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TV,eh? What's up in Canadian television
Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Daily Planet launches Season 21 on Discovery

From a media release:

Following a landmark two decades of science programming with its most-watched-ever season and showing no signs of slowing down, Discovery’s flagship science magazine DAILY PLANET launches its 21st season with“Extreme Machines Week”, Monday, Aug. 31 – Friday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. ET. On the hunt for the most  outrageous, quirky, and  “must-see” machines, Co-Hosts Ziya Tong and Dan Riskin track down everything from two-storey-tall mining machines to the world’s most powerful skateboard. And it doesn’t end there! DAILY PLANET looks at a gyrocopterchasing a world record to circumnagivate the globe, and even a pogo stick on steroids!

The 21st season of DAILY PLANET comes fresh off the heels of the series’ highest rated season ever. Final data from Numeris (BBM Canada) confirms last season was the third consecutive year the program established a new audience high, and the fifth in a row of year-over-year growth (P2+, A25-54, and A18-49). In the key A25-54 demographic, audiences were up 13% over the previous season, having increased by 60% since 2009/10.

Highlights from DAILY PLANET’s “Extreme Machines Week” include:

“Gyrocopter World Record”
Featured in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice, the gyrocopter was said to be the only aircraft never to circumnavigate the globe. But that’s about to change as Norman Surplus takes to the sky to make aviation history. The autogyro pilot will cross 26 countries, flying more than 43,000 kilometres over deserts, jungles, mountains, and oceans. DAILY PLANET meets Surplus prior to the last and most treacherous part of the journey – crossing the Atlantic Ocean. If he makes it, the world record is his.

“Suction Brake”
Tired of bad drivers on the road? Fear no longer! Swedish automotive safety developerAutoliv could change the way drivers come to a complete stop. Using a massive suction cup below the car which helps the vehicle brake faster in emergencies, the Torricelli Brake  decreases stopping distances by almost half. DAILY PLANET is in the driver’s seat to find out how this technology could revolutionize traffic safety.

“Bicycle Fishing”
Amsterdam might house some of the world’s most beautiful canals, but people should probably think twice before taking a dip in one. Every year, up to 15,000 rusty bicycles are fished out of the canals by special dredge boats equipped with fishing cranes. DAILY PLANET Co-Host Dan Riskin dives alongside “bicycle fishing” experts who remove bikes from the canals for a living.

“Vurtego Pogo Stick”
Lucas Cochran, DAILY PLANET’s Tech Correspondent, is bouncing off the walls…literally! Testing out the latest in pogo stick technology, the V4 from Vurtego, Cochran bops around with inventor Ian Britt, who demonstrates how this pogo stick is a real game changer. To prove it, Britt attempts a high-flying trick he’s never done before exclusively for DAILY PLANET.

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Degrassi

Link: A behind-the-scenes look at Degrassi’s set, and what’s new for Next Class

From Rick McGinnis of Toronto Life:

A behind-the-scenes look at Degrassi’s set, and what’s new for Next Class
After news broke that Degrassi: The Next Generation had been cancelled after 14 seasons on the air, it was only a matter of days before the immortal teen soap opera rose again, this time as Degrassi: Next Class. In 2016, when the new series begins its first season on the Family Channel and Netflix, at least one thing will remain essentially the same: the sets, most of which are in a studio complex in a North York industrial park, where they’re being refreshed—but not replaced—for the new show. Here’s a look at them. Continue reading.

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Dark Matter, Featured

Review: Did Dark Matter kill off a lead character?

Well, if we didn’t think Two had balls before (personally, I never doubted it) she certainly proved she did by having the Raza play chicken with a nuclear missile. With three episodes until the first season finale, there was no way the Raza would be vaporized, but that was still a pretty stressful several seconds, no?

But Episode 10 was not without casualties as the aforementioned Two became a victim of Wexler’s ego: the leader of the rival mercenary team jettisoned our hero out Raza’s airlock into space. We know Two has that special skill of healing herself, so I’m pretty sure she’ll bounce back from this. That, of course, means the rest of the team will learn the secret she’s not susceptible to injury, adding another layer of distrust amongst thieves.

Ennis Esmer makes the perfect bad guy, especially uttering dialogue written by Paul Mullie. Esmer’s Wexler is arrogant, opinionated and devious, the perfect formula for scene-stealing and out-loud laughs. His rival group of mercenaries—teamed with Raza to steal a device from a rival corporation for Mikke Combine’s Commander Truffault—borrowed from past heist movies for an entertaining hour. Yes, there were seemingly insurmountable odds against the mission succeeding (an extra security measure in a male android and oversized space station security force), but they pulled it off and stored the device behind that big metal door. (Did anyone else recall the vault opening scene in Die Hard when the door opened?)

Anyone who’s seen one of those caper storylines also knows the rival team always turns on the good(ish) guys and that’s exactly what happened. And despite Three offering up the code word to opening the Raza vault, Wexler dumped Two into space. Because he’s a jerkface.

Notes and quotes

  • How perfect was that back and forth between the guys as they decided who would tell Two about their vote? And how fantastic to have Two lifting weights as One arrived to tell her?
  • “Basically, I can get into anything.” Ennis Esmer is really, really good at playing a jerk.
  • “Broken wrist, two fractured ribs and a badly bruised left testicle.” I don’t know what was funnier, the medical description or the way The Android delivered it.
  • “Catch me!” Well, Three sort of did.

Dark Matter airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on Space.

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Orphan Black

Link: Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany on Rejecting Hollywood Beauty Standards: ‘I Refused to Wax My Mustache’

From Aurelie Corinthios and Monique Jessen of People:

Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany on Rejecting Hollywood Beauty Standards: ‘I Refused to Wax My Mustache’
“I don’t think that any woman in this industry hasn’t [experienced sexism] – I think we all have in various ways, and sometimes you can’t even tell that it’s happening because it’s so ingrained in the way things are structured.” Continue reading.

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Children's Programming

Make It Pop premieres Sept. 9 on YTV

From a media release:

Corus Entertainment’s YTV is introducing Make It Pop, a brand new, live-action, musical-comedy series that stars three unique and talented girls who forge a friendship at boarding school and form their own K-Pop-inspired band called XO-IQ. The series will premiere with two back-to-back episodes at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, September 9 ET/PT on YTV. Make It Pop features original songs and performances with a modern pop twist from the show’s emerging, real-life group, XO-IQ. The series is co-created by Thomas W. Lynch and multi-faceted entertainer Nick Cannon and produced by DHX Media. Lynch and Cannon will serve as executive producers together with DHX Media’s Steven DeNure and Anne Loi. Watch theMake It Pop trailer here.

Make It Pop follows Sun Hi (Megan Lee), Jodi (Louriza Tronco) and Corki (Erika Tham), three freshmen girls who meet when they are randomly selected to room together at boarding school and soon discover that they share a taste for adventure and a love of music. With the help of fellow classmate and aspiring DJ, Caleb (Dale Whibley), the girls grow from roommates to bandmates as their group, XO-IQ, becomes a school-wide sensation. At the same time, they compete for a place in the upcoming school musical all while balancing music, grades, relationship and crushes.

 

Megan Lee stars as Sun Hi, the funky, fresh and free-spirited bandmate who is the driving force of the band. Megan is a young rising superstar, widely known as a triple threat, mastering the arts of acting, singing and dancing. A Southern California native, she started her career at the age of ten. Her television credits include guest appearances on Nickelodeon’s iCarly, BrainSurge and Disney’s Get Connected and 3 Minute Game Show.She has also guest starred on the Starz Original series Crash. Megan’s YouTube channel of original songs and music covers, led her to South Korea where she officially debuted her first K-Pop singles 8days and OST Ready for Love in Korea.

Louriza Tronco stars as Jodi, the fashionista and choreographer of the group. Raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Louriza landed her first professional theatre gig at eight as part of the children’s choir in a production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” After attending The Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria, British Columbia, Lourizo got her first break on the CW’s Cult. Her subsequent television credits include Lifetime’s Behind the Hit: Saved By the Bell, Disney Channel’s Zapped, My Boyfriends’ Dogs and My Life as a Dead Girl. Tronco can be seen on the big screen in the feature film Night at the Museum 3: Secret of the Tomb.

Erika Tham stars as Corki, the bandmate who is shy, private and not prepared for most typical teenage girl experiences like boys, school dances, or concerts. A Canadian, Tham was born in Singapore, she is of Malaysian, Chinese, Dutch, Ukrainian heritage and has lived in seven different countries in her 15 years. Make It Pop is her first television starring role.

Dale Whibley stars as Caleb, a fellow freshman, beat maker and aspiring DJ who believes he has the perfect sound to catapult the girls to stardom. Hailing from Barrie, Ontario, Whibley began his acting career at the age of five in television commercials. Whibley has appeared on YTV’s Life with Boys and Max & Shred and  has had a recurring role on Degrassi: The Next Generation.

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