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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Wild Bear Rescue examines rehabbing and raising bears on the west coast

I’m a sucker for animals and pretty much any programming around them. I’ve watched many, many episodes of Hope for Wildlife, about Hope Swinimer’s non-profit wildlife rehab centre in Nova Scotia. Now there’s a new group being spotlit on the west coast thanks to Animal Planet.

Wild Bear Rescue, debuting Friday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Animal Planet, visits Northern Lights Shelter, a place that raises orphaned bear cubs—and other wildlife—to give them a shot at survival. Begun in 1990 and designed to be an occasional refuge for injured animals, Angelika and Peter Langen’s passion project has grown. Now they’ve got 40 bear cubs rehabbing on their property, making them one of the largest in the world. There are, of course, challenges. With no government funding, the Langers rely on the charity of local supermarkets, private donations and passionate volunteers to make ends meet and Episode 1 outlines those challenges, both money and ursine, faced at Northern Lights Shelter.

“A Cub with a Kick,” the first of 12 episodes, introduces viewers to the Langers and their team before getting right to the drama when a young female bear is brought in after being hit by a car. Omnifilm Entertainment, the show’s producers, did an excellent job ramping up the drama for six seasons of Ice Pilots NWT and do the same thing here, leaving viewers in suspense regarding the overnight fate of their newest arrival and whether a newborn fawn will feed.

If you’re like me and enjoy programs about animals, Wild Bear Rescue will be right up your alley. And if you’d like to, Northern Lights is always looking for volunteers and donations.

Wild Bear Rescue airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Animal Planet.

Image courtesy of Bell Media.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

W Network’s Jillian & Justin pulls back the curtain on Harris’ private life

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She’s been a bachelorette and battled with Todd Talbot on Love It Or List It Vancouver. Now Jillian Harris is allowing W Network to track her newest life experience: mother.

Debuting Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on W Network, the four-part Jillian & Justin pulls back the curtain on Harris’ personal life, something most haven’t seen on television (but get plenty of on her blog and Instagram) since her time on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. Along for the experience is Justin Pasutto, a former professional snowboarder and small business owner who seems equally at home having a documentary camera track his every move as she does. Jillian & Justin is from Big Coat Media, the same folks who make Love It Or List It Vancouver and it’s obvious Harris trusts them. How else to explain why she and Pasutto would allow them to record the not-so-glamourous life of a couple building their own house in Kelowna, B.C., with a baby on the way while juggling day jobs?

Much of Episode 1 lays the groundwork for the rest of the series, setting up who Pasutto is and his personality. It also gives an interesting peek into life behind-the-scenes on Love It Or List It Vancouver, as Harris and co-host Todd Talbot discuss her pregnancy while eating popsicles in the production camper. Gone are the TV personas we see on that show and we’re left with two good friends discussing life-changing events. It’s pretty cool stuff.

If you’re not a fan of Harris, Jillian & Justin won’t be your cup of tea. But if following her on social media, getting email updates from her website and watching Love It Or List It Vancouver just isn’t enough, this four-parter will help sate your appetite.

Jillian & Justin airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on W Network.

Image courtesy of Corus.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

You Gotta Eat Here! cancelled by Food Network Canada

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The food-tasting food trip is over. You Gotta Eat Here!, hosted by John Catucci, has been cancelled by Food Network Canada after five seasons on the air.

“We are extremely proud of the volumes of strong Canadian original content we have delivered to audiences over the years,” Lisa Godfrey, vice-president of original content for Corus Entertainment, said in a statement. “After resonating with legions of fans, You Gotta Eat Here! has reached its natural end and has not been renewed for another season. The success this series had is a true testament to our exceptionally talented production partners, Lone Eagle Entertainment, and Corus applauds the cast, creators, producers, and writers for their dedication to this Canadian original. We remain firmly committed to developing standout original Canadian content and look forward to sharing more information about upcoming renewals and new series soon.”

Related: Listen to Anthony Marco interview John Catucci

Produced by Lone Eagle Entertainment, You Gotta Eat Here! featured comedian Catucci as he travelled across Canada—and to the odd city outside of this country—tasting food, getting his hands dirty making it and spotlighting the big and small-scale restaurants, eateries and watering holes folks should be trying out. Catucci, who never purported to be a chef (but has been churning out what looks like pretty delicious-looking high-end stuff on his Instagram page), was an inquisitive, funny and enjoyable host who clearly loved his job. It clearly resonated with fans and critics: the series debuted in 2012 and won Canadian Screen Awards for Best Lifestyle or Talk Program or Series in 2014 and 2017.

You Gotta Eat Here! is the latest series to be cancelled by Corus leading into the 2017-18 broadcast season. It joins HGTV Canada’s Timber Kings, Leave It to Bryan and Income Property as projects not moving forward with new episodes.

Repeats of You Gotta Eat Here! continue to be broadcast on Food Network Canada. How do you feel about the show being cancelled? Let me know in the comments section below.

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Bachelor Canada, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Former Major League Baseball player Chris Leroux stars on The Bachelor Canada

From a media release:

Get ready to fall in love, Canada! Our country’s bachelor is looking for someone to steal his bases – and his heart. A recently retired Major League Baseball player from Mississauga, ON, Chris Leroux searches for true love when 20 beautiful bachelorettes vie for his heart on W Network’s The Bachelor Canada debuting this fall. Canadian Screen Award nominated television personality and actor Noah Cappe (Carnival Eats, Good Witch) returns as trusted confidant and host of the series. Following each episode, The Bachelor Canada After Show will dish out all the details with returning host and Q107 personality Jennifer Valentyne.

Thirty-three-year-old Leroux grew up with strong family values and an ingrained passion for sports. Introduced to baseball at a young age, Leroux’s hard work and perseverance paid off when he fulfilled his dream of playing Major League Baseball. Throughout his career he has played for the New York Yankees, Florida Marlins and Pittsburgh Pirates. Leroux’s success is matched by his kindness, loyalty and sense of humour, and now he’s looking for someone to share his laidback lifestyle and adventurous spirit with as he enters the next chapter of his life.

In the Canadian version of this smash-hit, romance reality series, Canada’s most eligible bachelor is in search of the woman of his dreams – and hopefully his bride-to-be. The Canadian bachelor will search for love as 20 women do whatever it takes to win his heart. The women compete for the bachelor’s affection via individual and group dates involving romantic encounters and exciting adventures. As the bachelor narrows the field and the number of women dwindles, romance and tensions will rise. Ultimately, he will choose the one woman with whom he wants to spend the rest of his life.

The Bachelor Canada is produced by Good Human Productions Inc.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

AMI-tv digs into DIY with debut of Eyes for the Job

It makes total sense for the folks at AMI-tv to follow up their cooking series Four Senses with Eyes for the Job. Aside from cooking, home renovations take up a lot of our time so why not launch a do-it-yourself series?

Debuting Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET on AMI-tv, Eyes for the Job is designed for viewers who are blind or low vision by having hosts Chris Judge and Rebekah Higgs describe what they’re doing while it’s being done. That’s evident in Episode 1 as the pair turn an old piano into a showstopper bar and tile the kitchen at Higgs’ home; they give a step-by-step description of exactly what they’re doing as they do it.

Shot and produced in Halifax by Clerisy Entertainment, the 13-episodes spotlight the skills of Higgs—an accomplished singer, songwriter and do-it-yourself mom—and Judge, who was born blind. That didn’t stop him from catching the DIY bug from his father.

“My father wasn’t trained carpenter, but he did it all of his life,” Judge says on the phone from Halifax. “As a kid, I was always getting in his way. I was out in his workshop putting my hands all over everything and asking him more questions than I’m sure he cared to answer.” Judge honed his skills in junior high by taking industrial arts, first embracing woodworking and then, as an adult, turning towards handyman jobs. Judge has always had an uncanny knack for being able to dismantle and rebuild things; he once shocked friends by putting together a barbecue grill just from feel.

Still, there were parts of Eyes for the Job that him pause: painting. As Judge, an assistive technology trainer at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind recalls, he wasn’t sure how a blind person could successfully paint walls to the standard a sighted person could. But with Higgs’ help, he not only learned how to do it but do it well.

Eyes for the Job isn’t just an excellent DIY series for its intended audience, it’s a fantastic renovation series period, something producer Dale Stevens strived for.

“What a great bar to set on this project, if we can make this not only for the audience at AMI but for anybody on any network,” Stevens says on the line from Dartmouth, NS. “I think we’ve created something that—regardless of what visual state you are—you’re going to watch this show and you’re going to like it.”

 

 

 

Eyes for the Job airs Fridays at 8:30 p.m. ET on AMI-tv.

Image courtesy of AMI.

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