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.

Amybeth McNulty lands beloved role of Anne Shirley in CBC’s Anne

From a media release:

After an extensive global casting search, Northwood Entertainment, Netflix and CBC today announced that young rising star Amybeth McNulty has been cast as the precocious and imaginative Anne Shirley in the highly anticipated new dramatic television series ANNE (8 x 60). Based on Lucy Maud Montgomery’s timeless classic novel Anne of Green Gables, ANNE began production in Prince Edward Island in September and has now moved to Ontario, Canada.

Fourteen-year-old Irish Canadian actress Amybeth McNulty was raised in Donegal, Ireland. She started acting at the early age of six, and has appeared in numerous productions on stage and on screen including in the feature film Morgan starring Kate Mara and in the television series Agatha Raisin for Sky and The Sparticle Mystery for CBBC in the UK. A trained singer, Amybeth also starred in London’s acclaimed Regent’s Park production of The Sound of Music.

Also starring as the siblings who adopt Anne, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, are Tony and four-time BAFTA nominee Geraldine James OBE (Sherlock Holmes, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and multiple award-winning veteran Canadian stage and television actor, Governor General Award recipient R.H. Thomson (Chloe, The Englishman’s Boy).

ANNE is a coming-of-age story about an outsider who, against all odds and numerous challenges, fights for love and acceptance and her place in the world. The series centers on a young orphaned girl in the late 1890s who, after an abusive childhood spent in orphanages and the homes of strangers, is mistakenly sent to live with an aging sister and brother. Over time, 13-year-old Anne will transform their lives and eventually the entire small town in which they live with her unique spirit, fierce intellect and brilliant imagination.

While the new series will honour the foundation of the novel held as a Canadian treasure and global phenomenon (Anne of Green Gables has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide), ANNE will also chart new territory. Anne and the rest of the characters will experience adventures reflecting timeless and topical issues including themes of identity, feminism, bullying and prejudice.

As previously announced, award-winning Director Niki Caro (Whale Rider, McFarland USA, Zookeeper’s Wife) is helming the two-hour premiere episode.

Three-time Emmy® Award and Golden Globe winner Moira Walley-Beckett (Breaking Bad, Flesh & Bone) is penning the entire first season of the series and serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside executive producer Miranda de Pencier (Beginners, Thanks for Sharing), under her Northwood Entertainment banner.

Alison Owen (Saving Mr. Banks) and Debra Hayward (Bridget Jones Diary, Les Misérables) are also attached to executive produce and Susan Murdoch will produce.

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Cameras roll on Season 2 of Baroness Von Sketch Show

From a media release:

Frantic Films and CBC today announced that production is underway on Season 2 of BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW. Created and written by and starring award-winning Canadian comedians Carolyn Taylor, Meredith MacNeill, Aurora Browne and Jennifer Whalen, Season 2 (7×30) of the single camera, all-female sketch comedy series will shoot on location in and around Toronto until late October 2016 for broadcast in 2017.

Debuting to critical acclaim in June 2016, Season 1 of BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW was a breakout hit among Canadian audiences. The series recently garnered a Canadian Comedy Awards nomination for Best TV Show. The series’ first sketch “Locker Room,” which was released on Facebook in advance of the series premiere, has garnered close to 1.7 million views to date, with subsequent sketches following similar success online.

BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW takes a fresh look at the world’s narcissistic contemporary culture. Fast-paced and irreverent, the series celebrates the absurd, mines the embarrassing and satirizes daily lives. The series is insightful and emotionally grounded while offering a witty take on everyday concerns. From the politics of ordering a coffee, to entitled coworkers and open relationships, this satirical sketch show holds a fun-house mirror up to modern life.

Commissioned by CBC, BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW is produced by Frantic Film and executive produced by Jamie Brown, Carolyn Taylor, Meredith MacNeill, Aurora Browne and Jennifer Whalen.

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Link: Travelers: MacKenzie Porter on the mindset of a Traveler

From Hermione Wilson of The TV Junkies:

Link: Travelers: MacKenzie Porter on the mindset of a Traveler
“I’ve done some sci-fi stuff but this is definitely the best quality I’ve ever done. It’s a genre that I actually didn’t grow up watching, but I have since working on the part. I think  it’s cool because it’s sci-fi based but it’s also drama based and the relationships between characters is really strong.” Continue reading. 

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Link: Mississauga actor Timothy Lai lands role on City’s Second Jen

From Chris Clay of the Mississauga News:

Link: Mississauga actor Timothy Lai lands role on City’s Second Jen
“Most of them were like a foot shorter than I am. But, the audition went really well and I had them laughing. I think I felt slightly more comfortable auditioning because I thought there was no way I was going to get the role.” Continue reading.

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Andrew Younghusband returns to Discovery with Worst Driver and Tougher Than It Looks?

Andrew Younghusband has built himself quite the empire over on Discovery. I first spoke to the affable Newfoundlander when he was on Life Network’s (remember that channel?!) Tall Ship Chronicles. The next time we met up was during filming of Season 1 of Canada’s Worst Handyman. Now, with multiple seasons of that, Don’t Drive Here and Canada’s Worst Driver on his resumé, Younghusband returns with Season 12 of Driver and the debut of Tougher Than It Looks?

Airing back-to-back on Mondays, Younghusband hosts Driver’s usual passel of inept Canadians behind the wheel of automobiles before being front and centre doing some of the most bizarre—and taxing—jobs out there.

After a dozen years of Canada’s Worst Driver, we know exactly what to expect from the series: awful drivers who are oblivious to how dangerous they are behind the wheel going through challenges designed to teach them how to be better.

And, frankly, a dozen years of it, I’m pretty much done with the franchise. Clearly, I’m in the minority—the show was the network’s most-watched last season and the No. 1 specialty project in the key demographics—but my frustration at these unsafe folks who often have a blasé attitude about how much of a menace they are grows with every minute. Still, the show is doing a valuable service in educating the contestants and viewers in the rules of the road.

tougher

Tougher Than It Looks? is something entirely different from Younghusband in that he’s doing the Dirty Jobs thing … with a twist. Where Mike Rowe performed the grimiest gigs out there, Younghusband is tackling any occupation. The hook? He has just one day to practice and, hopefully, perfect.

There’s a reason Younghusband hosts so many programs. He’s not only charismatic, but he’s funny and can ad-lib. That comes into play in Episode 1 of Tougher when he attempts to best as many Guinness World Records as he can. First up? Being one of two people hauling three fire trucks using their bodies and lengths of rope. Alongside Younghusband is Rev. Kevin Fast, who has set several strength-related world records in the tome. It’s certainly a tough task, and at its most critical point it looks like Younghusband’s eyes are going to shoot out of his head and land in some poor spectator’s lap.

The rest of the first instalment shows Younghusband as he tries to break 20 Guinness records in one day, a pretty tall task and an opportunity to show how odd many of the records are. Some the categories he tries to best? Stacking coins, eating an onion, unravelling a roll of toilet paper, hula hoop revolutions and most jumps on a pogo stick. I have to say, Tougher is one heck of a good time and I’m sad it’s only a half-hour long. Maybe we’ll get an hour in Season 2.

Canada’s Worst Driver airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on Discovery.

Tougher Than It Looks? airs Mondays at 11 p.m. ET on Discovery.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.

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