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Featured, Travelers

Travelers: Eric McCormack and Nesta Cooper preview crazy Season 2

Season 1 of Travelers wrapped with one hell of a cliffhanger. In a stressful face-off in the barn, Trevor (Jared Abrahamson) and Grace (Jennifer Spence) were both shot moments before Trevor could destroy the quantum frame.

Those final moments were preceded by some major information: Shelter 41 had collapsed and been taken over by The Faction, people unsupportive of the director and the grand plan. By the end of the instalment, Carly (Nesta Cooper), MacLaren (Eric McCormack), Marcy (MacKenzie Porter), Trevor and Philip (Reilly Dolman) had been captured by the FBI, headed by MacLaren’s partner Walt (Arnold Pinnock). Crazy, right? Episode 1 of Season 2—returning Monday, Oct. 16, at 9 p.m. ET on Showcase—blows that out of the water. Seriously. And that’s all thanks to new cast member Enrico Colantoni, who plays Vincent, a mysterious character whose back story takes up much of Monday’s return. We spoke to McCormack and Cooper about what fans can expect as Brad Wright’s creation hurtles into its sophomore season.

Enrico Colantoni … how did that casting come about? Was that a result of Brad wanting to expand the world in Season 2?
Eric McCormack: As you see in the final image in Monday’s first episode, we now know who Enrico was playing in Season 1. As for it being Enrico, I take my one producer credit: Brad showed me the script and said, ‘Who do you think should play that?’ I knew we were going to go for Canadian cast across the board, so I immediately thought of Enrico. What he did on Person of Interest reminded me of the kind of intensity and danger that he could bring. But what he does in the first five minutes of the premiere is so exciting and so heartbreaking. Somebody watching the show must have been wondering, ‘Well, when did all of this traveler business start?’ The question gets answered, and in such a cool way.

When I got the first script, I was reading it and saying, ‘Where’s the barn?’ But there is a such a good reason to set up [Monday’s return] the way that we do.

Let’s discuss the Season 1 finale in the barn. The FBI rolls in and there is Walt. The cat is out of the bag.
EM: ‘The cat is out of the bag! How can it be out? It’s only Season 1?!’ That’s what fans have been saying to me.

Nesta Cooper: There are so many questions going through our heads. Carly didn’t kill MacLaren even though the director told her to. Am I not going to get saved because I didn’t complete the mission? What’s going to happen to the quantum frame? What is it capable of?

Travelers is a very active show with lots of hand-to-hand combat. Do you do your own stunts?
NC: We’ve had the same stunt team for both seasons. In Season 1, I was a twiggy and very weak. [Laughs.] I’m still weak but I work out a lot more now. The stunt team has seen how I fight and carry myself and I’m lucky because the writing has taken this physically strong person and put her into the body of a weak, single mom. Carly is able to grow with me as I’ve learned to carry myself. This season I’m able to do a lot of my own stunts, like when I flip people and when I punch people.

What can you say about the relationship between Carly and MacLaren going forward?
EM: I hope what’s been made clear to the audience is that it’s something that should never have been brought into the past. We were clearly fraternizing in boot camp and that probably shouldn’t have happened, but who cares because it’s a dystopian, awful future. I wasn’t sure how long the relationship would go and I was surprised how it’s kind of come to a stop because of MacLaren’s feelings for [his wife] Kat [Leah Cairns]. But I hope it still comes up as a thing. It’s an unsettled score.

NC: To me, it’s still a thing for Carly. I had imagined that Carly did not open up to a lot of people ever, and MacLaren was her person. And when she felt betrayed by him, it was a big loss for her. I hope it continues to be a thing and I’ll certainly be playing it that way. When we pick up, she’ll be facing those feelings head-on.

Not only does Amanda Tapping have a role in Travelers this season, but she directed an episode as well. What was it like working with her?
NC: Literally a dream.

EM: There is a such an ease with her. Watching her run a crew is effortless. She knows what she’s doing 10 minutes before anyone else does.

Travelers airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Showcase; Season 2 returns on Monday, Oct. 16.

Image courtesy of Corus.

 

 

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19-2, Featured

Comments and queries for the week of October 6

19-2 really was pleasant to watch and kept me glued to my seat week in and week out. The characters were well developed and the acting was phenomenal. J.M. was someone we loved to hate. I really loved his character and how it kept everyone else on edge. The rookie was fantastic as well. Not everyone gets along at work and the fact that his character was just starting to develop, makes me sad we will not see any more of this show. Yes, it was about Chartier and Nick but it was much more. Many of my friends are police officers in Montreal and they have mentioned many times about the realism of the episodes and how accurate they are. Well done and gone before it had to! The emotion shown by Chartier and Nick when they returned to the school was very powerful. Not only was that original school shooting episode riveting, but their return shows how affected they really are by the job that they do. These things stay with you forever and the way this show portrays these scenes is amazing. You cannot help but feel for these characters and when a show can leave you with such emotion, you know that it is well-written and well-acted. Proud of this Canadian show, both English and French versions. —Johnny

Please continue on with this series. It’s a great show and my husband and I look forward to watching it each week. —Maria

 

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

 

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Featured, Murdoch Mysteries

Murdoch Mysteries: Colin Mochrie shares secrets to his memorable guest role

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It all began with a tweet. Back in March, veteran comic actor and improviser Colin Mochrie posted congratulations to Murdoch Mysteries landing a Season 11 renewal while making a not-so-veiled pitch to get himself on the long-running CBC series.

The request led to reality: Mochrie’s guest role happens on Monday during “8 Footsteps,” when he portrays Ralph Fellows, house detective at the Windsor House Hotel where Murdoch and Julia are living. The relationship between Fellows and Murdoch is anything but friendly, especially when a murder occurs inside the hotel. Monday’s instalment is jam-packed with special guests, including the return of Alexander Graham Bell (played by John Tench), who is accompanied by Helen Keller (Amanda Richer) and her companion Anne Sullivan Macy (Severn Thompson).

We spoke to Mochrie ahead of “8 Footsteps.”

Congratulations on landing a guest role on Murdoch Mysteries.
Colin Mochrie: It took long enough, didn’t it?

How much of your tweet was just having a little fun?
It was about 50 per cent. It’s alway good to put yourself out there and I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to be the last one [to guest star]. That happened with The Red Green Show, so time was running out.

Had you wanted to be on Murdoch Mysteries before and have been waiting for the call all this time?
Yes, sure. It’s a Canadian institution and I always enjoy working. It seemed like the perfect fit.

How did getting you onto the show actually work? Did Yannick Bisson contact you, or was it the show’s producers, Shaftesbury?
I tweeted, ‘Hey, come on, hire me.’ And Yannick had been working on it for awhile and this part came up and I guess they figured, ‘What the hell, maybe he’ll stop tweeting us.’

What can you say about the character of Ralph Fellows?
He is the hotel detective at the hotel that Murdoch lives in. So, there is a little bit of a professional jealousy. He has to deal with things like stolen cutlery whereas Murdoch gets all the sexy cases. There is definitely an antagonistic quality in their relationship throughout the show. He doesn’t hide it very well.

It sounds as though Monday’s case is a little bit more serious than stolen silverware if Murdoch is involved.
It’s murder! It’s great because it involves Alexander Graham Bell and Helen Keller, so it’s sort of a high profile case. There is a charity event and she is the guest of honour. They decide to have a meal in total darkness so that people can get insight into what it’s like being blind. The lights are out and not everyone makes it through dinner.

A great storyline!
It is. And a great set. I had always heard how wonderful it was to work there. The cast and the crew are just great, and I have to give Yannick full points. The feeling on-set emanates from the star and he is such a graceful man and classy, it’s very professional set and we have a lot of fun. When we get down to work, we work.

Murdoch Mysteries airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Are you looking forward to Monday’s episode? Let me know in the comments below!

 

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Bad Blood, Featured

Bad Blood: Enrico Colantoni on Bruno Bonsignori and his love affair with Kim Coates

After decades playing other characters in feature films, the theatre and television, Enrico Colantoni is the closest to playing himself in City’s miniseries Bad Blood. To play Bruno Bonsignori, advisor to Vito Rizzuto (Anthony LaPaglia), Colantoni called on his Italian roots and a childhood that inspired his take on Bruno.

In our latest interview—done from the set of Bad Blood in Sudbury, Ont., last year—Colantoni outlines how he became part of the Bad Blood cast and how his past helped define the character.

How did you get involved in Bad Blood in the first place?
Enrico Colantoni: I’ve had an admiration for Kim Coates since Waterworld, and then seeing him on with George Stroumboulopoulos and realizing he was Canadian and from Saskatoon. And then, I won a Canadian Screen Award and he presented it to me. The hug I received … it was like two star-crossed lovers. I just love him and get him on so many levels and I think it’s mutual.

I was in Vancouver directing an episode of iZombie and I was having such a great time. I said, ‘If I can do this for the rest of my life I’ll never act again.’ Directing, even episodic for just two weeks, uses all my faculties. I got to act all the roles and have the final word on things. It was so exciting.

And then the phone rings and the script comes and I say, ‘Oh no, a mobster. I don’t want to do this.’ Then I read the first episode and, not only is the writing fantastic, but this character. I’ve never gotten to play an Italian mobster in my whole career. And this guy’s energy is so different from all of the other heavies. He’s sort of buffoonish, clownish. And I realize, ‘For the first time in my career, I can play me as an homage to the goofs I grew up with.’ And then when I realized this was with Kim, and Mr. LaPaglia and Mr. Sorvino … I gotta go. There hasn’t been a disappointing moment yet.

Bruno Bonsignori is a fictional character.
Kinda. He’s based on a real character, but the story I was told is that the reason they changed his name is because of the liberties that the script takes. He was based on a real guy and they share the same nickname, ‘Peacemaker.’

For Bruno, bloodshed is a last resort in this violent world.
Right. There’s gotta be that guy who is just the business-minded guy, who is good with the money. Who is good with talking. He is that guy.

I find it interesting that, when you dig down and really research some of these people, there are heroes. Not everyone is a villain.
Some of these guys just want to make a living. It’s so funny that the guys who I grew up with … their attitudes toward life walked such a fine line between legal and illegal. Objectively, I could see the difference, but they really couldn’t. If they got away with something, they were applauded for it and congratulated for it inside the family. My father would have beaten the shit out of me, but there were some Italians who thought that was appropriate behaviour and it was encouraged.

And Bad Blood is a Canadian story.
Isn’t that beautiful? I took such pride in that. We had our own version of the Cosa Nostra. I always thought that the famous names in Toronto were the Toronto version of something, never imagining that their ties to the bigger animal were so connected. And the guys in Montreal were even more so. When you hear the name Bonanno mentioned, you realize [the Canadians] were playing in the major leagues.

Bad Blood airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on City.

Look for more coverage of Bad Blood from our set visit late last year in the coming days, including exclusive interviews with director Alain Desrochers, and Business or Blood: Mafia Boss Vito Rizzuto’s Last War authors Antonio Nicaso and Peter Edwards.

Image courtesy of Rogers Media.

 

 

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Featured, Podcast

TV Eh B Cs podcast 70 — The Lieberman Directives

Robert Lieberman has been a prominent director in film, television and commercials over multiple decades. A highlight from his expansive career in television was directing the pilot and executive producing the CBS series Gabriel’s Fire, which starred James Earl Jones and garnered three Emmy Awards. In recent years Mr. Lieberman’s television directing assignments have included multiple episodes of The Expanse, Eyewitness, Art of More, Rogue, Criminal Minds, Dexter, The X-Files, Brothers & Sisters and eight episodes of Haven.

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