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.
Children's Programming, Industry News

WOW Unlimited Media’s Mainframe Studios debuts new productions

From a media release:

WOW! Unlimited Media Inc. continues to make inroads in the competitive marketplace of kids and youth entertainment. Mainframe Studios, WOW’s Vancouver based animated and live-action television production studio, is about to debut projects that reach a broad demographic. While it continues to offer traditionally accessible fare, the company is embracing the new digital options that showcase its innovation and production expertise.

Mainframe Studios’ highly anticipated hybrid live-action /CG animated series ReBoot: The Guardian Code, will premiere as a Netflix original series worldwide on March 30th, followed by Canadian distribution on YTV in June. Created by Studio Head Michael Hefferon, the action comedy follows the adventures of four teenagers who discover on the first day of high school that they have been selected to become the next generation Guardians of Cyberspace with the help of Vera, an artificially intelligent bio-constructed teenage girl. ReBoot: The Guardian Code is the first television series to create visually stunning animation using the Unreal Game Engine with 4K resolution and features a mix of character-driven stories, humour, and adrenaline pumping action to captivate and engage a wide audience of viewers. ReBoot: The Guardian Code is distributed by Nelvana and produced by Mainframe Studios.

Mainframe is currently developing The Anybodies, a 6-11 animated comedy/adventure series about a 12-year-old girl who discovers her powers as a shapeshifter when reunited with her real family after being switched at birth. The series is based on the successful book trilogy by author Julianna Baggott (aka N.E. Bode), as adapted by writers David H. Steinberg & Keetgi Kogan Steinberg (Yo Kai Watch), who will be executive producers. Emmy award-winning director Mark Risley is on board to direct the series.

Mainframe Studios will also continue its longstanding relationship with Mattel and Barbie. It is in production on a 26-episode TV series entitled Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures. The studio has produced 30+ animated Barbie movies with Mattel over the past 17 years.

 

 

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit frolics in the lives of cat fanciers

I’m a cat person, and I’ve noticed a dearth of programs devoted to the celebration of our feline friends on television and film. There are copious hours devoted to canines via Best in Show, the Puppy Bowl and—of course—the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Heck, there have been documentaries screened at Hot Docs spotlighting donkeys and chickens. But nary a moment really spent on cats aside from the excellent episode of The Nature of Things, “The Lion in Your Living Room,” which was more about the science of cats than the animals and those who love them.

Until now.

Cats and their owners are celebrated to great—and often comic—effect in “Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit.” Broadcast on Sunday at 9 p.m. as part of CBC Docs POV, the hour-long episode from the folks at Markham Street Films (Celtic Soul, Fight for Justice: David & Me) is a riot of fur and the colourful characters who lug their cats around Canada to determine which is “Best Cat.” It’s a cutthroat business in the Canadian Cat Association, as evidenced by Kim Langille who sums it up thusly: “If you’re not No. 1, you’re the first loser.” Wow. Over 12 years ago Kim was bitten by the competitive bug when she adopted Clancy and he became champion. Now she hopes to do the same with Bobby, her white Turkish Angora.

Standing in Kim and Bobby’s path to fame are Shirley McCollow and Oh La La, a fluffy Red Persian who made a splash at the Canadian National Exhibition. The claws are out and the fur flies as … OK, not really. There are no literal catfights in “Catwalk,” but there is plenty of side-eye and glimpses into the truly, um, unique, world of the  Canadian Cat Association. After an introduction as to how cat competitions work from Kim, Bob and Elaine Gleason—a husband and wife cat show judging team—detail how purebred felines are led through multiple rings where each is judged on whether they tick the boxes of what a purebred should look like.

As the season rolls on, it appears to be a two cat race between Oh La La and Bobby until some young upstarts begin clawing their way into the standings. Who will take home the title of “Best Cat”? Tune in to the highly entertaining “Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit” for the final showdown.

“Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. as part of CBC Docs POV.

Images courtesy of Markham Street Films.

 

 

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Featured, Frankie Drake Mysteries, Podcast

TV Eh B Cs podcast 78 — The Amazing Grace Lynn Kung

A Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy, Grace Lynn Kung has won the Chancellor’s Trophy (OSSD), is a two-time Award for Acting recipient (York) and holds two Certificates of Distinction for Speech and Drama from Trinity College London.

This year she has incited violence aboard Star Trek: Discovery, lobbied Washington with Jessica Chastain in Miss Sloane, risen in ranks as Congresswoman Yoshida on Designated Survivor, met her demise in Cult of Chucky and cultivated Mars on The Expanse. She has aided Corey Stoll in Guillermo del Toro’s The Strain, scarcely kept it together on Slings and Arrows, fought Amanda Schull on 12 Monkeys, and played special agent JoJo Kwan on the spy series InSecurity.

Grace directed her first short film, A False Sense of Security, which premiered and won Special Jury Mention this summer in Dallas, Texas and has received a 2017 ACTRA Award nomination for her performance in the feature The Death and Life of Carl Naardlinger.
Grace has a Doozers character modelled in her likeness, studied naturopathic medicine in England and if you’ve played Ubisoft’s Far Cry 4, she’s yelled at you. She plays Whiskey Wendy in the 1920s detective series Frankie Drake Mysteries, Charlotte Bronte in the feature Carmilla, was the guest star on the season finale of Mr. D and plays Chairman Mao in HBO’s new adaptation of Fahrenheit 451, out this May, directed by Ramin Bahrani.

She is also looking for Independent Production Fund support for her web series What Got Did.

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

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Children's Programming, Industry News

marblemedia series Holy Baloney greenlit by CBC Kids

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From a media release:

Leading television producer marblemedia is pleased to announce that Holy Baloney, a play-along 10 episode, three-minute series for kids, has been greenlit by CBC Kids for a spring 2018 launch at CBC Kids and on the CBC TV App.

Produced by Matt Hornburg and Mark Bishop of marblemedia, along with Jesse Shamata, creator of the hit series Gaming Show (In My Parents Garage), Holy Baloney challenges viewers to guess the answers to everyday questions. Can you pick out fact from fiction? Truth from complete baloney? This Spring, you’ll be able to find out!

Each episode features three kids who take time out of their lunch hour to answer a poignant question about everyday things – each giving a different, hilarious response! The range of questions could include where something in the world comes from, why something is the way it is, or why people do the things they do.

The questions – and sometimes the answers – will be tricky for both kids and parents. It’s up to the viewers to watch the convincing answers of all three schoolyard experts and decide which answer is right, and which two are complete baloney. This kid-friendly series is a mix of live-action and mixed media, as the imaginative answers are visually played out throughout each episode.

International rights for the series are held by marblemedia’s Distribution 360.

 

 

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The Detail

Links: The Detail, Season 1

From Bill Brioux of the Canadian Press:

Link: Shenae Grimes-Beech got famous playing teens on 90210 and Degrassi. She’s happy to play a grown-up on The Detail
After launching her career on teen dramas Degrassi: The Next Generation and 90210, Toronto-born Shenae Grimes-Beech embraced the more mature role of Jacqueline Cooper on CTV’s new police series The Detail. Continue reading.

From Michael Pickard of Drama Quarterly:

Link: All in The Detail
The Detail could not be more timely. As the fallout from Hollywood’s sexual harassment scandal continues, alongside the #MeToo and Time’s Up campaigns and the row over gender pay inequality, this Canadian crime series stands apart as a female-led production. Continue reading.

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: Wendy Crewson on the ambitious and supportive nature of the women of The Detail
The television industry has found itself at a tipping point over the last several months. Thanks to movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp, more and more women are finding their voices and using it to speak up not only for what’s right, but also for what they want to see. Continue reading.

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: Angela Griffin and Shenae Grimes-Beech on why The Detail is more than just “hot cops”
“I fell in love with my character and the storyline that these women are characters and not defined by their gender. Women weren’t the wives or the girlfriends, it was about us, about me and the individual. They are in this male-dominated field and they are kicking ass!” Continue reading.

From Charles Trapunski of Brief Take:

Link: Interview: The Detail’s Shenae Grimes-Beech and Angela Griffin
“Life isn’t perfect and we’re not perfect, so it’s not pretty all the time. I think it’s really exciting to be a female on camera. Just the most tiny details but I think it matters to be in the hair and make-up chair and not feel like we need to walk away and you’re this Glamazon…Who spends so much time in the morning doing that?! Every little thing they’ve managed to humanize these women.” Continue reading.

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: The Detail: Co-showrunner Ley Luins on the exciting challenge of having three female leads
“Right now women are angry and we’re speaking up. There’s a lot that needs to change, a lot of catch up that people need to do and the more we incorporate them into storytelling is how things change. The very nature of this being a homicide show with three strong, female leads means that it’s in the DNA of our show.” Continue reading.

From Peter White of Deadline:

Link: ‘90210’s Shenae Grimes-Beech Hails ‘Badass’ Role On Procedural ‘The Detail’ As eOne Kicks Off Global Sales – Mip TV
“I’ve been on teen dramas my whole life so this was a huge departure for me. I love crime shows and cop dramas as a viewer and it was a character that I could personally relate to. It was fun to be tough and a badass, that comes easier to me than to play the perfect girl next door that I’ve portrayed for so long.” Continue reading.

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