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.
Ransom

Ransom joins Global’s midseason lineup on Jan. 1

From a media release:

Global jumpstarts the new year with high stakes and high drama as the network announces new original suspense drama Ransom joins its midseason schedule, premiering on Sunday, January 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. PT. Airing in simulcast with CBS in the US, the 13-episode procedural settles into its regular timeslot beginning Saturday, January 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Global. From leading independent studio Entertainment One (eOne), Wildcats Productions and Sienna Films, Ransom is executive produced by Emmy® and Golden Globe®-winner Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files, The Man in the High Castle) through his company Big Light Productions, and stars Luke Roberts (Wolf Hall, Game of Thrones), as Eric Beaumont, a crisis and hostage negotiator whose team is brought in to save lives when no one else can. Along with CBS in the US, the procedural drama will also air on France’s TF1 and Germany’s RTL.

Ransom’s premiere episode begins with Eric Beaumont (Luke Roberts) bringing on a new team member, Maxine Carlson (Sarah Greene, Penny Dreadful, Burnt), who is eager to prove herself as an aspiring investigator. But Eric’s trusted team, psych-profiler Oliver Yates (Brandon Jay McLaren, Graceland, The Killing) and ex-cop Zara Hallam (Nazneen Contractor,Heroes Reborn, Covert Affairs), have doubts about their possible new member. And a dangerous secret from Maxine’s past may pose a threat that even the great Eric Beaumont is unable to resolve.

Ransom is inspired by the professional experiences of distinguished crisis negotiator Laurent Combalbert, who along with partner, Marwan Mery, are considered to be among the top negotiators in the world. Today, they travel around the globe to help multinational corporations and governmental agencies with complex negotiations and conflict resolution.

Ransom is created by David Vainola (Diamonds, Combat Hospital) and Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files, The Man in the High Castle). The series is executive produced by Spotnitz, Valerie Pechels and Odile McDonald of Wildcats Productions, Jocelyn Hamilton of eOne, and Jennifer Kawaja and Julia Sereny via their Sienna Films banner. Ransom is a Canada-France co-production and is co-developed by TF1 and Corus Entertainment Inc., with the participation of the Centre National du Cinema et de l’Image Animé in France as well as Canada Media Fund, and will be produced with the financial assistance of the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit.

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Vikings

Link: Vancouver’s Alexander Ludwig gets big Vikings plot line he’s been waiting for

From Victoria Ahearn of The Canadian Press:

Link: Vancouver’s Alexander Ludwig gets big Vikings plot line he’s been waiting for
“It’s the best season we’ve ever done, I think. As an audience you’re going to be super invested in these characters and they’re so on the fringe of destruction internally and externally. As a fan myself, it’s just constantly a cliffhanger and it can be very troubling as well.” Continue reading.

From Melissa Girimonte of The Televixen:

Link: Alexander Ludwig teases huge decisions ahead for Bjorn on Vikings
“Björn is going to have to make a decision — a political decision — based on his incredibly strong emotions toward his uncle and the future of his people.” Continue reading.

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The Romeo Section

Link: Chris Haddock talks The Romeo Section + “Our Future World” preview

From Heather M. of The Televixen:

Link: Chris Haddock talks The Romeo Section + “Our Future World” preview
“I think [there’s a fear] about a two-page scene with big chunks of dialogue [being] boring. Monologues delivered by excellent actors are compelling. When we start shooting them, they really seem to go by much quicker than they look on the page. It’s putting faith in drama and in actors and the audience that if they’re drawn to this type of show and they like the discussion of ideas [they’ll be happy].” Continue reading.

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Featured, The Nature of Things

The Nature of Things explores music in “I Got Rhythm: The Science of Song”

Have I sung in the shower? The car? When I thought no one was listening? Absolutely. We all have at some point and it’s a trait humans share. We’re addicted to music, whether we’re doing it or we’re listening to someone else. But why?

The answer is explored in Thursday’s new instalment of The Nature of Things in “I Got Rhythm: The Science of Song.” Producer-director Connie Edwards and a phalanx of scientists and experts explore the impact music has on our lives.

“Ever since I was young I have always believed that music was an inherent part of being human,” Edwards says in the doc’s press materials. “As a ‘girl singer’ I saw and felt the effect that music had on people but I could never quantify it. Music has moved my soul from the beginning, but it has only been in the last 15 years or so that science appears to have taken a serious interest in why we sing, hum, warble, pluck or blow into instruments. Our team literally travelled around the world to meet with some incredible scientists and researchers who are doing ground-breaking scientific work using music. What was fascinating was how many of the scientists/researchers were also accomplished musicians.”

“I Got Rhythm: The Science of Song” kicks off at McMaster University, where an audience—wired to sensors—listens to a band perform two songs. One is fast-paced and more likely to initiate swaying, and the other more low-key (see what I did there?). It doesn’t take long for some interesting results to emerge. Swaying or bobbing your head to music is contagious, as is experiencing tunes together, like at a concert or public event. It’s a fact scientists have discovered dates back to the Neanderthals, who crafted flutes out of animal bone.

And, it may be that music and rhythm doesn’t just make us feel good or bad emotionally, but it could literally heal. A Gothenburg, Sweden, study explored whether listening to music would help hpatients suffering from stress-induced cardiomyopathy, a.k.a. broken heart syndrome, while another test examines how early babies recognize, react and socialize with others after experiencing rhythm.

The Nature of Things airs Thursdays at 8 p.m on CBC.

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Industry News

Link: Yanking ads off CBC can’t happen fast enough

From Bill Brioux of Brioux.tv:

Link: Yanking ads off CBC can’t happen fast enough
So yes, by all means, set CBC free. Give them a chance to be a commercial free broadcast zone for however many months it will take before the private networks figure out a way to sell their services on a purely subscription basis.

However: please do not hand over money from me and other taxpayers before auditing the CBC. I’d want to know if they spend money better now — and more of it on generating content — than they did five years ago. CBC needs to prove they can do what they say they want to do, which is create content without having to bow to commercial market forces. It’s a lot easier to say it than to do it. Continue reading.

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