audrey arriving at The Gull. (As if Emily Rose didn’t have enough on her plate, twisting her face and adjusting her voice to play Mara, now it looks like she’ll be going full-Orphan Black by physically playing the two women.)

Meanwhile, the revelation that Dwight’s sister was killed when her Trouble activated in Cincinnati opens the door for his storyline to expand. That’s good news. Like Vince, Dave and Gloria, learning more about Dwight and the supporting citizens of Haven just adds to the show’s appeal.

Haven airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Showcase.

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Uncategorized

Video: Corner Gas – The Movie official trailer

The Corner Gas gang have unleashed the official trailer for Corner Gas: The Movie.

butt

Brent Butt made the announcement via Twitter early on Thursday. The one-minute and 11-second trailer features the Butt and the cast, including Gabrielle Miller, Eric Peterson, Fred Ewanuick, Janet Wright, Lorne Cardinal, Tara Spencer-Nairn and Nancy Robertson. Though a little vague the details, it appears as though the citizens of Dog River are dealing with dire economic straits.

As previously announced, Corner Gas: The Movie will roll out as a multi-platform event beginning with an exclusive Cineplex Front Row Centre Events theatrical debut across Canada, from Dec. 3 to 7.

Immediately following its time in movie theatres the 90-minute project will debut on CTV following a special preview for The Movie Network subscribers and a broadcast on The Comedy Network.

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Featured, Republic of Doyle

Review: Another Doyle drops by the Republic

Do things really happen in threes? Let’s hope not when it comes to CBC’s previously happy couples of primetime. Just three days after Ty and Amy called it quits on Heartland, Leslie was breaking up with Jake on Republic of Doyle. Here’s hoping William and Julia get married in two weeks as planned on Murdoch Mysteries.

Still dealing with the after-effects of being kidnapped by Blake Brogan, Leslie said she needed a break from Jake to figure out who she was. I’m thinking “copper” shouldn’t be one of them: she went way overboard arrested that low-level drug dealer. Still, by the end of the  episode Leslie had stripped down to sexy pjs and was wooing Jake, so maybe she’s going to be OK after all. But I suspect not. After all, she did pop some pills–and then denied taking any kind of medication–to the psychologist the RNC had assigned to her.

Unfortunately, the other major lady in his life was walking away. Jake was dismissed by Sloan, who he finally located after she was nabbed by Vick Saul. Turns out Vick was robbed by Sloan too, and was holding her for ransom. Vick demanded Jake get everything the police had on him before he would let Sloan go. Jake did, leading to an emotional moment in the GTO (that girl is still by his side) resulting in tears by both and Sloan saying goodbye to her father.

Meanwhile another Doyle–Shawn, last seen on Fargo–reprised his RoD role as Carl Maher, and brought some fun to “No Rest for the Convicted” (directed by actor Mark O’Brien). It was Carl who came up with the bail money to get Jake out of prison and the cash windfall came with a price: Carl wanted Jake to look into the woman he’d given $800,000 of his money to invest and hadn’t heard anything from in days. What appeared to be a quick case of Carl being a little slow in the smarts department turned into a case involving poisonings and Ponzi schemes. There were several great comic moments between Des and Carl, the best of which led to the destruction of the Doyle surveillance van; here’s hoping Carl is back before the series finale.

Notable quotes 

  • “I’ll watch Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Des. You do what you have to do.”–Malachy
  • “Don’t gets all sooky baby about it!”–Carl
  • “I’m really looking forward to getting some sleep in a room not full of 300 hairy-arsed men.”–Jake

Republic of Doyle airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

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Featured

Video: Ice Pilots’ Mikey McBryan teases Season 6

A big thanks to the folks at History for fixing me up with Ice Pilots NWT star Mikey McBryan, who flew into Toronto to do press in advance of the sixth–and final–season of the show.

In addition to attending a sneak peek screening of the first episode for fans in Toronto, McBryan answered questions from myself and the show’s fans (and endured my horrible hair day) for 30 minutes as I moderated a live stream chat with him. Among the things we chatted about: the future of Buffalo Airways and the airplane industry in the north, how Ice Pilots NWT got started, those cold temperatures and his special message to the fans who have flown with the crew for the last six seasons.

Ice Pilots NWT returns Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on History.

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Bachelor Canada, Featured

Review: Villains and vino on Bachelor Canada

My question is, what haven’t we seen from Lisa that Tim does? Why did he choose to give her a rose–opening the doors to a hometown date next week–and not Kaylynn? Kaylynn had been a frontrunner since Day 1 of The Bachelor Canada, the first to make out with Tim and the first to capture his heart. Lisa, meanwhile, didn’t get along with the other girls and was apparently there “for the wrong reasons.” Sure, reality shows aren’t really real–so much is edited that a hero can be made to look like a villain–but I’m still befuddled as to why Lisa stayed and Kaylynn didn’t.

Maybe the ballerina was even more needy than she appeared, constantly bugging Tim for attention in footage that never made it to air. Perhaps Lisa was sweet as pie most of the time and the producers chose to just show footage of her being catty and dismissive of the other girls.

What couldn’t be edited out was the fact that, during the show’s week in Tuscany, Lisa made out with another man in a bar. Lisa admitted to Tim that it happened–after kind of telling viewers if the other girls hadn’t been there she probably wouldn’t have said anything–and he seemed conflicted about keeping her around. He was even more troubled after Sachelle took valuable one-on-one time with Tim to give another version of Lisa’s adventures to the bachelor. What Lisa described as a quick kiss evolved into a couple of makeup sessions when reported by Sachelle. Who was telling the truth?

Clearly it didn’t make a difference to Tim in the end. I mean, he asked Lisa to talk to him about the event one more time at the rose ceremony, but that was just to confirm what he already knew: he was keeping her and sending Kaylynn home. From the teasers, next week’s hometown with Lisa (Tim is visiting April, Trish and Sachelle and their families too) turns into a revisiting of what happened in Tuscany. I’m looking forward to that, because I want more answers as to why Lisa did what she did, and why Tim chose to give her a rose.

The Bachelor Canada airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on City.

Who do you think Tim will pick as his bachelorette in the season finale?

  • April (60%, 76 Votes)
  • Trish (40%, 50 Votes)

Total Voters: 146

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