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.
Kim's Convenience

Links: Kim’s Convenience

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From Craig Takeuchi of The Georgia Strait:

Vancouver’s Andrea Bang hopes Kim’s Convenience helps boost Asian Canadian representation
“I didn’t see people like me on screen so I wanted to be a part of that conversation. The fact that a show like Kim’s Convenience is coming out and it has real characters, fully fleshed out people, not people who just come on and say like, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ and then leave—they actually have a backstory and a future story.” Continue reading.

From Aaron Chatha of Metro News:

Kim’s Convenience and having minorities on TV
On Tuesday, CBC premieres Kim’s Convenience, and having seen the first three episodes, I’m hoping it’s the first show in a long time that my whole family will sit together and enjoy. Continue reading.

From Simon Houpt of The Globe and Mail:

Link: Ivan Fecan: The producer bringing popular play Kim’s Convenience to TV
“I was blown away by the play in rehearsal,” said Fecan. He, Schultz and Ins Choi, a first-time Korean-Canadian playwright who mined his extended family’s story for the play, went to lunch. Over burgers and salads, Fecan told Choi about his parents, Ukrainian refugees who had arrived separately in Toronto in the early 1950s and worked long and gruelling blue-collar hours: his mother washing dishes in the Sears cafeteria, his father sweeping the city streets. Continue reading.

From John Doyle of The Globe and Mail:

CBC’s big week starts with the excellent Kim’s Convenience
Heartily recommended, Kim’s Convenience is a clever, generally engaging screwball comedy with an eye on entertainment – and not much else, thankfully. Continue reading. 

 

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Airport: Below Zero is set for takeoff on History

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From a media release:

Airport: Below Zero, a thrilling new documentary series from Our House Media, in association with Corus Entertainment, reveals the intricate and intense balancing act required to keep operations running smoothly at Edmonton International Airport, Canada’s most northerly major airport. Shot entirely at the ‘Gateway to the North’, this 10 x 60 series follows airport and airline staff as they work 24/7 to ensure a steady and safe stream of take offs and landings, while battling blizzards, medical emergencies, diverted planes, missing passengers, and even a snowy owl. Airport: Below Zero airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT, beginning October 5 on HISTORY.

Edmonton International Airport is the fastest growing and most northerly major airport in all of Canada. Each and every day it faces challenges from extreme temperatures to medical emergencies, but one thing is constant – this airport NEVER closes. With total access to the airport and a compelling cast of characters, Airport: Below Zero witnesses Fort McMurray wildfire evacuees, the arrival of heavy metal band Iron Maiden’s jumbo jet, and the snowstorm of the year that would shut down any normal airport. In each episode, firefighters, paramedics, snow removal teams, ticket agents, and cargo handlers perform a complex balancing act where the perils of operating at 53 degrees north latitude constantly threaten to disrupt a never-ending stream of take offs and landings.

Airport: Below Zero is produced by Our House Media, in association with Corus Entertainment. Executive Producers are Simon Lloyd and Joe Houlihan; Series Producer is Marshall Jay Kaplan. Jane Lloyd is VP of Production and Samantha De France is VP of Business & Corporate Affairs.

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This Life

Links: This Life Season 2

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: This Life’s Torri Higginson on Natalie’s struggle for control
“I think he was the love of her life and she’s still hurt by that. That translates to anger pretty easily. She’s also able to transfer her anger at being sick to him which is kind of a nice gift in a weird way.” Continue reading.

From Steve Gow of Metronews:

Link: CBC’s This Life kicks off its second season
CBC’s This Life won over so many fans with its intuitive tale of a 40-something single mother juggling a cancer diagnosis with family drama, it even turned trenchant TV critics into believers.

But with a highly-anticipated second season kicking off Sunday, the sophomore jinx is staring down the show’s star. Continue reading.

 

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Featured

Comments and queries for the week of September 30

Wild Archaeology in the U.S.?

Do you know if this is available online for U.S. watchers? —Courtney

We’re not sure if it’s geo-blocked or not, but try streaming Wild Archaeology on APTN’s website.

Tickets to The Goods?

Would I be able to get tickets to The Goods next Thursday? —Nicki

Follow the link to The Goods website and order your free tickets.

CraveTV continues to grow, Shomi shuts down

I think that both Crave TV and Shomi had to expect it would take a few years to grow. Netflix has had six years. It’s an expensive game to get into but it’s a necessary one. People are cord-cutting because they are finding stuff for free online and getting free TV streaming devices. I’ve said it before, but the only thing keeping me from cord-cutting is that I’m only allowed 20GB a month of data thanks to my only option of satellite Internet and my desire to watch Winnipeg Jets and the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Olympics. I’m actually thinking of moving to a nearby town that has unlimited Internet access, so I’m seriously considering it. If TSN releases an app of their own, I’d go with that for sure. Maybe TSN could somehow integrate with CraveTV? That would be an attractive feature, the ability to stream games. People would for sure go with it. I have Netflix Canada (I got tired of trying to keep switching it to Netflix U.S.) but truthfully, after having it for a while, you eventually watch most of what you want to watch on it, you need supplementary stuff so that’s why I had Shomi too. I actually subscribed to Shomi to watch specific shows, but stayed because I saw other shows I like. CraveTV has more shows I like, though. I’m still waiting for it to be made available on Xbox Live. —Alicia

Hulu have locked themselves out since they sold most of the shows to CTV/Global/City. In the States, CBS and The CW are doing their own streamers which somewhat have the same problem. You can sense Amazon is circling here. In addition to the links, they already do things with Prime that Netflix never will and smaller U.S. channels like Starz with Outlander and USA Network with Mr. Robot don’t have the resources to launch here directly themselves, they already sent their shows to Amazon UK. It’s only a matter of time. They just upped the minimum free shipping to $35. You know they know Canadians consider Amazon Canada overpriced and inferior and Prime Video would only help them. The thing is, can/would Rogers/Shaw just sell over the shows to Amazon? They’d recover some of the loss but they aren’t always known for doing things like that.

HBO and Showtime are much longer, depending on how long the recent deals with Bell are but eventually I don’t think they’d renew it rather than just stream directly to Canada themselves. The only funny bit is Bosch being an Amazon show on CraveTV somehow; though I believe Netflix officially launched in Australia while a local channel had Orange is the New Black and they just waited out the contract before putting it on Netflix Australia, so something like that could happen perhaps. —DanAmazing

 

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? Email greg.david@tv-eh.com or via Twitter @tv_eh.

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Kim's Convenience

Link: Korean-Canadian family sitcom ‘Kim’s Convenience’ aims to boost diversity on TV

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From Lauren La Rose of The Canadian Press:

Link: Korean-Canadian family sitcom ‘Kim’s Convenience’ aims to boost diversity on TV
As “Kim’s Convenience” opens up shop in prime time, the Korean-Canadian family sitcom joins a rising number of shows seeking to boost visibility of Asian actors and characters.

“It’s so great to be able to add to that conversation in a positive way, because to be frank, a lot of that conversation is…. quite negative,” said series co-creator Ins Choi, who adapted his award-winning play for TV with showrunner Kevin White. Continue reading.

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