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.
Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Link: New TV series True North Calling travels to Canadian Arctic

From Chris Lackner of Canada.com:

Link: New TV series True North Calling travels to Canadian Arctic
Layer up, Canada.

The Canadian Arctic almost falls off the map when it comes to mainstream pop culture, but a new CBC docu-series hopes to make the North a landmark.

True North Calling, premiering Feb. 17, promises a rare, intimate look at our country’s North and the resourceful, compelling Canadians not just surviving — but thriving — amidst the unforgiving, breathtaking terrain.  Continue reading. 

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Industry News

CTV Greenlights New Detective Series for 2017/18 Slate

From a media release:

– New 10 episode one-hour drama produced by renowned Canadian producer Ilana Frank’s ICF Films (SAVING HOPE, ROOKIE BLUE) with Entertainment One (eOne) in association with CTV –
– The series is currently in pre-production with casting underway, set to begin production in Spring 2017 –

CTV announced today that it has greenlit a new 10 episode, one hour detective series for the networks 2017/18 programming slate. The currently untitled ensemble drama series is from Ilana Frank, the producer behind hit CTV series SAVING HOPE. Casting for the series is currently underway with production set to begin this spring.

The new drama centres on two female detectives. Together they work to solve the challenging cases of the major crimes unit while navigating the realities of their very real and relatable personal lives.

The series was developed by Ley Lukins who serves as Co-Showrunner and Executive Producer with Adam Pettle. Other writers include Sandra Chwialkowski, Adriana Maggs, Naledi Jackson, Sarah Goodman, and Hayden Simpson. Executive Producers are ICF’s Ilana Frank (SAVING HOPE, ROOKIE BLUE), John Morayniss, and Linda Pope, with co-executive producers Jocelyn Hamilton and Sonia Hosko.

The series is produced by ICF Films with eOne in association with CTV, with the participation of the Canada Media Fund, the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit. All distribution rights are handled by eOne.

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Industry News

Link: Fuss over American Super Bowl ads ignores reality of Internet TV

From Kate Taylor of The Globe and Mail:

Link: Fuss over American Super Bowl ads ignores reality of Internet TV
But the broadcasting system that the CRTC oversees wasn’t actually established to enrich Canadian television consortiums or American producers and rights holders; nor even to get Canadians’ cheap and easy access to U.S. content. It was established to get them access to quality Canadian content and the real problem with the Super Bowl fuss is that it distracts from discussions about how Canadian programming is to be funded in the future and how Canadians will find it. Continue reading. 

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Bellevue

Link: Women Behind Canadian TV: Adrienne Mitchell and Jane Maggs

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: Women Behind Canadian TV: Adrienne Mitchell and Jane Maggs
“That’s a real goal of ours is to foster female talent, both writing and directing. We often worked as collaborators, and I will say that I cannot believe how strong Jane is in terms of her work as a showrunner. I didn’t feel like I was working with someone that I had to mentor. I felt like I was working with an equal and it was a meeting of minds that I could just dream of. It all worked really well and we just get each other because our aesthetics and ways of telling stories are really quite similar.” Continue reading.

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Featured, Pure

Pure’s season finale: Faith, the Funks and fighting back

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Things don’t look good for Noah Funk on Pure. His plan to out Eli Voss to O’Reilly and the rest of the DEA backfired in a major way: she was shot and survived. Sadly, the same can’t be said for Abel: Eli shot him in the chest and left him to die in the quarry. Clearly, Eli is a man of his word when it comes to threats; but is Noah?

With the final episode of Pure Season 1, “Baptism,” airing Monday night on CBC, here’s the network’s synopsis:

Forced to choose between his beliefs or his life, Noah crosses the ultimate moral line in his showdown with Eli Voss.
And here a few little tidbits we gleaned from watching the screener:
Eli isn’t done killing
When Episode 6 begins, Voss makes a phone call to Ontario and has a deadly request for Gerry Epp. Hats off to Peter Outerbridge for his performance; Eli is a cold-blooded character I can’t help but love seeing on screen. He’s alway bad news, but he’s been fun to watch. Last week I highlighted a scene between Noah and Eli as the best of the season. I was wrong; their scene this week is better.
O’Reilly calls out Bronco
In an amazing scene at the DEA office, Bronco and O’Reilly go head-to-head and she spells out his shortcomings in just a few intense sentences. Michael Amo’s dialogue is spare, but when his characters speak, they get right to the point.
Anna speaks her mind
Anna Funk has quietly been a pillar of strength for her family, and she steps up once again (with words and fresh baking) when danger comes her way. Will her words fall on deaf ears … or make her situation worse?
What have you thought of the first season of Pure? Comment below!

Images courtesy of CBC.

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