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Featured, Saving Hope

Saving Hope: Magicians and pianists and cell phone babies, oh my!

When we last left our friends at Hope Zion, Maggie and Sydney were planning to move to London for Syd’s new job and Charlie’s gift had advanced to a new, troubling level: Spirit Blake was able to touch him. This week, a wrench in thrown into the works when Maggie is offered a new gig, throwing her future with Syd into disarray.

Here’s what CTV has revealed about this Thursday’s new episode of Saving Hope, “Leap of Faith”:

Dr. Alex Reid and Dr. Maggie Lin work together to deliver the baby of plastic surgeon Dr. Arnie Storms (Ari Cohen, SHOOT THE MESSENGER) and his wife. Charlie treats magician “Abbadon” (Joe Cobden, THIS LIFE), who shattered both his legs during an illusion gone wrong, and Dr. Shahir Hamza treats his idol – a virtuosic concert pianist – who has been inadvertently poisoning herself, while trying to curb symptoms of early onset Parkinson’s. Meanwhile, when Maggie is offered an obstetrician position at Hope Zion, it causes her to rethink her role at the hospital.

And here are a few more tidbits about the instalment, written by Adam Pettle and Hayden Simpson and directed by Jason Priestley.

Jonathan and Shahir adjust to being parents. Sort of.
We knew there’d be Alex and Charlie’s newbie factoring into Season 5 storylines but Shahir and Jonathan’s potential happy addition has been a complete surprise. We’re loving Christopher Jacot in this role and his scenes were Huse Madhavji are equal parts hilarious and emotional.

Speaking of Alex and Charlie’s baby…
We find out the sex of the little cherub.

We’ve got your guest stars
Shoot the Messenger‘s Ari Cohen, sketch comic Marty Adams (above) and Bellevue‘s Joe Cobden drop by this week. The latter two provide truly laugh-out-loud moments in Charlie’s spirit storyline. Seriously though, how many more excuses can Charlie make to his co-workers about why he’s staring off into space and/or talking to himself?

Saving Hope airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Featured, Podcast

TV, Eh? podcast Episode 230 — Fresh Orchard Aroma

This week’s podcast is sponsored by Brickworks Ciderhouse Stockyard Pear Cider and Kinsip’s Wild Oak Whisky!

After rolling through a particularly dense couple of weeks of the Calendar we delve into Corus’ cancellation of You Gotta Eat Here and Heritage Minister Melanie Joly naming an interim CRTC commissioner following J.P. Blais’ exit.

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

Want to support TV, eh?’s work? Become a Patreon!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

W Network’s Jillian & Justin pulls back the curtain on Harris’ private life

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She’s been a bachelorette and battled with Todd Talbot on Love It Or List It Vancouver. Now Jillian Harris is allowing W Network to track her newest life experience: mother.

Debuting Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on W Network, the four-part Jillian & Justin pulls back the curtain on Harris’ personal life, something most haven’t seen on television (but get plenty of on her blog and Instagram) since her time on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. Along for the experience is Justin Pasutto, a former professional snowboarder and small business owner who seems equally at home having a documentary camera track his every move as she does. Jillian & Justin is from Big Coat Media, the same folks who make Love It Or List It Vancouver and it’s obvious Harris trusts them. How else to explain why she and Pasutto would allow them to record the not-so-glamourous life of a couple building their own house in Kelowna, B.C., with a baby on the way while juggling day jobs?

Much of Episode 1 lays the groundwork for the rest of the series, setting up who Pasutto is and his personality. It also gives an interesting peek into life behind-the-scenes on Love It Or List It Vancouver, as Harris and co-host Todd Talbot discuss her pregnancy while eating popsicles in the production camper. Gone are the TV personas we see on that show and we’re left with two good friends discussing life-changing events. It’s pretty cool stuff.

If you’re not a fan of Harris, Jillian & Justin won’t be your cup of tea. But if following her on social media, getting email updates from her website and watching Love It Or List It Vancouver just isn’t enough, this four-parter will help sate your appetite.

Jillian & Justin airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on W Network.

Image courtesy of Corus.

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Children's Programming, Featured

TVO’s Opie’s Home catches up with the energetic lad during summer break

My orange-skinned preschooler buddy has got himself a spinoff! Yes, Opie, who has been taking the fear out of kindergarten for kids and parents with Hey Opie! on TVO for the past couple of years, leaves school for a new series setting him at home.

Opie’s Home, debuting Tuesday at 10:50 a.m. on TVO, sends the friendly four-year-old—performed by Jordan Lockhart—home for the summer to spend time with his mom (Aisha Alfa), dad (Jim Annan), Gram (Claire Riley) and next door neighbour, Mr. Kabashio (Graham Greene).

TVO Kids, marblemedia and The Jim Henson Company have got educational and truly entertaining kids’ programming down pat and Opie’s Home is no exception. The first seven-minute instalment introduces trust and responsibility in an interesting way as Opie is allowed to handle his dad’s cell phone so he can take a “big boy” selfie. There are a few near-misses along the way—running on stairs with electronics in your hand isn’t the safest—but Opie is successful in landing “the funnest fun” selfie ever with some help from Snackasaurus. Episode 2 gets a little more serious, as kale smoothies don’t sound like fun at all to Opie and Gavin.

Opie’s Home airs Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:50 a.m. on TVO and anytime on TVOKids. The series will premiere later this fall across Canada on Knowledge Kids and CityTV Saskatchewan.

Images courtesy of TVO.

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Children's Programming, Featured

TVO’s Canada Crew celebrates the country’s 150th in style

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems to be everywhere. Running behind a group of students prepping for their prom in Vancouver, kayaking up to supporters outside their cottage … I almost expect to see him in line with me at Starbucks. So, it’s nice to see Sophie Grégoire Trudeau getting some airtime as well, as one of several guests on TVO’s newest kid’s series Canada Crew.

Created by Ben Mazzotta and executive-produced by Maria Kennedy, Canada Crew—debuting Monday—is part of the public broadcaster’s Summer of Canada lineup that includes Opie’s Home and Kid Diners; both of those series bow on Tuesday. Mazzotta and Kennedy were meeting with Marney Malabar, TVO’s director of kids TV, to go over ideas for Now You Know when she asked for content tied to Canada’s 150th birthday. The independent producers batted around ideas in the car ride home.

“We were saying, ‘What if we did this? What if we did that?'” Mazzotta recalls. “We came up with an idea that morphed into what we see now.”

“We went with our strengths,” Kennedy says. “We know puppets through Now You Know and having high-profile guests on a show. We wrote a concept based on that.” Canada Crew‘s puppet hosts are Bebe the Beaver, Mo the Moose and Gavin the Canada Goose; the trio travels to every province and territory introducing kids the things that make Canada what it is: people and places, food, pastimes, animals and nature, and the national anthem. Big-name guests in the 26 seven-minute instalments include, aside from Trudeau, celebrity chef Susur Lee, hockey great Darryl Sittler, Olympic kayaker Adam van Koeverden, WE Day founder Craig Kielburger and Major Indira Thackorie of the Royal Canadian Air Forces Snowbirds team.

“Bebe is excited by everything,” Mazzotta says. “She’s precocious, she’s really funny, energetic and not afraid of anything. Mo is a little more cautious, studious and uses an iPad to research facts. And Gavin is a little more of a bumbling character, falling and tripping and forgets he can fly.” Together, they aim to educate viewers not only about the history of this country and what makes us unique from the rest of the world but to entertain too.

Mission accomplished.

Canada Crew airs at 8:20 a.m. ET and 2:30 p.m. ET on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on TVO Kids and is available on TVOKids.com.

Images courtesy of TVO.

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