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The Amazing Race Canada crashes in Cape Breton

It’s ironic that a beautiful section of Canada like Cape Breton was the most physically demanding on the remaining teams. And yet that’s what happened during Tuesday’s new episode of The Amazing Race Canada as Steph and Kristen battled Jillian and Emmett at the front of the pack while Joel and Ashley fought Rita and Yvette at the bottom.

The odd team out, and that may play to their advantage, were Frankie and Amy. As Emmett said just before he U-Turned Rita and Yvette, he viewed the mother-daughter team as physically weak and therefore the ones to keep in the Race. And while I do agree with him to a point, Frankie and Amy surprised me with their physicality during the Leg and have the smarts to outwit in a mental challenge.

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In what’s become a usual sight in Season 4, Steph and Kristen were neck-in-neck with Jillian and Emmett, swapping between first and second-place pulling mannequins from the water during the Canadian Coast Guard College challenge, the brutal Feel the Burn Detour involving the caber toss, farmer’s walk and stone’s throw, and final challenge, to push six heavy barrels through Fort Louisbourg to the cannon. It was a cool bit of history to watch as a viewer, so I’m glad Emmett—despite Jill’s protests—took the time to drink it all in.

With the Double U-Turn hanging over all, Steph and Kristen chose Joel and Ashley as the team to complete both Detours, putting them in direct competition with fellow U-Turned team Rita and Yvette, who’d already faced a setback in the Speed Bump after placing last in Cuba. The sisters stamped Christmas Island on letters quickly—if a little messily—and had a good laugh over the situation. The laughs turned to gritted teeth once they were U-Turned.

Jill and Emmett made it to the Pit Stop—the Louisbourg Lighthouse—mere steps in front of the girls, landing a trip for two to Mexico and making the east coast proud. I can’t wait to see how Jill replaces the shoe she lost; I’m pretty sure she didn’t pack and extra pair.

Rita and Yvette made a game of it and battled back from the Speed Bump, but weren’t able overcome the setback and were eliminated.

Here’s how the teams finished this Leg of the Race:

  1. Jillian and Emmett (trip for two to Mexico City)
  2. Steph and Kristen
  3. Frankie and Amy
  4. Joel and Ashley
  5. Rita and Yvette (eliminated)

The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CTV.

Image courtesy of Bell Media.

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Future of Super Channel originals Slasher, What Would Sal Do? and Tiny Plastic Men in limbo

 

UPDATE: As per a feature in Playback magazine, New Metric Media has found a new home for What Would Sal Do? The series has been acquired by Bell Media and will air on TMN and HBO Canada.


It wasn’t the news the creators and producers of Slasher, What Would Sal Do? and Tiny Plastic Men wanted to hear. Making a television show in Canada is difficult enough, but it’s impossible when the company responsible for broadcasting your series goes into creditor protection.

That’s the sad scenario facing the trio of original Canadian productions after Super Channel’s parent company, Allarco Entertainment, was granted creditor protection for 30 days under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act in early June. Now, two months later, things are dire. All three properties have been released back to the production companies to be shopped around to new broadcasters. Because the case is still in the courts, the series’ creators, showrunners and producers aren’t able to comment, but Super Channel did provide an official statement regarding What Would Sal Do?

“Unfortunately, we will not be moving forward with the series at this time,” Melissa Kajpust, head of creative development, said. “Due to our recent CCAA filing we have had to do some financial restructuring and unfortunately this was one of the projects affected.” That, to put it frankly, sucks. Shot in Sudbury, Ont., Sal stars Dylan Taylor as entitled underachiever, Sal, who is challenged to be a good person when he discovers he’s the Second Coming of Christ. The modern day parable also stars Jennifer Dale as Maria, Sal’s mother, a virgin and devoted catholic, Ryan McDonald as Vince, Sal’s best friend and Scott Thompson as the career driven Father Luke, Maria’s friend and confidant. TV, Eh? visited the set while cameras were rolling and we’ve seen the first couple of episodes and it’s not only damn funny and boundary-pushing, but it’s heartfelt. Taylor, in particular, is splendid as Sal.

Sal is written, created and executive produced by Andrew De Angelis alongside writers Kurt Seaton, Mark Forward, Alex Levine, Mark DeAngelis and Brandy Hewitt. Sal director Samir Rehem has been nominated for a Directors Guild of Canada Award for his work on the pilot episode, an additional kick in the crotch for a series that has eight instalments filmed, edited, in the can and ready for broadcast. And yet it has nowhere to be broadcast. New Metric Media is currently seeking a home for the series.

If there is a second season of Slasher, it won’t be on Super Channel. Created by Aaron Martin, the horror series—filmed in and around Sudbury and Parry Sound, Ont.—starred Katie McGrath as Sarah Bennett, a young woman who returns to the small town where she was born, only to find herself the centrepiece in a series of horrifying copycat murders based on the widely known, grisly killings of her parents. Slasher co-starred Brandon Jay McLaren, Wendy Crewson, Steve Byers and Dean McDermott. The series’ production company, Shaftesbury, couldn’t comment on what was happening with regard to a sophomore season.

Tiny Plastic Men, meanwhile, was in the middle of production on Season 4 when the filing shut them down. The Canadian Screen Award and Canadian Comedy Award nominee, from Mosaic Entertainment, stars writers Chris Craddock, Mark Meer and Matt Alden as Crad, October and Addison, three man-boys who test bizarre toy prototypes in their playroom of an office at the eccentric Gottfried Brothers Toy and Train Company.

Fingers crossed things are sorted out for all three.

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Motive says goodbye

This is it, Motive fans. The last episode. The final crime. And what a way to go out. As showrunner Dennis Heaton told us back in March, the finale idea was to “err on the side of cool,” and we certainly get that. But viewers get much, much more. The relationships between Angie, Oscar, Lucas and Betty are celebrated, a partnership that for the most part went on long before we tuned into their world.

Now it’s coming to an end with “We’ll Always Have Homicide,” which CTV teases with:

In the series finale, Detective Angie Flynn (Kristin Lehman) brings an unsolved homicide case to justice. She searches for the killer with help from Detectives Paula Mazur (Karen LeBlanc), Mitch Kennecki (Victor Zinck Jr., THE 100), Brian Lucas (Brendan Penny), Dr. Betty Rogers (Lauren Holly), and Oscar Vega (Louis Ferriera).

After watching a screener, we can offer up a few more tidbits of the instalment, written by Sarah Dodd and Dennis Heaton.

The one that got away
Yes, the series finale revisits the murder of Judge Rodman and the fact the killer got away was never far from Angie’s mind, even if she is nabbing bad guys in Paris. As Oscar told Angie last week, there’s no statute of limitations on murder. That’s good because, three years later, we catch up with the team in Vancouver. Of course, they haven’t been mulling over the Rodman case all that time, but it certainly has ties to the death Mazur and Kennecki are currently investigating. Yup, Kennecki is back on homicide.

“The craziest f–king murder weapon we’ve ever used.”
Dennis Heaton wasn’t kidding when he told us about the series finale’s murder weapon.

Lucas is working Internal Investigations
That’s no surprise—it was revealed he was heading that way last week—but we do get a peek into Lucas’ personal life … and who he married.

Vega has an offer for Angie
Angie’s up for a renewal of her secondment in Paris, but will she choose her old partner over The City of Light? It’s so great to see the pair reunited, sharing a laugh and a smile. Their relationship is deep and intimate without being sexual and we love them for it. Their final scene is perfect.

What are your thoughts on the last four seasons of Motive? Comment below or via Twitter @tv_eh.

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Four in the Morning boasts humour and bittersweet-ness in debut

In this premiere episode of Four in the Morning, created by Ira Parker, we are treated to a bit of magic realism: a talking pig named Albert a.k.a. Buzz. More on that later.

Four in the Morning is being touted as a comedy. I would, however, describe this as a surreal dream that definitely takes itself seriously.  The dialogue flies by and the puns are delivered so deadpan that if you are not listening, you might not catch them all. But this is not a laugh-a-minute show. It delves a little deeper despite the many f-bombs and a few other liberal-isms that we  typically do not see on the CBC.  It features four (get it? FOUR!) twentysomethings experiencing life at 4 a.m..

Parker himself describes the series: “Four in the Morning is about that feeling you get after a long night of drinking with your friends, fluctuating somewhere between euphoria and misery. It’s about the things we say to each other that we couldn’t during our more sober hours. This is the world our show lives in.”

We open with a quick walking tour through the Patrician Grill—the 219 over the door should be a dead giveaway to Torontonians—and land downstairs in the the ladies’ room with Mitzi (Lola Tash, formerly of Republic of Doyle) sharing the news with her best friend Jamie (Michelle Mylett, “Katy” of Letterkenny) that her talking pet pig has died. See, I really wasn’t kidding about the pig.

Meanwhile, back in the booth, Bondurant (Daniel Maslany, whose credits include Corner Gas), confesses his love for Jamie to Jamie’s boyfriend William (Mazin Elsadig). Eventually, the foursome reunite in a scene reminiscent of When Harry Met Sally—we all remember that  “famous” scene in Katz’s Delicatessen—and the whole thing comes together like you would imagine a Seinfeld episode if it were written by David Lynch. Quirky is a bit of an understatement.

Anyhow, William turns to his girlfriend Jamie in frustration, “I am starting to get why your parents abandoned you,” and with that, the foursome becomes two twosomes, setting up a series of back and forth, his and hers scenes. We learn through Bondurant’s confession to William that he has lied to everyone about his acceptance to Julliard. We also learn via Mitzi’s  own confession to Jamie that she is merely “transitorily pregnant” and plans to abort Bondurant’s child because it is her belief that he has been accepted to Julliard.

This sequence of bantering scenes feels more like a one-act play than television sitcom, giving 4 a.m. a very fresh charm. It crams in a good deal of background information with its fast-paced dialogue.  Parker even gets a bit meta with his dialogue; William calls Bondurant out for dropping a famous Carnegie/Massey Hall joke.

We close with  the knowledge that Mitzi’s pig squealed on Jamie and Bondurant, while Bondurant contemplates his future, sans trumpet,  from the stage of an empty and darkened Massey Hall.

This is truly a refreshing blend of humour and bittersweet-ness. Definitely a standing “O” to the CBC for allowing Parker free reign with his creation. This, I hope, will be a really fun ride!

Will Mitzi decide to keep Bondurant’s baby? What do you think will happen next? Do you have a favourite line from the show? Leave your ideas in the comments below!

Four in the Morning airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

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Reaction to CRTC’s Policy framework for Certified Independent Production Funds

By Anonymous 

UPDATE: If the intent is to attract “top talent” that will make all these new “American” Canadian shows more viable, the CRTC should probably know that even some of the most successful Canadians in L.A., like the showrunner/creator of Bones, isn’t impressed.

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Canadian Television is about to become slightly less full of Canadians, thanks to a major CRTC decision released quietly yesterday.

The CRTC is allowing the independent production funds (including the Shaw Rocket Fund, Rogers Fund, Cogeco Program Development Fund, Telefilm Canada, and the Harold Greenberg Fund) to reduce their “point system” for what determines Canadian-ness of a project from 8 to 6. The general effect of this will be to allow for the hiring of non-Canadians in key creation and starring roles (ie: Americans will be able to create and star in “Canadian” TV series).

This, in fact, by the CRTC’s own admission, was one of the points of the decision:

“The current criterion requiring eight out of 10 Canadian content certification points to qualify for CIPF funding is restrictive and excludes many productions that could otherwise be of high quality and qualify as Canadian. Moreover, a reduced requirement could help smaller and perhaps more innovative projects to qualify for funding. A reduced requirement of at least six points could also facilitate the hiring by production companies of non-Canadian actors or creators, who may increase a project’s attractiveness and visibility in international markets.”

Reaction from the Canadian creative community was swift, and critical.

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What’s particularly unusual about this decision is that something with far-reaching implications was done as a “paper hearing,” ie: the CRTC did not hold any public consultations.

The last time something like this was proposed, the Writers Guild of Canada brought a group of screenwriters to Hull to appear before the commission. They made a convincing case as to why this “flexibility” wouldn’t lead to better quality Canadian programming. It seems that current chairman J.P. Blais was determined to not repeat this exercise.

Of concern to fans of actual Canadian TV shows, of course, is the fact that once again in no way was the audience consulted. The CRTC didn’t bother to seek out or try to understand the feelings of fans who celebrate unique Canadian points-of-view and creative directions on display in Canadian-created shows such as Orphan Black, Flashpoint, X Company, Letterkenny, Wynonna Earp, Lost Girl, Rookie Blue, Saving Hope, Motive, or many more.

As Peter Mitchell, executive producer and showrunner of Murdoch Mysteries explained on Facebook, even the premise of the CRTC’s decision is faulty:

Mitchell

The problem with the CRTC’s decision is that it really doesn’t advance any new idea. Many Canadian producers have been doing their level best to copy “American-style” shows for years, watering down the Canadian creative role as much as possible. They never seem to do as well as the original work such as Orphan Black or Murdoch Mysteries. That’s why you’re not seeing Season 4 of the forgettable XIII, and why Houdini & Doyle, which debuted to so much fanfare, died a quiet death.

The idea that Canadian producers will be able to attract top American talent is dubious at best. Because if you’re American, and you’re working in the American industry where there’s more money, and more prestige, why would you take a massive pay cut to work in Canada? Instead of top American talent, you’re likelier to get the people who can’t get hired anymore, who might have had credits in the 1980s or 1990s. And now the CRTC has blessed the idea that these marginal players are more valuable than the top homegrown talent who are responsible for the industry’s top successes.

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There are other ways to approach the idea of creating hits, rather than this failed road. But the CRTC seems to be enamored with the fantasy that “flexibility” fixes all, rather than actually supporting talent.

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And the best part? A government that ran at least partially on a platform of promoting culture is signalling to the next generation of storytellers not to bother—that it’s time to leave:

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So there’s nothing good here if you’re a Canadian writer or actor hoping to star in or create a Canadian show. Or if you’re someone who likes the unique point of view you see from Canadian TV shows. But the producer’s association loves it. I’m sure you’ll be getting something great from that writer who did one episode of Simon & Simon any day now.

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Great news, isn’t it?

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