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.
Amazing Race Canada, Industry News, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Wapanatahk Media, in partnership with Great Pacific Media, announces development deal with the winners of The Amazing Race Canada, Anthony Johnson and Dr. James Makokis

From a media release:

Wapanatahk Media, founded and led by Indigenous producers Tania Koenig-Gauchier and Shirley Mclean, in partnership with Great Pacific Media, is excited to announce a development deal with Anthony Johnson and Dr. James Makokis, Season 7 winners of The Amazing Race Canada.

The couple made television history as the first Two-Spirit Indigenous couple to win the highly popular CTV Series. After receiving a cash prize of $250,000, Johnson and Makokis invested their winnings into their dream property, Nizhoni Acres. A new series featuring the couple and Nizhoni Acres is now in development, as they welcome some lucky Canadians into their home and take them on transformational journeys.

Wapanatahk Media and Great Pacific Media are already in discussion with multiple broadcasters about the series.

In addition to developing and pitching this new series with Johnson and Makokis, Wapanatahk Media is currently in principal photography on their first series this month, Dr. Savannah: Wild Rose Vet. That series has already been sold and will air on APTN and Cottage Life in 2022.

ABOUT WAPANATAHK MEDIA
Wapanatahk Media, in partnership with Great Pacific Media, develops and produces top-quality unscripted, scripted, digital and animated content for broadcasters and streaming platforms, with a focus on telling original and authentic Indigenous stories and providing training and hiring opportunities for BIPOC employees in the television industry. Wapanatahk Media is co-owned and headed by Indigenous producers Tania Koenig-Gauchier and Shirley Mclean, in partnership with Great Pacific Media.

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The Porter

CBC and BET+ original series The Porter now in production

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From a media release:

The highly anticipated start of production for Inferno Pictures and Sienna Films, THE PORTER (8×60), a CBC and BET+ original series, is now underway in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Shooting across various locations as well as in studio, THE PORTER continues until mid-September.

Exciting new additions to THE PORTER cast include Olunika Adeliyi (Titans, American Gods) and Loren Lott (American Idol, Tag). They join Aml Ameen (I May Destroy You, Yardie), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Star Trek: Discovery, Pretty Hard Cases) and Mouna Traore (Self Made, The Umbrella Academy) who were announced earlier this year. Plus, series originators Arnold Pinnock and Bruce Ramsay take on series regular roles of Glenford and Dinger, respectively.

Adeliyi portrays Queenie, the savvy, seductive and sinister crime boss in Chicago whose lavish lifestyle and power appeals to Junior, but at what cost?; while Lott plays headstrong Lucy, a talented performer who yearns for the spotlight as she battles shadeism and an instinct for music that’s out of step with the times.

Set in the roaring 20s, THE PORTER offers a dramatic and compelling look at the Black community in St. Antoine, Montreal, known, at the time, as the Harlem of the North. The story is told through the eyes of two Black train porters taking very different paths to liberation. One pushes to create the first Black union in existence, the other chases power on the wrong side of the law, but both have the same goal: to free themselves and their families from oppression. They’re young, gifted and Black, from Canada, the Caribbean, and the U.S., and they find themselves thrown together north and south of the colour line. In an era that boasts anything is possible, if change isn’t coming for them, they will come for it.

From Montreal to Chicago and at every stop in between, in a time of extraordinary social and political change, THE PORTER tells the story of the people who fought to ignite the civil rights movement in North America.

A CBC and BET+ original series, THE PORTER is originated and created by Arnold Pinnock (Altered Carbon, Travelers) and Bruce Ramsay (19-2, Cardinal), with Annmarie Morais (Killjoys, Ransom, American Soul), Marsha Greene (Ten Days In The Valley, Mary Kills People) and Aubrey Nealon (Snowpiercer, Cardinal), and produced by Winnipeg-based Inferno Pictures Inc. and Sphere Media’s Sienna Films. Morais and Greene are showrunners and executive producers. Charles Officer (Akilla’ Escape, Coroner) and R.T. Thorne (Blindspot, Utopia Falls) will direct the series, and are executive producers. Pinnock also serves as an executive producer, and Ramsay a co-executive producer. The series is written by Morais, Greene, Andrew Burrows-Trotman, Priscilla White, Pinnock and Ramsay, with Thorne participating in the writers’ room. The series is funded with the support of the Canada Media Fund and Manitoba Film & Music and is distributed internationally by Abacus Media Rights (AMR) and Sphere Distribution.

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The Hardy Boys

A new mystery awaits! Nelvana and Lambur Productions greenlight Season 2 of The Hardy Boys

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From a media release:

Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana, a world-leading international producer and distributor of children’s animated and live-action content, together with Lambur Productions, have greenlit a second season of its hit mystery series The Hardy Boys (10x60min). Produced by Lambur Productions and Nelvana, in association with Corus Entertainment, the live-action series based on the beloved books by Franklin W. Dixon will start production in Toronto and Southern Ontario later this month. Following its success on Hulu in the U.S., The Hardy Boys’ inaugural season garnered critical acclaim and established a devoted fan base, claiming the spot of #1 program this Spring on YTV* in Canada. Season 2 will premiere on Hulu in the U.S. and YTV in Canada in 2022.

Picking up six months after the events of Season 1, the second season of The Hardy Boys finds Frank and Joe intertwined in yet another complicated mystery when a local Bridgeport teen goes missing and a duplicitous corporation moves into town.

Starring an all-Canadian ensemble cast, Season 2 welcomes back Rohan Campbell (Mech-X4, Virgin River) as Frank Hardy and Alexander Elliot (Detention Adventure, Workin’ Moms) as Joe Hardy. Additional returning cast members include: Keana Lyn as Callie Shaw, Bea Santos as Aunt Trudy, Adam Swain as Chet Morton, Atticus Mitchell as J.B. Cox, Riley O’Donnell as Biff Hooper, Cristian Perri as Phil Cohen, and Janet Porter as Laura Hardy.

The second season of The Hardy Boys is executive produced by Lambur Production’s Joan Lambur and Madeleine Lambur, and Corus and Nelvana’s Doug Murphy, Pam Westman and Athena Georgaklis, in addition to showrunner and head writer Chris Pozzebon (Blindspot, Schitt’s Creek), and showrunner and head director Jason Stone (Riverdale, The Hardy Boys). Amanda Vaughan and Kathleen Meek will serve as production executives for Corus.

Season 1 of The Hardy Boys is currently available to stream on Hulu in the U.S. and STACKTV in Canada through Amazon Prime Video Channels.

Source: Numeris PPM Data, Total Canada, SP’21 (Jan 4 – May 30/21) confirmed data, 3+ airings, Ind. 2+ AMA(000), YTV

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Industry News, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Saloon Media starts production on History By The Numbers

From a media release:

Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Studios company, has started production on a new 20-part docu-series, History By The Numbers, to be produced in association with US-based Jupiter Entertainment. This upbeat and fast-paced series looks at the world’s collective global history by revealing surprising and unimaginable numerical facts about major historical events. Episodes explore iconic moments in history through a unique context of scale, volume and percentages, offering fresh perspectives of how the world adds up today. History By The Numbers is an original commission for global factual streaming service, CuriosityStream, where it will roll out across the U.S. and select territories internationally, while in Canada, the series will premiere on Blue Ant Media’s Smithsonian Channel Canada. Blue Ant International oversees international licensing for the series outside of the commissioned territories.

History by The Numbers is an energetic, fast-paced series taking an exploratory global dive into the extraordinary and often overlooked numbers that have created our world’s history. Each episode will delve into the numbers and over the top stats behind a different subject – from the massive growth of the global fast food empire to the wealth and bloodshed of the world’s top crime bosses, the herculean numbers behind Mount Everest, the lives of the richest people on earth and so much more.

History By The Numbers is produced by Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Studios company, in association with Jupiter Entertainment. From Saloon Media, Michael Kot serves as Executive Producer and Steve Gamester as Series Producer. Also serving as Executive Producers are Julie Chang, EVP of International Co-Productions, Blue Ant Media and Patrick Reardon and Ben Pagel for Jupiter Entertainment.

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Schitt's Creek, SurrealEstate, Wynonna Earp

SurrealEstate haunts CTV Sci-Fi Channel, July 16

From a media release:

When there’s something strange in the neighbourhood, CTV Sci-Fi Channel calls in The Roman Agency from the all-new original series SURREALESTATE, to face down the paranormal. The 10-episode, one-hour spectral series hits the market Friday, July 16 at 10 p.m. ET.

Produced by Blue Ice Pictures, and shot last summer in St. John’s, Newfoundland, SURREALESTATE depicts real estate agent Luke Roman (Tim Rozon, WYNONNA EARP and SCHITTS CREEK) and his eclectic team of associates who correct unconventional problems in “metaphysically engaged properties” – aka haunted houses. New episodes will be available to stream weekly, on-demand at CTV.ca and CTV app.

What makes the team at The Roman Agency unique and in demand, is their uncanny ability to investigate and explain the truly inexplicable. The agency services include solving mysteries, closing portals, expelling demons, putting tortured souls to rest, and achieving the ultimate end: a sale.

Joining Rozon on this supernatural venture is his SCHITT’S CREEK co-star Sarah Levy as Susan Ireland, the neurotic real estate agent with a secret; Adam Korson (TEACHERS) as research specialist and former Catholic priest Father Phil Orley; Savannah Basley (WYNONNA EARP) as the no-nonsense office manager, Zooey L’Enfant; Maurice Dean Wint (DIGGSTOWN) as the resident “MacGyver” technology specialist; and Tennille Read (WORKIN’ MOMS) as client Megan Donovan. WYNONNA EARP star Melanie Scrofano also directs two episodes of the series and guest-stars in one. Check out a sneak peek.

In the premiere episode of SURREALESTATE (Friday, July 16 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CTV Sci-Fi), Luke Roman (Rozon), president of The Roman Agency, a boutique real estate residential brokerage with a whispered reputation for their ability to sell properties no one else can, checks in on a big, scary house in which he has a personal interest. New hire Susan Ireland (Levy) is thrown into the deep end on her first day.

SURREALESTATE is produced by Blue Ice Pictures in association with Bell Media and SYFY. George Olson developed the series for television and serves as showrunner and executive producer. Lance Samuels, Daniel Iron, Armand Leo, and Danishka Esterhazy also serve as executive producers.

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