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 carries on with an axe murderer

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I think this season of Murdoch Mysteries has been just great. I know a few don’t agree with me and that’s OK. Some folks only want the “core four” to feature in every case and have everything wrapped up in a neat bow by the time the hour is up.

Me? I’m loving the deeper dives we’re getting into who Ruth, Watts, Higgins and Brackenreid in Season 12. With so many years under its belt, I truly feel like Murdoch Mysteries has become a well-rounded show boasting a wealth of riches when it comes to cast, crew and stories.

But back to the present, and Episode 11. Here’s what the CBC has released as an official storyline for “Annabella Cinderella,” written by Paul Aitken and directed by Sherren Lee.

Crabtree and John are transporting a convicted axe murderer to prison when she escapes to exact revenge on those who testified against her.

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

George and John team up
John Brackenreid has been vaulted onto centre stage now that his father has left Toronto. That’s good news for fans of he and actor Charles Vandervaart (for even more Charles, catch him Saturdays on Family Channel on Holly Hobbie). Personally, I love it when George and John are paired up. Not only is there usually a bit of comedy but I also view their dynamic as what William and George’s was back in the early days of Station No. 4.

Rachel Van Duzer guest stars
Rachel Van Duzer plays the woman at the centre of this episode. I’ll have to confirm this with the episode’s writer, but I feel like “Annabella Cinderella” is loosely based on Lizzie Borden‘s story. As for Van Duzer, she’s wonderful in this role, giving dimension to a villainous character. Her scenes with Vandervaart, in particular, will tug at your heart.

A television critic makes his Murdoch Mysteries return
Bill Brioux, a friend and veteran television critic (check out his website for Canadian and U.S. coverage), first appeared in a non-speaking role in Season 5’s “Murdoch of the Klondike.” His triumphant return is marked this Monday as “Ticketman” at the Pickering train station. I expect a Canadian Screen Award nomination soon.

William and Julia are in demand
The pair doesn’t get a lot of screen time on Monday, but they make up for it in a deliciously entertaining storyline involving police manuals and publishing.

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

Images courtesy of CBC.

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Letterkenny

Link: “Letterkenny” is the surprisingly queer Canadian comedy you’ve been sleeping on

From Valerie Anne of AutoStraddle:

Link: “Letterkenny” is the surprisingly queer Canadian comedy you’ve been sleeping on
On paper, Letterkenny isn’t the kind of show I am normally into. So imagine my surprise when suddenly I found myself finished with all six seasons within a week, squealing about the unexpected amount of queer content that somehow never crossed my radar in the three years it’s been airing, and delighted to have found a new “happy place” show. Continue reading.

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Holly Hobbie

Link: Being Erica star Erin Karpluk is a mother of three in Family Channel’s Holly Hobbie

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From Debra Yeo of the Toronto Star:

Link: Being Erica star Erin Karpluk is a mother of three in Family Channel’s Holly Hobbie
For some Canadian TV viewers, Erin Karpluk will forever be known as the young woman coming to terms with herself with the help of an unconventional therapist in the comedy-drama Being Erica.

In the new Family Channel series Holly Hobbie (debuting Saturday at 11:30 a.m.) Karpluk is the one offering guidance as the mother of the lead character, 13-year-old Holly. Continue reading. 

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Industry News

Blue Ant Media grows originals slate with six new commissions for its roster of Canadian specialty channels

From a media release:

Blue Ant Media, an international content producer, distributor and channel operator, announced today six new original commissions as well as a raft of digital content to air on its platforms in Canada, including Cottage Life, T+E and Makeful. The announcement supports Blue Ant Media’s ongoing commitment to the creation of Canadian series, also showcased through the company’s last round of Canadian original commissions and recent acquisition of Saloon Media announced earlier this year.

For Cottage Life, production has started on a brand new, documentary series, The Bryk Cottage, in which designer and contractor Danielle Bryk rebuilds her family cottage from the ground up. The channel will also see a new season of Bondi Vet: Coast to Coast that introduces four never-before-seen Australian vets to viewers. Additionally, new digital content featuring Cottage Life fan favourites, The Brojects, will roll out on Cottage Life’s online platforms. Slated to premiere on T+E, See No Evil delves into murder mysteries with surveillance video and gritty recreations, and fan favourite series Paranormal Survivor will return for a fifth season. The Makeful channel will see two new original series including Coolest Places to Stay, a documentary series about the current trend of turning everyday homes into short-term rentals, as well as Landscape Artist of the Year, a Canadian format of the popular British fine art competition series.

Blue Ant Media’s original programming slate includes:

The Bryk Cottage (6×30’;HD) is a documentary series that follows designer and contractor Danielle Bryk as she takes viewers on the real-life rebuild of her family’s old dilapidated cottage into a stunning vacation home that the entire family can cherish for generations. In this new documentary series, Bryk and a team of local Georgian Bay contractors undertake to complete this ambitious project. The Bryk Cottage is produced by Saloon Media and distributed by Blue Ant International. Danielle Bryk will appear at the Spring Cottage Life Shows in Toronto and Ottawa in March 2019.

Bondi Vet: Coast to Coast (10×60’;HD) Fan favourite series Bondi Vet has been revamped and will introduce four new Australian vets from across the continent Down Under who offer a myriad of exciting animal stories, ranging from the exotic and wild to our favourite domestic creatures. Meet exotic animal expert Dr Peter Ricci, emergency specialist Dr Alex Hynes, private practice owner Dr Lewis Hunt and recent graduate Dr Danni Dusek as they continue Bondi Vet’s tradition of telling great stories about Australia’s unique population of pets, and the lengths that dedicated vets will go to care for them in their hour of need. This new commission is the product of a treaty co-production between Saloon Media in Canada and WFTN in Australia. Bondi Vet will be broadcast on Channel Nine in Australia and will premiere exclusively in Canada on the Cottage Life Channel in Spring 2019.

See No Evil, Season 5 (16×60’; HD) tells spine-chilling stories of murderers caught on tape. Using genuine CCTV and other secured surveillance footage from a variety of sources, each episode will seamlessly mix elements of real footage and gritty recreations to give viewers a shocking front-row seat to the darkest depths of our not-so-secret lives. See No Evil is co-produced with Saloon Media in Canada and Arrow Media in the UK. See No Evil will premiere on T+E in Canada in spring 2019 and on Discovery ID in the U.S.

Paranormal Survivor, Season 5 (10×60’; HD) is the latest season of the popular series about spirits that features survivors of harrowing supernatural experiences who share their hair-raising tales on screen. Produced by Our House Media, each episode will take a deep dive into the eerie encounters, depicted with a mix of real testimonials and dramatic re-creations. The series will air on T+E in Spring 2019 and is distributed by Blue Ant International.

Coolest Places to Stay (working title) (6×30’;HD) is an exciting new documentary series that explores the trend of regular people turning their homes into short-term rentals for travellers on the go. In each episode, self-taught house flipper and design enthusiast, Katie Herbert, explores unique spaces that centre around a common theme to discover interesting and unusual approaches to crafting the perfect respite for vacationers and locals alike. Coolest Places to Stay is produced by Architect Films and will air on Makeful during the channel’s freeview in April 2019. The series will be distributed by Blue Ant International.

Landscape Artist of the Year aims to uncover new artistic talent in a competition open to both professional and amateur artists in Canada. The original series, which is a fan favourite on Makeful, is coming to Canada and modelled after the UK format, which will see one talented competitor be crowned Canada’s Landscape Artist of the Year. The group of painters take on different landscape painting challenges, which showcase their unique artistic talents. Throughout the painting sessions, expert judges circulate among the artists, assessing their talents and skills and each week a winner will be chosen to progress to the semi-final. Time-lapse segments ensure viewers will not miss a moment in each artist’s thoughtful and creative progression from blank canvas to finished work. The UK format is distributed by Banijay Rights.

New DIY Online Content for Cottage Life

Coming Spring 2019, there will be a plethora of brand new original DIY-themed content for the Cottage Life website financed in support from the Canadian Media Fund. This includes 30 short form videos, 70 non-video content items and 15 episodes of a web series featuring the Brojects, Kevin and Andrew Buckles, produced by Farmhouse Productions, with some of the webisodes in partnership with Timber Mart.

Blue Ant Media is a privately held, international content producer, distributor and channel operator. From our production houses around the world, we create content for multiple genres including factual, factual entertainment, short-form digital series and kids programming. Our distribution business, Blue Ant International, offers a catalogue of 3,000+ hours of content, including the largest 4K natural history offering on the market. Blue Ant Media’s international channel business offers a portfolio of media brands such as Love Nature (International), ZooMoo Networks (International), Smithsonian Channel Canada, BBC Earth (Canada), Blue Ant Entertainment (International), Blue Ant Extreme (International) and HGTV (New Zealand). Blue Ant Media is headquartered in Toronto, with operations in Los Angeles, Singapore, Auckland, Dunedin, London, Washington, Sydney, Beijing and Taipei.

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Featured

Comments and queries for the week of January 11

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I really enjoyed the Brackenreid-centred episode, as Mr. Craig may be the most talented actor on the program. As much as I enjoy the standard crime-solving episodes, it pains me greatly to admit that they have run out of ideas for Julia Ogden. This isn’t the fault of the actress, but rather the indifference in her scripts from the earlier seasons. Have you ever gone back to do a re-watch of the older seasons? I never noticed before, but Julia can be downright insufferable in her flip-flopping between modern career woman and clueless waif cowering behind William. They rectified this greatly in later seasons, but by then, much of the creativity present in early seasons had already been spent. Most egregious in this schizophrenic Ogden plotting is the two-parter of “Crimes and Punishment.” Julia spends an entire episode cluelessly believing nothing is wrong, resulting even in William having a “wake up and see the risk you are in” moment with her. Still, she sallies forward with odd smiles and aloof commentary, until she finally wakes up as the judge sentences her to death. Her reaction? “Oh William, do something!” So yes, more Brackenreid. More serious plotting of adult storylines, and not saccharine teenager moralizing. Three cheers for the writers of “Secrets and Lies.” —Sarah

What do I think of this episode? Same feeling I had since the focus seemed to have shifted to characters like Watts and Brakenreid, big disappointment. And this episode is right up there. I don’t know where the series is headed but I am losing interest big time. Of course, Murdoch is always front and centre … with Crabtree. Perhaps they should be portrayed as the power couple because Julia is certainly no longer part of it. Building a dishwasher for Julia, really? Are the writers transforming her into a homemaker, something in my opinion and imagination she will never be and I don’t want to watch episodes where Murdoch is bent on making her into someone she was never raised to be, unlike Margaret Brakenreid. That’s not even funny. What the creators of the show should do is give them employees (i.e. servants) that they certainly can afford. Julia has always been portrayed as a career professional, up until now. Tending to patients in a hospital? After having been a coroner and a psychiatrist, and helping Murdoch solve his crimes. Now the writers, showrunners are changing their mind. A surgeon? Showing her “operating” cannot hold the same fascination for viewers as what she was doing in the morgue and the asylum. This is not a medical show. Unless it is the wish of the actress herself, and if so, perhaps she should lend her talents to another show worthy of them. Yes, for this fan the disappointment is huge and it is also the end of the line. I don’t want to see episodes where Julia is relegated to a very minor and secondary role. Realizing that it is impossible to please everybody, I have seen enough of that this season already. I remember Hélène saying early on in the series that ‘someone’ wanted to eliminate her character. Perhaps this is finally and sadly happening … however gradually. —Noele

When I saw the episode only about Brackenreid, I was OK with it. But I could’ve done without the Watts episode. I do like his character, but not enough for an entire episode. I’m also noticing that William and Julia are slowly becoming secondary characters and I really don’t like that. THEY are the show! But I’m going to wait and see if there’s a William only show and a Julia only show as well. If so, I’ll be very interested to see them. I’m just not into the Ruth and Henry story lines at all. I like hearing about them in passing, but not actually a part of the show. And now, Ruth’s going to be at the hospital with Julia! Also, Dan Trotta joked about Brackenreid getting pregnant. It will really make me upset if Margaret ends up pregnant, and not Julia. I hope Julia’s “secret” is that she’s pregnant, and is afraid to tell William, because of the miscarriage. I want Violet to show her true colors and then be escorted out of the morgue. I also want MORE William and Julia scenes like in the first half of S12. —CD

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? Email greg.david@tv-eh.com or via Twitter @tv_eh.

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