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, Murdoch Mysteries

Preview: Murdoch Mysteries, “Parker in the Rye”

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A new year is here and with it the remaining new episodes for Season 13 of Murdoch Mysteries. When we last left them, William and Julia were on the outs after he learned she was behind the assisted death of a severely wounded young woman.

So, will the pair make up on Monday night? Here’s what the CBC has released as an official episode synopsis for “Parker in the Rye,” written by Dan Trotta and directed by Mars Horodyski.

Murdoch sends Parker undercover to investigate the brutal slaying of a whisky baron and his family.

And here are more tidbits of information from me after watching a screener.

Julia and William talk
It’s brief, it’s off the top of the episode and it shows things are definitely NOT all right between the pair.

Parker and Crabtree work the streets
I love this pairing. I do miss Higgins and Crabtree working the beat together, but seeing the city through Parker’s eyes has refreshed the series for me somewhat. And it’s always nice to have an American around to make queries about how we do things in Canada.

Julia shines
She may not know what’s going on with her relationship with William, but Julia knows how to talk, listen and offer reassurance. She uses all three when speaking with Jacob Quincannon, played by Sean Dolan. Their scene together is wonderfully tender and emotional.

Gord Rand returns to Murdoch Mysteries
Last seen in 2014’s “Blast of Silence” as Travis Macquire, Gord Rand is back, this time playing a very bad man named Leon Bronson.

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

Images courtesy of CBC.

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Coroner, Featured

Coroner creator Morwyn Brebner previews explosive second season

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I love Canadian television. If I didn’t, this site wouldn’t exist. My girlfriend, on the other hand, is very picky when it comes to her time and devoting any of it to television, regardless of what country it originates from. So, when she immediately became hooked on Season 1 of Coroner, I knew the CBC had something really special.

Much of Canada agreed. Created, executive-produced and showrun by Morwyn Brebner (Saving Hope, Rookie Blue), Coroner was the highest-rated new series on CBC. Now Coroner roars back with an explosive—and tragic—Season 2 premiere on Monday night.

When we catch up with Jenny (Serinda Swan), she and Donovan (Roger Cross) are investigating a fire in a low-income apartment building.

We spoke to Morwyn Brebner ahead of Monday’s return.

It must’ve been pretty mind-blowing to be the No. 1 new show on CBC, and have great reviews from critics and fans.
Morwyn Brebner: We were so blown away because we felt like when we were making Season 1, we felt so much love for the show. I think there was a feeling on set from everybody, from the cast, from the directors, from the crew, from everyone that we were making something that’s felt special to us.

And so, when people liked it … because you never know how anyone’s going to feel, right? We knew that we had this incredible cast lead by Serinda and Roger. And so, it’s was kind of overwhelming. And then when we got to make Season 2, we just feel so lucky. To have lived with the characters for a season, and now to be able to know them more, it’s like you start Season 2 with a leg up.

We’re thrilled by the response and we’re thrilled people seem to really care about the characters.

When I spoke to Serinda Swan ahead of Season 1, she had a very good idea of who Jenny was as a character and where she wanted the show to go. How important is it to have someone that’s No. 1 on the call sheet that has a clear vision for a show?
MB: Oh, I mean it’s really important. Serinda embodies Jenny. She embodies her in this way that no one else can. It’s such a collaboration with the actor. Her really strong sense of Jenny and her connection to her and the way she embodies her physically … and Serinda’s so smart. And so, her and her guiding intelligence for how she portrays the character is really part of it.

Was there anything after Season 1 was done where you sat down and did a post-mortem and said, ‘OK, this worked, maybe this didn’t work so well. Here are some things we want to do more of in Season 2’?
MB: We did. We have many post-mortems. We have sort of rolling post-mortem. One of the things we really felt was that we wanted to spend more time with the characters. We have these amazing characters. And so, this season is more serialized. We still have great cases. That was something you wanted to keep. We have this incredible case that starts out with a bang. And then that case is like a ribbon that twines itself through the season.

And we have guest characters who also sort of exist through the season and bring out things in our characters that are surprising and are involved. We’ve tried to make this season even more character driven, which is an incredible opportunity to just get to know everyone better. And to feel more complete rooted in who they are.

We have Donovan who has always pushed away personal connections forcing to be connected and not being able to avoid it. And we’re trying to bring it all back also to sort of the cases and the empathy that Jenny feels for the dead that she speaks for.

You’re really delving into the brain in a couple of very serious storylines. When it comes to Jenny’s mental health or even with her father, Gordon, is there someone that you’ve consulted to just make sure that you’re doing it right?
MB: We do. Anxiety is a really interesting disorder in that it manifests in different ways at different times. I live with anxiety, some serious anxiety as do many people. I mean it’s the condition of the age and it’s also a specific thing. We had a consultant. We talked to a psychiatrist. We talked to doctors. This season we’re trying to find new manifestations to visually show what she’s going through.

One of our favourite episodes from last season was the Thanksgiving episode. You could have easily not had a holiday episode or a Thanksgiving episode. A lot of shows don’t. Why did you choose to do one?
MB: We wanted an episode last season that would be much more character, character, character, where we got to see the family and where we got to really feel Jenny as someone struggling. Not just with work, with her family. And it really was one of my favourite episodes too. I mean I love them all, but I felt like that episode … the feeling of just going home with her, it felt real, you know? We all are trying to deal with shit, right?

And in this season we have an episode, it’s not a holiday episode, but it’s sort of, again, a non-work work episode. We were with Jenny much more. We’re with the characters personalized much more this season. But even then, it’s just good to take a break. Like you want to just breathe with people, you want to feel them, you want to live with them, you know?

And that episode, which Noelle Carbone wrote, I love that episode so much.

Another thing I love about Coroner is conversations. The dialogue is very natural. 
MB: Oh, that’s such a nice compliment. Thank you. Well, we have great writers. I like the thing where you’re not always on the beat. If you just take yourself off the on-beat. What I like is to be disciplined but loose. I like to live in the humanity and in the moments. They can talk like people and be with each other. That’s the goal, and if it’s working, I’m glad to see it register.

Coroner airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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New Eden

Links: New Eden, Season 1

From Morgan Mullin of The Coast:

Link: New Eden, who dis?
In a year where their actions keep making us ask “why are men?”; As we keep sharing clickbait stories about women’s-only villages with the caption “where do I sign up?”—we need New Eden. The eight-episode series, streaming on Crave TV starting January 1, is a true crime mockumentary about a women’s-only cult in late-1970s BC. Continue reading.

From Cole Schisler of the Ladysmith Chronicle:

Link: Ladysmith’s Kayla Lorette to release new series on Crave New Year’s Day
“Evany and I knew we wanted to put a show together, so we talked about our mutual love of the true crime genre… and then we’ve always been a bit obsessed with cults. We started from there, but then we were questioning – what if there’s not the traditional male cult leader at the centre of it, what if it’s these two women? Then it just grew from there.” Continue reading.

From Norman Wilner of Now Toronto:

Link: Crave’s New Eden explores why women are drawn to true crime
With any luck, 25 years from now people will be arguing over whether the events depicted in Kayla Lorette and Evany Rosen’s New Eden are real. Continue reading.

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Industry News, Tribal

APTN rolls out winter programming

From a media release:

APTN presents its Winter 2020 TV schedule with exciting new shows and the latest seasons of returning favourites. Audiences can also expect new binge-worthy series to roll out all through the season on the network’s growing Indigenous-focused streaming service, APTN lumi.

Tune in to the premiere of Ron Scott’s TRIBAL, watch NHL hockey in Plains Cree and see what inspired Canada’s First Contact series this winter on APTN. The new winter season will roll out on APTN from January 2020 to the end of April and will include the following programs:

  • Spirit Talker – Season 1 (Premieres Feb. 19, 2020)
    Renowned Mi’kmaq medium Shawn Leonard travels across Canada and connects the living with the dead to bring hope, healing and closure to Indigenous communities.
  • TRIBAL – Season 1 (Premieres Feb. 20, 2020)
    Ron Scott, the producer of APTN flagship series Blackstone, brings TRIBAL to the screen. This new drama series follows an Indigenous “tribal” police force and the four First Nations communities it oversees. They must work together to prevent colonial control from resurfacing.
  • First Talk – Season 4 (Premieres March 2, 2020)
    Panel discussions, viral videos and pop quizzes: First Talk has it all. The show addresses a wide range of topics, from environmental and social issues to fitness and wellness trends.
  • First Contact (Australia) – Season 1 (Premieres March 3, 2020)
    The original Australian First Contact (2014) that inspired its successful Canadian counterpart is coming to APTN’s airwaves. This docuseries takes a diverse group of six people and immerses them into Aboriginal Australia for the first time.

Indigenous-Language Original Programming:

  • Rogers Hometown Hockey in Cree (Premieres Jan. 19, 2020 – in Plains Cree)
    Expect to hear more cries of kociw osihew, pihtokwahew! – he shoots, he scores! – across the country. Following the historic first NHL broadcast in Plains Cree last season, Sportsnet and APTN are expanding their partnership to deliver more games over the next three seasons. In total, a minimum of six games per year will be broadcast on APTN in Plains Cree.

French-Language Original Programming:

  • Orignal et marmelade – Season 4 (Premieres Jan. 6, 2020)
    Bush cook Art Napoleon and classically trained British chef Dan Hayes explore and compare Indigenous and European culture and cuisine.
  • La terre en nous – Season 1 (Premieres Jan. 13, 2020)
    While humanity is pushing the Earth to its limits, some are taking initiative to resist climate change. Christian Pilon travels across Canada to meet environmental trailblazers and learn about their inspiring projects.

APTN will also air special programming in honour of International Women’s Day, the International Day for the Elimination of Racism and National Canadian Film Day.

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