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, Transporter

Transporter back from the dead with Canadian comic relief

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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,  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.

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Featured, Package Deal

Review: Package Deal gets sexy

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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.

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Featured

Comments and queries for the week of Oct. 3

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

Sorry you missed Sebastian’s appearance. Thursday’s episode featuring him will be available on The Marilyn Denis Show website in the next day or so. You can find it here.

 

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? Email me at greg@tv-eh.com!

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Featured, Haven

Review: Getting hinky in Haven

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.

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Bachelor Canada, Featured

Review: Tears and tequila on The Bachelor Canada

After last week’s drama in The Bachelor Canada mansion–Kaylynn’s tears and jealousy–it was time for a change of scenery and what better place to let your hair down than in Los Cabos, Mexico? Things started off happily enough, with the remaining ladies all excited to be basking in the sun, reclining near the ocean and imbibing all things alcoholic before Tim put a damper on the end of the week by announcing four women–not two as originally announced–would be going home.

Everything started off sunny, with Lisa scoring the first one-on-one date with a horrifying, gut-twisting affair involving a contraption that swung she and Tim out into space. (The gals left behind complained Lisa wasn’t his type, but how is he supposed to know that unless he goes on a date with her??) A shared near-death experience led to a lip-lock between the two and a rose handoff over dinner as the sun set.

Meanwhile, back on the beach, Kaylynn tried to make nice with Martha over her actions at the cocktail party, an ill-advised move that just led to more crying and bully talk from the emotional ballerina.

A four-girl group date tested everyone’s dance moves in front of a Mariachi band, with the best dancer nabbing a one-on-one dinner with Tim. After a public performance that celebrated the cheesiness of the situation–and The Bachelor Canada–Tim chose Sachelle, she of two left feet, as his date. Sachelle revealed over dinner that she’d been cheated on twice and Tim had that happen once before, and the two shared a smooch.

Kaylynn once again jeopardized her spot on the show by heading over to Tim’s room when she learned she was the only person who wasn’t getting some date time with him. Instead of blowing her off, Tim listened to what she had to say and remarked he was frustrated with the speed of the show. Ugh. Tim threw a wrench in production by, rather than having a beach volleyball match with six girls, decided to just hang out with everyone. Natalie (who I chose to be around for the finale) decided to put all her cards on the table by explaining she may come off as a nice girl, but she can be bad too. It was a desperation move, and I worried it would scare Tim off. Speaking of being scared, April Brockman broke down in tears and went off by herself, which caused Tim to head over to chat with her and eventually he carried her into the ocean.

“I need to spend time with people that there’s a connection with next week and I don’t feel like I can do that with this many people here.” Tim’s bombshell announcement caught everyone off guard and Trish was sure she’d be one of those leaving. She needn’t have worried; she along with Kaylynn, Sachelle, April Brockman, Natalie (YES!), Dominique and Rileigh all received roses. Martha, April Borgnetta, Jenny and Christine were eliminated from the competition.

Next week the group heads to the Bahamas, where it looks like Lisa shows her claws.

The Bachelor Canada airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on City.

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