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, 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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Awards, Industry News, Rookie Blue

Link: Paul Gross honoured by Canadian Screen Awards

From The Globe and Mail:

Actor Paul Gross, documentary filmmaker Ric Esther Bienstock and TSN personality Michael Landsberg are among six honourees set to be recognized at next year’s Canadian Screen Awards.

“Due South” and “Slings & Arrows” star Gross will receive the Earle Grey Award, given to an actor or actress for a body of work in Canadian TV.

“Rookie Blue” producer Tassie Cameron will receive the Margaret Collier Award for a written body of work in TV, GlassBOX founder Jeffrey Elliott will claim the Digital Media Trailblazing Award and Landsberg will be honoured for his humanitarian work. Continue reading.

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Featured, Murdoch Mysteries

Review: Murdoch Mysteries gets wild in Western themed tale

After having the first two episodes of Murdoch Mysteries deal with some pretty dark subject matter–human trafficking and the after effects of Brackenreid’s awful beating–I was glad for a rollicking good ride thanks to a couple of miscreants from the annals of history.

“Glory Days,” written by Peter Mitchell and Jordan Christianson and directed by star Yannick Bisson, welcomed Robert Leroy Parker and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh–also known as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid–to Toronto where they became embroiled in a storyline focusing on William Barclay “Bat” Masterson (Steven Ogg), the frontier lawman, gambler and sports writer who pulled a gun on the notorious duo moments before a prize fight featuring Canadian boxer George “Little Chocolate” Dixon. Higgins and Jackson were in the audience and tackled Bat before he squeezed off a shot in the packed room.

Bloody hell indeed.

With Bisson directing, the somewhat light-hearted episode turned its focus to not only whether the dastardly duo was in Toronto but to Murdoch and Julia’s upcoming nuptials. Turns out Margaret Brackenreid wanted to take over the planning of their happy day. Or something as small as taking care of the flowers. Anything, Brackenreid confessed, to get Margaret to stop talking about it during dinner. Speaking of the wedding, Julia wasn’t so sure she wanted to have the ceremony in Murdoch’s Catholic church, so she went to speak to Father Clements (Anthony Lemke) about it and was challenged to consider her own faith in the church.

As it turned out, the men Bat saw at the fight weren’t Butch and Sundance but the lawman (who took great pleasure in showing Julia his, um, six-shooter) wasn’t about to give up on the hunt. He grew only more bold when two men robbed the Bank of Toronto at gunpoint and were identified by the stuttering manager that Butch and Sundance were on the loose. Things got serious when a train headed to Simcoe, Ont., was robbed of its Grand Trunk Railroad payroll by the criminals and a man was killed in the process. It was then the truth came out: Butch and Sundance weren’t really in the city but Bat lied they were because he missed his “glory days.”

There were several funny moments during the chase, most notably Brackenreid, Crabtree and Murdoch standing outside a house of ill repute while Bat “questioned” a young woman who claimed to have seen the two. Murdoch Mysteries can be serious to be sure, but it can be very, very funny too. Who else howled when Murdoch stumbled into the table after he was proffered by the prostitute or snickered in anticipation of Crabtree’s bachelor party for the detective?

And a special thank you to Mitchell and Christianson for including “horseback ride” in Monday’s script; having the Toronto coppers play cowboy–complete with an expansive accompanying soundtrack–was a great nod to the wild West. And Murdoch’s football tackle of a baddie through the wall of a hay loft? Just awesome.

Murdoch Mysteries airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBC.

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