Everything about Featured, eh?

Children's Programming, Featured

Comments and queries for the week of July 15

Gisèle in Ottawa?

I was just wondering if by any chance that TVOKids’ Gisèle will be visiting my town of Ottawa this summer? Please let me know; my two girls are big fans. —Pauze

Unfortunately, Gisèle Corinthios, host of Gisèle’s Big Backyard, was one of those affected by cuts at TVO back in April. TVO confirmed she is no longer with the company.

Hello! I just read the news about Gisèle. I have a nine-month old boy who is very much developed in every aspect. Each time he is in his chair having his meal and tea he is also enjoying the kids program. But there is one time when everything stops, and that is when Gisèle is on: he stops eating and a big, bright smile stays on his face until the next show begins. —Florentina

Any more Chef in My Ear on the way?

Are we going to see another season of Chef in My Ear? —HarmonyBell

Here’s the official word from Food Network Canada: “No solid plans as of yet, but keep an eye out here for updates!”

HGTV Canada greenlights two new original series

I used to watch HGTV quite a bit but something that annoyed me was that a few of their shows, such as Property Virgins and House Hunters, featured Canadian locales then switched over to principally American locales and the Canadian versions of those shows eventually disappeared. Also, the channel’s reno shows stayed Southern Ontario-centric. I would have liked to see more Western projects. My husband really enjoys Timber Kings, but that’s about all we watch on HGTV now. I like the show Love It or List It though, especially the Vancouver one but that’s on W Network. I will have to check out the Backyard Builds show, though, because I was a counsellor at a summer camp with Sarah Keenleyside many years ago. —Alicia

 

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

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Mohawk Girls, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Working It Out Together: Heather White – Rebel with a Cause

Episode 7 of Working It Out Together examines the common literary trope so prevalent in mainstream arts: the Indian Princess/Pocahontas, and the harm that has come to Indigenous women due to the pervasiveness of that stereotype in society today. For centuries the “Indian Princess” has been recognized as an erotic thing, a sexual dream or ideal that exists only for the European white male. The process of colonization reshaped strong beautiful women into the hyper-sexualized noble savage, only to be dominated by all men. Today we witness the harm this archetype has perpetuated with the aid of such movements as “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women”.

This week features the story of Heather White, one of the lead actresses on the popular award winning television show  Mohawk Girls, created and directed by Tracey Deer. However, White is also a High School language arts teacher at Kahnawa:ke Survival School. It is here that she cultivates a safe environment for her students to discuss and challenge how media shapes their concepts of women and beauty. “As actors, our job is constantly to tell the story through someone else’s vision, but as a teacher that is where I get to be myself.”

With her first hand experiences on Mohawk Girls, White is able to teach her students about the extensive work that goes into the manufacturing of media as art, be it television programming, magazines, posters, or film. In this way her students understand that it is “ok when they walk in the world that they walk into one that is real. That it is 100% ok for them to be who they are, to walk this world proud of who they are.”

Earlier this week White discussed with me how her new found celebrity has given her the the platform to make human connections: “It is a great opportunity to tell people ‘this is who I am, this what I do and this is what I think’. To be able to say all of the things that I wish were said to me when I was younger, I think that is the greatest thing for me. There were no trail blazers like me and I grew up not seeing it. I am only now starting to see different women.”

White’s father Sykes Powderface, also featured in this week’s episode, explains the traditional position of women in the community: “Women were the most respected individuals in the community. Without women, there are no more children. You must always take care of the women, that was the first order that was taught to us.”

Michele Audette, Indigenous women’s rights advocate, explains that women had their roles, that men and women knew exactly what they were supposed to do “for the community, for the family, and for them self.” With the men off hunting for months at a time, it was the women who were the leaders in the community. But when the Europeans began to settle “this all changed; spirituality became religion, they changed our language, and they changed our system of our society. ”

When speaking with White, she reflected on what Mohawk Girls is really about, and what it means to women who watch. “Mohawk Girls could have been anything, and that is the most satisfying part of it. But it is not just about us (Indigenous women). There are so many universal themes that bind us (all women) all together and that is a gift in itself.”

 

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Dark Matter, Featured

Dark Matter’s Joseph Mallozzi goes dark Season 2

We’re three weeks into Season 2 of Dark Matter, and co-creator Joseph Mallozzi has made good on his promise to keep stories zipping at lightning speed. In short order Six was revealed to the crew as the mole, the squad busted out of Hyperion-8 with help from Nyx (Melanie Liburd), Devon Taltherd (Shaun Sipos) and Arax Nero (Mike Dopud), One was killed and Five used Bubba.

But as Mallozzi told us during a set visit earlier this year, that’s just the beginning.

What’s interesting about you as a showrunner is that you’re very active on social media and with your own blog. You head off spoilers at the pass and reveal things to fans in advance.
Joseph Mallozzi: If you keep things under wraps and you don’t show what the ship will look like—if you wait and show the blind-the-scenes stuff after the show airs—you’re really only getting to the die-hard fans. If I’m off on hiatus for months and there is anything I can do to keep the interest alive and the fans excited, I’m going to do it. Then people can share the hell out of it.

We’re going to use “Holy shit” moments to propel scenes and lead to a shocking season finale. This season puts the dark in Dark Matter.

Every episode in Season 1 had a “Holy shit!” moment. What was the pacing of the writing like?
I’ve been sitting on the concept for years. When I was working on Stargate, I always knew I wanted to roll into Dark Matter after that. Stargate kept getting picked up, so by the time we got the green light and it came time to write with folks like Martin Gero, we broke the entire season in two and a half weeks because I basically knew where we wanted to end up. I’m not a big fan of shows that set up a mystery and take so long to provide an answer or don’t provide an answer because they’re making it up as they go along. We’ve set up mysteries, but we’ve always provided payoffs along the way.

In terms of Season 1, I knew every story, every beat. And then when we got into Season 2, we knew where we wanted to end up and the arcs I wanted to explore. Season 2 is a very different beast from Season 1. The characters in Season 1 were almost ciphers in a way, they were blanks and the audience was learning things along with them and that added to the mystery. Our characters in Season 1 were more reactive. In Season 2, we have a bunch of mysteries in play. The key card, the old man, Alexander Rook and different characters in play. Right from the get-go we’re dealing with the arrests and betrayal. All of the episodes that ensue, our characters are more proactive. Who is going after the key card and why? Three is going to find out more about his past.

We’re going to use “Holy shit” moments to propel scenes and lead to a shocking season finale. This season puts the dark in Dark Matter.

What can you tell me about expanding the universe and adding new characters?
Season 1 was very much of a micro-level because we were learning about these characters. The big world—the big universe—wasn’t really explored. Now we’re going to find out about different organizations and different colonies and they’ll be a presence. Four will attempt to re-take his throne. Two will revisit Alexander Rook. Who was that old man and why was she created? We won’t get all of the answers necessarily, but we will get pieces that take us into a wild new direction.

You’re also one of the few showrunners I’ve spoken to who listens to feedback from the fans. Why is that important to you?
At the end of the day we’re not going to take dictation—we know what we like and the story we want to tell—but as technology advances audiences feel more of an ownership in the shows, and that’s why I do things like Name the Episode. There is an investment there. It’s not just an hour of your day; they are being rewarded to a certain extent and are part of the process.

Dark Matter airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on Space.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Amazing Race Canada, Featured

Sweating it out in Vietnam on The Amazing Race Canada

2 Comments

Unlike the last two legs of The Amazing Race Canada, Tuesday’s third one had no clear leaders. I blame it on the stifling heat in the Mekong Delta for causing teams to make bone-headed decisions and failing to note a critical clue that caused a shakeup at the Pit Stop.

Among the nuttiness in Vietnam? First-place team Joel and Ashley, along with three other duos, all took 30-minute penalties for using a water taxi to traverse between sections rather than the ferry clearly listed on the card they received. Listen, I get it. My instinct would have been to grab the water taxi I’d just climbed out of too, especially with teams breathing down my neck. But while I understand the urgency to keep moving—this is a race after all—I’m having trouble understanding what Stéphane was thinking.

The father not only relinquished the lead he and Antoine had by helping Ashley complete the goose-herding challenge, allowing she and Joel to depart the test in first place, but he aided other squads too, moving he and Antoine further back in the pack. It almost seemed like he’d given up and wanted to go home, and the frustration and shock on Antoine’s face was understandable. The pair eventually departed dead-last and never recovered, finishing in last place thanks to the four-hour penalty they took when Stéphane gave up on duck-herding after two hours. You’d think knowing the last team would be eliminated would light a fire under his butt, but perhaps the heat of the day sapped all rational thought.

The heat affected everyone, but Tanya especially. She struggled mightily during the ironically-named Hydrate Detour and had to be tended to by the show’s medical team. She sat off to the side, taking in fluids, while Anne continued to carry 60 coconuts from their boat to the harvesting station, completing the task and showing she wasn’t about to give up and was all about teamwork. Speaking of teamwork, Jillian and Emmett continue to complete Legs of the Race despite spending precious time and energy bitching at one another. The former Big Brother Canada competitors are used to playing a singular game, but The Amazing Race Canada is about supporting the other person and they need to work on that. I hit the mute button every time they start to fight because it’s embarrassing.

The most impressive team of this Leg was easily Kelly and Kate. The best friends, on the cusp of exiting the show last week, aced their toad-carrying Speed Bump (and informing viewers 20 toads is known as a knot) and landed in a very respectable third place.

What are your thoughts on this latest Leg? Would you have helped other teams like Stéphane did? Comment below.

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

  1. Joel and Ashley (30-minute penalty, won trip for two to Japan)
  2. Steph and Kristen
  3. Kelly and Kate
  4. Emmett and Jillian (30-minute penalty)
  5. Frankie and Amy
  6. Rita and Yvette (30-minute penalty)
  7. Julie and Lowell
  8. Anne and Tanya (30-minute penalty)
  9. Stéphane and Antoine (four-hour penalty, eliminated)

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

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Motive

Sons of Anarchy star lands on Motive

“Foreign Relations,” written by Sarah Dodd, may just be Motive’s most international episode ever. Not only does the main crime involve a British student found dead on university grounds, but Scottish actor Tommy Flanagan in a guest role. Yes, Chibs from Sons of Anarchy appears in Tuesday’s new story, as an Interpol agent teamed with Angie to investigate the crime.

Here’s what fans can expect on Tuesday night.

Sons of Anarchy star plays good guy?
It’s deliciously ironic that Tommy Flanagan is playing Interpol Agent Jack Stoker in this episode. He was unforgettable as motorcycle gang member Chibs for 92 episodes of Sons of Anarchy, so it’s pretty neat to see him showered, shaved and dressed to the nines, investigating Julian’s death … while catching Betty and Angie’s approving eyes. (Viewers with a sharp ear will catch a familiar, British bit of music when Jack leaves his meeting with Vega.) We learn a lot about Jack and his personal life; one wonders if he’ll return before—or during—Motive‘s series finale. And we love his off-key warbling of our national anthem.

Motive_2

Vega is in troubleeeee…..
Motive revisits last week’s case involving Sgt. Bailin, with Vegas being questioned by the press about why her mental unbalance wasn’t caught via screening. Vega gets called on the carpet by his superiors for telling the media he thinks the justice system failed her son.

Vancouver’s stunning cityscape
I always forget what a beautiful backdrop Vancouver is for Motive; make sure you look at the scenery as Angie and Betty are examining the body.

Motive airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CTV.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail