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Featured, Strange Empire

Review: Sheriffs and same-sex kisses on Strange Empire

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Bachelor Canada, Featured, Strange Empire

Comments and queries for the week of Nov. 14

By far the story that got the most comments this week was Kate Taylor’s piece regarding whether Strange Empire could ever become as successful as its Monday night counterpart, Murdoch Mysteries. Here’s a sampling of what people said.

The first issue any supporter of the CBC and Canadian TV in general should have with this is that such comparisons always make one show look good at the other show’s expense: if we want both show’s to do well on CBC, what is constructive about this “comparison” approach?

Ever wonder why Murdoch Mysteries has a fairly substantial audience? By bringing together a bunch of genres, Murdoch Mysteries came up with something “quirky” and “hybrid” and “cultish.” People use a whole lot of compound terms to describe it. But the point is, there is something in Murdoch Mysteries that “crosses over” for many audience segments, so it’s a ridiculous exercise to try to reduce it to some over-simplified strawman just for the same of comparing Strange Empire. All of these articles just makes it look like the reviewers don’t know what they are talking about to the over 1 million viewers who actually do watch Murdoch Mysteries every week.–Snacky

After watching the first two episodes of Strange Empire and having the people I had talked into watching it drop like flies, I began watching the show with a much more critical eye, but an eye which viewed the show in terms of why the show failed to appeal to people, rather than an eye to artistry. After watching five episodes of Strange Empire, I still am not sure exactly where the characters are all going and at this point I`m not sure what I`m hoping for the characters.–Ally

And, as The Bachelor Canada heads into its season finale on Tuesday, readers are split 50-50 over whether Tim Warmels will choose Trish or April as his betrothed.

Unfortunately, I see April as a mentally and emotionally unstable individual. What does Tim know of her background? How will she cope when she begins to have her own children, when she is so easily overwhelmed? It will take a lot of trust and possibly a lot of time in the future to help her deal with life’s issues, it seems, not just for Tim but his family.–Evette

I wanted April, but what I saw last week, I have changed my mind. April still needs to mature and really think what she really wants. She is very pretty and nice, but what would happen in the real life with Tim? This relationship will not survive. With Trish, this might work, but Tim must set the rules with a beauty queen. No diva, no drama, just be yourself. Moving to Toronto will be a big step with Trish. But I still like Trish.–Luce

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

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Featured, Haven

Review: Chris Brody returns to Haven

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If only Chris Brody had flown to Haven, perhaps the town wouldn’t be in the pickle it is now. Instead fans had to settle for Chris (Jason Priestley) and his charms via Skype as he attempted to stop Dr. Charlotte Ross from investigating the weird wound on Dave’s leg. Dave rightly supposed that once Charlotte laid eyes on Chris–and was affected by his charm Trouble–she would lay off her investigation of the town.

And it worked. For awhile. Unfortunately, a double Trouble (the ghost of a dead father in a bear suit and bubbly lip disease) revealed the Troubles to Charlotte and she called the CDC to order a big “Quarantine” sign plopped down over Haven. Duke–with some help from an electrical Trouble–took out the cell tower and ended her conversation, but I’m not sure that will stop her for long. Again, if only Chris was there to apply salve to the situation. She certainly won’t be trusting Dwight anytime soon. And that’s too bad, because I really liked the fact that he and Charlotte were bonding over lobster and their military backgrounds (she from the Navy and he an ex-Ranger). It was definitely taking away the sting of Dwight losing his sister to her Trouble in Cincinnati.

Getting back to Dave for a second; his latest dream had him looking through the eyes of someone at the site of the tree carved with Croatoan, surrounded by dead bodies and a black smoke (the aether?) beckoning to a thinny shimmering in front of that person’s eyes. Are these dreams from the other side, or are they placed in the present’s past? There weren’t any answers to that one, and I don’t suppose there will be any soon, seeing as the major storyline will be the outbreak and Charlotte for the immediate future.

Meanwhile, Mara used her feminine wiles–and I think her first shower in weeks–to woo Duke. Duke, who is always left just on the outside of Haven’s in-crowd, fell for Mara’s body and her mind games. By episode’s end he had sided with Mara, who described them both as outcasts that should be taking down Haven together. Duke’s sudden switch to the dark side was stunning but not unexpected. As several readers have hinted over the past few weeks, Duke may have separated Mara and Audrey with the intent on keeping Mara for himself. If that’s the case, joining her in the cause to fight back against Audrey, Nathan, Dwight et al. makes total sense. And they would be a powerful pair.

I think the citizens of Haven has better watch out. The disease outbreak and the CDC may be the very least of their Troubles.

Notes and quotes

  • Why did everyone run when the bear took his head off to reveal a blasted-off head? This is Haven and weird stuff happens all the time. Maybe they were tourists.
  • “It’s the locals. They get upset when we run out of lobster.”–Dwight, after Charlotte heard screams
  • Kudos to Dwight for still being able to eat after Charlotte talked about oozing pustules
  • “You’re on with each other. And yes, it’s weird.”–Duke to Audrey and Mara
  • “What if my bears expose us all?” Only in Haven

Haven airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on Showcase.

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