From Chris Jancelewicz of Huffington Post Canada:
Best Canadian TV Of 2014: Shows And Moments That Ruled The Small Screen
Every Canadian knows it’s true: our homegrown TV has a horrible reputation, both here and abroad. The first things that pop into people’s minds are snow, period pieces, and low production values — hardly the stuff of legendary entertainment. But something has been happening over the past few years. Slowly, steadily, Canadian TV shows are getting better. Continue reading.
From a media release:
Bravo announced today that Season 2 of its gripping original drama 19-2 premieres Monday, Jan. 19 at 10 p.m. ET. In the stirring Season 2 premiere “Schoolâ€, the entire squad is embroiled in an intensely tragic school shooting with consequences that will profoundly impact all of their lives. The episode has been recreated for English audiences by renowned director Podz, who directed the same episode of the original French-Canadian version of 19-2 to critical acclaim. The tragic events that unfold in the premiere episode set the stage for Season 2’s overarching themes of introspection, trust and loyalty. A first look at the premiere episode is available here.
Season 1 of 19-2 was Bravo’s #1 original series, drawing an average of nearly 200,000 viewers per episode. Throughout its entire run, the series attracted 3.4 million unique viewers. For viewers looking to catch up on 19-2, Bravo is marathoning Season 1 of 19-2 in its entirety, beginning Sunday, Jan. 4 at 11 a.m. ET. All episodes from Season 1 are also immediately available on demand on CraveTV.
Picking up where Season 1 left off, Season 2 sees Ben under pressure from the Sécurité du Québec (SQ) to uncover the identity of a mole at Station 19. Ben begins to secretly investigate his own squad, further complicating both his partnership with Nick, and their burgeoning friendship. As previously announced, Season 2 introduces two, new characters; Cassius Clement a.k.a. Kaz (Richard Chevolleau, SAVING HOPE), Nick’s charming, career-criminal cousin; and Rita (Lisa Berry, NIKITA), Kaz’s girlfriend.
19-2 also sees the return of Nick’s ex-wife, Isabelle Latendresse (Maxim Roy, HEARTLAND); Nick’s former lover, officer Audrey Pouliot (Laurence Lebeouf, DURHAM COUNTY); angry beat-cop and Nick’s antagonist, J.M. Brouillard (Dan Petronijevic, SAVING HOPE); officer Tyler Joseph (Benz Antoine, THE LISTENER), the good-humoured beat cop struggling with alcohol addiction; Tyler’s brazen, no-nonsense partner Béatrice Hamelin (Mylène Dinh-Robic, THE LISTENER); straight-shooting Sergeant Julien Houle (Conrad Pla, THE LISTENER); and Marcel Gendron, the manipulative District Commander (Bruce Ramsay, CONTINUUM).
From Amber Dowling:
“19-2” isn’t a series known for pulling punches, in French Canada or in its English-Canadian remake that debuted earlier this year on Bravo.
Season 1 of the English version depicted what series star Jared Keeso likes to describe as the “blood, piss and puke” of cop shows through graphic, documentary-style scenes, like a female officer being beaten with a baseball bat or an elderly man sobbing while his son stood over him screaming. Season 2 is about to up that ante. Continue reading.
Bell Media’s Aug. 14 announcement regarding its 14 new comedies and dramas in development for The Movie Network was significant. For the first time that I can recall, a Canadian network unveiled its development plan for the coming year, showing its cards in advance. Though commonplace in the U.S. where pilot orders and development deals are announced daily via Variety and Deadline, it’s rare to show your cards north of the border, and was an adjustment for Bell.
“We had talked about doing it or not doing it over the years,” Corrie Coe, senior vice-president of independent production for Bell Media admits. “In terms of the industry, it gave a sense of the projects that we were working on, the types of talent we were working with and the levels and range of projects which we thought was helpful. We have heard from producers and writers who have said that it has been helpful to know what we’re already working on so they know what to pitch and what not to pitch to us. We were a little worried whether we were giving away too much information but tossed that worry out the window and we’re glad we did.”
She explains that in an average year Bell Media receives 1,200 to 1,300 pitches. Each one is looked at before 40 to 50 are chosen for development before that number is trimmed down to the projects greenlit to pilot or ordered to series. Two of those given the go-ahead this year were comedies Letterkenny and Prons.
Created by 19-2 actor Jared Keeso and Jacob Tierney (The Trotsky) with New Metric Media, Letterkenny is a television adaptation of the duo’s outrageous NSFW YouTube series Letterkenny Problems, which points video cameras at two buddies living in a fictional small-town in Ontario who wax poetic on the problems plaguing they and their fellow townsfolk. Keeso says he and Tierney headed to the Internet after the CBC passed on 19-2 after a pilot episode had been filmed. (The series was picked up by Bravo and Season 2 of 19-2 is currently in production in Montreal.) Tired of relying on auditioning to decide his fate, Keeso opted to create his own content unencumbered by network rules.
“I think this is a great route to go,” he says of his show’s YouTube beginnings. “Not only are you being creative and showing initiative and you’re in control, but you can do whatever you want to. It’s all yours.” Letterkenny is being retooled for television, with more characters being added to round out the cast; at press time Keeso and Tierney have submitted three scripts to Bell Media.
Meanwhile, fellow comedy Prons has the cache of having the high-profile writer/director/actor Kevin Smith attached to it. The man behind Mallrats has teamed with Degrassi and The Best Years showrunner Aaron Martin to tell the ribald tale of a famous porn star who returns to his small town of Brantford, Ont. Martin, who is from Brantford, was approached by Smith and Halfire Entertainment president Noreen Halpern after Smith pitched the idea and needed a Canadian writer to come on board.
Martin was the pair’s first choice; he had worked with Smith on Degrassi and Halpern on The Best Years. The road to getting Prons on the air has been a long one. Martin and Smith pitched the idea to networks two years ago and Astral Media bit. When Astral was purchased by Bell Media, Prons moved under The Movie Network umbrella. Martin laughs when he recalls having to write a show bible explaining why this character is moving back to his hometown.
“It’s about a guy who is in his 30s and wakes up and says ‘What have I done with my life? How did I get here?'” he explains. “And he remembers a time before he sold out and that time was when he was a high school student and his whole life was laid out ahead of him. So he goes back to see his former girlfriend, his former best friend and to save his town’s hockey rink.” Like Keeso and Tierney, Smith and Martin are waiting to hear whether they’ll be moving forward.
Other notable projects in development at TMN include Thunderhouse Falls, written by award-winning author Joseph Boyden; time period crime drama The Tenderness of Wolves, based on the novel by Stef Penney; and Gucci Wars, which tracks the rise and fall of the famed Italian designer. Coe says all are in various stages of the creative process, with some having pilot scripts done, others not that far yet and others working on show bibles. It’s a long journey in a country that relies on tax credits and other financing to come through and networks have to be sure each project is the right fit before they commit to greenlighting a season.
“I do think making TV in Canada is hard,” Coe says. “Even once you have scripts and a bible done and all of the research completed you still have to assemble financing at a level that will allow you to support that budget and creative in a way that makes your show look head and shoulders above anything else out there.
“We’re fortunate to have the tax credits that we do but I do think it’s tricky to cobble together those pieces and get to the moment that the cameras are rolling on Day 1.”
Bravo’s cop drama 19-2 is jam-packed with a who’s-who of Canadian actors and actresses, from Jared Keeso (Keep Your Head Up Kid: The Don Cherry Story) and Adrian Holmes (Continuum) to Mylène Dinh-Robic (The Listener) and Maxime Roy (Heartland), but they–along with showrunner/executive producer/writer Bruce Smith–all say the biggest role on the show is played by the city the show is set in: Montreal.
That point was driven home earlier this week when a small group of Canadian media–TV, Eh? included–were given exclusive access to the cast and crew while scenes for Season 2 were being filmed just off Parc Darlinton near Mont Royal. Dozens of crew bustled around the cramped quarters between two apartment buildings while a scene between Officer Nick Barron (Holmes) and a key figure from his past were filmed. Unlike Toronto, where residents would be kept far away from filming, those living in the apartments all around got a free show as they leaned over balcony railings to take it all in. It adds to the realism portrayed in the tense drama about the men and women who work for the Service Police Metropolitain.
“There is a flavour about the province of Quebec,” Roy, a native of Rigaud, Que., says. “I think Montreal is like what New York City is to Sex and the City. There is a passionate side to Quebecers that you don’t find anywhere else and I think it’s reflected in the series, in the writing and in the characters.” She adds that having a Quebec crew ensures that their unique joie de vivre translates through the small screen.
“Cities like Toronto and Vancouver deserve to be the backdrop of series,” Montreal’s Dinh-Robic explains. “The Listener was great because it showcased Toronto just as 19-2 showcases Montreal as this beautiful, really dangerous, exciting place.”
Season 1 boasted several examples of all three, whether it was Officer Tyler Joseph (Benz Antoine) looking out over the sparkling city from Mont Royal and proclaiming it his mistress or–in the most shocking scene of the debut season–a group of anti-cop thugs brutally assaulting Officer Audrey Pouliot (Laurence Laboeuf) with baseball bats. And while that last offering is an extreme one, it does reflect the complicated relationship some Montrealers have with authority in general and the police in particular. It probably doesn’t help that Montreal is embroiled in real-life controversy at the moment, as cops are working under protest along with other city staff against a plan to cut their pensions.
“There is not that same respect for authority for police here in Montreal,” Keeso says candidly. “There is a history of protests and corruption and organized crime. We’ve been told by the police to put a coat on over our uniforms when we’re not working. I’ve been on the way to the set in my uniform and had people pull up next to me and just start screaming at me.
“For me, when I see a cop, I shut up,” Keeso continues. “But here when they see a cop it makes them want to lash out.”
Season 2 of 19-2 is tentatively set to return early next year.
