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.
Bellevue, Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays, Pure, Schitt's Creek, Workin' Moms, X Company

CBC announces winter broadcast premiere dates for new and returning series

From a media release:

CBC today announced premiere dates for its winter 2017 television season, featuring distinct, premium storytelling anchored by extraordinary Canadian voices and creative talent. The winter lineup includes five new primetime titles and five returning series spanning comedy, drama, factual and arts programming.

New additions to CBC’s primetime lineup include drama series PURE (6×60), premiering Monday, January 9, which tells the story of a Mennonite pastor battling drug trafficking within his community; Catherine Reitman’s bold new comedy WORKIN’ MOMS (13×30), premiering  Tuesday, January 10, which tests the modern ideal that women really can have it all; acclaimed BBC One drama THE A WORD (6×60), premiering Sunday, January 15, centering on a messy, extended family with an autistic child; docu-series TRUE NORTH CALLING (6×30), premiering Friday, February 17, which offers an intimate look at Canada’s North and young Canadians living in one of the harshest environments in the world; and drama series BELLEVUE (8×60), premiering Monday, February 20, which stars Oscar® and Golden Globe® award-winner Anna Paquin, Allen Leech and Shawn Doyle and unravels the mystery of a missing transgender teen in a small blue-collar town.

January will also bring all-new episodes of returning primetime favourites to viewers. Beginning Tuesday, January 10, Eugene Levy, Daniel Levy, Catherine O’Hara,  Annie Murphy and Chris Elliott are back with a new season of hit comedy series SCHITT’S CREEK(Season 3, 13×30); and World War II espionage drama X COMPANY (Season 3, 10×60) returns on Wednesday, January 11 with a thrilling series finale, as the first group of operatives from Camp X complete their final covert mission.

Picking up five years after the critically acclaimed Michael: Tuesdays & Thursdays, Matt Watts, Bob Martin and Don McKellar return to CBC with MICHAEL: EVERY DAY, (Season 2, 6×30) with weekly back-to-back episodes beginning Sunday, January 15.

Lastly, CBC’s innovative arts programming is back to inspire audiences on Sunday, February 5 with the high-energy, immersive series CRASH GALLERY (Season 2, 5×30) and the 2016 International Emmy® Award-nominated docu-series INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM(Season 2, 5×30).

Highlights of the CBC 2017 winter television schedule are as follows:

FRIDAY, JANUARY 6
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — Marketplace (Season 43 continues)
8:30 p.m. (9 NT) — Hello Goodbye (Season 2 continues)
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — the fifth estate (Season 42 continues)

MONDAY, JANUARY 9
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) – Murdoch Mysteries (Season 10 continues)
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — Pure *NEW DRAMA SERIES*

TUESDAY, JANUARY 10
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) – Rick Mercer Report (Season 14 continues)
8:30 p.m. (9 NT) – This Hour Has 22 Minutes (Season 24 continues)
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — Schitt’s Creek *SEASON 3 PREMIERE*
9:30 p.m. (10 NT) – Workin’ Moms *NEW COMEDY SERIES*

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) – Dragons’ Den (Season 11 continues)
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) – X Company *SEASON 3 PREMIERE*

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — The Nature of Things: The Secret Life of Owls (Season 55 continues)
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — Firsthand: Once an Immigrant (Season 2 continues)  

SUNDAY, JANUARY 15
4:30 p.m. (5:00 NT) – Exhibitionists (Season 2 continues)
7 p.m. (7:30 NT) — Heartland (Season 10 continues)
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) – The A Word *NEW DRAMA SERIES*
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) – Michael: Every Day *SEASON 2 PREMIERE*
9:30 p.m. (10 NT) – Michael: Every Day (Season 2 continues)

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) – Interrupt This Program *SEASON 2 PREMIERE*
9:30 p.m. (10 NT) – Crash Gallery *SEASON 2 PREMIERE*

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17
8:30 p.m. (9 NT) – True North Calling *NEW FACTUAL SERIES*

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) – Bellevue *NEW DRAMA SERIES*

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Featured, Travelers

The team is in deep trouble on Travelers

Things don’t look good for our travellers. Not at all. While one image from Monday’s episode, “Room 101,” shows MacLaren on a rooftop with a helicopter overhead, the other is far darker and scary: his team is caged, strapped to chairs and hooked up to IVs of some sort. Is it fallout from the face-off our team had with Hall? Is Hall getting revenge for his arrest?

Here’s the official episode synopsis from Showcase:

MacLaren is on his own as he fights to unravel the mystery of his team’s sudden disappearance.

Here are a few more plot points heading into Monday night.

travelers2

That opening scene…
We were blown away with Brad Wright’s way of introducing the travellers in Episode 1, but he outdoes himself tonight, as three new folks arrive in 2016 in a unique way. Their arrival also caused us to pause and ponder the instance surrounding their deaths in the first place … and that travelling is still imperfect.

…is nothing compared to the second before the main credits
With just four minutes elapsed, the reason MacLaren is solo and how his team became separated from him is established.

Trevor still has his sense of humour
The quartet may not know what’s going on, but that doesn’t stop Trevor from cracking wise about catheters.

Forbes is catching on
You can only miss so many court dates before your partner starts asking questions, and that’s the case with MacLaren. I wondered how he’d be able to juggle his FBI gig with the missions and the short answer is, he can’t.

This time is full of very bad people
Hall may or may not be involved in what happens to Carly, Marcy, Trevor or Philip, but “Room 101” does reveal a shady someone or group is interested in the travellers. And they know a lot. Who, exactly, are they? We’re not sure, but through them we’re given some key insight into what the world the travellers left looked like.

Travelers airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showcase.

Images courtesy of Corus.

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Shoot the Messenger

Link: Elyse Levesque talks Shoot the Messenger + a preview of “Strange Bedfellows”

From Heather M. of The Televixen:

Link: Elyse Levesque talks Shoot the Messenger + a preview of “Strange Bedfellows”
“I think [she] wants to get to the bottom of things. I do think there’s something that when you’re sober, you’re jonesing for a fix, some sort of excitement, looking for something else to curb the desire to drink or do drugs. I think the adrenaline she gets from putting herself in dangerous situations is [her fix].” Continue reading.

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Frontier

Link: Allan Hawco on his new fur trade TV series ‘Frontier’

From Alexandra Pope of Canadian Geographic:

Link: Allan Hawco on his new fur trade TV series ‘Frontier’
“The time period is so rich in terms of potential for high-stakes conflict, with all these different companies jockeying for position in the fur trade. It’s really North America’s coming-of-age. The show takes a lot of dramatic licence, but the writers worked very hard to make sure all of it was plausible.” Continue reading.

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Featured, Heartland

Wolves and pot-bellied pigs on Heartland

Mitch has, like, the worst timing in the world, doesn’t he? Last week he snapped at Lou down by the river and she backed off from telling her how she felt about him. And leading off Sunday’s episode, he showed off a horse he got her … just as Peter rolled up in a cab. Awkward.

“Riding Shotgun” was both literal and figurative in the script written by Pamela Pinch and directed by Chris Potter, as Petunia the sick pig (and Adam) sat next to Georgie in Bob’s truck on the way to the clinic and a shotgun was handy at Mitch’s side when wolves threatened to make a sinewy snack out of Jack.

heartland2

For Mitch, being unable to pull the trigger when a toothsome predator was mere inches from Jack’s throat was a call back to his time in Afghanistan, where he lost his cousin, Zach (the dog tags Mitch was holding last Sunday). But Zach didn’t die over there, he committed suicide back in Canada. It was a sobering revelation that not only brought real life back to Heartland but added another layer to Mitch the character. The wise-cracking, good-looking ranch hand has stuff going on below that tough exterior.

It was nice Mitch apologized to Lou for snapping at her, but his admission he didn’t gift Venus to her means he thinks their relationship is over, and Lou hopes it’s just begun.

(Speaking of tough guys, it was great to see Peter not only agree to help out at Heartland more if Lou ends up spending more time away with Maggie’s expansion and telling Georgie the key to a successful relationship is talking. He smartly took his own advice.)

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

Images courtesy of CBC.

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