Everything about Featured, eh?

Bachelor Canada, Featured

Review: Bachelor Canada shocker: Tim chooses his lady love

2 Comments

After all of the drama surrounding April’s performance at the end of last week’s start to The Bachelor Canada season finale, I would have been shocked if Tim Warmels had chosen her over Trish. It seemed to be a no brainer. Trish was outgoing and April wasn’t. Trish was sure of her feelings and April waffled. Tim’s parents liked Trish and were dubious of April.

So, who did Tim choose after all of these weeks of tears and tribulation, brashness and booze? After summarizing that he only wanted to move forward with someone who wanted to be there, April suddenly had a change of heart and wanted to stay.

“Today is a good day,” she told Tim upon meeting him for an impromptu sit-down at the beach.

“That’s the best news I’ve heard from you all day,” Tim responded. One long kiss and a special note later, and April was back in the hunt for the bachelor’s heart. But would she steal it away from Trish?

For her part, Trish was confident in her chances with Tim and he admitted to having no questions regarding her feelings towards him. They even put a padlock on a love fence to prove their warm and fuzzies for each other. A brief meeting with Michael Hill, who pulled some diamond rings out of his leather satchel, and Tim was ready to propose. But who would it be to?

I guess someone’s going to have to go down and dig for the key to unfasten that padlock because Tim chose April. I can only surmise that Tim is looking for someone to protect rather than a gal who is sure of herself because his decision seemed out of character. Maybe it was the fact that Trish is an Edmonton Oilers fan vs. Tim’s beloved Maple Leafs. At this point I’m grasping at anything that makes sense. (As an aside, I thought April’s dress looked like it belonged at a Grade 8 prom rather than the coast of Tahiti.)

The After the Final Rose special was pretty much what we’ve come to expect from the franchise, with Trish confronting Tim over his decision and the reunion of the happy couple. Among the tidbits of information host Tyler Harcott was able to suss out by the end of the episode:

  • Trish has learned a lot about herself
  • Trish’s favourite moment was her date with Tim in Italy
  • Trish isn’t mad at April
  • Tim has fallen in love
  • Tim goes commando
  • There are wedding plans

What did you think of this season? Did Tim choose the right girl?

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Podcast

TV, eh? podcast episode 170 – A Space for Us All

With Diane off in the Galapagos, Anthony and Greg go it alone this week in a decidedly CBC-centric podcast. Among the stories discussed: CBC’s content sharing agreement with The Weather Network, Canadians giving input into the creation of a new series pilot called Let’s Get Hitched and the danger of the public broadcaster going away forever. Greg and Anthony break down just what a super-simulcast of Corner Gas: The Movie means for viewers and work blue while celebrating the fact that Canadian TV is comfortable with swearing.

Listen or download below, or subscribe via iTunes or any other podcast catcher with the TV, eh? podcast feed.

Want to become a Patron of the Podcast? We’ve got a Patreon page where you can donate a small amount per podcast and get a sneak peek of each release.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Strange Empire

Review: Sheriffs and same-sex kisses on Strange Empire

3 Comments

Of course the week that Diane is off on vacation, Strange Empire‘s major storylines headed into a new direction.

“Electricity” was full of just that, literally and figuratively. Literally, a power line came down in Janestown, throwing its sparks hither and yon, and giving Slotter the chance to shift into a higher gear of crazy. The man has been on edge as of late and by Monday night was threatening not only the life of the pony but on the baby too. The former was dispatched off-camera and it looked like the same fate might befall the latter. (I didn’t really suspect that would happen; murdering a baby would make Slotter wholly unlikeable and we’re supposed to hope for his tortured soul.)

Meanwhile, Kat ascended to the role of Sheriff. After a couple of weeks of tension between the town’s ladies and Sheriff Little, everything came to an explosive head. Little made the mistake of fixing his rheumy gaze on Fiona and wanted to spend the night with her. Fiona decided she was up for it–she and her mother needed the money, she reckoned–but things went bad when Little tried to take what he’d previously said he’d pay for. Enter Kat, who promised to kill Little if he tried something like that again. Of course he did–pulling off a great impression of Jack Nicholson in The Shining by hacking his way into the Briggs’ home–before Kat shot him where he stood. (After instructing him to turn around so that she wasn’t a “back-shooter.”) The ladies may have been toasting Kat’s new job, but what will happen once Slotter finds out? He did say Kat would hang if she killed Little.

But perhaps the biggest moment of the episode was reserved for Rebecca and Finn, who finally kissed after weeks of sultry looks behind (and sometimes in front of) Thomas. Of course, no one knows Finn is actually a woman, so the lip-lock will be even more shocking when that comes to light. For now, though, things are already pretty messed up. Rebecca asked Isabelle for help in the bedroom so that she could be a better wife-to-be, but instead of directing it at Thomas she turned her growing affections to Finn instead. Perhaps Rebecca is hedging her bets; Thomas’ gangrenous leg means he’s going to need surgery soon and he may not come out of it alive.

Notable quotes

  • “There’s electricity in the air. Wonderful.”–Rebecca
  • “I don’t know what to do. The only men I have handled have been dead.”–Rebecca
  • “I’m no back-shooter.”–Kat

Strange Empire airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured

Canadian comics offer up laughs and Too Much Information

Too Much Information is not Comedy Now. It’s certainly not The Ron James Show. It’s even more ribald than Funny As Hell. Too Much Information is, as the title suggests, a lot of shocking–and mostly sexually-based–talk from some of Canada’s hottest comedians.

“That’s the kind of the beauty of having the show on something like Super Channel,” TMI host Norm Sousa says. “Obviously there are some standards that we have to uphold but for the most part anything goes.” Inspired by such English panel shows as Never Mind the Buzzcocks and 8 out of 10 Cats, Sousa introduces episode subjects like “Sex,” “Fitness” or “Porn” and then moderates the controlled chaos that spews from the mouths of homegrown comedians like Carla Collins, Lauren Ash, Mark Forward, Sitara Hewitt, Fraser Young, Aisha Alfa, Boomer Phillips, Marty Adams, Justin Landry and Nicole Arbour, to name a few. Over 30 funny folks were chosen to participate; then Kathleen Phillips, Pat Thornton, Luciano Casimiri and Sousa teamed in the writers’ room to come up with what he would say as host.

Many of the talent involved are improv performers and don’t have the opportunity to tell stories on-stage like stand-up comedians do. Sousa spotlights Ash as an example; the Second City Toronto veteran used the TMI forum to regale the live audience with her outrageous life encounters. Divided into two teams of three, the comics use the spotlight to unveil more private sides of their lives thanks to the questions Sousa opens each part of the discussion with. There is a rough points system that Sousa uses to declare a winning team, but he’s fast and loose with that power, admitting he sometimes secretly awarded a team the overall win as soon as they said something he really liked.

Production of Lone Eagle’s TMI had the air of a long stand-up road tour: 39 episodes filmed in 10 days. Sousa laughs when he recalls not being able to read the cue cards on the second Thursday during taping of the day’s fourth show. What got him through?

“What really helps you get through it is that the panelists are so fantastic and so hilarious that we were having a good time,” Sousa says. “And, at the end of the day, I knew when I went back to the dressing room there would be a beer there waiting for me.”

Catch Sousa at the Toronto’s Comedy Bar where he appears Friday nights in Catch 23.

Too Much Information debuts Tuesday at 11 p.m. ET on Super Channel.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured

Link: TV, Eh? weekly chat on CKTB and CJBK

Greg has a gig on The Tom O’Connell Show every Thursday from 11:30 a.m. until noon ET on CKTB in Niagara Falls, Ont., and CJBK in London, Ont.

This week Greg and Tom muse on the U.S. networks’ cancelled shows, Randy Jackson exiting American Idol and the second annual Canadian International Television Festival. Greg also answers a series of rapid-fire questions about your fave TV shows. The segment starts at the 29-minute mark.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail