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.
Awards

2018 Rockies Program Competition winners announced

From a media release:

The Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) is proud to announce the winners of the 2018 Rockie Awards Program Competition and the $25,000 Rogers Prize for Excellence in Canadian Content.

Canadian actor/comedian, Andrew Phung (Kim’s Convenience), hosted the Rockie Awards Program Competition at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Top international media executives gathered to recognize and celebrate excellence in television and digital media content from around the world. One of the largest competitions of its kind, the Rockie Awards Program Competition presented awards in twenty-five (25) categories spanning Documentary & Factual, Arts & Entertainment, Children & Youth, Scripted, and Francophone Program of the Year.

Countries taking home top Rockies honours include:

– USA: 11 awards
– Canada: 6 awards
– UK: 5 awards
– France: 3 awards
– Japan & Singapore: each take 1 award

Program Competition winners include:

Television Miniseries
Big Little Lies
HBO / David E. Kelly Productions / Pacific Standard / Blossom Films
USA

Drama Series: English Language
Peaky Blinders
BBC / Caryn Manabach Productions / Tiger Aspect Productions / BBC Two
UK

Comedy Series: English Language
black-ish
Disney|ABC / ABC Studios
USA

Comedy Series: Non-English Language
Freefall/Lâcher prise
Encore T̩l̩vision РDistribution Inc
Canada

Drama Series: Non-English Language
Hokuto: The Conversion of a Killer
WOWOW Inc / Toei Movie Studios
Japan

Preschool Program
Sesame Street
Sesame Workshop / HBO
USA

Children & Youth Non-Fiction Series
Giver
Sinking Ship Entertainment
Canada

Reality Program
Undercover High
A&E / Lucky 8 TV / Learning Tree Productions
USA

Interactive Content
Bury me, my Love / Enterre-moi, mon Amour
ARTE France / The Pixel Hunt / Figs
France

Crime & Investigative Program
Storyville – Silk Road: Drugs, Death and the Dark Web
Raw TV / Vice / BBC Four
UK

History & Biography Program
Residente
Story House Entertainment
USA

Melodrama
The Good Doctor
Sony Pictures Television
USA

Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Action Series
Travelers
Peacock Alley Entertainment / Corus Entertainment
Canada

Rogers Prize for Excellence in Canadian Content
Winner: Travelers (Peacock Alley Entertainment)

The Rogers Prize is awarded to the highest-scoring Canadian program or property in the Rockies Program Competition across two rounds of independent jury review.

Rockies Program Competition Grand Jury Prize
The Grand Jury Prize recognizes the “best in show” from all Program Competition winning entries. The winner will be unveiled Tuesday, June 12 at the Rockie Awards Gala, hosted by Emmy- and Tony Award-winning actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth.

The 2018 finalists are:

– Big Little Lies
– Dear Basketball
– Peaky Blinders
– Sesame Street
– The Child in Time

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Workin' Moms

Banff 2018: Catherine Reitman recalls “fantasizing about death” before creating Workin’ Moms

1 Comment

Workin’ Moms doesn’t shy away from showing the flaws of being a mother. Part of the show’s charm and popularity is because of Catherine Reitman’s decision to show the challenges of being a working mother in 2018. And while there are plenty of laughs to go with those relatable moments via Kate (Reitman), Anne (Dani Kind), Frankie (Juno Rinaldi) and Alicia (Kat Barrell), the creation of Workin’ Moms came at a dark time in her life.

“I gave birth a couple of years ago and went back to work too quickly,” Reitman, the series’ showrunner, director, writer and executive producer says. “I had some pretty lethal post-partum depression and was actually fantasizing about death and it kept making me laugh. It wasn’t this dark, scary thing. It was this release. It made me happy, it made me hopeful. If the world would go away and these responsibilities would go away, life would be so much easier.”

Reitman spoke alongside Kim’s Convenience boss Ins Choi at the Banff World Media Festival on Tuesday morning during the CBC’s Breakfast of Showrunner Champions event. The packed room laughed nervously as Reitman recalled how her own mommy group stared at her while she related those feelings and realized the content would make for a television show. She couldn’t be the only one feeling the way she did, she reasoned and her husband Philip Sternberg—he’s an executive producer, director and plays Kate’s husband Nathan on the show—urged her to write it.

Tired of auditioning for roles for women that didn’t look or sound like her, she penned the scripts and created a sizzle reel. Once Sally Catto, general manager of programming at CBC Television, saw the reel she greenlit the series.

“Thank god for Sally,” Reitman says. “I say that every day because I get to sit here in front of all of you and watch a clip and remain floored that I was fantasizing about death and now people are watching [Workin’ Moms] and hopefully connecting with it.

Workin’ Moms returns to CBC in winter 2019.

Image courtesy of CBC.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Call Me Fitz, Carter, Industry News

Natalie Urquhart joins Amaze Film + Television

From a media release:

June 11, 2018 – Amaze Film + Television is proud to welcome Natalie Urquhart as their new Director of Development. Formerly an Associate Producer on the NBC/UNIVERSAL series SUITS, Natalie also produced the scripted half-hour comedy ROGUE BRIDAL for the Makeful Channel. Natalie is a graduate of the University of Southern California and the CFC – Canadian Film Centre.

Natalie will oversee development in Canada while working with Burrad Marsh who was recently promoted to Senior VP of Television, spearheading the US operations for Amaze Film + Television in Los Angeles. Burrad is a former TV Literary Agent for ICM and was VP of Development for Shed Media in the United Kingdom.

Most recently, Amaze Film + Television produced the one-hour comedic drama procedural CARTER, created by Garry Campbell and starring Jerry O’Connell. CARTER premiered on BRAVO to 1.1 million viewers during its first week in May, 2018. The 10-episode series has enjoyed a very successful global release through Sony AXN and Sony Distribution.  CARTER was recently added to CTV’s main network summer schedule and will air on UKTV in June.

Michael Souther and Teza Lawrence launched Amaze Film + Television in 2000. Amaze Film + Television produced four seasons of the internationally acclaimed series CALL ME FITZ for HBO Canada and 52 episodes of the multi-cam sitcom THE STANLEY DYNAMIC for YTV. Film projects include SAINT RALPH, FINN ON THE FLY, and in 2016 the documentary BEING CANADIAN. They currently have a diverse television slate including projects in development with Rogers, and Amazon.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Crawford, Featured, Podcast, Shoot the Messenger

TV Eh B Cs podcast 82 — Degrassi, Shoot the Messenger and basketball conspiracies with Dalmar Abuzeid

1 Comment

Dalmar Abuzeid was most recently seen in CBC’s comedy Crawford (after an initial run online, Crawford debuts Thursday, June 14, at 9 p.m. on CBC) and will appear as a series regular this July in the new season of Netflix’s Anne with an E (Season 2 returns in September on CBC), an award-winning series produced by Northwood Entertainment. Other recent credits include guest arcs on DirecTV’s Condor and CBC’s Shoot the Messenger.

Best known for his role as Danny Van Zandt in six seasons of the acclaimed series Degrassi: The Next Generation, Dalmar’s screen roles extend beyond television. Feature credits include the role of Felix in the film Pompeii, opposite Emily Browning, and he just wrapped hockey biopic Goalie, shot in Sudbury, ON.

Born in Toronto, Dalmar is a Meisner-trained actor and still regularly attends acting classes in spite of his theatrical accomplishments.

With a keen interest in all genres and platforms of entertainment, Dalmar also produces and writes comedy, fantasy and parody shorts for YouTube. Together with his former Degrassi castmates, Raymond Ablack, Scott Paterson, Shane Kippel, and Michael Aube, Dalmar is working on writing and producing the first season of the original sketch comedy series, O’Brother, set to release in summer 2018.

Season 1 of Crawford debuts Thursday at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Listen or download below, or subscribe via iTunes or any other podcast catcher with the TV, eh? podcast feed.

Want to support TV, eh?’s work? Become a Patreon!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Industry News

Banff World Media Festival announces Netflix title partnership for Diversity Of Voices Initiative

From a media release:

The Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) is proud to announce that Netflix has formalized a five-year commitment as Title Partner of the BANFF Diversity of Voices Initiative, a training and development program for underrepresented emerging and mid-career creative producers of commercial Television and/or Digital Media content, with a specific focus on Indigenous, Francophone and women industry professionals.

The partnership was announced today as part of the inaugural Diversity of Voices Initiative currently underway at the 2018 Banff World Media Festival (June 10-13, 2018). The program investment is part of Netflix’s commitment to support market development opportunities for Francophone and other Canadian screen-based creator groups.

The Diversity of Voices Initiative was launched with the support of Netflix as well as the Canada Media Fund – Fonds des médias du Canada (CMF/FMC), the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC), and Canada’s Indigenous Screen Office.  It brings up to 100 emerging and established producer/creators to the festival each year.

Participants of the program receive full registration to the festival, a curated professional development curriculum plus access to networking opportunities with senior creative and executive leaders.  In addition, a sub-group of twenty-five (25) of the program applicants take part in the Diversity of Voices Pitch Program where they receive personalized advice from industry mentors and take pitch meetings with international buyers at BANFF in addition to receiving a stipend to defray travel costs.

BANFF serves as a crucial lifeline for many in the Canadian content industry offering world-class education, networking and business development opportunities. The festival provides a platform for the evolving media industry to collaborate and advance its creative and business objectives, while serving as the leading destination for the genesis of new projects, and one of the most effective marketplaces for co-production and co-venture partners.

About the Banff World Media Festival
The Banff World Media Festival is one of the world’s largest and most important gatherings of entertainment industry executives and creators, dedicated to content development, production, broadcast and distribution within TV and digital media. BANFF provides a platform for the evolving media industry to develop its creative and business objectives. It is an unparalleled marketplace for over 1500 international decision-makers to connect with new partners, learn from industry leaders and execute new business deals. The 39th annual BANFF World Media Festival will take place June 10-13, 2018 at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Canada.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail