Everything about Being Erica, eh?

Battle of the Blades, Being Erica, Call Me Fitz, Dragons' Den, Heartland, Lost Girl, Rick Mercer Report, The Ron James Show, This Hour Has 22 Minutes

Fall premiere dates

Bill Harris of QMI Agency breaks down the fall premiere dates, including Canadian shows:

  • Fall TV getting weird
    “Our official fall TV preview section will appear in a few weeks, as the majority of shows are set to debut or return toward the end of September. But a significant number of programs will burst out of the gate before that, some even before Labour Day.” Read more.
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Battle of the Blades, Being Erica, Degrassi, Dragons' Den, Haven, Industry News, Podcast, Rick Mercer Report, This Hour Has 22 Minutes

TV, eh? podcast episode 3: Gordon Pinsent and CBC’s fall schedule

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Episode 3: Listen or download here or subscribe via iTunes or with any other program via the TV, Eh? feed

Co-hosts Anthony Marco and Diane Wild discuss the CBC fall schedule, including arguing about the merits of Battle of the Blades, deciding Rick Mercer and the gang at 22 Minutes should never have holidays so we can have a Daily Show/Colbert type show in Canada,cheering Being Erica‘s renewal, and cynically deciding CBC had nothing better in development. In other news, 18 to Life was picked up by The CW, Haven got decent ratings, Degrassi introduced a transgendered character, and The Pillars of the Earth premieres Friday on The Movie Network/Movie Central.

Plus, a 20-minute interview with Gordon Pinsent about his role in The Pillars of the Earth, his 80th birthday celebration at the opening of his new play, Due South, the new series he has in development with son-in-law Peter Keleghan, what progress he’s seen in the Canadian TV industry over the years, his relationship with Sarah Polley, and how he’s been in every Canadian TV show and movie ever made.

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Being Erica, Degrassi

TV, eh? interview: Paula Brancati takes on Degrassi and Being Erica

By Diane Wild

Article first published as A Chat With Paula Brancati of Degrassi and Being Erica on Blogcritics

BrancatiPaula Brancati is taking on New York Friday, when her character Jane Vaughn plays a major role in the two-hour television movie Degrassi Takes on Manhattan. And she’s taking on Canadian television in two high-profile series. Combined with her role as troublemaking friend Jenny in Being Erica, Brancati gets to do “a lot of stuff onscreen that I wouldn’t do offscreen,” as she said in a recent interview.

In Degrassi Takes Manhattan (known as Degrassi: The Heat Is On in the US), Jane tags along with her friends Holly and Declan “because her lies and cheating on Spinner are revealed, so she goes along as an escape.”

Naturally, “lots of debauchery ensues.”

For Brancati, however, the highlight was recording three songs for the soundtrack when Jane joins an indie rock band. Though she started acting in musical theatre as a child and has performed live, this was her first professional recording.

She’ll miss the movie’s premiere on Friday at the MuchMusic headquarters for a great reason, however: her play Love, Loss, and What I Wore premieres that night at Toronto’s Panasonic Theatre. Written by Nora and Delia Ephron and starring Andrea Martin, Louise Pitre and Mary Walsh, the play is a big part of Brancati’s big night.

The 10th season of Degrassi premieres on Monday, but as for Brancati’s involvement? “You know, you’ll have to wait and see the movie” she said. “The movie is really tumultuous. She experiences heartbreak and you don’t know what’s going to happen next with her. She has so many opportunities and places to go, so who knows if Degrassi or Toronto will be one of the options for her.”

Fans will definitely see more of Brancati when the third season of Being Erica airs, though. At 21, the actress gets to play Jenny as a 15-year-old in flashbacks and as a 30-year-old in present-day.

She’s already shot one episode where “there may have been some pole dancing involved. That doesn’t seem to be such a stretch for Jenny but for me it was a little daunting.”

And there’s more to come. She’s shooting another episode in a couple of weeks with the tentative title “Jenny on the Block.”

The show, of course, remains centred around Erin Karpluk’s Erica, but Brancati thinks the upcoming season will shake things up a little. “This season is very dark for Erica. It’s not just a formulaic episodic show. It goes in a whole other direction and there’s new characters .It’s not just a therapy session with Erica and Dr. Tom. I think fans will really enjoy it.”

As for the Degrassi movie, Brancati is curious about the audience reaction. “I want to hear how fans respond to the craziness that’s going to go down. And I want people to empathize with Jane. I really hope they do. She’s made some mistakes but I support the fact that she’s a good girl. Please feel for her!”

Degrassi airs on MuchMusic in Canada and Teen Nick in the US. Being Erica airs on CBC in Canada and SoapNet in the US.

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