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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

My Millennial Life spotlights the struggle of overeducated, underemployed young adults

The statistics don’t lie, and they’re pretty darned depressing. Millennials are the most-educated generation ever. Since 1981, there has been a 58 per cent increase in the percentage of 25-29 year olds with post-secondary degrees or diplomas. Nearly half of millennials are underemployed in low-wage, dead-end jobs and unemployment for recent grads is double the national average.

Amid those, stunning, crushing numbers comes TVO’s My Millennial Life, which follows five twenty somethings struggling to find jobs—and an identity for themselves—today.

It’s easy to watch something like Saturday’s documentary—produced and directed by Maureen Judge—with a jaded eye. After all, these are all twentysomethings who want money, cars, houses and fame right now rather than work the decades it took generations before them to get there. It used to be folks got an education, graduated and then worked at one company until retirement. Today’s society is different, with 40-year-olds looking for work; where do kids half their age go to find a gig?

Hope saw herself living in NYC and working for a high-end magazine, going to parties and meeting celebrities. She dreamed of buying Louis Vuitton bags on a whim. Her reality? Buying knockoffs from a street vendor and living at home in Pennsylvania. James has a start-up company but is cash-poor; Meron wanted to be a MuchMusic veejay but cleans hotel rooms; Emily sits in her kitchen and listens to music in the apartment her dad pays the rent for and enrols in college to get the real-life skills she didn’t acquire in university; and Tim moved from Moncton to Toronto to make it as a musician but transcribes court testimony for money. There are plenty of tears as they describe the frustration of working in menial, low-paying jobs.

“I don’t know why I haven’t been hired,” Emily says at her lowest point. “I keep trying and trying, and I just need a chance. I just need that break and I don’t know what to do. At this point, I think there’s something wrong with me.”

My Millennial Life isn’t a total downer. Judge introduces the family, friends and loved ones’ of those featured, showing the support systems in place when things aren’t going well. And there is good news for a couple of the kids featured. But the fact remains: it isn’t getting any easier for millennials to realize their dreams.

My Millennial Life airs Saturday, May 28, at 9 p.m. ET on TVO. It can be seen on TVO.org following the broadcast.

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Featured, Private Eyes

Jason Priestley has fun solving crimes in Global’s Private Eyes

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Republic of Doyle fans rejoice! You’re got a new wise-cracking, sports car driving primetime private investigator to cheer for with Private Eyes, debuting Thursday on Global. Loosely based on the book The Code by Gare Joyce, Jason Priestley is Matt Shade, an ex-professional hockey player who swaps the rink for investigating high-stakes crimes when he teams with P.I. Angie Everett (Cindy Sampson).

“We’ve only sent one person to the hospital during filming,” Sampson says with a laugh during a break in filming. She is, of course referring to Priestley’s tumble off a horse that briefly shut down production last November. The fact he can laugh about the incident shows how comfortable he is with his co-star, something that comes across in the first episode. Private Eyes‘ theme sets the tone for the series; Vancouver’s Dear Rouge have updated the classic Hall & Oates tune for the opening credits, providing a funky, fun feel.

Private2

Tuesday’s debut episode of 10 introduces viewers to the main players, when Matt is stunned the minor hockey player he’s been scouting collapses on the ice. Suspicious a fellow player may have had a hand in the incident, Matt joins Angie and they delve into a handful of suspects. Both are headstrong and used to getting their own way, which results in a lot of sniping back and forth. There are, of course, the first hints at some sexual chemistry between the pair, adding another layer to their relationship. Rounding out the cast—and sanding Matt’s rough edges—are Matt’s legally blind daughter, Jules (Jordyn Negri) and father Don (Barry Flatman). Clé Bennett and Ennis Esmer play Det. Derek Nolan and Det. Kurtis Mazhari, who both have dim views of Matt.

“Matt’s plate is pretty full,” Priestley says. “He’s taken over primary custody of Jules, so he’s a guy who is struggling to figure out how his new situation is going to work out in his life. But he’s also trying to figure out this new situation in his life. He’s a guy who’s stuck between these two strong women and trying to figure out a balance.”

Will  there be romance between Angie and Shade? That’s not in the cards … yet.

“We’re not exploring that option at this point,” Sampson says. “There are so many other women and so many other men and the cases to be solved too.”

Private Eyes airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Global.

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Featured, Still Standing

Comments and queries for the week of May 20

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CBC unveils its 2016 summer schedule

It’s a good schedule, but I was hoping for a second run of This Life. Also, the upcoming drama Shoot the Messenger was previously announced as a summer show but it didn’t make the cut. I will watch Still Standing and When Calls the Heart, plus I will check out Four in the Morning and Baroness Von Sketch Show. —Alicia O

Murdoch Mysteries‘ Season 9 and what’s to come in Season 10

I LOVE, and repeatedly re-watch, every episode of all nine seasons! Great entertainment! Amazing cast! Extremely creative plots! (Except there was just too much of the James Gillies character for me.) There is SO much fun in this show, even in some of the seemingly minor details! (Like Brackenreid’s barber—who gets rich by investing—being played on the show by the author of the best-selling book The Wealthy Barber!) But I do have one question: what about Terrence Meyers? I guess we are to assume his rocket ride was fatal, but sometimes I wonder. —LAL

Canada AM‘s Jeff Hutcheson announces retirement

The only reason we watch the show is because of Jeff’s calm, personable, subtle humour. He is a great presenter, announcer, weatherman and the best interviewer on the show. How will you replace that? All the best to him in his retirement. Our mornings will not be the same. —Elaine

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

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Featured, Slasher

Slasher comes to a bloody end

This is it Canadian Slasher fans, the Season 1 finale, “Soon Your Own Eyes Will See,” is upon us. Friday’s last episode synopsis from Super Channel states, “Hurt and confused by Dylan’s betrayal, Sarah seeks solace with Cam while The Executioner works to exact a final vengeance.” Sure, that’s accurate, but clearly not enough information to satisfy die-hard fans.

Here’s a little more to tide you over until the episode airs.

Season 1 ends as it began, with Halloween
Kids are running around in costumes collecting candy, Robin is hosting a Halloween party in Justin’s honour and The Executioner isn’t quite done with his reign of terror. Yes, the seven sins have been addressed, but you can’t keep a good killer down, can you?

Slasher

The Executioner’s past is revealed
Who is The Executioner and what screwed-up childhood lead to a life of murder and mayhem? We get the backstory and insight into what happened via flashback.

Sarah is in grave danger
She may not have been on The Executioner’s naughty list, but she becomes a target with one well-placed offensive move. You’ll know it when you see it, and leads to an emotional, graphic final scene.

Final thoughts
I’ve really enjoyed Season 1 of Slasher. Every time the show seemed to be heading into a corner story-wise, creator Aaron Martin veered into another direction. I’m also thrilled he signed on actors like Dean McDermott, Steve Byers and Erin Karpluk and challenged them with roles unlike ones they’ve played before. Fingers crossed Martin gets to do it all again with a new cast for a second season.

Slasher‘s Season 1 finale airs Friday at 9 p.m. ET on Super Channel.

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Blood and Water, Featured

Set visit: Cameras roll on new episodes of Blood and Water

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I’m constantly amazed when I visit the set of a television show. Take Blood and Water, for instance. It’s easy to walk by the nondescript building in Toronto’s Liberty Village, steps away from a GO Transit platform, and have absolutely no clue cameras are rolling.

Yet that’s where Omni’s police drama—as it did for Block 1—is camped out for 18 days of production on-set and some location before completing filming in Vancouver. The warren of hallways and open spaces in the former Inglis factory (Lost Girl filmed there too) serves as the Vancouver Police Department where Det. Jo Bradley (Steph Song) is working her latest case.

Picking up a year after the events of the first eight episodes, Jo has got a new partner in Det. Evan Ong (Byron Mann) and new boss in Lt. Barron (Aidan Devine). Song says things get interesting for Jo during the next set of stories—referred to as Block 2 rather than Season 2 due to the way funding was spread out—because of her history with one cop and thoughts about the other. What is obvious about Jo is she’s in a better place than we last saw her. Not that Jo is hopping on stage to perform standup anytime soon, but her personal life isn’t as dour.

A poster in the Vancouver Police Department set.
A poster in the Vancouver Police Department set.

There is, however, another crime to keep Jo and Evan busy in the Mandarin, Cantonese and English-speaking series.

“This block takes place in Ghost Month, and is tied to the first block because a ghost isn’t necessarily a physical manifestation of somebody who is dead,” creator, writer and executive producer Diane Boehme says. “We’re going to play with that. It’s also about what haunts you. It’s regret, it’s the thing you did that you shouldn’t have done or the thing that you should have and the things that remain unresolved. All of our characters are wrestling with that.” Ron Xie (Oscar Hsu) is also back and dealing not only with the loss of his sons, but a power struggle within his company.

Ghost Month isn’t the only thing haunting the cast: the challenge of learning Mandarin and Cantonese is a constant spectre hovering over many. Dialect coaches help the actors and actresses with pronunciation and to ensure the correct phrasing is used.

“I wish they just wrote everything from the first block, because I still have those lines locked away somewhere,” Loretta Yu says with a laugh. “It’s definitely a challenge because I’m working in three languages this year. It’s been stressful, but really good, and I’m up for the challenge.”

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