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RTR Media rolls on HGTV’s Open House Overhaul

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From a media release:

RTR Media is excited to announce the start of production on the new HGTV Canada series OPEN HOUSE OVERHAUL with designer/writer Samantha Pynn (Pure Design, Summer Home).

In Open House Overhaul, Sam and her crew overhaul houses on the real estate market in order to sell them fast and make top dollar. Production on the new 14×30’ series has started in Toronto and will premiere on HGTV Canada this spring. The program will be distributed by Distribution360, making it their first RTR Media property to represent after the recently announced first-look deal.

Samantha Pynn is a writer, decorator, stylist and TV host.  She’s the Contributing Design Editor for Chatelaine magazine and a columnist for the National Post.  Samantha Pynn’s first series with RTR Media was the HGTV Canada hit Summer Home.

Open House Overhaul is produced by RTR Media in association with Shaw Media, HGTV and with the assistance of the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit Program.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: High-flying Airshow spotlights daredevils of the skies

I love airshows. I would not love to be a passenger in one of the planes that participate in them. Those loops, dives and stalls excite me when I’m safely on the ground but the thought of experiencing them first-hand causes my stomach to churn.

Those feelings were further driven home by Discovery’s latest series, Airshow, debuting tonight. To put it bluntly, I just don’t have the stuff to get behind the stick—or climb along the wing—that these folks do. But I’m more than happy to sit back and watch. Produced by Great Pacific TV, the same folks behind Highway Thru Hell, Airshow is stunning to watch on an HD TV. Bright paint, blue sky, black asphalt and multicoloured flight outfits pop as these folks explain not only their reasoning behind making a career out of performing in airshows but the inherent danger—and touch of crazy—involved.

Things don’t start all that promisingly. The awful footage of wing walker Jane Wicker and her pilot Charlie Schwenker, crashing and dying in an Ohio airshow in 2013 is shown before introducing viewers to former bush pilot and airline owner “Super Dave” Mathieson who admits to being bitten by the airplane bug when he was a youngster. Wing walker Carol Pilon is up next, describing the feeling of having the wind whip by her as she stands outside of her own airplane. Additional featured storylines in Episode 1 include rookie Stefan Trischuck and his Pitts Special and airbus Donna Flynn, who runs airshows.

Offsetting the interviews and airshow footage from the ground is stunning in-air stuff showcasing Dave performing in his MX-2 and Carol on her Stearman Bi-plane with veteran Marcus Paine at the controls; future episodes boast reel of The Patriots, Pete McLeod, Jon Melby and Sean Tucker taking to the skies.

If you’ve wanted to know what it’s like to fly in one of these planes alongside industry veterans, strap in and catch Airshow.

Airshow airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Discovery.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Bryan Baeumler (and family) heads to the sticks in new reno series

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The No. 1 no-no when it comes to renovating a house is living in it when such a tumultuous event is taking place. And yet that’s exactly what Bryan Baeumler and his family did when they decided to move their lives from busy Oakville, Ont., to the Niagara Escarpment, an event documented in House of Bryan: In the Sticks, debuting Sunday on HGTV.

“Looking back through this journey, moving my family out to barely a farm to what it is now blows the first two House of Bryan series out of the water,” he says from a sunny clime where he’s on vacation with his wife (and TV show co-star) Sarah. “It was just such an adventure and so much fun. The chaos that ensued with having four kids … there is a lot of stuff that goes on in this show. It’s unbelievable.”

The family really had no plans to move from Oakville, where they constructed the “forever home” documented in Season 1. But  the allure of living away from the trappings of the city was just too great for Baeumler and Sarah, who purchased a large property set back from a country road and got to work. The original home, an A-frame with a soaring ceiling in the main room, would largely stay intact save for some extensive updating. A large extension built onto the original would more than double the home’s size while providing the rustic environment on 16 acres that Baeumler experienced as a kid.

Unfortunately, they had to sell their home in Oakville so that they had the funds to start work on the new, meaning moving their belongings–and themselves–up to the new place. Drama, tears, setbacks, triumph and happiness was captured for posterity with In the Sticks. Bowing on Sunday with two back-to-back episodes, viewers will see everything that occurred during the process, with no filter keeping out the bad times from the good. Baeumler and Sarah wouldn’t have it any other way.

“This is the way we live our lives,” he explains. “Sarah and I look at something and say, ‘What if we get hit by a bus tomorrow?’ and we go out and do it. Life is all about an adventure and I think too many people live by the rule book and live conservatively. We say, ‘Screw it! Get it done.'”

That’s not to say the Baeumler’s adjusted to life in the country immediately. Things they hadn’t considered when buying the property was switching over to a septic system for waste and a gas tank for fuel. They also quickly learned that a quick two-minute run for some milk in the city wasn’t the same in the country. The most important things ceased to be what was in the fridge and more about spending time together.

“What it’s changed is that we spend that extra five or 10 minutes with the kids,” he says. “It has changed our family dynamic way, way for the better. It’s been great.”

House of Bryan: In the Sticks debuts Sunday with two back-to-back episodes at 9 p.m. ET on HGTV.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: Polar Sea a stunning sail through the Northwest Passage

I’ve always been fascinated with the search for the Northwest Passage. From Shackleton to Franklin, to those who didn’t make the history books, I’ve read countless depictions of the unforgiving terrain and weather. So I was thrilled–and had high expectations–when screeners for The Polar Sea came across my desk.

Those expectations were filled. This gorgeous, 10-part peek at human, animal and plant life in the north–as well as access to traveling the Northwest Passage–is incredible. Narrated by Gordon Pinsent and airing from Dec. 1 to 12 on TVO, The Polar Sea kicks off by explaining that global warming has advanced to the point the  ever-elusive Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic is now open to traffic both tourist and business. Viewers are first introduced to Richard Tegnér, a Swedish architect and father of two who sets sail in a 9.5-metre sailboat named DAX together with his friends Martin Sigge and Bengt Norvik. Full of excitement, the trio make good time in their first part of their journey to Greenland before technical difficulties cause some delays. Richard marvels not only at how those early English expeditions stocked their war ships to the brim with three years worth of supplies while his trio did one traverse in just four days but at how those teams dealt with close quarters between over 100 men.

The journey Richard and his friends make are juxtaposed between two other ships attempting the same journey–a catamaran filled with a family and a high-end cruise ship packed with wealthy tourists. Some of the best footage in The Polar Sea is the jumping back and forth among the three boats illustrating the challenges faced by all on board them.

The Polar Sea isn’t just a triptych, however. Whole chunks of chapters are devoted to the scientists, biologists, geologists and researchers from around the world who are conducting studies across the Northwest Passage and Arctic, measuring the effects of climate change on glaciers, water levels and land. Dr. Shfaqat Abbas Khan, senior researcher at the National Space Institute in Denmark, for instance, illustrates how Greenland’s melting glaciers are actually causing the whole of the country to grow in height because the weight of the ice is no longer compacting the land. Yes, you read that right. The Polar Sea is packed with “holy crap” information segments–not to mention gripping views of glaciers–that are worth tuning in for.

TVO’s plan of getting the show out to as many viewers as possible isn’t confined to Ontario. The whole series is available on the network’s website on Monday while an accompanying website offers a stunning 360-degree view of the Arctic through the eyes of the Inuit and an online magazine is full of journal entries from those featured in the broadcast.

The Polar Sea debuts Monday at 9 p.m. on TVO and is available to the rest of Canada via the network’s website.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Food Network dishes up Season 2 of Chopped Canada

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From a media release:

The mystery baskets are restocked, the knives are sharpened and the chopping block is ready for the savoury second season premiere of Chopped Canada on January 10 at 9pm ET/PT. After a record-breaking series premiere with the highest audience in the network’s history*, season two returns to Food Network Canada with 13 mouth-watering episodes. Culinary experts Eden Grinshpan (Eden Eats), Toronto’s Massimo Capra (Restaurant Takeover) and Montreal’s Antonio Park (PARK Restaurant) join the rotating panel of all-star judges. Celebrity chefs Susur Lee, Lynn Crawford, Michael Smith, Roger Mooking, John Higgins and Anne Yarymowich return to the judging panel while Dean McDermott reprises his role as host.

Chopped Canada’s sophomore season features a hearty new batch of Canadian competitors representing British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland. The competitors have to be quick on their feet – and even quicker with their hands – if they want to plate a dish using the mystery ingredients to impress the all-star judging panel. Each episode begins with four ambitious chefs. Course-by-course, one competitor is chopped from the competition until only one remains and walks away with $10,000 and the title of Chopped Canada champion. For a full list of chefs competing in the first 13 episodes, including biographical information, please visit choppedcanada.ca. The second half of the season returns in fall 2015 with more of Canada’s culinary talent taking on the Chopped Canada kitchen.

New this season are special themed episodes peppered throughout the schedule, including the viewers’ choice episode airing February 7 at 9 pm ET/PT. Fans were invited to weigh in with their ideas through the Chopped Canada Twitter and Facebook pages. Viewers showed no mercy suggesting ingredient combinations that are more difficult than ever. From the Canadian staple ketchup chips to the outright daring prairie oysters, the four competing chefs will have to be on their A-game to survive.

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