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.
Anne, Canada: The Story of Us

CBC scheduling alert: Anne and Canada: The Story of Us changes

From a media release:

The following changes have been made to CBC’s schedule. ANNE (1×120, 6×60) fans will no longer have to wait for the return of the acclaimed new series, with the air date for the second episode moving up from Sunday, April 2 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) to Sunday, March 26 at 8 p.m. (8:30NT). New episodes of ANNE will continue to air Sundays at 8 pm (8:30 NT).

As a result of that change, the premiere of new docu-drama series CANADA: STORY OF US (10 x 60) will move from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. (9:30 NT) on Sunday, March 26, with one episode airing instead of back-to-back episodes. Episode 102 will now air on Sunday, April 2 at 9 p.m. (9:30NT). New episodes of the series will continue to air Sundays at 9 p.m. (9:30NT).

Schedule changes:
Moved: Episode 102 of ANNE moves from Sunday, April 2 @ 8 p.m. to Sunday, March 26 @ 8 p.m. (8:30NT).

Moved: The premiere of CANADA: THE STORY OF US Episode 101 moves from Sunday, March 26 @ 8 p.m. to Sunday, March 26 @ 9 p.m. (9:30NT). Episode 102 will now air on Sunday, April 2 @ 9 p.m. (9:30NT).

Updated primetime schedule for Sunday, March 26 (NT time zone half-hour later for all times)

Updated 8 PM: ANNE – Episode 102 (“I am no bird, and no net ensnares me”)
Updated 9 PM: CANADA: THE STORY OF US – Series Premiere, Episode 101 (“Worlds Collide”)

Updated primetime schedule for Sunday, April 2 (NT time zone half-hour later for all times)

Updated 8 PM: ANNE – Episode 103 (“But what is so headstrong as youth?”)
9 PM: CANADA: THE STORY OF US – Episode 102 (“Hunting Treasures”)

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Featured, Heartland

Heartland renewed for Season 11 on CBC; plus season finale images

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Giddy up! CBC has made it official: Heartland has been renewed for Season 11. Star Amber Marshall made the announcement Tuesday morning in a video on the show’s official Facebook page.

“I wanted to thank you all for watching Season 10 of Heartland,” she says. “And I am so excited to tell you that Season 11 will be starting on CBC this fall.” The news comes just days in advance of the season finale, where it’s expected that Amy Fleming and Ty Borden will welcome the birth of their first child.

Here’s the episode synopsis for Sunday’s finale, “Great Expectations.”

Amy, Ty and the entire Heartland family are thrilled to welcome a new member into the fold. Meanwhile, the ghost horse returns and Amy disagrees with Georgie’s plan to capture and gentle him. Then, Lou changes her mind about a business deal but not before Mitch makes a surprising choice. And hoping to impress Cass’s parents, Caleb asks a reluctant Tim for a full-time job.

Check out images from Sunday’s episode!

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Look for our interview with Alisha Newton later this week on TV-Eh.com!

Have you got a message for the stars of Heartland? Pass them along in the comments section below!

Heartland airs Sundays at 7 p.m. on CBC.

Image courtesy of CBC.

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Featured, Industry News

Steve Patterson takes on late-night (sort of) with The Smartass-ociates

“People still want Canada to have a late-night Tonight Show type broadcast, but I’m not interested in doing that,” Steve Patterson says. “I would be more interested in doing a show where you actually learn something while you’re watching.” He’s got it with The Smartass-ociates,
Patterson’s newest project currently streaming on CBC’s website.

Patterson has been told for years that he should be doing a  late-night program but balked. That’s understandable. Mike Bullard tried to do it a couple of times with a certain amount of success, but Canadians never really supported a homegrown take on the U.S. late-night model. It wasn’t until The Colbert Report came along that Patterson saw something that would work here: a show where he could interview somebody with something to say other than the entertainment project they’re working on. Enter The Smartass-ociates, a co-production with Mountain Road Productions—who worked with Patterson on I Wrecked My House—where experts in different areas are paired with a comic to sit down to discuss various topics with Patterson as host and moderator.

Filmed last year in Ottawa, Season 1 guests pull from a wide range of interests. Episode 1, for instance, features the Honourable Lisa Raitt and comedian DeAnne Smith discussing the U.S. election and the difference between Canadian and American politics. Episode 6 boasts Olympic speed skater—and gold medal winner—Ivanie Blondin and comic Dave Hemstad discussing misogyny in sports coverage of female Olympic athletes. Rather than debating topics—something Patterson has nailed on The Debaters—these are frank conversations that educate as much as entertain. Blondin, in particular, stood out to me for her thoughtful first-hand account of misogyny, and her humour.

“She turned out to be one of our best guests and was one of our last bookings,” Patterson says with a laugh. “She was so honest about everything. I wouldn’t make it a habit of telling the rival of a guest to go f–k themselves, but it came about very organically.”

With Season 1 currently available online, Patterson’s ultimate goal is to have The Smartass-
ociates become a weekly television series on CBC where he discusses current topics, similar to John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight. Ideally, he wants to do it within this calendar year.

“I want to get into the meat of news topics with people and introduce Canada to as many of my funny Canadian friends as possible,” he says. “Let’s learn something and let’s laugh while we’re learning. Let’s prove what comedians have to offer when they literally come to the table on some of these topics.”

Watch Season 1 of The Smartass-ociates on CBC’s website.

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Featured, Murdoch Mysteries

Murdoch Mysteries: Showrunner Peter Mitchell looks ahead to Season 11

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Spoiler alert! Do not read on until you’ve watched Murdoch Mysteries Episode 18, “Hell to Pay.”

Now that was one heck of a season finale, wasn’t it Murdoch Mysteries fans? It’s a good thing our favourite series has been greenlit for another season because there are a ton of questions to be answered! Will Julia be found? How will William get out of this scrape? Is Det. Watts really there to help William? Did Brackenreid fight off Davis, or is he injured or, gulp, dead? And, perhaps most importantly: did Higgins, Crabtree and Jackson all survive the gunfire?

We spoke to Murdoch Mysteries showrunner Peter Mitchell about that edge-of-your-seat instalment—the show’s landmark 150th—and where the show goes in Season 11.

First of all, congratulations on your writing win at the Canadian Screen Awards, as well as Murdoch Mysteries winning the Golden Screen Award. Is it important to you to win awards, specifically one for writing?
Peter Mitchell: Murdoch has never gotten a nomination for writing, so it was important to give a little shout-out to the writers. It’s nice to win an award, but it’s not why I’m here. I think I’ve been nominated 11 times or something and this is the first time I’ve won. Winning is better than losing. [Laughs.] I won’t deny that. It was nice of the movie to win too as a whole. Obviously, I’m biased but getting the award for most viewership is more important than anything else.

Let’s talk about the cliffhanger season finale, ‘Hell to Pay.’ I seem to remember Murdoch being framed for murder once before?
I believe he was at the end of Season 4 [“Murdoch in Wonderland”]. That was just before my time. I don’t think it was a cliffhanger, he was exonerated by the end of the episode.

At what point did you decide ‘Hell to Pay’ would be a cliffhanger?
I think it was around the time that we thought Trump was going to win [the election]. I just figured everything would go to hell both fictionally and in real life.

It was great to see Robin Dunne back on TV. I haven’t seen him since Sanctuary.
He was great. I had never met him before, actually, and he was a ton of fun. It was also especially fun to work with John Wildman, who was on a TV show called The Campbells a million years ago and I used to drive him to work. That’s the first time we had worked together in, like, 30 years.

You started out in the industry as a driver?
Well, as a production assistant. They didn’t have drivers back then. I was the general gofer guy.

How long were you a P.A.?
One season, and then I moved into the writing department fairly quickly once I got my foot in the door.

Did you take a TV writing course at the time?
I took one television writing course at York University for, like, a semester. My instructor was in the business, at CTV, and he got me a gig.

OK, let’s talk about the episode. Miss Cherry’s personality has certainly evolved. In last week’s episode, she was talking shit about William and Julia. There is no faster way to turn the fans on someone than having them do that.
Yeah, especially Julia. We learned that when one of the characters Emily was involved with called William a stick in the mud. That was basically her death sentence. [Laughs.] But we had portrayed Louise as being controlling over George throughout, but it was when she insults George’s friends that he can do better. I kind of knew what the reaction would be.

Is that it for Louise Cherry?
I wouldn’t say so, no. She performs a function in the finale and is not out of the picture.

With regard to Inspector Brackenreid … we hear a gunshot and last saw Davis aiming a gun at his head. 
We hear a gunshot go off and that’s the last we see of Brackenreid. I guess we’ll see what happens.

It appears we might be losing one of the constables. Murdoch is told that one of them is dead.
I think you have to think about the reliability of the narrator, the person who is telling him that. I don’t think we can end a season like that and have everything be tickety-boo. The show, in essence, has five cliffhangers: three constables, one Julia and a Brackenreid. And we don’t see any of them past the three-quarter mark of the show. And, why is Watts offering to be so helpful at the very end of the episode? Is he a good guy? I don’t know. Why didn’t he help Murdoch earlier? Why is he showing up now?

So, Watts may have ulterior motives?
Maybe. I never trust those Maslanys. They have many faces! [Laughs.] Daniel is fantastic; just a very pleasant young man.

You’ve created this mess with all of these characters. How do you clean it up going forward?
I think it’s a big enough mess that it will take more than one episode to clean it up. I’ve been studiously avoiding the hard work of making it all make sense. I think what I’ll probably do is use a couple of the early episodes to deal with the repercussions of last year and then bounce the show ahead three months in time because I don’t think we’re purpose built to go dark, dark, dark. We’re allowed to go dark on the show but I don’t think we can stay there.

Are there any historical characters you’re planning on bringing on board for Season 11?
I think we’re going to bring back good old Teddy Roosevelt. I think we’re going to bring Dr. William Osler back, one of the founders of modern medicine. I think we’re going to bring in Helen Keller, who will help solve a case. And, with Helen Keller, I think we’re going to get Alexander Graham Bell. That’s just in the early stages right now and I think we’re going to try and pay a tiny bit more attention to getting more historical characters in this year than we did last year. That might entail the return of Laurier and Terrence Meyers, of course, some of the regular characters we like to see every year.

In terms of the historical characters, they all seem to be in the world of medicine for some reason.

What did you think of the season finale? Let me know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of CBC.

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