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.

HGTV Canada’s hit original series Home to Win returns for second season

From a media release:

This spring, HGTV Canada’s breakout hit Canadian original series Home to Win, returns for a super-sized, star-studded second season now featuring 30 of the best-known builders, designers and real estate experts. Together, they will transform an average house into a dream waterfront property for one lucky Canadian. Beginning today, HomeToWin.ca is accepting applications from Canadians across the country to compete to win the home in this season’s high-stakes finale. Ranked as the #1 specialty competition series (A25-54) in its inaugural season*, the second season of Home to Win debuts Sunday, April 30 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV Canada.

Hosted by Entertainment Tonight Canada’s Sangita Patel, the series’ returning stars include Mike Holmes, Bryan Baeumler, Scott McGillivray, and Sarah Richardson among others. A few of the additional stars joining the series this season include household names: Jonathan and Drew Scott, Dave and Kortney Wilson, and Jillian Harris and Todd Talbot. In each episode of Home to Win, two celebrity builders pair with two fan-favourite designers to complete two rooms within the waterfront property. Week-to-week newly renovated rooms are revealed and the dramatic season finale sees three Canadians compete to win the completed home in a series of challenges leaving one lucky competitor with the keys to the spectacular waterfront home.

Starting today, Canadians can visit HomeToWin.ca to submit an audition video for the chance to compete for the Home to Win house in the finale airing on June 18. To participate in casting, Canadians must enter their email address on the site by May 28 at 11:59 p.m. ET and follow the directions emailed to their inbox. The application process requires a video submission, up to one minute in length and answering the question, “Why do you deserve to compete for the Home To Win house?”

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Link: X Company’s Madeleine Knight says it’s “war” now for Heidi

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: X Company’s Madeleine Knight says it’s “war” now for Heidi
“Heidi is from a generation that grew up in Hitler’s youth programs. She’s one of the generations that is completely and utterly indoctrinated. So for her everything is absolute truth and the way. For her to say these horrible things haphazardly and off the cuff, especially about Jews, they are subhuman and animals to her. It’s horrific, but to her it’s not. It’s a completely different worldview.” Continue reading.

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Link: 5×5 With The Hook: Maya Bankovic

From You’ve Been Hooked:

Link: 5×5 With The Hook: Maya Bankovic
“When the conditions on set are right for that I really do feel like a bridge, or a portal or a filter, communicating my experience of the scene to the audience on an energetic level. Visually, this becomes the gaze behind the scene, and especially with handheld or improvised camerawork you infuse the project with your own instincts and your points of interest in a very real way.” Continue reading.

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CTV greenlights two more seasons of Cardinal, Canada’s most-watched Canadian drama

From a media release:

After a breakthrough inaugural season, CTV announced today it has greenlit unprecedented second and third cycles of its hit new dramatic thriller, CARDINAL for broadcast in 2017/18. The order marks the first time CTV has ordered two consecutive seasons of a drama. Produced by Sienna Films and Entertainment One (eOne) in association with CTV, and commissioned for French-language Canadian broadcast by Super Écran, an additional two self-contained cycles, each consisting of six, one-hour episodes, have been ordered. Both series stars, Billy Campbell (THE KILLING) and Karine Vanasse (REVENGE), return for Seasons 2 and 3.

Cycles 2 and 3 will be filmed once again in Sudbury and North Bay and will be based on books in the John Cardinal Mysteries series written by Ontario native and award-winning author Giles Blunt. Season 2 will be shot this coming summer and is inspired by the third novel in the series, Black Fly Season. Set to shoot in Fall 2017, Season 3 is inspired by the 4th and 5thnovels in the series, By the Time You Read This and Crime Machine. As with the first cycle, each additional season will be a self-contained original adaptation inspired by the stories of each novel.

Season 1 has been licensed to BBC in the U.K., C More in Scandinavia and Calle 13 in Spain by eOne, and has several active negotiations underway.

Since its premiere in January, CARDINAL, a critical and ratings success, has averaged 1.2 million viewers, making it the most-watched new Canadian program of the 2016/17 broadcast season and the country’s most-watched original drama. Across all airings and on CTV and Super Écran, more than 3.6 million unique viewers watch episodes of CARDINAL weekly. Viewers looking to catch all of Season 1 thrills and chills can catch full episodes of CARDINALon CTV.ca, CTV GO, CraveTVTM, and on CTV-branded VOD channels.

Cycle 1 of CARDINAL is adapted from the award-winning novel Forty Words for Sorrow, the first of Giles Blunt’s John Cardinal Mysteries, a series of six, best-selling Canadian crime novels. Starring Billy Campbell as Detective John Cardinal and Karine Vanasse as Detective Lise Delorme, Season 1 of the murder mystery was shot in Sudbury, Ont., North Bay, Ont., Atikameksheng Anishnawbek in Northern Ontario, and Toronto.

Cast and crew are set to live tweet throughout tomorrow’s broadcast of CARDINAL, responding to viewer questions live across the country as Season 1 comes to its conclusion. Fans can follow along on Twitter with the handle @Cardinal and hashtag #Cardinal.

In the climactic Season 1 finale of CARDINAL entitled “Catherine”, (available tonight as a CraveTVTM FIRST LOOK, and airing tomorrow at 10 p.m. ET/PTon CTV and CTV GO), Cardinal realizes that Eric wasn’t working alone. Meanwhile, Delorme must decide what to do when she finally finds the answers she was looking for about Cardinal’s dark past.

CARDINAL is produced by Sienna Films and eOne in association with CTV, and commissioned for French-language Canadian broadcast by Super Écran with the financial participation of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, the Canada Media Fund and the Cogeco Production Program, and with the assistance of the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit.

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Announcing the WGC Screenwriting Awards Finalists

From a media release:

The Writers Guild of Canada is pleased to announce this year’s WGC Screenwriting Awards finalists. These are the only awards in Canada to focus solely on screenwriting talent. Screenwriters’ scripts for Kim’s Convenience, Odd Squad, Letterkenny, X Company, Private Eyes, Wynonna Earp, 19-2, Degrassi: Next Class and more are up for awards.

The 2017 awards mark the return of a talented duo: Awards host, screenwriter, stand-up comedian, and actor Laurie Elliott, and awards show writer, screenwriter and stand-up comedian Terry McGurrin.

This year the WGC introduces a new category, Best Script from a Rookie Series. Other awards categories include: Children’s, Documentary, Feature Film, MOW and Miniseries, TV Comedy, TV Drama, and Tweens & Teens.

The WGC congratulates all of our awards finalists. Please see below for the full list of nominated screenwriters and scripts.

CHILDREN’S
Numb Chucks, Season 2 “The Chucks Get Stuck in a Hole”
Written by Josh Gal

Odd Squad, Season 2 “Drop Gadget Repeat”
Written by Tim McKeon

Odd Squad, Season 2 “Failure to Lunch”
Written by Mark De Angelis

DOCUMENTARY
Not Criminally Responsible: Wedding Secrets
Written by John Kastner

Quebec My Country Mon Pays
Written by John Walker

FEATURE FILM
ARQ
Written by Tony Elliott

Maudie
Written by Sherry White

Two Lovers and a Bear
Written by Kim Nguyen

MOW AND MINISERIES
Bruno & Boots: Go Jump in the Pool
Written by Adam Barken

Odd Squad: The Movie
Story by Mark De Angelis, Tim McKeon / Teleplay by Mark De Angelis, Tim McKeon, Adam Peltzman

Unclaimed
Written by Dennis Foon

BEST SCRIPT FROM A ROOKIE SERIES
Letterkenny, Season 1 “Ain’t No Reason to Get Excited”
Written by Jared Keeso & Jacob Tierney

Private Eyes, Season 1 “Family Jewels”
Written by Shelley Eriksen

Second Jen, Season 1 “Couch Surfing”
Written by Amanda Joy & Samantha Wan

Wynonna Earp, Season 1 “Bury Me With My Guns On”
Written by Alexandra Zarowny

TV COMEDY
Kim’s Convenience, Season 1 “Ddong Chim”
Written by Garry Campbell

Kim’s Convenience, Season 1 “Janet’s Photos”
Written by Ins Choi & Kevin White

Letterkenny, Season 1 “Super Soft Birthday”
Written by Jared Keeso & Jacob Tierney

TV DRAMA
19-2, Season 3 “Fall”
Written by Nikolijne Troubetzkoy

This Life, Season 2 “Destruction as Creation”
Written by Celeste Parr

X Company, Season 2 “August 19th”
Written by Stephanie Morgenstern & Mark Ellis

TWEENS & TEENS
Degrassi: Next Class, Season 2 “#CheckYourPrivilege”
Written by Cole Bastedo

Degrassi: Next Class, Season 1 “#TeamFollowBack”
Written by Ian MacIntyre

Degrassi: Next Class, Season 2 “#TurntUp”
Written by Courtney Jane Walker

Degrassi: Next Class, Season 1 “#YesMeansYes”
Written by Alejandro Alcoba

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