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.
Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Love It Or List It Vancouver renewed for Season 4

From a media release:

Big Coat Productions is excited to announce that a fourth season of their hit TV series, Love It or List It Vancouver, has been green-lit by W Network. Season 4 of the series, hosted by designer Jillian Harris and real estate expert Todd Talbot, will have 26 all-new episodes, showcasing Vancouver homeowners struggling with homes that no longer suit their needs. Production on Season 4 is currently underway and is set to premiere in Fall of 2016 on W Network. New episodes of Season 3 premiere February 2016.

 

 

Every episode of Love It or List It Vancouver takes viewers on an emotional roller-coaster as homeowners across the lower mainland welcome the charismatic co-hosts into their homes to battle it out for bragging rights while the family decides whether to “love it” or “list it.” Jillian must catch the homeowners’ wandering eyes with a brilliant renovation and Todd must woo them away into a stunning house on the market in BC’s largest metropolitan city.

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19-2, Amazing Race Canada, Between, Big Brother Canada, Bitten, Blackstone, Blood and Water, Canada's Smartest Person, Continuum, Dark Matter, Degrassi, Dragons' Den, Featured, Haven, Heartland, Killjoys, Lost Girl, Masterchef Canada, Mohawk Girls, Motive, Mr. D, Murdoch Mysteries, Open Heart, Orphan Black, Polls, Remedy, Rookie Blue, Saving Hope, Schitt's Creek, Strange Empire, The Romeo Section, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Vikings, When Calls the Heart, X Company, Young Drunk Punk

Results: Your Favourite Canadian TV Shows of 2015 are …

18 Comments

Fans of Canadian television shows certainly are a passionate lot, and they’re not confined to our borders either. Of the over 25,000 who voted for their Top 5 shows of 2015, dozens voiced their support from around the world.

Yes, the voting for a few shows took a suspicious jump over the last couple of days, but we’ll chalk that up to super-fans who simply love their programs … and know how to use technology to their advantage. (The voting wasn’t affected that much in the end.)

By the time the tally was taken, the Top 10 Canadian Shows of 2015 are:

  1. Dark Matter (27%, 7,269 Votes)
  2. Lost Girl (25%, 6,777 Votes)
  3. Killjoys (21%, 5,766 Votes)
  4. Heartland (20%, 5,384 Votes)
  5. Murdoch Mysteries (10%, 2,632 Votes)
  6. Orphan Black (8%, 2,147 Votes)
  7. Tornado Hunters (8%, 2,080 Votes)
  8. Rookie Blue (6%, 1,634 Votes)
  9. When Calls the Heart (6%, 1,557 Votes)
  10. Rick Mercer Report (5%, 1,486 Votes)

Aside from the Top 10 vote-getters, I was pleased to see several new programs perform well in the poll. Clearly, viewers love seeing three guys tooling around in a truck capturing wacky weather on film, as Tornado Hunters placed No. 7, not bad at all for a show that debuted late in the year and veteran The Liquidator finished just out of the Top 10.

Thanks again to everyone who voted. Check out the final results; you can still name your favourites in the Comments section at the bottom of the page.

What are your five favourite Canadian TV shows of 2015?

  • Dark Matter (12%, 7,269 Votes)
  • Lost Girl (11%, 6,777 Votes)
  • Killjoys (9%, 5,766 Votes)
  • Heartland (9%, 5,384 Votes)
  • Murdoch Mysteries (4%, 2,632 Votes)
  • Orphan Black (3%, 2,147 Votes)
  • Tornado Hunters (3%, 2,080 Votes)
  • Rookie Blue (3%, 1,634 Votes)
  • When Calls the Heart (3%, 1,557 Votes)
  • Rick Mercer Report (2%, 1,486 Votes)
  • The Liquidator (2%, 1,279 Votes)
  • Schitt's Creek (2%, 1,227 Votes)
  • Vikings (2%, 1,087 Votes)
  • The Amazing Race Canada (2%, 1,053 Votes)
  • Saving Hope (2%, 1,024 Votes)
  • Property Brothers (2%, 990 Votes)
  • Bitten (2%, 976 Votes)
  • Dragons' Den (2%, 970 Votes)
  • Continuum (2%, 955 Votes)
  • Haven (1%, 791 Votes)
  • Chopped Canada (1%, 786 Votes)
  • 22 Minutes (1%, 783 Votes)
  • MasterChef Canada (1%, 738 Votes)
  • Big Brother Canada (1%, 727 Votes)
  • Highway Thru Hell (1%, 686 Votes)
  • Canada's Worst Driver (1%, 684 Votes)
  • Degrassi (1%, 608 Votes)
  • The Nature of Things (1%, 580 Votes)
  • Love It or List It franchise (1%, 573 Votes)
  • The Fifth Estate (1%, 559 Votes)
  • Motive (1%, 557 Votes)
  • House of Bryan (1%, 549 Votes)
  • X Company (1%, 520 Votes)
  • Still Standing (1%, 480 Votes)
  • Strange Empire (1%, 397 Votes)
  • Marketplace (1%, 394 Votes)
  • This Life (1%, 394 Votes)
  • Hockey Wives (1%, 340 Votes)
  • Backroad Bounty (1%, 321 Votes)
  • 19-2 (1%, 311 Votes)
  • Remedy (0%, 266 Votes)
  • Mr. D (0%, 265 Votes)
  • Blackstone (0%, 262 Votes)
  • Polar Bear Town (0%, 252 Votes)
  • Ice Racer Showdown (0%, 214 Votes)
  • Young Drunk Punk (0%, 207 Votes)
  • Canada's Smartest Person (0%, 198 Votes)
  • Sunnyside (0%, 193 Votes)
  • The Next Step (0%, 174 Votes)
  • Mohawk Girls (0%, 170 Votes)
  • Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan (0%, 128 Votes)
  • Keeping Canada Alive (0%, 120 Votes)
  • The Other Side (0%, 113 Votes)
  • Chef in Your Ear (0%, 104 Votes)
  • The Romeo Section (0%, 99 Votes)
  • Blood and Water (0%, 93 Votes)
  • The Stanley Dynamic (0%, 88 Votes)
  • Make it Pop (0%, 81 Votes)
  • First Dates (0%, 68 Votes)
  • Unusually Thicke (0%, 67 Votes)
  • Open Heart (0%, 65 Votes)
  • Spun Out (0%, 58 Votes)
  • Sensitive Skin (0%, 47 Votes)
  • Max & Shred (0%, 42 Votes)
  • Some Assembly Required (0%, 30 Votes)
  • Crash Gallery (0%, 24 Votes)
  • Tiny Plastic Men (0%, 20 Votes)

Total Voters: 27,337

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Uncategorized

Link: CBC producer Mark Blandford was a pioneer in Canadian television

From Fred Langan of The Globe and Mail:

CBC producer Mark Blandford was a pioneer in Canadian television
Mark Blandford was a linguistic and cultural chameleon whose unusual upbringing and talents allowed him to conquer the worlds of television drama in both English and French Canada.

When he arrived in Montreal after attending film school at Columbia University, he initially worked in local current affairs on the English side of CBC Television. His first ambitious project was 1975’s The October Crisis, a contentious program that ran three hours in one evening. Continue reading.

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Killjoys

Production begins on Season 2 of Space’s Killjoys

2 Comments

From a media release:

– Stars Hannah John-Kamen, Aaron Ashmore, and Luke MacFarlane return as the dynamic trio of interplanetary bounty hunters –
– Michelle Lovretta returns as showrunner; new directors include Martin Wood, Stefan Pleszczynski, Ruba Nadda, Jeff Renfroe, and Grant Harvey –
– Shot in Toronto, Season 2 is set to premiere in 2016 on Space and Syfy –

Space announced today that production has begun on Season 2 of its most-watched original series ever, KILLJOYS. Created by showrunner Michelle Lovretta (LOST GIRL) and produced by Temple Street Productions (ORPHAN BLACK) in association with Space and Syfy, the 10-episode, one-hour adventure drama is set to premiere in 2016 on Space. Shot in Toronto, the critically acclaimed ratings hit continues to follow interplanetary bounty hunters – or “killjoys” – Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen, THE HOUR), Johnny (Aaron Ashmore, SMALLVILLE), and D’avin (Luke MacFarlane, BROTHERS AND SISTERS), as they chase deadly warrants throughout the Quad, a distant planetary system on the brink of a bloody class war.

Returning to direct this season are Paolo Barzman, and Peter Stebbings. New to direct this season are Martin Wood, Stefan Pleszczynski, Ruba Nadda, Jeff Renfroe and Grant Harvey. Spearheaded by Lovretta, the writing team includes Adam Barken, Jeremy Boxen, Jon Cooksey, Julian Doucet, Sean Reycraft, and Priscilla White.

In Season 2, the trio is on the move to uncover Dutch’s duplicitous and mysterious childhood mentor, Khlyen’s (Rob Stewart, SUITS) secret agenda. As shocking truths are revealed, Dutch, D’avin, and Johnny realize the Quad’s notorious criminals are no match for the threat within the Reclamation Apprehension Coalition (RAC). The Killjoy’s loyalties are tested as they struggle to find the balance between politics, family, and the good of the Quad. With so much on the line, they begin to wonder if the warrant is indeed all.

Season 1 of KILLJOYS culminated with an audience-high 560,000 viewers for the season finale. Throughout its run, KILLJOYS averaged nearly 450,000 viewers in its timeslot, making it Space’s most-watched original series of all time.

Executive Producers are David Fortier and Ivan Schneeberg of Temple Street Productions and Karen Troubetzkoy. D.J. Carson serves as Producer. Universal Cable Productions distributes the series worldwide except Canada.

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Being Erica, Bitten, Motive, The Listener

Link: Women Behind Canadian TV: Daegan Fryklind

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Women Behind Canadian TV: Daegan Fryklind
“One of the things about being a female showrunner and working with the team of producers here at Bitten is that they were interested in having female representation in the story department–obviously we have a female lead on the show–but I’ve been grateful and blessed in this room, and with these producers, that I’ve never felt like my gender was the reason they picked me. None of the people in the story department have been picked based on gender. It’s based on ‘Can you deliver a good script?’ I’ve never felt like J.B. [Sugar] or the producers at eOne or Hoodwink have diminished my capacity based on the fact that I’m female. I have had that experience in the past and you really do feel the difference.” Continue reading.

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