Everything about Sunnyside, eh?

Sunnyside

Tonight: Sunnyside, The Nature of Things, Doc Zone

Sunnyside

Sunnyside, City – “Chain Gang”
A chain gang trudges through the streets of Sunnyside and Darryl (Kevin Vidal) decides to tempt fate by leaving town. Meanwhile, Jimmy (Rob Norman) discovers how good a friend Viola (Kathleen Phillips) really is, after he asks her to help kill him. Plus, the Meth Girls (Kathleen Phillips, Patrice Goodman, Alice Moran) embark on an unusual shopping spree.

The Nature of Things, CBC – “Kung Fu Meerkats”
At their home in the harsh Kalihari desert, Meerkats must work together or die. In order to find enough to eat and raise their pups, they must all collaborate. In a remarkable project spanning 20 years, scientists have begun to unravel the mysteries of these complex lives. They’ve discovered that meerkats have much to teach the rest of us about collaboration.

Doc Zone, CBC – “To the Rescue”
Go behind-the-scenes with the people who save lives when outdoor adventurers put themselves at risk. A documentary about Canada’s patchwork search and rescue system. Why is it sending out its own SOS call?

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Sunnyside

Link: Sunnyside sketch comedy show spoofs yuppie universe

From CBC’s Q:

Sunnyside sketch comedy show spoofs yuppie universe
The new sketch comedy show Sunnyside takes a closer look at the various species that populate the modern concrete jungle — from roving gangs of drunk party girls to snarky bearded baristas. The often surreal show, which recently premiered on City TV, has been described as a refreshing critique of contemporary urban life. Actress and writer Kathleen Phillips and co-creator and co-producer Dan Redican join guest host Daniel Richler to discuss the show’s “absurdist take on a neighbourhood in transition”. Listen here.

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Sunnyside

Tonight: Sunnyside, The Nature of Things, Doc Zone

Sunnyside, City – “The Exploding Moon”
A chain gang trudges through the streets of Sunnyside. Darryl (Kevin Vidal) decides to tempt fate by leaving town, and Jimmy (Rob Norman) finds out how good a friend Viola (Kathleen Phillips) really is after he asks her to kill him. Meanwhile, the Meth Girls (Kathleen Phillips, Patrice Goodman, and Alice Moran) have an interesting take on a shopping spree.

The Nature of Things, CBC – “Mystery of the Monsoon”
Mystery of the Monsoon is a cinematic exploration of the force of the monsoon. Some say it’s the soul of India. We experience the monsoon through the eyes of farmers, fishermen, and wildlife wardens, all of whose lives are affected by the rains and of meteorologists, who try to predict the timing, location and volume of the rains.

Doc Zone, CBC – “TV Revolution”
TV Revolution explores the rise of TV as the most influential medium of the 20th century and how it has helped to shape our national identity. The film will reveal how hit TV shows are created and explore the challenges that lie ahead as the TV business goes head-to-head with online competitors like Netflix. Viewers will go behind the scenes at TV industry events in Cannes and Los Angeles for an up-close look at the highly competitive business of buying American TV shows and the huge financial gamble of trying to pick the next big hit.

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Featured, Package Deal, Seed, Sunnyside, Young Drunk Punk

City: Bland name, brand comedy

It was a dark day in Canadian TV when Citytv cancelled Murdoch Mysteries back in 2011. Five seasons is a long run for any show but with ratings and creative juices still fresh, the decision seemed like part of that eternal mystery: why are Canadian series so expendable?

Rogers executives grumbling about the cost of producing original series pointed to one possible answer. Their then-recent purchase of the FX brand seemed like another. Canadian broadcasters like to spread their original programming across all their channels to cheaply fulfill CanCon requirements, but Murdoch and FX went together like peanut butter and purple. Luckily, CBC stepped in to the rescue and Murdoch continues on its merry ratings-grabbing way there.

Fast forward four years and City — as they’re now simply known, in a branding move I have to assume was to make themselves entirely un-Googleable — has a small new slate of original programs with a definable tone.

They define that tone as “intensely-local, urban-oriented, culturally-diverse television programming.” Um, sure. [P.S. -ly adverbs don’t take hyphens after them. Signed, Intensely Grammatically Nerdy.]

Forget about the odd OLN series such as The Liquidator that pop up on the mothership network — for their first-run series, City seems to be carving out a niche in comedy.

Now I’m not saying all their comedies are winners, or that their scheduling and marketing were stellar, but the two seasons each of Seed and Package Deal were valiant attempts to fulfill the urban-oriented part of that brand verbiage, anyway. Before they claim “intensely local” and “culturally diverse” for their scripted series, instead of their programming as a whole, they should probably be more blatant about setting and have cast photos that aren’t exclusively or predominantly white but … quibble.

This season, City seems reborn with the delightfully off-centre Sunnyside and Young Drunk Punk out of the gate, and a partnership with CBC that will have them airing Mr. D after it’s been on the public broadcaster. They don’t seem to be ponying up more money for original programming, but a focus on half-hour shows and partnerships gives them more to spread around, at least, while remaining focused on their brand.

So with my rose-coloured, intensely urban glasses on, City seems determined to prove that Canadian comedy isn’t dead – despite what some people say. Now all they need is for one of their brand-name shows to be the kind of hit they had with Murdoch Mysteries.

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Awards, Book of Negroes, Featured, Remedy, Rookie Blue, Schitt's Creek, Sunnyside, Young Drunk Punk

Top 5 reasons to be optimistic about Canadian TV

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The days are getting longer, but they’re still pretty damn short. Spring with its warmer weather feels like a distant mirage. And there’s always something to complain about in Canadian television. But there are some hopeful signs this winter season:

  1. CBC is out of the gate this winter with fine ratings. Phew. Their newcomers Schitt’s Creek and The Book of Negroes found an audience, while returning favourites like Murdoch Mysteries continue to earn lots of eyeballs.
  2. Funny ha ha. City has launched two delightfully off-centre comedies in Sunnyside and Young Drunk Punk, and with them and CBC we now have a nice complement of the Canadian comedy old guard on our screens (Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, and Bruce McCulloch) without simply trying to recreate the good old days.
  3. Please sir, can we have some more? Global’s got Remedy, the possibly-in-its-last-season Rookie Blue and … ummm … not a lot else coming up for original series. So they must have an announcement coming sometime soon about what else is up their sleeve. Right?
  4. 101 nights of awards. OK, the Canadian Screen Awards have only four nights of awards, but now that sounds like nothing right? What better than the recently announced nominations to keep us chatting through the winter about who was snubbed, why there’s a separate category for Best International Drama that doesn’t include any international dramas that aren’t Canadian, and why Tatiana Maslany wasn’t just nominated for all five slots under best actress in a drama. The broadcast on March 1 will be hosted by Andrea Martin — another Canadian comedy legend — or at least they will be if she shows up this time.
  5. Jay Baruchel knows how to fix Canadian comedy. He says give CBC more money (yes!) and get rid of the old boys club who “regardless of the quality” keep getting jobs. It’s an uncomfortable position for me, defending old guys, but I’m not entirely sure who he means, or who we can blame when relative newcomers’ shows tank. Canadian TV executives or marketers? Maybe, but I’m not sure how many of them have successful original programming in their job performance plans, and many of them are not boys. Still, it can only help when a homegrown celebrity is passionate about improving our homegrown industry. I mean, it might be better if he wasn’t getting lauded for starring in an American show while advocating for Canadian content, but baby steps.
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