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Awards, Featured

Comments and queries for the week of March 6

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Readers headed online to comment about several things this week, including the Canadian Screen Awards and what we can do to fix them, and what Canadian literature should be the next project the CBC adapts for the small screen.

I think the awards should be pushed off a month or two so the actors can show up on the red carpet without winter coats. And is Orphan Black produced by BBC America? If thats true then I don’t feel its truly Canadian.—Tom

I was disappointed two years ago when they amalgamated the two awards. I personally think TV should have their own night as well as film. I do love Canadian Screen Week and the opportunity for fans to meet their favourite stars. I would hate for this industry to become Hollywoodized. We have our own culture but we are still very much in infancy and are still finding our way or “voice.” We do need much more support to get our films “out there and seen.” —Nancy

 

So many wonderful suggestions have been made already.

My suggestions are:

* Any of Miriam Toews’ novels would make great adaptations – in particular, I would love to see All My Puny Sorrows, A Complicated Kindness, or A Boy of good Breeding.

* Elizabeth Hay’s Late Nights on Air could be wonderful!

* Annabel, by Kathleen Winter – wonderful story, amazing settings.

* Galore, by Michael Crummey. I love this novel so much and it could be a brilliant TV series. —Jennifer

COPPERMINE by Keith Ross Leckie. A must. And a true story. And written by a screenwriter.—SW

I’d love to see The Orenda – history and gripping story.—Steve

 

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

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Featured, Vikings

Review: A warrior’s fate met on Vikings

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Maybe I should quit singing the praises of Vikings characters. It seems like every time I do something bad happens to them. Porunn, who I complimented as being one heck of a kick-ass shield maiden last week, had her head caved in by one of Burgred’s soldiers and is at the gates of Valhalla. And carrying Bjorn’s baby, no less. According to Ragnar, allowing her to fight while pregnant is a crime that no one can come back from.

Alas, “Warrior’s Fate” claimed the life of Torstein. Vikings is a violent show jammed with crunched skulls and lopped-off limbs, but Torstein’s death was awful to watch. Knowing he was a diminished member of the army, he sacrificed himself so that Ragnar would know the position of Burgred’s men. I hope he’s treated well in Valhalla.

When the episode wasn’t caught up in the heat of battle—Burgred’s army was defeated and the Prince saved from death by a plea from Kwenthrith—it was splitting time in Kattegat, the farming fields and Ecbert’s Roman bath. Harbard has made his presence known in a very short amount of time, first by winning over Helga with his tales of adventure and then by stopping Ivar’s crying with a gentle stroke of the infant’s head. Suffice it to say, those two girls are firmly under Harbard’s spell; the only one not convinced is Siggy, and that can be a dangerous spot to be in.

Meanwhile, the romance I’ve been dreading has finally come to full bloom. Ecbert and Lagertha—after making goo-goo eyes at one another—got full-on nekkid in the bath. Clearly Ecbert is thinking big picture—get Lagertha and Ragnar on side with sex and property—and they’ll be his scary little army of heathens to help him take over Mercia. He, of course, forgot one thing: these a violent folks with their own belief system. That was driven home when Ecbert and his nobles looked on in horror as Lagertha was doused in cow blood and then scattered it on their fields in a prayer to Frey for a bountiful harvest.

“I’d like to experiment between our cultures. Plowing, fertilizing and sowing seed are the very basis,” Ecbert said slyly at the beginning of the episode. But by the end of it his face seemed to reflect: “What the hell have I gotten myself into?”

Notes and quotes

  • “Shut your face.” Line of the night from Ragnar to Floki.
  • “You have the strength of a man but the will of a little girl.” Second-best line of the night from Ragnar to Bjorn.
  • “I forgive you.” Ragnar after headbutting Burgred. The man was on fire!
  • Congratulations to Vikings for winning Best International TV Drama at the Canadian Screen Awards.
  • I’m amazed by the visual effects done on this show by Toronto-based Mr. X. I can never tell what’s real and what isn’t.
  • That scene between Bjorn and Rollo was touching as hell.

Vikings airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on History.

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Featured, X Company

Review: X Company explores both sides of the story

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When I’d first heard that X Company—then called Camp X—was being developed by the CBC, I was excited. A history buff, I was champing at the bit to learn about Canada’s super-secret role during the Second World War.

And while I’ve certainly been educated in that all-important task, I’m even more impressed with the story surrounding the German soldiers and Nazis. Almost every program or film I’ve seen centred on the Allies, but X Company is delving deeper into who we’re taught are the villains. It’s easy to put the Nazis into a box and label them as murderers, but the reality is not everyone felt that way. That was certainly driven home during Wednesday’s “Kiss of Death,” where The Bleeder was unmasked—and dispatched, literally—by a poison pill kiss from Aurora.

The Bleeder’s affect on some of his fellow officers was very interesting. The man who so wanted to sleep with Celeste and had to settle for Aurora at first came off as a cruel, unfeeling jerk who was only interested in sex. Minutes later, he was shaking and afraid, confessing to Aurora that he was gay and therefore a target of The Bleeder, who wanted to stamp out homosexuality and other “deviant” sexual behaviour. The scene started out dripping with tension but ended with tenderness as Aurora promised to keep the weeping officer’s secret safe. It instantly put a human face to the enemy for both viewers and Aurora, and left me pondering my longtime thoughts.

I felt even more deeply about that when Oberführer Faber hid his son from view of the other SS officers. Anyone with a disability—in the child’s case, Down’s syndrome—was viewed as a fly in the ointment of the perfect race and would not have survived either.

I was, of course, touched by what was happening with Aurora and the team—Alfred’s combat training saved his butt and the atomic scientist extraction mission was a success—but the German side of the story really struck me this week. And has made it harder for me to cheer against them.

Notes and quotes

  • Brilliant move giving Alfred earplugs to wear so that loud noises don’t phase him. I hate it when he, you know, freezes up in a life or death situation.
  • It was great to see Maryam D’Abo back on the small screen as Madame Sournis.
  • I need to learn Morse code so that I understand what’s being transmitted in the opening credits. Is it SOS?
  • Am I to assume the blue-tinged prison cell Alfred is trapped in represents his mind? Can someone help a symbolism-stunted fellow out?
  • Is it weird that one of the most compelling characters for me is Harry? He’s got the innocent face but is able to be a cool killer too.

X Company airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

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Awards, Featured

Do the Canadian Screen Awards need fixing?

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In a word, yes. Although we’re happy that the Canadian television and film industry are celebrated by a week of glitzy events, fan zones and a televised award ceremony, the Canadian Screen Awards are far from perfect.

As Diane, Anthony and I discussed on this week’s podcast, the decision to tape delay Sunday’s broadcast of the big categories is silly and antiquated in the world of social media. We weren’t alone in that belief, or the suggestion that some award categories be trimmed down so that the Screens don’t become, as TV critic Bill Brioux called them, the Needies.

So, how do we fix the Canadian Screen Awards? Will a live broadcast do it? What if we added a red carpet ceremony that was televised in the hour leading up to broadcast? Every award show in the U.S. does it, so why not us? Should the CSAs be moved to another time of year, or at least a couple of weeks away from the Oscars, so as not to send people into awards show overload? Do we go back to having an awards show solely devoted to Canadian TV?

Let’s put on our thinking caps and solve the problem! Send us your suggestions in the Comments section below.

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