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.
Industry News, Mr. D

Gerry Dee and Project 10 develop CBC sitcom

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From a media release:

Project 10 has partnered with Gerry Dee’s (Mr. D) production company to develop a single-camera comedy, My Scottish Family, at CBC, Andrew Barnsley (Schitt’s Creek) announced today.

The half hour comedy is loosely based on the real life (and Scottish relatives) of award-winning comedian and creator Gerry Dee. Project 10 is currently looking for U.S. and international partners for My Scottish Family.

My Scottish Family tells the story of Francis MacPhee (Gerry Dee), a Catholic, and his extended Scottish family. Canadian-born, low-key Francis lived in Scotland where he met and married Lizzy Knox, his polar opposite and a Protestant. Years later, Francis returns to Canada with Lizzy, their three teenaged children, and his “accidentally” racist and sexist father-in-law who dislikes Francis simply because he is Catholic. The Knox side of the family are brash, brutally honest, and firmly believe that “everyone wishes they were Scottish.” They drink, argue, fight, don’t trust anyone, and they’re never wrong – but they love each other fiercely. Blending into their Canadian neighbourhood won’t be easy…for the Canadians. The Knox-MacPhees have their share of challenges, and how they deal with them is awkward, hilarious, and sometimes even heartwarming.

Project 10 recently announced it has inked development deals at Bell Media for Beyond Repair, a single camera comedy co-created by Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother) and Paul Campbell (Spun Out) and Darcy, a family sitcom co-created by stand-up comedian Darcy Michael (Spun Out) and Carl Johann.

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Blackstone, Dark Matter, Degrassi, Featured, Killjoys, Mr. D, Podcast, Saving Hope, Strange Empire, Sunnyside, X Company

TV, eh? podcast episode 184 – Full of Newsy Goodness

The team is at full strength and covering a lot of breaking news in the Canadian industry, including the cancellation and return of Degrassi, Martin Sheen joining the Anne of Green Gables TV-movie, Corus’ reboot of ReBoot and Season 1 and 2 of Blackstone heading to CBC for the summer.

Also discussed: Saving Hope gets a plum spot on CTV’s fall schedule, X Company and Strange Empire are available to binge-watch on Netflix Canada and Diane and Greg recap Rogers, Shaw and Bell Media’s fall schedules.

Want to contribute to the discussion? Post links and discussion topics on our Reddit page.

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

Want to become a Patron of the Podcast? We’ve got a Patreon page where you can donate a small amount per podcast and get a sneak peek of each release.

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Industry News, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

CBC teams with marblemedia for Take Sides

From a media release:

CBC and The Gurin Company are pleased to announce a development deal with award-winning Canadian content creator marblemedia for the ground-breaking factualentertainment format series Take Sides.

The concept is the first series to come out of the creative collaboration deal signed between the CBC and The Gurin Company, a global independent format and production house. marblemedia is attached to develop and produce a 360 viewing experience, which promises an entertaining weekly live studio broadcast with integratedsocial media and simultaneous digital participation for the audience at home.

Every week, Take Sides will put a hot button topic “on trial,” with a team of comedic performers, improv actors and musical guests, who face-off in a classic courtroom structure. The topic on trial will be examined through a variety of methods including monologues, sketches, musical numbers, video shorts and other means that illustrate the “pros and cons” of the issue. Through real time audience involvement, a verdict is reached by Canadian audiences, who ultimately “take a side.”

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Children's Programming

Corus reboots Reboot with The Guardian Code

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From a media release:

Corus Entertainment has given the greenlight to Mainframe Entertainment—the television division of the multifaceted Vancouver-based animation studio Rainmaker Entertainment (TSX VENTURE:RNK)—to produce 26 half-hour episodes of a reimagined version of the classic and first-of-its-kind CG-animated television series ReBoot.  Reboot: The Guardian Code, a hybrid live-action/CG-animated series to be distributed globally by TWC/Dimension Television (excluding Canada) commences production on the heels of the series’ 20th anniversary featuring cutting-edge technology that will reboot the ReBoot universe to create a groundbreaking multi-platform experience. The announcement was made today at Banff World Media Festival by Jamie Piekarz, Director of Content, Corus Kids, and Michael Hefferon, President and Chief Creative Officer, Rainmaker Entertainment. The series originally premiered on Corus’ kids channel YTV in 1994 and aired until 2001.

Created by Michael Hefferon, Reboot: The Guardian Code is based on the original ReBoot created by Gavin Blair, John Grace, Phil Mitchell and Ian Pearson. The YTV series was the first of its kind–a fully CG animated television series. Ahead of its time, the original series electrified viewers with its groundbreaking animation style and stories of heroic Guardians who battled viruses inside computer systems. Twenty years later, ReBoot: the Guardian Code upgrades that original concept for today’s tech savvy kids.

Transcending age groups with appeal to kids, tweens and teens, ReBoot: the Guardian Code is an adventure-comedy series about four teens (Austin, Parker, Grey and Tamra) who discover that they’re next-gen Guardians with a mission to save the world, by defending it in cyberspace. The Internet revolutionized the world, but it also left it vulnerable to attack. With the help of VERA, the last surviving cyberbeing from the original Guardian Program, our heroes stream into cyberspace where they use their awesome code-based powers to battle viruses that have been unleashed by a ruthless hacker. Known only as the Sourcerer, he seeks to rule the world by controlling cyberspace. Original fans of the show will be happy to hear that Megabyte will be back and he’s getting a major upgrade. ReBoot will showcase leading edge technologies and bring coding into the mainstream for kids.

When Austin, Parker, Grey and Tamra are not trying to stop viruses from overloading a nuclear power station, or remotely opening a dam to flood a city, or playing Criss Cross Crash Hour with a city’s transportation grid, our heroes are being typical teens: arguing with their parents over curfews; dealing with crushes; or trying to avoid getting suspended for skipping class when they’re really on a cyber mission to save the world!

Over the course of its four seasons in the 1990s, 48 x 22 minute episodes of ReBoot were sold to 84 counties (YTV in Canada and ABC Network and Cartoon Network in the US), with the last new episodes airing in 2001. Complementing the television series was a ReBoot toy line produced by Irwin Toys along with a video game produced by Electronic Arts.

 

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Dark Matter, Featured

Dark Matter launches Canada’s summer of sci-fi

Call it Canada’s summer of sci-fi. That’s certainly how it’s shaping up, with Space’s newbies Dark Matter and Killjoys and Showcase’s returning Defiance all gliding across our screens for the upcoming couple of months.

The first out of the gate is Dark Matter, a space opera created by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, the duo behind the Stargate franchise. Starring Anthony Lemke (19-2), Roger Cross (Continuum) and Zoie Palmer (Lost Girl), Friday’s debut catches up with a group of people who awaken from a deep sleep to find themselves on a space ship and with no memory of how they got there … or who they are. The idea for Dark Matter first came to Mallozzi back when he and Mullie were deeply entrenched in Stargate: Atlantis; they turned the idea into a graphic novel first before shopping it to networks as a series.

Mollozzi is quick to highlight a feature of Dark Matter that kept him enthralled in projects like Farscape and Firefly: humour.

“There is a lot of dark sci-fi out there that is great,” he explains. “But a lot of fans are missing a fun sci-fi series and there hasn’t been one on a ship-based show for awhile. We set out to make a fun show with a sense of humour while at the same time putting viewers on the edge of their seat every week.”

Space

It doesn’t take long for either of those plot points to appear in Friday’s debut. After awakening from sleep, the crew—One (Marc Bendavid, Bitten), Two (O’Neil, Broadway’s Les Misérables), Three (Lemke), Four (Alex Mallari Jr., Robocop), Five (Jodelle Ferland, The Cabin in the Woods) and Six (Cross)—begin to investigate their surroundings. Three is a sarcastic lover of weaponry who likes to shoot first and ask questions later, a rogue Mallozzi likens to Han Solo, Five is energetic and full of snark and One provides the leadership the squad so badly needs. The ragtag group uncover a seventh individual aboard: the ship’s android (Palmer), who makes a memorable first impression.

Who are they? Where are they? Where are they going and what the heck is locked behind a massive steel door in the bowels of the ship? The answer to the first question is delivered by the end of the debut while leaving things open for character evolution.

“Going back over my writing over the years is this idea of redemption,” Mallozzi says. “Nature vs. nurture. Are you born bad or are you a product of your environment? People form the strongest of friendships with their former enemies and the strongest of enemies with their former friends. It’s fascinating to me.”

As for what’s lurking behind that massive door? Mallozzi promises that will be resolved halfway through the season.

“We’re not going to string you guys along,” he says with a laugh. “There are setups and payoffs along the way. We’re going to find out the answers to two mysteries this season: who wiped their memories and what is behind that big metal door.”

Let the summer of sci-fi commence.

Dark Matter airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on Space.

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