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.
Dark Matter, Lost Girl

Link: Women Behind Canadian TV: Vanessa Piazza

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Women Behind Canadian TV: Vanessa Piazza
“One of the nice things about the industry here [in Canada] that will continue to breakdown that systematic issue, is having programs at the broadcaster levels, and the government agencies where there are a lot of initiatives to make sure we’ve got diversity on and off screen. I think that’s really helpful and it’s amazing to me to live in a country where we do see that. I would say that our industry is a lot more accepting than other industries out there–like say finance for example–just from speaking with my peers that work in other industries.” Continue reading.

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Industry News

Television Bureau of Canada relaunches as ThinkTV

From a media release:

Building on the legacy of the Television Bureau of Canada (TVB), thinktv launches today as the organization’s new brand identity reflecting its ongoing evolution, as well as its vision for the future. The distinctive new name and logo speak to the energy and passion the organization brings to its mission – to help advertisers and agencies get the best out of the amazing medium that is television.

thinktv is dedicated to promoting the benefits of television advertising to the marketing community and helping them use the power of television to drive business results. As a resource for advertisers and agencies, thinktv will provide a broad spectrum of services to the marketing community including education, thought-provoking and leading-edge research, as well as tangible insights on collected and curated data.

Television’s effectiveness is unrivalled.  It is both the most effective and efficient way to drive business results for brands and the most impactful way to reach consumers:

  • Last week, more than 34 million Canadians watched TV
  • Commercial TV reaches 98% of the Canadian population each week, and 96% of millennials
  • On average, adults watch 28 hours of TV a week*; this compares to an average of 1.5 hours of YouTube and only 36 minutes of Netflix per week**
  • TV trumps social media: Canadian adults spend a fraction of time with social media compared to television – 4 hours per week with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram combined,** compared to the 28 hours with TV.

thinktv’s brand identity is a vibrant new take on the prior name and logo, which represented the company since its inception in 1961. The launch of the new logo and brand identity was developed in collaboration with Frontier, a creative exploration company known for its design driven ideas and idea driven design.

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Children's Programming

Link: Hockey and ballet team up as Phil Esposito lends his voice to ‘The Curse of Clara’

From Bill Harris of Postmedia Network:

Hockey and ballet team up as Phil Esposito lends his voice to ‘The Curse of Clara’
The cartoon version of Phil Esposito wears his skates all the time. Like, all the time, on or off the ice.

“I don’t think that was safe at all,” the hockey legend said with a chuckle. “But it was fun, I can tell you that.”

Esposito provides the voice for a cartoon version of himself – or, more specifically, the Team Canada ’72 version of himself – in the new animated Christmas special The Curse of Clara: A Holiday Tale, which debuts Monday, Dec. 14 on CBC. Continue reading.

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Industry News

Link: A new era for CBC, hopefully: Things could finally start looking up for the beleaguered public broadcaster in 2016

From Cassandra Szklarski of The Canadian Press:

A new era for CBC, hopefully: Things could finally start looking up for the beleaguered public broadcaster in 2016
It’s been a heck of a year for the CBC — a scathing report denounced managers for their handling of the Jian Ghomeshi affair while former anchors Amanda Lang and Evan Solomon faced controversies of their own.

All the while, the CBC continued to grapple with steep budget cuts that slashed news broadcasts, gutted sports and documentary divisions and put for sale signs in front of aging facilities.

But with a more CBC-friendly Liberal government now holding the purse strings, could things finally be looking up for the beleaguered public broadcaster?

Many observers seem to think so. Continue reading.

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Featured, Podcast, Rookie Blue, Saving Hope, X Company

TV Eh B Cs podcast 38 – Erica Durance & Adam Pettle: The Ghosts of Christmas Hope

Erica_Durance

A workday conversation with Saving Hope lead Erica Durance and showrunner Adam Pettle. Saving Hope is CTV’s enduring supernatural medical drama that centres around the lives of the doctors and nurses of Hope Zion Hospital.

Erica has spent the last decade and a half in film and television, before Saving Hope probably most noted for her work as Lois Lane on the popular CW series Smallville. In addition to being the lead on Saving Hope, she’s also a producer and, as we learn in our discussion, a new director as well.

Adam is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s playwriting program, whose most popular play Zadie’s Shoes has been produced across Canada as well as in the U.S. and the UK. He’s worked on several Canadian and American television series, including Combat Hospital, King, Rookie Blue, X Company, and Saving Hope where he became showrunner this season.

We talk about the upcoming holiday episode, transition through Erica’s getting called back to the set, and learn a whole bunch about the show that fans can’t seem to get enough of.

Listen or download below, or subscribe via iTunes or any other podcast catcher with the TV, eh? podcast feed.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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