Leading global entertainment producer marblemedia, in association with OutEast Entertainment, is thrilled to announce the launch of its new premium unscripted series, Restaurants on the Edge, which will premiere on Blue Ant Media’s Cottage Life channel in Canada on January 2, 2020 with two back-to-back episodes at 8:00 pm ET/PT and 9:00 pm ET/PT.
Each hour-long episode invites viewers into a new restaurant located in a stunning location—on the edge of an ocean, a mountain, or desert. But despite their outstanding views, these eateries are struggling to create an experience that lives up to their incredible surroundings.
A team of experts lead the way in restaurant transformations that span 10 countries across the 13 episodes: chef Dennis Prescott, designer Karin Bohn and restaurateur Nick Liberato. By tapping into the soul of the restaurant’s surroundings and its community, and by incorporating local tastes, flavours and textures, each expert embarks on a journey to transform not just the restaurant, but the owners’ outlook as well.
Featuring breathtaking locations and diverse ways of life, Restaurants on the Edge focuses on creating outstanding restaurant experiences by making connections with local communities and cultures. Co-produced by marblemedia, with executive producers Matt Hornburg and Mark J.W. Bishop, and OutEast Entertainment, with executive producers Courtney Hazlett and Steven Marrs. Produced in association with Blue Ant Media, series producers and directors Rob Brunner and Justin Harding and supervising producer Donna Luke.
A wall of 12 world-class chefs, four home cooks, three culinary challenges and one grand prize at stake: Wall of Chefs (10×60) puts amateur cooks to the ultimate test. In each exhilarating stand-alone episode of Corus Studios’ Wall of Chefs, host and vibrant television personality Noah Cappe (Carnival Eats) guides four home cooks through intense rounds of culinary competition. Each challenge will test the skills and nerves of the cooks as they battle in a state-of-the-art kitchen under the towering shadow and watchful eye of “The Wall” – comprised of a revolving panel of Canada’s most notable chefs. The competitors battle it out until the final round where the wall of culinary icons ultimately declares the winner, awarding the $10,000 prize. The groundbreaking new Canadian original series makes its debut February 3 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Food Network Canada.
Wall of Chefs features an unmatched, star-studded slate of 33 Canadian culinary icons and trailblazers on rotation throughout the 10-episode run of the season. The chefs span from Vancouver, B.C. to St. John’s, N.L., representing diverse cultures and cuisines, while bringing different perspectives and opinions to the forum.
The Wall of Chefs cast of culinary icons include:
Hugh Acheson – Atlanta, Ga. (5&10, The National, Empire State South, Spiller Park Coffee)
Suzanne Barr – Toronto, Ont. (True True Diner)
Victor Barry – Toronto, Ont. (Piano Piano Restaurant, Café Cancan)
In every episode, four amateur cooks face off in culinary challenges judged by 12 of Canada’s most renowned chefs, known as “The Wall”. The first round is the “Crowd-Pleaser” where four home cooks are tasked with making their signature crowd-pleasing dish to impress the chef judges. One home cook is eliminated, and the three remaining home cooks move forward to compete in the “Chef’s Fridge” challenge where they must use staple ingredients of the selected chef’s fridge in their dish. In the third round, the final two home cooks face off in the “Restaurant-Worthy” challenge, where they are tasked to make a dish based on one of the chef judge’s most popular and well-known culinary creations. In the end, only one cook will be left standing, claiming $10,000 and the respect of the wall of chefs. The home cooks from across the country taking on the ultimate challenge in the Wall of Chefs kitchen will be announced at a later date.
Foodnetwork.ca offers exclusive Wall of Chefs content, including a closer look at the stellar cast of chef judges from across the country. Viewers can look forward to food trend videos, special interviews, a glimpse into the fridges of the expert celebrity chefs and much more. In addition, full episodes will be available online the day after broadcast.
Wall of Chefs is produced by Insight Productions in association with Corus Studios for Food Network Canada. Executive Producers are John Brunton, Mark Lysakowski and Eric Abboud and Series Producer is Erica Lenczner.
Dr. Keri: Prairie Vet, the hit documentary series featuring the tough, but lovable hardworking vet on wheels Keri Hudson Reykdal, will return to Animal Planet for its third season on December 13th, 2019. The season 3 premiere, ‘The Doctor is in… And Out’, follows Dr. Keri as she figures out how to maintain a work/life balance. After weeks of working 24/7 and a full day on the road in her mobile vet clinic, Keri is finally looking forward to heading home when she gets an urgent call – her beloved dog Siri is seriously ill. It’s another all-nighter for Keri as she investigates the potential causes. Juggling her mobile vet clinic practice, the clinic in town and the frequent emergencies on the farm has left Keri completely exhausted. It’s time for a little work/life balance and a weekend’s camping with Calvin and her horse on the island is the perfect answer.
EP1 The Doctor is in … and Out – Dec 13 Dr. Keri needs a break and a weekend’s camping trip is just what the doctor ordered.
After weeks of working 24/7 and a full day on the road in the mobile vet clinic, Keri is finally looking forward to heading home when she gets an urgent call – her beloved dog Siri is seriously ill. It’s another all-nighter for Keri and Calvin as they investigate the potential causes. Juggling her mobile vet clinic practice, the clinic in town and the frequent emergencies on the farm has left Keri completely exhausted. It’s time for a little work/life balance and a weekend’s camping with Calvin and her horse on the island is the perfect answer.
Dr Keri: Prairie Vet is produced by Merit Motion Pictures in association with Animal Planet Canada, and with the participation of the Canada Media Fund, the Manitoba Films & Video Production Tax Credit, the Canadian Film & Video Production Tax Credit and Rogers Telefund. For Merit Motion Pictures, Merit Jensen Carr is Executive Producer and Shereen Jerrett is Series Director and Showrunner.
Merit Motion Pictures is one of Canada’s leading producers of factual entertainment programming. Founded by executive producer and industry veteran Merit Jensen Carr, Merit Motion Pictures is known for producing multi-platform programs that amaze, inform and delight. Recent highlights include the feature documentaries Call of the Forest and Almost Almost Famous, as well as the television specials Turtle Beach and What Trees Talk About, produced for CBC’s The Nature of Things.
Gambling is one of the most popular pastimes in Canada, and it has been found that nearly 70 percent of the population has participated in some form of gambling in the past. Gambling games are characterized by being generally exciting yet simple to understand. With such a high number of Canadians being familiar with gambling, it has often been used as a theme within TV shows. Certain series have had gambling-specific episodes, while game shows have taken the concept of gambling and made it into a reality competition.
Thrilling and Relatable
One of the major reasons that gambling is often depicted on screen is down to the fact that it is strongly associated with excitement. A common trick to upping the thrill levels in a TV series is to include some elements of chance and gambling, in which the fate of the characters could go either way.
One recurring theme from works of fiction is to give the protagonist a tough ultimatum to deliberate. This dilemma, the result of which could go either way, is often used as a way to form a cliffhanger at the end of the episode. It isn’t always explicitly linked to chance or gambling, but the character’s choice can have dramatic consequences down the line. Jesse Pinkman opting to kill Gale at the end of Breaking Bad Season 3 is an example of this. The character had to wrestle the emotions of murdering an innocent man in order to save his own skin.
There have been some Memorable Gambling Scenes in TV Series
When TV writers want to up the ante in a more obvious way, they often send their characters to the casino. Here, they tend to play well-known games that viewers can relate to. With the rise of online gambling, more people are familiar with the rules of table games like roulette and blackjack, along with slot machines. When it comes to thinking of the most memorable gambling scenes that have been in a fictional TV series, there are quite a few strong moments to choose from.
Fans of Friends will fondly remember “The One in Vegas,” which was the double-length finale to Season 5. There were a lot of gambling scenes throughout the episode, but the most iconic was when Monica was on a run of good fortune at the craps table. Chandler joins her at the table and shouts out various promises to the crowd if she wins, such as that they will buy everyone a round of drinks. He eventually says they’ll get married if she rolls a hard eight, and she does.
Another hilarious gambling scene featured in the British sitcom, Peep Show. The protagonists decide to host a poker night because Mark believes that it is a manly pastime, and he wants to impress Sophie’s new boyfriend, Jeff. Mark doesn’t want to take any risks so folds at every opportunity, while Jez doesn’t know how to play the game but manages to bluff his way through.
Along with fictional series, many viewers will look back with delight on occasions in reality TV shows when people have gambled. There have been a few times in Deal or No Deal when players have been left with a choice between gambling the Banker’s deal to see if they can win the jackpot. Who Wants to be a Millionaire is also renowned for putting players in some tough spots as they aim to take down the ultimate prize.
Gambling is a Great Format for Game Shows
The developers of some of the most popular game shows ever invented have taken elements from gambling in order to create an exciting experience for viewers. Deal or No Deal, mentioned above, is one of the prime examples of a format in which players are constantly required to gamble. The original show was a Dutch offering called Miljoenenjacht, which means Hunt for Money. The 26 box format with regular monetary offers from a banker went on to be used in over forty different countries, including Canada in 2007.
The thrilling aspect of Deal or No Deal is the fact that players are constantly put into a position in which they could potentially lose or gain a lot money. In Canada, Cash Cab is one of the longest-running and most popular game shows. The Discovery Channel show presented by Adam Growe has been on air since 2008 and gives players the chance to gamble frequently with double or nothing questions. It seems that the easy to understand concept of gambling is one that translates perfectly to game show audiences.
Gambling is a common theme for TV series and game shows because it’s something that most viewers can relate to. While not everyone likes to gamble, they may enjoy the thrill of living these tough decisions vicariously through characters or contestants.
