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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Property Brothers: 100 Episodes & Counting Special Premieres Monday, November 9

From a media release:

W Network’s Property Brothers celebrates its 100th episode (airing November 9 at 9 p.m. ET/PT). Prior to the milestone episode, Drew and Jonathan Scott, will host the brand new special Property Brothers: 100 Episodes & Counting that takes fans on a hilarious ride through their favourite moments from the past 100 episodes of the hit series. The Property Brothers: 100 Episodes & Counting hour-long special airs Monday, November 9 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, followed by the 100th episode of Property Brothers at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Over 100 episodes and 100 dream home renovations, the Canadian duo have become iconic with their wits and skills while renovating or selling a home. Over the past five seasons, Drew and Jonathan have helped couples find, buy and transform extreme fixer-uppers into incredible homes. They’ve put up walls and brought down houses, pulled up floors, completed miracle renovations in weeks, walked red carpets and been included on People Magazine’s Annual Sexiest Man Alive List and HELLO! Canada’s 50 Most Beautiful List. In the special, viewers see how Property Brothers first came about, how an episode is put together, as well as all-time favourite bits from the show, including the evolution of Drew and Jonathan’s hair styles.

Property Brothers is produced by Cineflix (Property Brothers 5) Inc. in association with W Network. Gerard Barry is among the Executive Producers for Cineflix. For more information on these series, please visit wnetwork.com/propertybrothers.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Link: Polar Bear Town is must-see TV

From Jim Bawden:

Polar Bear Town is must-see TV
As I meander around Toronto these days people are always asking me are there any new must see Canadian TV series.

I’m usually stymied by the request but after watching the new series Polar Bear Town have I got a winner for them. You can see for yourself –the next new episode premieres on OLN Tuesday night at 9. Got that? Continue reading. 

 

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Banger Films returns to TV with excellent Rock Icons

Are you ready to rock? Four years after Banger Films brought the history of metal music to television with Metal Evolution, the boys are back with Rock Icons.

Debuting Sunday on HBO Canada (after a first window broadcast on VH1), Rock Icons celebrates the men and ladies who have built incredible careers in the music industry. Beginning this week with a focus on Rush frontman Geddy Lee, upcoming instalments boast Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, Ted Nugent, Heart’s Ann Wilson, Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine, Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx, Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, Daryl Hall, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott and Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan.

“Picking these icons was really a collaboration between ourselves and VH1,” says Sam Dunn, who co-directed the series with Scot McFadyen. “We had our favourites and they had theirs and we created a list where we felt there were stories to tell and they felt there was an audience for.” Dunn and McFadyen’s Banger Films have produced a must-watch list of feature documentaries on the subject of rock and metal music, from Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey to Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, Iron Maiden: Flight 666 and Super Duper Alice Cooper, building trust within the music community. That trust gave them access to folks like Wilson, who is notoriously shy when it comes to granting interviews.

Even well-versed fans of bands like Rush and Mötley Crüe will be surprised by what the Banger crew uncover; Lee’s interest in music was inspired by Roy Orbison and Sixx is the reason the glam rockers existed in the first place.

“The story of Nikki Sixx has always been the same, the sex, the drugs and the rock and roll,” Dunn says. “We didn’t want to do that. We wanted to look at who this person was. We came up with the title The Architect, because he really is the architect behind Mötley Crüe. He guided and shaped that band and is a really smart guy, and we felt that was a more interesting story than talking about the Sunset Strip again.”

Dunn acknowledges the 10-part first season barely scratches the surface on all of the icons they’d love to celebrate, but at this point there’s no Season 2 planned. Not that he and the Banger Films team are sitting around. Their latest feature documentary, Satan Lives, is available on iTunes and On Demand across Canada now, and a two-part doc on the history of hip-hop called The Message: Hip-Hop Evolution is on the way. The company also launched a kids’ programming division called B Minors; Gaming Show (In My Parents Garage) currently airs on CHRGD.

When I mention the possibility of a documentary celebrating the Scorpions, Dunn doesn’t miss a beat.

“Someone needs to make that film,” he says. “They’re the biggest musical act to come out of Germany. They’re the biggest metal band to come out of North America, the U.K. and the English-speaking world. Someone’s gotta do it and we’d love to do it. I better call some German broadcasters.”

Rock Icons airs Sundays at 10:30 p.m. ET/MT on HBO Canada.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Live-stream of paranormal investigation launches S2 of APTN’s The Other Side

I love watching TV shows about ghost investigations. I dutifully tuned in to every episode of Paranormal State, and checked out Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures. Heck, I’ve been watching Supernatural since Season 1. I’ve seen a lot of questionable camera work and many things I can’t explain on those programs, but APTN’s The Other Side certainly seems to be on the up-and-up if you believe in the spirit world in the first place.

Returning Saturday on APTN—and just in time for Halloween—Season 2’s 13 half-hour back-to-back episodes of The Other Side once again mesh technology and the spirit world with things that go bump in the night as intuitive Jeff Richards, investigator Bill Connelly, spirit guide Tom Charles and researcher Priscilla Wolf investigate spookiness across Canada.

I screened Episode 4, “Love More,” and it’s pretty creepy stuff. Camped out at a burial ground for 16 hanged men outside Manitoba’s Headingley Prison, scientific instruments capture blips, bleeps and noises that are turned into a recognizable voice. Photographs taken at the scene uncover an orb—long thought to represent a wayward spirit—hanging out nearby. Is it really an executed murderer named Peter communicating with the team, or a local having them on? Backstory into the crime Peter was accused of rounds out the story nicely, adding a human face to the apparition the squad communicates with.

Regardless of your beliefs, The Other Side is solid entertainment. None of the team members freak out when something happens, an annoying trait on Ghost Adventures, and no jump cuts or sudden camera movements sully the shots.

Prior to Saturday’s return, The Other Side crew will be conducting a live-stream paranormal investigation on Thursday, Oct. 29, from the Senator Hotel, one of the oldest in Saskatoon. Check it out at 8:15 p.m. PT/11:15 p.m. ET from APTN’s website or the show’s website.

The Other Side airs Saturdays at 8 and 8:30 p.m. ET on APTN.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Corbin Tomaszeski cooks up truly Incredible prize on Food Race

Corbin Tomaszeski laments the fact that, with many having busy lifestyles, families aren’t able to enjoy quality time preparing or sharing dinner together.

They’ll get a little bit of both—in a seriously amped-up manner—via The Incredible Food Race. Debuting Wednesday on Food Network, celebrity chef Tomaszeski and ET Canada host Rick Campanelli serve as hosts and ringmasters as two families face off in physical challenges followed by a live cook-off in front of an audience; the audience then tastes both meals and votes for the winning family. What does the triumphant squad go home with? Groceries for a year courtesy of Walmart Canada.

“Competition shows usually award product, some kind of service or monetary amount,” Tomaszeski says. “There’s something really attractive and tangible when it’s food and you have the control over what you buy. And, hello, food is a basic necessity.” The former Restaurant Takeover host explains The Incredible Food Race is more about bringing people together and having fun, with a big prize at the end.

It doesn’t take long for the “fun” challenges to turn into a bona fide competition in Episode 1. The super-athletic Snyman family face off against the vegan Buddle-Gills in three tests designed to give distinct advantages during the final cook-off. The biggest of those three advantages? Several minutes with Tomaszeski coaching them while preparing food for the hungry voting audience. The Dinner Party Wars judge admits that, unlike feelgood co-host Campanelli, he wants to hear smack talk and see some tears because it makes for good TV. One of Tomaszeski’s favourite challenges is called “Sumo Sushi,” and features a team member rolling their own rice-based recipes … while wearing inflatable sumo wrestler costumes.

At this point, Season 1 is a mere six episodes filmed in Toronto, but Tomaszeski hopes, if a sophomore season is ordered, The Incredible Food Race can become a country-wide affair.

“I think we’ve only just scratched the surface with Season 1,” he says. “I think we should travel or have people from across Canada come here because there are so many different types of families and components of families out there that it’s a good idea.”

The Incredible Food Race airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Food Network.

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