From Teresa Jusino of The Mary Sue:
Link: Dark Matter‘s Torri Higginson talks S3 renewal, aging in Hollywood, and why it’s awesome to be a woman in sci-fi
“When you get older, in the past especially, it has been harder to have a presence in a straight narrative. I think sci-fi and genre stuff in general has been more open to the Female Commander of a Spaceship, so you can have a bit of age and a bit of gravitas for that.†Continue reading.
Jennifer Holness and Sudz Sutherland have been creating gritty, thought-provoking projects for television for years. There was 2009’s Guns, a two-part miniseries for CBC about Toronto detectives following a 23-year-old gun trafficker. Before that was 2006’s Doomstown, a TV-movie documenting the violence in a housing project. Now the writers and executive producers (and real-life couple) are back with Shoot the Messenger.
Debuting Monday, Oct. 10, at 9 p.m. on CBC, the eight-part series stars Elyse Levesque as Daisy Channing, an entertainment reporter at Toronto’s fictional newspaper The Gazette, who’s finally got her big scoop since transferring to the news department: the death of a young Somali man. Eager to impress her editor Mary Foster (Alex Kingston), Daisy makes a rookie mistake, throwing her into a foreign world she’s unprepared for, and turning to co-worker Simon Olenski (Lucas Bryant) for guidance.
“She wants to be in investigative journalism and prove herself,” Levesque says alongside Bryant during a break in filming. “She is massively ambitious to a fault, and receives a phone call about a huge tip that will blow the lid off this town.” Levesque and Bryant just finished filming a scene outside, where Daisy and Simon met to discuss the latest regarding the story. Standing on the top of a high-rise (in real life the TIFF Bell Lightbox complex) with Toronto below them, the danger of what Daisy uncovered hit home. Why was this young man killed? Who is involved in the conspiracies? The only thing she knows for sure is she’s in way over her head.
Complicating things for Elyse even more? She’s romantically involved with the detective on the case, Kevin Lutz (Lyriq Bent). That causes problems during the investigation and could jeopardize his career.
“Kevin wants to be an ordinary dude,” Bent says. “He wants to have a normal life away from work. He’s caring, considerate and thoughtful. And I think his relationship with Daisy is refreshing for Canadian TV and definitely for CBC.”
Shoot the Messenger‘s supporting cast is a whos who of the Canadian television world, including Nicholas Campbell, Ron Lea, Kim’s Convenience leads Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Jean Yoon, as well as appearances by The Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson, the Toronto Raptor’s Jamaal Magloire and ex-NBAer turned television star Rick Fox.
“He is my dickhead cousin,” Bryant says of Robertson’s role. “He’s a sports agent and he’s really good. I was a huge Barenaked Ladies fan and was looking forward to meeting him and he was humble, funny and fantastic. He told me that all he ever wanted to do when he was growing up was be a rock star and star in one of Sudz’ movies.”
Shoot the Messenger airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on CBC.
Images courtesy of CBC.
The Age of Abundant Consultation
The CRTC heard what consumers wanted; they simply ignored what consumers were saying. The CRTC proved once more that it walks in the shadow of the regulated industries. The “BIG BOYS†dictated the terms and conditions of their “surrender†to consumer demands for a skinny cable package. The CRTC dutifully responded by making these the terms and conditions of their package. It did not take long for consumers to realize that after all of the CRTC’s hype about choice, they had been had. Once more, the CRTC proved to the public that they are not a credible regulatory agency who will place the interest of consumers above those of the “BIG BOYS.†J.P. Blais is largely responsible for this outcome. —Eamon
Bachelorette Canada makes Muzique in Montreal
Chris was respectful and asked Jasmine if she wanted the hear the goods on Johnny (Drew). If she wanted to just keep on going blindly and make her own decisions she should not have said yes. Maybe I don’t think like the rest of them, but it took guts from a guy who never really had any one-on-one time with her to let her know not to be fooled by a rat who’s in it for the game or the win while Chris himself seems more to have her best interests at heart not wanting to see her heart crushed by a player. I lost respect for the bunch of them. —Lori
Can I buy The Nature of Things?
I would like to order this series on Pompeii. How can I do this? Thanks. —Laura
We’re not sure if you can purchase episodes of The Nature of Things, but you’ll be able to stream it at CBC.ca.
Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? Email greg.david@tv-eh.com or via Twitter @tv_eh.
It’s the end of the road for The Liquidator on OLN. After 91 episodes and five seasons, series star Jeff Schwarz made the announcement via Facebook on Thursday.
“I want to be clear it’s been great filming The Liquidator and based on the success of the show and its ratings, I would have continued,” he wrote. “We hit 163 countries, and had top ratings in Canada, it’s been a pleasure being on OLN. The decision to not renew the show has really nothing to do with them, new regulations with programming is ONE of the main reasons the show is no longer being filmed.” The new regulations Schwarz mentions no doubt refers to the CRTC’s ruling regarding skinny basic and à la carte cable offerings, and suggests OLN won’t exist once consumers are given the power to buy only the channels they want to watch.
“I can assure you that we are working on more TV, and it should happen with any network we look forward in continuing filming,” Schwarz continued in his post. “We did a total of 91 episodes or five seasons with the help of Anaïd Productions. This on any standard was a huge achievement on any level! I want to personally thank all my fans with their support and encouragement and should an opportunity arise and it makes sense we will be back on TV.”
The Liquidator docu-drama series followed the Vancouver-based Schwarz—owner of Direct Liquidation—as he bought up discarded or unwanted merchandise and then sold out of his 30,000 square-foot warehouse. The series won a 2014 Leo Award for Best Screenwriting in a Lifestyle/Information Series and another in 2015 for Best Directing in a Lifestyle/Information Series.
Fans of The Liquidator have gone online and created a petition for folks to sign in a bid to get the series back on the air.
From Steve Gow of Metro:
Link: Murdoch Mysteries: Why this CBC show is still so popular after a decade
One of Canada’s greatest mysteries is the ongoing success of Murdoch Mysteries.
After all, the longtime CBC series has not only beat the odds by heading into its 10th season (starting October 10th, fittingly), but it’s still gaining in popularity nearly a decade after making its television debut. Continue reading.
