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, Featured, Letterkenny, Wynonna Earp, X Company

Wynonna Earp, Letterkenny and X Company top WGC Screenwriting Awards

Writers for Wynonna Earp, Letterkenny, X Company and Degrassi: Next Class were among the winners at the 21st Annual Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Awards in Toronto on Monday night.

The event, held at the Telus Centre for Performance and Learning’s Koerner Hall, celebrated the country’s screenwriting talent in television and film. Wynonna Earp writer Alexandra Zarowny (pictured above) won Best Script from a Rookie Series for her Season 1 script “Bury Me With My Guns On,” and thanked her fellow writers and fans for their support.

“There is an entire writing room behind this award,” she said. “This goes to James Hurst, Brendan Yorke, Caitlyn D. Fryers and Emily Andras. I love you, Em, and as the last five years have shown, I’ll follow you anywhere. And to all our social media fans, Wynonna Earp is the little engine that could and I’m so proud of this little demon-hunting show and the LGBTQ community was a huge, fierce, loud and proud part of that. They got a second season made.”

Letterkenny‘s Jared Keeso and Jacob Tierney won the TV Comedy for their Season 1 script, “Super Soft Birthday,” while X Company‘s Stephanie Morgenstern and Mark Ellis took home a trophy for the Season 2 episode, “August 19th.”

Letterkenny’s Jacob Tierney and Jared Keeso

Comedian and writer Laurie Elliott hosted, getting the night off on the right foot. “To all the writers in the room, look at us in our outside clothes!” she began. “This is a fancy party to celebrate writers.”

Andrew Wreggitt was the recipient of The Denis McGrath Award for his service to the Writers Guild of Canada, Aaron Martin was given the Showrunner Award, Diana Frances the Sondra Kelly Award and Daniel Whidden the Jim Burt Screenwriting Prize.

The television category winners are:

Children’s
Odd Squad, Season 2 “Drop Gadget Repeat,” written by Tim McKeon

Movie of the Week & Miniseries
Bruno & Boots: Go Jump in the Pool, written by Adam Barken

Best Script from a Rookie Series
Wynonna Earp, Season 1 “Bury Me With My Guns On,” written by Alexandra Zarowny

TV Comedy
Letterkenny, Season 1 “Super Soft Birthday,” written by Jared Keeso and Jacob Tierney

TV Drama
X Company, Season 2 “August 19th,” written by Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern

Tweens & Teens
Degrassi: Next Class, Season 1 “#TeamFollowBack,” written by Ian MacIntyre

Images courtesy of Christina Gapic.

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Wynonna Earp

Link: Wynonna Earp: What we learned about Season 2 at C2E2

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: Wynonna Earp: What we learned about Season 2 at C2E2
The cold Calgary weather where the show shoots is still very much a character in its own right in Season 2. While Rozon joked that he “thought it wasn’t that cold,” his costar Anderson was quick to disagree. “It was very cold. I’m still defrosting,” he joked. While it makes shooting rough, Andras thinks it’s worth it in the end. “It looks beautiful though. That’s one thing I kind of like because you don’t’ see a lot of winter on television. It gives that added danger,” she said. Continue reading. 

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Featured, Mohawk Girls

APTN’s Mohawk Girls ending after five seasons

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It’s the end of the road for Mohawk Girls. That’s the word from co-creator, co-executive producer and director Tracey Deer, who broke the news to TV, Eh? during a one-on-one interview at the Toronto Screenwriting Conference. Deer was part of a panel entitled I Am: A Discussion on the Female Gaze alongside Shoot the Messenger‘s Jennifer Holness, Degrassi‘s Courtney Jane Walker, Odd Squad‘s Robby Hoffman and moderated by Saving Hope‘s Katrina Saville.

“This is our final season,” Deer confirmed. “[Cynthia Knight] and I have always known where we wanted to get these girls, from the three-arc conception of the show, so we’re doing it.”

Filmed and set in Montreal and the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, Mohawk Girls stars Brittany LeBorgne as Zoe, Heather White as Caitlin, Maika Harper as Anna and Jennifer Pudavick as Bailey. Pre-production on Season 5 begins next week; the last six episodes were greenlit by APTN two weeks ago.

Mohawk Girls has been nominated for several Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Comedy Series, Best Direction in a Comedy Program or Series, Best Writing in a Comedy Program or Series and Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Comedic Role for LeBorgne.

What can fans expect from Season 5? Deer was mum on details but did say the series’ final scene makes her cry every time she thinks about it.

“The final scene is going to be traumatic [to film],” Deer admits. “There is an event that is going to take up a lot of the final episode and there is a pool involved.”

Are you upset Mohawk Girls is ending? Do you have a message for the cast and co-creators? Comment below.

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Mary Kills People

Links: Mary Kills People

From Jay Bobbin of OnTV Today:

Link: ‘Mary Kills People’ slays its star, Caroline Dhavernas
“She’s such a great character, it was a no-brainer for me when I saw the project come along. She’s so complex and packed with contradictions, it’s so fun to play as an actress. Also, along with the drama, there’s a level of comedy as well … so it’s a real treat.” Continue reading.

From Hank Stuever of the Washington Post:

Link: In Mary Kills People assisted suicide becomes a dangerous side business
Lifetime’s “Mary Kills People,” a six-episode series that is probably not destined to be new Supreme Court justice Neil M. Gorsuch’s favorite binge, is a provocatively compelling and occasionally nail-biting tale of an emergency-room doctor, Mary Harris (“Hannibal’s” Caroline Dhavernas), who is secretly running an assisted-suicide operation for patients who are terminally ill. Continue reading. 

From Bill Keveney of USA Today:

Link: Mary Kills People is Lifetime’s latest pivot (though she’s still in peril)
In breaking through a crowded TV landscape, it’s hard to top the title of Lifetime’s new drama, Mary Kills People (Sunday, 10 ET/PT).

Mary Harris (Caroline Dhavernas, Hannibal) saves lives as an emergency-room doctor, but she moonlights as a Dr. Kevorkian-style mercy killer, secretly helping a few terminally ill people end their lives. Partnering with a plastic surgeon (Richard Short) who’s lost his medical license, Mary considers physician-assisted suicide moral, but she also knows it’s illegal. Continue reading.

From Erin Donnelly of Refinery29:

Link: Caroline Dhavernas defends Mary Kills People’s controversial premise
“Things have changed in Canada recently. Last June a law was passed that enabled doctors to help their patients that way. So things have evolved a little bit recently here. And in Quebec, the province I live in, the health minister was just talking about maybe including, eventually, people with dementia, so we’re starting to talk about mental illnesses and things like that. It’s interesting, and many countries in the world are having this debate. I think we should have it more often, which is one of the reasons why I was so interested to make a show about it.” Continue reading.

From Niki Cruz of AM NewYork:

Link: Caroline Dhavernas gets dark for Mary Kills People
“To me, she’s the same person with her own contradictions and her own passions. She’s helping people survive and she’s helping people who are done with suffering die in peace. She doesn’t want to leave people alone in this. She knows that if she doesn’t help, they will be left alone with this decision.” Continue reading.

From Philiana Ng of Entertainment Tonight:

Link: Mary Kills People star Caroline Dhavernas embraces the bizarre
“I like when things are completely absurd. I love that people will step away [from] what has already been done and pre-chewed. I like when people take risks. I want to be able to challenge myself and challenge the viewer and challenge the back of our mind — the subconscious mind. I’m a big fan of Twin Peaks and any show that will fall into that type of dream-like weird stuff.” Continue reading.

From Robert Lloyd of the L.A. Times:

Link: Complications come quick in Lifetime’s assisted-suicide drama Mary Kills People
Grounded and believable, with the dry, witty, old-fashioned self-assurance of a Barbara Stanwyck or Katharine Hepburn, Dhavernas shades her comedy with drama, and playing drama is never more than a breath away from comedy; her presence distracts you from the occasional bare spot on the carpet, the smudge on the walls, the crack in the ceiling. Continue reading. 

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