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.
Corus Entertainment Inc.’s (TSX:CJR.B) (“Corus Entertainmentâ€) Nelvana, a world-leading international producer, distributor, and licensor of children’s animated and live action content, and Kids Can Press, an award-winning, internationally acclaimed children’s book publisher, announced today the Nelvana/Kids Can Press Talent Incubator: Black Write Edition, an initiative designed to discover, support, and mentor emerging Black storytellers and illustrators.
“Our goal with this talent incubator is to match promising Black creators with industry professionals from two of Canada’s leading children’s content companies in order to develop original work,†said Athena Georgaklis, Head of Development, Nelvana. “We want to give budding creators, particularly those currently outside of the children’s content ecosystem, the chance to develop their work and make essential connections in the television, animation, and publishing industries.â€
“Stories for children can be a powerful space to explore new ideas and tackle compelling topics, while inspiring and educating,†said Naseem Hrab, Associate Publisher, Creative, Kids Can Press. “We know there are new stories and illustrations out there that should be shared and deserve a wider audience. It is our hope that this talent incubator reaches Black storytellers who are looking for that opportunity.â€
Black storytellers and illustrators are invited to submit their story proposals or illustration portfolio through the blackwrite.ca website. Candidates who are selected will be paired with creative advisors in animation production or book publishing to develop and fully realize their work.
The outcome of the first edition of the incubator is to develop at least one original concept each for TV and book publishing as well as to foster community among new voices and industry professionals.
The deadline to submit is November 30.
Future editions of the talent incubator will focus on other underrepresented communities.
This initiative is part of Corus Entertainment’s comprehensive, multi-year Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Action Plan that aims to support diversity, equity and inclusion in the company’s workforce, business and content as well as industry partnerships.
The launch of blackwrite.ca will be supported by television and radio advertising on Corus’ network of TV and radio stations across Canada, starting today, September 15 and running until November 30.
CBC today revealed the ten amateur bakers who will participate in the upcoming fifth season of THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW, premiering Sunday, October 17 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) on CBC and the free CBC Gem streaming service. Ten Canadians from across the country will bake off in the iconic tent and put their culinary chops on display in an attempt to win The Great Canadian Baking Show title.
Season five of the series will consist of eight episodes and be hosted once more by comedians, actors, writers and Second City alumni, Ann Pornel and Alan Shane Lewis. Esteemed pastry chefs Bruno Feldeisen and Kyla Kennaley return to the judges’ table to sample the bakers’ scrumptious offerings.
Based on the beloved British format, each episode will feature the bakers competing in three challenges – the Signature Bake, the Technical Bake, and the Show Stopper – during which they will rely on their personal interests and backgrounds to ensure that their delectable dishes stand out. Once their sweet creations have been tasted and critiqued, the judges will decide who will be the week’s Star Baker and who will be sent home. In the final episode, the remaining three bakers will face off for the title of Canada’s best amateur baker.
This season, audiences will get acquainted with the show’s most innovative batch of bakers yet. Meet the ten contestants who are ready to whisk it for the biscuit:
Aimee DeCruyenaere, 23, an industrial design student from Ottawa, ON
Alina Fintineanu, 30, an orthodontic dental hygienist from Toronto, ON
Amanda Muirhead, 45, a paralegal from Westmoreland, P.E.I.
Caron Lau, 26, an occupational therapist from Richmond, B.C.
Dougal Nolan, 31, a mental health researcher from Dartmouth, N.S.
Kunal Ranchod, 30, a choreographer from Montreal, QC
Marian Castelino, 41, a designer from Ottawa, ON
Stephen Nhan, 30, a health administrator from Regina, SK
Steve Levitt, 54, a small business owner from Aurora, ON
Vincent Chan, 55, a graphic designer from Toronto, ON
Season four winner, Raufikat Oyawoye, a 35-year-old IT support engineer of Milton, ON took home the title after competing against semi-finalists Mahathi Mundluru from Markham, ON and Tanner Davies of Winnipeg, MB. Fans wanting to satisfy their sweet tooth can catch up on seasons one through four on CBC Gem leading up to the season five premiere.
THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW is produced by Boat Rocker’s Proper Television in association with CBC and Love Productions. The executive producers are Cathie James and Lesia Capone, and the series producer is Mark Van de Ven.
The old adage “write what you know,” certainly applies to Susin Nielsen’s latest creation, Family Law. She admits that she didn’t know anything about the law, but knew plenty about family. In fact, what happens to her lead character happened to Nielsen.
Debuting Friday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Global (with a special preview of the premiere episode on Thursday at 10 p.m. ET/PT), Family Law stars Jewel Staite as Vancouver lawyer—and recovering alcoholic—”Abigail “Abby” Bianchi. As a condition of her probation to return to her legal duties, Abby must work at the firm owned by her estranged father, Harry (Victor Garber), alongside her half-brother Daniel (Zach Smadu) and half-sister Lucy (Genelle Williams). Throw in Abby’s husband Frank (Luke Camilleri), mother Joanne (Lauren Holly), daughter Sofia (Eden Summer Gilmore) and son Nico (Brenden Sunderland), and there is plenty to mine for drama and laughs.
With legal dramas a popular genre, what truly sets Family Law apart is sharp writing and stunning performances by the cast, led by Staite.
We spoke to Susin Nielsen about about the road to making Family Law, which has already shot its second season.
How did Family Law come to be? Susin Nielsen: I actually first came up with this idea about a decade ago, and brought it to SEVEN24 — they’ve always been my partners with it — and we got it into development at another network, but they didn’t move forward with it. And then flash forward I guess about, five years and Jordy Randall at SEVEN24 called and he said, ‘We’ve never stopped thinking about Family Law and we see another opportunity to pitch it.’
So I went to [the] Banff [World Media Festival] and I pitched it to Susan Alexander and Rachel Nelson at Corus in 2018, and I think it was a lot of serendipity, it was right time, right place. I think I had made the idea stronger and better as well, and they put us into development and then they gave us more development, and then eventually they green-lit us.
In terms of the creative origins, when I first came up with the idea, there was a part of me that was trying to be shrewd. I’m not usually very shrewd when it comes to my writing, but it seemed like what was selling were procedurals, and I knew that for me and my sensibilities, I was probably never going to do a cop show. A hospital show just felt so out of my area of expertise. And certainly, I also really know nothing about law, but I knew a lot about family. I know a lot about family function and dysfunction, and my own family background somewhat mirrors Abby’s in that I didn’t meet my father until I was a teenager. At which point, I also met my half-brother and my half-sister.
I think that’s kind of always informed, probably, a lot of my writing. It just felt like a premise that I got really excited about. What if there was this woman who had been estranged from her father for all of these years, carried a huge chip on her shoulder, is almost disbarred because of her alcoholism and the only lawyer in town who will take her on is her dad? What I really loved about it was that I could explore family on three levels. I could explore the cases. I could explore Abby having to work with these people who she’s really just getting to know, and at the same time she’s trying to salvage her marriage and her relationship with her children.
The cast that you’ve got is incredible. Victor Garber, Jewel Staite, Zach Smadu, Genelle Williams, Lauren Holly. You must be pinching yourself every day that you got to work with these folks. SN: Thank you for bringing all of them up. I do pinch myself. What’s interesting is that not only are they obviously exceptional actors, they’re also incredibly lovely people and Jewel really sets the tone on set for all of our actors coming in. They all hang out all the time during the season, like every single weekend they were doing things together, doing dinners, it was hilarious. They don’t have to do that, they could just say, nice to see you, see you on Monday.
What was so interesting about Jewel was that she could just elevate whatever was in a scene. She could take a comedic scene and just — with a look — make it that much funnier. And a heartfelt scene, again, just with a look, and make you tear up even more. The three siblings, they got their rhythm together so fast and the looks that passed between Abby and Daniel all the time, they all just add all sorts of layers that are obviously not there on the page.
And then Victor. I, in a million years, never ever thought we’d get Victor Garber. Like he was like my dream Harry, but I just thought, ‘Well, that’s fantasy, but you’re never going to get Victor Garber.’ And it’s just been such a pleasure working with him, he’s just a consummate professional. I think he’s had two questions for me about script. He just comes in and he delivers.
Let’s switch over to the writer’s room. In addition to you, we’ve got Corey Liu, Damon Vignale, Sarah Dodd, Ken Craw and Sonja Bennett. What’s your writing process with the team? SN: I knew I wanted, if I could, a 100 per cent a Vancouver-based room because we have a lot of really talented writers here. Everybody in that room had a story of their own, and certainly when we were developing Season 1, there was no such thing as a worldwide pandemic yet, so we were able to do all of it in person.
We would meet at Lark Productions, which is our producer here on the ground in Vancouver. We would just meet in this big, open boardroom and start hammering out ideas. First, we would talk about character arcs for the season and I had initial documents with things that I had been thinking about and case ideas that I had had since 2011, and the writers brought their own ideas to the room. Then we just started talking about case ideas and what excited us, and how could a case relate back to the family?
What do you look for in a writer? SN: You’re looking for a group that are going to compliment each other for sure, and different people bringing different strengths to the table. The one commonality I was looking for were people who could write believable, compelling dialogue, people who could do both drama and comedy, comedy coming out of character. I felt very blessed to get Sarah Dodd because Sarah has, frankly, a lot more experience than I do, particularly with procedural. She’s done a lot of procedural. So it was fabulous to have her there just to make sure that we were structurally sound as well. Sarah is all those other things as well, but she brought oodles of procedural experience.
Sonja Bennett is so funny and she can make it look effortless with her lightness of touch with her dialogue; her dialogue’s fabulous. And then Cory Liu … I have a real soft spot for Corey. Seeing him grow over the last two seasons has just been exceptional. He is so talented and he will rule the world one day, I am sure. It’s been such a pleasure to watch him grow into his own confidence, because I don’t think he understood just quite how talented he was.
Family Law airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Global.
There have been many, many television series using the fish out of water scenario as a key part of its storytelling. And APTN’s Unsettled does it in a very effective way.
Airing Fridays at 8 p.m. Eastern on APTN, Unsettled follows the journey of Rayna Keetch (Cheri Maracle). A victim of the Sixties Scoop—the mass removal of Indigenous children from their families into the child welfare system—Rayna returns to her First Nation for a traditional homecoming ceremony when life throws her a curveball. Her husband, Darryl (Brandon Oakes), loses his business, car and their Toronto home. The result? A short visit turns into something more long-term for Rayna, Darryl and kids Stacia (Michaella Shannon) and Myles (Joshua Odjick).
Created, written and directed by Jennifer Podemski and Derek Diorio (Hard Rock Medical), Unsettled has been in the back of Podemski’s mind for years.
“I built this narrative around this family,” Podemski says. “Really using a lot of my own experiences and my desire to interweave and focus it with an authentic Indigenous lens.” Themes include child welfare, the aforementioned Sixties Scoop, residential schools, loss of identity and substance abuse and Podemski had a circle of advisors on-hand to make sure she got the facts correct.
A truly unique way of framing the story is through Henry (Albert Owl), Rayna’s father and the local radio DJ. Viewers listen to Henry speaking to his audience in Ojibwe, recalling the past while fuzzy, home movie-like visuals roll. It’s very well done.
“These stories are effective because they’re so rarely told,” Podemski says. “My goal was to weave these storylines, but not be an issue-driven show, be a character-driven show that weaves characters that are directly connected to these issues.”
