Everything about Young Drunk Punk, eh?

Dragons' Den, Saving Hope, X Company, Young Drunk Punk

Tonight: X Company, Saving Hope, Young Drunk Punk, Dragons’ Den

X Company, CBC – Series premiere
X Company explores the origins of spycraft through the character-driven stories of five young recruits, plucked from their ordinary lives, trained in covert operations and sent beyond enemy lines to fight for the Allied cause. Evelyne Brochu, Jack Laskey, Warren Brown, Dustin Milligan, Connor Price, Hugh Dillon and Lara Jean Chorostecki. As a new team of Allied agents face a terrifying first mission, Camp X’s spymaster Duncan Sinclair must convince a fragile young man with a perfect memory to join the fight.

Saving Hope, CTV – “All the Pretty Horses”
A devastating accident requires the help of Hope Zion Hospital’s doctors at an offsite army base, and Dr. Charlie Harris (Michael Shanks) and Dr. Joel Goran (Daniel Gillies) flip a coin to decide who will take the call. When Joel wins the toss, he and Dr. Zach Miller (Ben Ayres) depart for a heart‐pounding day as they attempt to save the life of a soldier in dire circumstances. Meanwhile, Charlie and Dr. Dawn Bell (Michelle Nolden) work to save a victim of hypothermia, and it’s do or die time for Hope Zion Hospital’s surgeons-in-training when Dr. Alex Reid (Erica Durance), Dr. Maggie Lin (Julia Taylor Ross), and Dr. Rian Larouche (Danso Gordon) finally face the future and their Surgical Boards. But for Alex, the biggest day in her career is also about to become the biggest day of her life.

Young Drunk Punk, City – “The Clash is Coming”
Ian (Tim Carlson) and Shinky (Atticus Mitchell) find out that The Clash is coming to Calgary and make it their mission in life to get tickets – no matter what they have to do. Meanwhile, Helen (Tracy Ryan) and Belinda (Allie Macdonald) find a clash of their own when constructive criticism becomes a destructive battle of wits.

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Book of Negroes, Dragons' Den, Saving Hope, Young Drunk Punk

Tonight: Saving Hope, Young Drunk Punk, Dragons’ Den, The Book of Negroes

Saving Hope, CTV – “A Simple Plan”
Dr. Alex Reid (Erica Durance) finds herself under the thumb of her overprotective birth partner – leading her to wonder what kind of plans are truly worth making. When a patient comes in two days before he’s set to go to prison, Alex and Dr. Charlie Harris (Michael Shanks) must sift through his many secrets to find out the truth about what really happened to him to help save his life. Dr. Maggie Lin (Julia Taylor Ross) and Dr. Zach Miller (Ben Ayres) treat a couple on their way to see the Northern Lights, when a surprise diagnosis changes their futures forever – leading Zach to open up to Maggie about his own family secrets. Dr. Joel Goran (Daniel Gillies) enlists Dr. Shahir Hamza’s (Huse Madhavji) help to get a young bride ready to walk down the aisle. Charlie finds a spirit loitering in the halls, and when he discovers why, he finds himself facing a very emotional flash from his past. ETALK Anchor Ben Mulroney makes a guest appearance on this episode.

Young Drunk Punk, City – “The Van”
Ian (Tim Carlson) and Shinky (Atticus Mitchell) turn an old van into the coolest party wagon in town, but when the van threatens their friendship, the guys have to decide if they’d rather be friends with each other, or with the van. Meanwhile, Belinda (Allie Macdonald) and Lloyd (Bruce McCulloch) team up for some father-daughter crime fighting, and Helen (Tracy Ryan) takes up jogging – only to find that she’s exercising her eyes as much as her legs.

Dragons’ Den, CBC
One entrepreneur thinks he has the right skills to be an industry ringleader; a Dragon gets burned by a flashy product causing the other Dragons to breathe fire; and one product’s outlawed origins rear an ethical motive. Plus, a green product has two Dragons seeing red.

The Book Of Negroes, CBC – Part 5 of 6
As racial tensions boil in Nova Scotia, Aminata organizes a final journey back to Africa.

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Book of Negroes, Dragons' Den, Saving Hope, Young Drunk Punk

Tonight: Young Drunk Punk, Dragons’ Den, Book of Negroes, Clara’s Big Ride, Saving Hope

Young Drunk Punk, City – “Working for Cowboy”
Determined to not end up like his father, Ian (Tim Carlson) takes a construction job with Shinky (Atticus Mitchell) but gets more than he bargained for when the boss turns out to be his sister’s scary ex-boyfriend.

Dragons’ Den, CBC
A protective product sparks a Dragon competition and turns heads in the Den; an entrepreneur exposes it all to have the Dragons weigh in; and a couple outlines their eco-friendly solution to a monthly problem. Plus, accomplished Canadian athletes hope the Dragons will join their team.

The Book Of Negroes, CBC – Part 4 of 6
After British defeat, Aminata registers Black Loyalists in The Book Of Negroes for an escape to freedom in Nova Scotia.

Clara’s Big Ride, CTV
Premiering in primetime on CTV during Bell Let’s Talk Day (Jan. 28), the original one-hour Bell Media documentary CLARA’S BIG RIDE chronicles an unprecedented 11,000 km bicycle journey across Canada by six-time Olympic medallist and Bell Let’s Talk spokesperson Clara Hughes. Throughout the journey, Hughes spreads a hopeful message designed to break the silence surrounding mental illness and helps create a stigma-free Canada. Directed by multi-award winning filmmaker Larry Weinstein (Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, Our Man in Tehran, TSN’s THE 13th MAN), the documentary recounts Hughes’ epic 110-day journey through 105 communities and 235 events in varied and often extreme weather conditions from coast to coast to coast.

Saving Hope, CTV – “Remains of the Day”
Dr. Alex Reid (Erica Durance), Dr. Maggie Lin (Julia Taylor Ross), and Dr. Rian Larouche (Danso Gordon) could use a little help studying for their surgical board exams. So when a high school English teacher comes in for treatment, Alex finds herself receiving a few life lessons of her own. Meanwhile, Dr. Joel Goran (Daniel Gillies) is consumed with a patient’s vanishing bones. And a patient, who is very particular with her lists, has Dr. Charlie Harris (Michael Shanks) working through a long list of medical reasons as to why she could be flatlining in the OR. Plus, the future of a teenage girl rests in Dawn’s (Michelle Nolden) hands – and a future she doesn’t know if she’s ready for weighs heavily on her heart.

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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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Young Drunk Punk

Link: Bruce McCulloch’s teen years in Alberta inspire Young Drunk Punk

From Victoria Ahearn of the Canadian Press:

Bruce McCulloch’s teen years in Alberta inspire Young Drunk Punk
Kids in the Hall alum Bruce McCulloch has been returning to his hometown of Calgary every year since he moved away over 30 years ago. But it wasn’t until he started filming his new TV comedy series, Young Drunk Punk, that he went back to the community where his childhood home still stands. Continue reading.

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