Everything about Featured, eh?

Featured, Murdoch Mysteries, Rick Mercer Report, This Hour Has 22 Minutes

Comments and queries for the week of September 4

Which returning Canadian TV shows are you excited about this fall?

Rick Mercer Report, 22 Minutes (should be required viewing) and Murdoch. I never miss them. I also feel that The X Factor was extremely good. The Book of Negroes was exceptional. I get a kick out of Schitt’s Creek and Jonny Harris’ Still Standing. Unfortuantely, I missed several years of Heartland so am watching online. And on a more serious note, The Fifth Estate and Marketplace should not be missed. —Fossegal

Love Heartland, saw the cast at CBC in March. —Norlam147

Murdoch Mysteries, X Company and Heartland. —Kim

Rookie Blue is my very favourite. I have the first four seasons on DVD and when Seasons 5 & 6 are available I will buy them also. —Palma

Murdoch Mysteries, Saving Hope, Continuum, Heartland, Rick Mercer and Lost Girl. I couldn’t pick JUST THREE! —Rosanna

Continuum, Sunnyside and Saving Hope for me. I am looking forward to the first two the most and am trying to catch up on Continuum. —Iris

Murdoch Mysteries’ Hélène Joy lets her hair down

I enjoyed your interview with her, but it was a bit short?! I was at a small event where we actually had an opportunity to chat with her for a few minutes. Just my luck she spent most of her time at the other end of the venue. However, she is so fascinating! In a matter of a few minutes I found a ton of info on how she ended up here in Canada, that type of thing. Also calls her hairdos, and Shirley [Bond] her hair designer agrees, very dating. She says they are works of art, but she is “well over it” and they DO make her look much older, but back then young girls were trying to be women and were married off to have families. Sign of the times. I would love it if you would do a bit on her colleague Arwen Humphreys, who plays Brackenreid’s wife. She is Canadian and truly talented, and the fans have been begging for, and getting more screen time by contacting Shaftesbury and communicating through fan groups. Roll on October! —Kimber

Hey Kimber, here’s the link to my interview with Arwen; I spoke to her back in March.

 

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

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Continuum, Featured

Continuum blasts into its final season

2 Comments

If Friday’s first episode of Continuum is any indication, this final season is going to blow fans away. The Future Soldiers have Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols) in their sights and, intent on restoring order to the timeline, are willing to blow our heroine to smithereens. And they’ve got the tech to do it; Kiera’s suit just doesn’t seem to stand a chance.

The first of these last six episodes, “Lost Hours,”—returning Friday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showcase—is packed with the stress, action and armaments of a feature film, which is exactly how Continuum‘s creator tackled the farewell storyline.

“The six episodes really freed me up creatively because I didn’t have to service episodic storytelling,” Simon Barry says during a Vancouver set visit. “I said, ‘Let’s just do a six-hour movie and break it up into six chapters.'” Some fans vented their frustration on social media when Showcase announced the sci-fi project would conclude with Season 4, but Barry says he’d rather have a half-dozen hours to tie up loose ends than have three more seasons and be cancelled suddenly.

Continuum

The result? A storyline that sticks to the present timeline of 2015 Vancouver. To be honest, that’s quite enough. Along with the Future Soldiers (played by Lisa Berry, Ty Olsson, Aleks Paunovic, Kyra Zagorsky, Michael Eklund and Garfield Wilson), Kiera has to contend with Kellog (Stephen Lobo), who is on a course to become a powerful warlord in a war-torn future; a budding romance with Brad (Ryan Robbins); and a shaky alliance with Liber8 that puts her relationships with Carlos (Victor Webster) and Alec (Erik Knudsen) in jeopardy. Barry explains Kiera evolved in Season 3, realizing Liber8 was smaller fish and that she needed to think bigger if she wanted to have an effect on the future and did so by aligning with the terrorist group to take down Sonmanto. The partnership carries over to Season 4, but it doesn’t mean they’re sharing a beer anytime soon.

As for the series finale episode, Barry is—as you’d expect—mum on the details, though he advises “There will be discussion,” among fans once the credits roll for the last time.

“In a weird way, Episode 6 has been a series of endings masked as a story,” he says. “We have a last shot and a last scene that I think is very important, but I don’t think the scene carries the weight of the rest of the episode on it.”

Continuum airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showcase.

This is just the first in a series of Continuum stories TV, Eh? will be posting as the series comes to an end. Look for interviews with stars Rachel Nichols, Victor Webster, Erik Knudsen, Stephen Lobo and Roger Cross, and creator Simon Barry, in the coming weeks.

Canadians can get a preview of the first episode on Showcase.ca before Friday’s broadcast.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Amazing Race Canada, Featured

Review: Amazing Race Canada grapples in Delhi

1 Comment

Never give up, because you don’t know what will happen. It’s a mantra that’s repeated during The Amazing Race and it continues to be true. Look no further than Simi and Ope and Brent and Sean; the former team managed an impressive fourth place finish while the latter were saved from exiting the Race because it was a non-elimination Leg.

Fans knew there was one more non-elimination in the cards and I’d hoped it was this week in Delhi, especially after the east coast brothers fell into last place and stayed there all episode long. “Take Your Clue and Gooooo!” saw the remaining five pairs jet to Delhi and immediately traumatized as they transported live catfish from one end of the fish market to the other. (Can you imagine how everyone smelled by the end of that challenge? Woo.) Nick and Matt, determined to place first this week, got off to a “hot start” and whizzed through the fish and on to Turban Twist. Matt struggled a bit turning out three different turban styles on a trio of very patient men, followed in succession by Gino, Ope, Dujean and, eventually, Sean.

As for the Detour? It was a no-brainer, as Nick and Matt selected Slam It’s wrestling moves as the test for them. The editing made it look like the pro wrestlers got done a bare few minutes before Gino and Jesse, but that may not have been the case. What I do know is that Gino and Jesse’s tenaciousness went a long way to pushing Matt and Nick to a level that has eluded them to this point. They became so frustrated with having the Hamilton, Ont., siblings constantly within reach they shifted into another gear and finished the Leg in first place. Ope’s bad back, meanwhile, meant he and Simi had to drop out of Slam It and opt for Spice It, competing with Sean and Brent to grind 100 grams of hot peppers in the least amount of time.

We know what happened next.

Here’s how the teams placed at the end of this Leg:

  1. Nick and Matt
  2. Gino and Jesse
  3. Simi and Ope
  4. Dujean and Leilani
  5. Brent and Sean (non-elimination)

Notes and quotes

  • Eighteen million people call Delhi home. That’s just staggering.
  • I’m not sure who I felt more badly for, the competitors of those catfish.
  • I’m not sure who I felt more badly for, Sean for throwing up down the side of the tuck-tuk or the driver who had to clean the barf off the side of his tuk-tuk.
  • CTV needs to put together a photo gallery of Matt’s “bar shirts” STAT.
  • I’m always appreciative of the cultural information The Amazing Race provides. Learning Humayun’s Tomb was the inspiration for the design of the Taj Mahal was fascinating.

The Amazing Race Canada airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Auction, Featured

Thank you! Kids Help Phone auction raised more than $8400

KHPThe auction has ended, the winners have paid, items are being shipped out, and the donation has been made. With the help of our prize donors, bidders, and those who helped spread the word, we raised more than $8400 for Kids Help Phone — a free, anonymous and confidential phone and on-line professional counselling service for youth. If you’d still like to contribute, please go directly to their website to make a donation.

All bidders, winning or not, helped raise that money. Everyone who shared our posts on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere helped. And of course our prize donors helped. Special thank yous for the wonderful items and experiences up for bid to:

Thanks again to the Canadian television community for supporting such a great cause.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: Alan Thicke’s Unusually Thicke renovates for Season 2

Listen, as long as you realize every scene in Season 2 of Unusually Thicke: Under Construction is a set-up, you’ll enjoy the heck out of it. Yes, Alan Thicke, wife Tanya and son Carter are back for another go-round—this time on HGTV because, well, they’re renovating their house—Unusually Thicke once again explores the exploits of the Kirkland Lake, Ont., native many know as Mike Seaver on Growing Pains.

Returning Thursday with two back-to-back episodes, Alan, Tanya, Carter and guest star Wayne Brady strap on tool belts, pick up hammers and start renovations on Thicke’s sprawling home. Oh, wait a minute, no they don’t. Instead, Episode 1 follows Alan and Carter as they trade $100 for Alan’s stolen cell phone and Wayne swings by to drop off a redneck golf tournament gift bag (containing press-on nails, double-A batteries and baby oil) to Tanya. Anyone expecting to see the key cast doing any kind of manual labour will be disappointed; they merely pick up the phone and order others to do the work.

And you know what? I’m fine with that because Alan, Tanya and Carter are a hoot going through their scripted everyday lives. How scripted? Well, what are the chances Alan’s cell phone is stolen and the Find My iPhone app used to locate it minutes after Alan tells Carter he is going to use that app to track his son while he’s away at college? And yet that’s exactly what happens, complete with a dimly-lit meet in a parking lot where the “thief”—whose face, unlike Cops, is shown the whole time—gets $100 from Alan for returning the phone. I’m using quotes around the word thief because no other criminal would stick around with camera crews milling around Alan’s car. Carter in particular puts in a strong performance in Thursday’s debut, rolling is eyes and delivering playfully snide remarks at his father’s expense.

As for home renovations in the return? Tanya orders crews to fix the cracks in the tennis court, replace the hot tub’s heater and empty out the septic tank. Mike Holmes this trio ain’t, but that’s OK because they’re fun to watch.

Unusually Thicke: Under Construction airs Thursdays at 10 and 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail