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Featured, Great Canadian Baking Show

Dan Levy and Julia Chan bake up fun on CBC’s The Great Canadian Baking Show

Never underestimate the power of social media. That’s what Schitt’s Creek co-creator, executive producer, writer and star Daniel Levy learned when he tweeted his love for The Great British Bake Off and announced he’d be honoured to host a Canadian version of the culinary competition if that was ever in the cards.

“I had tweeted, quite naively, that if it ever came to Canada that I’ve love to throw my hat in the ring,” Levy says with a smile. “Almost immediately I started getting these responses, ‘It is for sure coming to Canada.’ ‘It’s happening.’ And then I inevitably got the call asking me if I would actually be interested. I said yes.”

Levy fulfils his dream on Wednesday when The Great Canadian Baking Show debuts at 8 p.m. on CBC. As if helming the homegrown version of your favourite program wasn’t enough, Levy does it with one of his best friends in Julia Chan; the former Saving Hope actress (who went by Julia Taylor Ross) joins him as narrator and co-host.

“We are great friends and were watching The Great British Bake Off together and Dan got involved,” Chan recalls. “Dan threw my hat in the ring, I got a call, went through the process and, apparently, we have good chemistry.”

“Watching this show and kind of colour commentating through the whole process, I was like, ‘I have a friend, she’s never hosted before but I think she would be a great, fresh voice for the show,'” Levy explains.

The Great Canadian Baking Show is fresh on a couple of levels. First, unlike other culinary competitions such as Top Chef Canada and MasterChef Canada, this is all about the baking. That, for watchers of those other shows, is often the hardest challenge put towards competitors thanks to the unforgiving science behind baking. You can fly by the seat of your pants when searing a steak. Not so when baking a multi-tiered cake. Second, The Great Canadian Baking Show is light-hearted and fun. If Wednesday’s debut is accurate, we’re in for one heck of an enjoyable ride. Levy and Chan are natural hosts, walking amongst the 10 home bakers, tasting here, asking questions there and genuinely having a good time.

Of course, the program isn’t all crumpets, tea and giggles. Each of the eight episodes contains three rounds—the Signature Bake, Technical Bake and Show Stopper—judged by baking legends Rochelle Adonis and Bruno Feldeisen. At the end of each episode, one home cook will be eliminated. This season’s 10 competitors represent a thick slice of Canada, from Regina CFO Vandana Jain to Victoria animator Jude Somers, from Toronto human rights lawyer Corey Shefman to Montreal graphic designer Sabrina Degni. All have a passion for baking and a flair for drama on a platter. Wednesday’s challenges force the 10 competitors to up the ante with regard to cakes and the results are stunning.

And while Levy is a longtime fan of The Great British Bake Off, he’s not so great in the kitchen, admitting to just one item in his culinary repertoire: frittata.

“I don’t have any culinary experience, but I do have a lot of opinions,” he says with a laugh. “That’s something that I can bring to this. I can’t bake a thing, but I can eat.”

The Great Canadian Baking Show airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

 

 

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Featured, Travelers

Travelers: Enrico Colantoni discusses Vincent’s Season 2 journey

This season of Travelers has been crazy. It’s hard to believe we’re only in Week 2 of the second go-round because Brad Wright and his writing squad have really upped the drama. It all began with that stunning introduction to Vincent Ingram, played by Enrico Colantoni. By the end of Episode 1, we learned Vincent arrived in this time period as the September 11th terrorist attack was taking place. Now, exceedingly rich and paranoid, Vincent has been capturing and torturing travelers … including our team in Season 1.

But rather than waiting all season long for a showdown between Vincent and MacLaren, Wright does it in this Monday’s new episode, “Jacob.” Like we said, no punches are being pulled in Season 2 and the scene between MacLaren and Vincent is chilling in its intensity.

We spoke to Colantoni, who most recently appeared in the City miniseries Bad Blood, about Vincent’s Season 2 journey.

Eric McCormack told me that he thought of you immediately when they were casting Vincent, based on your role on Person of Interest.
Enrico Colantoni: He was very candid about that part of it and I’m just thrilled that he sees me that way. It’s not every day that you get a call from an actor friend with a job. It’s pretty cool. [Laughs.] I’m sure with everything that Eric has to do casting isn’t one of them. He’s the cat’s meow and I’m thrilled that he thought of me. I see the connection between Elias and him seeing me as Vincent, but I took liberties with Vincent that I never would have been allowed to with Elias, which was cool.

This is a character who was hinted at in Season 1 but wasn’t revealed until the first episode of Season 2. It was a great reveal.
Can you imagine? It all makes sense, time-wise. And to play a character who has a new lease on life. You come into this world that changed on that day. There he is, coming in with a new lease on life. What would anybody do if they knew the future and still fear for their life? How would you proceed? You’d be completely paranoid, completely cloistered, avoid all the technology that everybody else is embracing and yet have complete control of it.

Was it hard to wrap your mind around it?
I had to have a few phone calls with Brad. I’m a fan of the show so I got the whole encyclopedia of it. Brad was nice enough to tell me where Vincent was headed but it was too much information to find useful before I even had shown up. The fun of it was I got to be a spiteful, paranoid old guy who just didn’t give a f–k, which was so much fun. And to watch Eric’s eyes bug because of some of the most ridiculous takes I’d ever given to camera. They couldn’t use them but I gave Brad everything from zero to 100. It’s just so much fun to play somebody who can’t be pigeonholed.

Does not being pigeonholed the result of the genre or the script?
The script. The genre itself is so broad, but Brad has really narrowed it down. To call The Director The Director as if it were God and then realize it’s an AI and there are factions in the future that are now at odds because of what happened in the past. You come wanting to prevent a catastrophe but now what do you do because it’s a new catastrophe.

And yet, it’s about dealing with the mundane. How do I raise this child and still save the world? How do I make this marriage work and still save the world? How do I deal with this drug addiction and still save the world?

Travelers airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Showcase.

Image courtesy of Corus.

 

 

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Featured, Frankie Drake

Comments and queries for the week of October 27

Will cast members of Murdoch Mysteries ever visit Frankie Drake Mysteries? Yes, they will be older but sometimes a crossover is interesting. —Gary

We’d love that! Let’s hope!

I am glad Cherry is back [on Murdoch Mysteries]. Better than Davis coming back. I hope she gets hers. —Sylvia

I was totally happy Shanti was sent home [on The Bachelor Canada]. What was she thinking? Chris asked her to stop and she didn’t hear? Guys aren’t into girl cattiness. She was totally depressing me, never mind Chris. Great move Chris! —Anne

 

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? Email greg.david@tv-eh.com or via Twitter @tv_eh.

 

 

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Featured, The Nature of Things

The Nature of Things unveils Lost Secrets of the Pyramids

The world’s fascination with how ancient people lives continues unabated. I’ve followed the stories of mummies and Egypt since I was young and have never lost that interest. So I was particularly excited to see The Nature of Things would be devoting an hour to digging deep into the latest finds in “Lost Secrets of the Pyramid.”

Airing Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBC, David Suzuki travels to Egypt where the desert continues to offer tantalizing clues as to what life at the time of Khufu was like. The Pharoah, who ruled during the fourth dynasty of the Old Kingdom period, commanded his people construct the Great Pyramid. It took 25 years to build and was made of over 2 million stones. When finished, the massive monument to Khufu was a shimmering limestone beacon that could be seen from miles away. But how was it made? New advancements in technology and some key finds have given clues as to how.

“The pyramids are the last of the ancient wonders that are still accessible,” says James Hyslop, president of Alibi Entertainment. “The pyramids are real, you can see them, and over 4,000 years of man and nature have failed to blunt their dominance in mythology and culture. The more that we discover about the pyramid, it increases the magnitude and the marvel, scope and scale of what is essentially a death chamber for a king.” Alibi Entertainment (The Baker Sisters, Titanic: The New Evidence), along with Windfall Films and Handel Productions are presenting the Canadian-UK production written, directed and produced by Gwyn Williams.

Suzuki, who filmed for five days on the Giza plateau, consults with experts, scientists and archaeologists Mark Lehner and Mohamed Abd El-Maguid in Cairo to uncover how the pyramid was constructed and the massive community that sprang up around it. New evidence—presented via CGI imagery, 3D computer models and drones—recreates an intricate barracks system used to house workers while a support group kept them fed. Suzuki meets with Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, who uncovers interesting information recounted on the walls of the home owned by Khufu’s high priest, Imery.

Some of the most stunning footage captured in the episode is the discovery of a boat meant to transfer Khufu into the next world. Its simple construction out of wood and rope confirmed boats were used on the Nile at the time and hinted at how the massive stone blocks used to create the Great Pyramid were transported to the build site.

“When the archaeologists and Egyptologists had determined that the boat was held together by rope, the challenge we thought would be really compelling … would be to see if we could recreate or rebuild a boat that was strong enough and seaworthy enough to carry a block of limestone to the site,” Hyslop says. “Truthfully, when we dropped it into the water, everybody was concerned if it was going to float, let alone when we put a three-ton block on it.”

The Nature of Things’ “Lost Secrets of the Pyramid” airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC; taken by Gwyn Williams.

 

 

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Featured, Podcast

TV, Eh? podcast Episode 237 — The Accidental Peppercorn

This week’s podcast brought to you by Bell City Brewing and Stagg Jr. Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey!

After discussing several shows returning and/or debuting in the next two weeks, we discuss Bell Media’s recent channel purchases, Super Channel’s newest Canadian TV show, Letterkenny‘s worldwide expansion and APTN’s plea.

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

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