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.
Orphan Black

Cameras roll on Season 3 of Orphan Black

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From a media release:

Space, Temple Street Productions, and BBC America announced earlier today that production has begun on Season 3 of the critically acclaimed original Canadian series, ORPHAN BLACK. Season 3 sees the return of the phenomenal, Golden Globe®-nominated Tatiana Maslany, who has portrayed an astonishing, nine, distinct “Leda” clones to date, as well as the male “Castor” clones revealed in the Season 2 finale, played by series regular Ari Millen. Season 2 of ORPHAN BLACK reached a total of 832,000 viewers and more than 3.7 million unique viewers each week. Throughout its Season 2 run, Space was the #1 specialty network in audience across all key demos in its timeslot. The 10-episode, one-hour drama shoots in Toronto, on location and in studio, until March 2015, and is set to premiere in Spring 2015.

Returning in a lead role is Ari Millen, who plays the newly discovered male clones; Mark, the Prolethean cult follower and Rudy, a prisoner of war. Also back this season is Jordan Gavaris as Sarah’s fiery foster brother Felix; Dylan Bruce as Paul; an army officer working for secret forces in the clone world; Maria Doyle Kennedy as Sarah and Felix’s duplicitous foster mother Mrs. S; Evelyne Brochu as a Dyad scientist and Cosima’s lover Delphine; Kevin Hanchard as Art, a detective caught in the clone trap; Zoé De Grand Maison as Gracie, a Prolethean escapee, and Michiel Huisman as Cal, father to Sarah’s daughter Kira (Skyler Wexler).

ORPHAN BLACK’s second season brought new, more treacherous, enemies to light, culminating in a shocking finale with the reveal of the new male “Castor” clones. Season 3 plunges the clone sisterhood into unexpected territory with the realization that they’re not alone. Just when they thought they knew their enemies and allies, Season 3 reveals our clones are more vulnerable than ever before with the highly trained, identical male-soldiers complicating matters. And though Sarah, Cosima, Alison and Helena realize they are stronger together than they are apart, this season will put that bond to the test.

Adored by fans and critics alike in more than 170 countries, ORPHAN BLACK earned a Peabody Award and an outstanding 10 Canadian Screen Awards in 2014. Lead actress Tatiana Maslany has received two, back-to-back Critics’ Choice Awards for Best Actress, a TCA Award for Individual Achievement, a Young Hollywood Award, a Gracie Award, and nominations for both the Golden Globe® and People’s Choice Awards.

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Featured, Republic of Doyle

Review: Republic of Doyle revs for the last time

Jake Doyle has a way of attracting a lot of attention, and it’s mostly bad. So, as Republic of Doyle sets a course for its series finale, it’s no surprise that Jake is surrounded by danger and uncertainty.

“Dirty Deeds,” written by Allan Hawco, threw everything but the kitchen sink into the mix–and I believe there would have been one involved in the prison fight if it was possible–by having Jake in prison and surrounded by men he and Malachy had helped put in there over the course of their careers. Kudos to Hawco and the producers for snagging Jason O’Mara in the role of dim bulb but oh-so-good-looking Seth Rankin. Last seen on The Good Wife, O’Mara was able to flex his comedic muscles as he elicited Jake’s help in a tit-for-tat agreement: if Jake helped keep Seth’s girlfriend, Molly, safe outside of prison then Seth would hand over some of the diamonds he had stolen to pay for Jake’s bail.

Throw in Taylor Gossad (who wants Jake dead), a prison superintendent (played by Megan Follows) who wants Jake to find out how drugs are getting into the prison, and Jake’s plate is pretty darned full. Add in the fact no one knows where Sloan has gone with all of the Doyles’ money and Leslie is in a coma and things are looking dire for the bestubbled P.I.

Speaking of Leslie, she may have ultimately been saved from Taylor’s long, deadly reach, but what was the deal with the gift-wrapped box the killer was carrying when he entered her hospital room? Tinny was there to put the collar on him before he cut Leslie’s throat, but no reference to the package was made before the episode ended. I can only imagine it pops up in the coming weeks.

Placing Leslie in a three-week long coma was a ballsy move and I’m glad it didn’t last longer. That means things will move at a brisk pace; she’s awake and can finger Blake Brogan for the death of Mayor Clarke, so he’ll need to move fast to keep her quiet. Speaking of brisk pace, fingers crossed Jake gets out of prison soon too. Having him in there is a nice departure setting-wise, but a contained Jake is a less entertaining Jake. It means he’s tooling around St. John’s in the GTO.

Favourite quotes

  • “Seth Rankin, of the Rankins. Not the band.” Oh Seth.
  • “I had to hide the key in my bum to get it in here.” Oh, Seth!
  • “Stay out of trouble, which I know is like asking you to take a vow of silence.” Malachy knows his son all too well.
  • “Des, we’re not making out in front of a coma-striken Leslie.” Tinny, always the voice of reason.

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

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Dragons' Den, Featured

Review: Wek and Vij bring new fire to Dragons’ Den

With nine seasons under its belt, you’d expect Dragons’ Den to be a little, well, long in the tooth. Less than fiery. Lacking bite. You would, however, be wrong.

The secret to the veteran CBC show’s success is its skill at being able to mix a feisty bunch of outsized Type-A personalities on its panel of Canadian entrepreneurs. I must admit that I was a little worried for the franchise after Kevin O’Leary and Bruce Croxon exited, the former to focus on Bell Media projects and ABC’s Shark Tank where he’s been doing double duty with former Canuck Dragon Robert Herjavec. O’Leary, the Simon Cowell of the reality show, would be hard to replace.

So producers didn’t bother trying to find someone to fill O’Leary’s expensive loafers with the same personality. They went glitzier. A little more rock ‘n’ roll. With hair. Enter financial whiz Michael Wekerle and celebrity chef Vikram Vij, who capably fill those empty spots on the panel. Wekerle–a.k.a. Wek–is a sight to behold. With his shiny, patterned suits, tattoos, blonde hair and gravelly voice, he commands attention in Wednesday’s first new episode. He’s quick with a quip and a comment and prefers to go last in his bids to budding entrepreneurs.

Vij brings a West Coast calm to the panel–the ying to Wekerle’s yang–but don’t let his soft demeanour and smooth tone fool you. This is a man who has built a culinary empire and isn’t afraid to let you know how he truly feels. Two dudes found that out the hard way when they attempted to get some cash for their new tablet-form energy drink.

“Are you trying to kill me?” Vij asked after reading the chemical ingredients. “If I had to drink this … I’d barf!”

The new duo get along just fine with veteran panelists David Chilton, Arlene Dickinson and Jim Treliving. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t take long for Wek to bond with Treliving over the energy drink pitch. Wek was worried the stuff would be bought by kids and mixed with booze and was vocal about it. Treliving admitted he hadn’t thought of that and backed out of the deal.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom with regard to pitches in Wednesday’s return. Everyone but Vij was tossing out offers to a woman who had come up with a mining outfit tailored specifically for females on the crew, a brilliant idea. Not so brilliant? A rake that refused to stand on-end as advertised and a pillow that wrapped around the wearer’s head like a fuzzy helmet so one could nap anywhere. The creator of that admitted he had been “really tired” when he came up with the idea.

Dragons’ Den airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBC.

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Industry News

Bell Media signs content deal with Highway Entertainment and Mark Burnett

bell_media

From a media release:

Bell Media, Canada’s premier multimedia company, announced today from MIPCOM a multi-faceted partnership with United Artists Media Group (a newly formed joint venture among MGM, Mark Burnett, Roma Downey, and Hearst Entertainment) and Omnicom Canada Corp.’s Highway Entertainment to create new television formats for Canadian and international audiences. As a result of the partnership, pilots for several new formats are currently in development and pre-production at Bell Media, parent company of conventional broadcaster CTV, the leading adapter of formats for the Canadian market. Terms of the deal were not released.

“We are thrilled to partner with Mark Burnett, a pioneer in format television, and United Artists Media Group, along with Canada’s Highway Entertainment,” said Phil King, President – CTV, Sports, and Entertainment Programming, Bell Media. “With enormous pedigree and an incredible track record for hit format creation, we look forward to not only developing content for our own market, but internationally as well.”

“CTV and Omnicom are important strategic partners for United Artists Media Group. CTV’s desire to produce more original content and Highway Entertainment’s ability to come in with funding is something we are really excited about,” said C. Scot Cru, Executive Vice President, International Strategy and Business Development, United Artists Media Group. “Phil and his team are the great collaborators, we’re looking forward to bringing these new shows not only to Canada but distributing them worldwide through our partnership with MGM.”

“Highway Entertainment is in the business of funding great programming,” said Adam Ivers, President and CEO, Highway Entertainment. “Doing so with creative forces like Mark Burnett and Bell Media reinforces the strength of our model and the true spirit of partnership at a time when our industry is looking to innovate.”

CTV has developed and broadcast some of the most successful format adaptations in Canadian history, including THE AMAZING RACE CANADA, the most-watched Canadian television program on record, as well as MASTERCHEF CANADA, the #1 new competition series in 2014, and CANADIAN IDOL, SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE CANADA, and WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE, among others.

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Bachelor Canada, Featured

Review: Roller coasters and revolving doors on The Bachelor Canada

The Bachelor Canada offered a lot of drama in its new Tuesday night timeslot, mostly thanks to the usual suspects in Kaylynn, Lisa and Natalie. Yup, Natalie, who decided to drive down the 401 from her hometown of Cambridge, Ont., to convince Tim to let her have the rose ceremony she missed when she left Nassau prematurely.

A lot was made of her return–Lisa whined she wanted to vomit (a weekly occurrence, it should be noted) and Trisha said she looked like a witch thanks to a new dye job–and footage of her knocking on Tim’s hotel door was dramatic. For a few minutes at least. Tim, thrown for a loop by her return, was a gentleman as he listened to Nat’s explanation for leaving, her realization she should have stayed and her level-headed request she be allowed to attend the rose ceremony in the off-chance Tim wanted to keep her around. He didn’t, but it at least gave them both the closure they needed.

Natalie’s return and exit almost overshadowed Dominque, who knocked on Tim’s door minutes after Natalie did with her own request: she wanted to leave. No one could blame her, including Tim who admitted she allowed her to slip through the cracks. The way she as edited, Dominique was quiet and kind and didn’t command air time like Kaylynn, Lisa and Trisha did. That doesn’t make for good TV–or at least a good TV relationship–and she exited stage right. The girl has my respect for being in control of the situation as well as warning Tim, without naming Lisa, to be aware of certain girls still in the running.

Meanwhile, the situation between Kaylynn and the rest of the girls–especially Lisa–has spiralled out of control. The group date to Canada’s Wonderland went from playful to predatory when Kaylynn smooched Tim in front of Trisha, Lisa and Sachelle. Lisa went on the attack and Kaylynn was reduced to tears (a weekly occurrence) and retreated to the bathroom where she wondered if she should leave.

By the time the rose ceremony had rolled around and Trisha, Sachelle, Kaylynn and Lisa had gotten roses to go with the one April snagged during her one-on-one off the top of the show, the battle lines had been drawn: it was Lisa against the rest of the girls. That appears to come to a head next week when everyone jets to Tuscany; Lisa does something she has to apologize to Tim for and she may very well go home because of it.

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

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