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Link: Which classic Canadian television show would you most like to see back on the air?

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From the Edmonton Journal:

Poll: Which classic Canadian television show would you most like to see back on the air?
Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds escaped without injury after being hit by a car in the parking lot of Vancouver’s Shangri-La Hotel last weekend. Reynolds has not spoken publicly about the incident, but when a CBC producer asked him to get in touch, Reynolds responded with a tweet that said: “Put Beachcombers back on the air and I’ll call.” Which Canadian television show would you like to see back on the air? Continue reading.

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Orphan Black

Link: Tatiana Maslany dishes on the new season of Orphan Black

From Valerie Anne of AfterEllen:

Tatiana Maslany dishes on the new season of Orphan Black
“Cosima yet continually trusts Delphine and continues to love her and sort of romanticize what they could be in and I think the two of them really could love to just be able to be together.” However, it doesn’t sound like that’s in the cards for the pair, since Delphine has to watch her own back and Cosima has to side with her sestras. She ends her answer by saying, “I won’t say too much about what happens but it’s—yes, it’s definitely a lot of conflict.” Continue reading.

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Featured

Top 10 Canadian shows of my childhood

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Sometimes I long for the innocence of childhood, when I didn’t know or care if the shows I watched were Canadian or not. But it turns out many of the ones I remember most fondly were.

Inspired by a lively Twitter discussion about a post on the weirdest Toronto shows, here are my top 10 picks of Canadian shows that helped shape my early childhood, in no particular order:

The Littlest Hobo

The concept was perfect in its simplicity: a dog who wanders from town to town, helping people in need (just don’t ask too many questions about why or how plausible). Plus, that theme song remains the best/worst earworm of all time.

SCTV

The show that spawned a constellation of Canadian stars that persists today, and that inspired a generation’s sense of humour. My brother and I used to use an old-fashioned tape recorder to perform sketches of our SCTV-inspired radio show. Mercifully we recorded over and over the same tape so no evidence survived past childhood. John Candy and Andrea Martin we weren’t.

Max the 2000 Year Old Mouse and Professor Kitzel

Maybe it was eat your vegetables educational TV disguised as an animated series about a mouse, but we woke up early to catch reruns of Max and feel smug when we realized the events the little rodent witnessed had taken place more than 2000 years ago.

Yes I’m cheating by combining these, but even as a barely sentient child, I knew one or the other of Max or Kitzel was a knockoff of the other. I had no idea they were by the same production company and Paul Soles was the voice of both Max and Kitzel. The professor (pictured in the top image) and his time machine kept me entertained with more cheesy jokes, less smug.

Mr. Dressup

Who was a bigger part of Canadian childhood than Ernie Coombs? Other than our parents, I guess. Casey and Finnegan were among my childhood BFFs, and I always wanted a Tickle Trunk of my own.

Live it Up!

Street Cents came along later but Live it Up! was my first taste of a child-friendly consumer affairs show. It was bizarre, it was funny, it was bordering on boring for a kid, but I loved it anyway. I think I was seduced by the Watchdog and “What bugs you” lady, and hypnotized by that annoying theme song.

Romper Room

There were multiple versions of this show localized for various markets, and I have what’s likely a spurious memory of being at a taping. It may have been some random public access show, since I can’t find evidence of a Romper Room filmed in Edmonton, Calgary or Prince George, where I lived as a child, and I don’t remember being creeped out by that stalkerish Magic Mirror. Maybe it was all a fever dream, like Polkaroo.

Hangin’ In

This sitcom about a youth drop-in centre was by the producers of King of Kensington, and touched on some serious themes (with some serious guest stars — see video). Star Lally Cadeau made me want to be a psychologist when I grew up, until I realized I didn’t like people or their problems.

Smith & Smith

For the longest time, when people referred to the Red Green Show I thought that was their way of referring to one of this show’s signature sketches. Husband and wife Steve and Morag Smith teamed for this kinder, gentler, funnier precursor to that more famous series.

Bizarre

Looking back, the humour was likely too mature for my impressionable little head — though we would have been watching the sanitized CTV version — but we watched a lot of sketch comedy and adored John Byner and Super Dave Osborne. Oddly I never saw Super Dave, the more family-friendly spinoff.

The Friendly Giant

No list of children’s shows could be complete without Friendly, Rusty and Jerome. That beautiful opening sequence and the show’s signature music is imprinted on my brain.

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Awards, Industry News

WGC Screenwriting Award nominees announced

From a media release:

The WGC Screenwriting Awards, held at the elegant Koerner Hall in Toronto, take place on April 27, 2015. The awards are hosted by writer, actor, and comedian Ryan Belleville, and are co-written with stand-up/sketch comedian Jeremy Woodcock. The WGC Screenwriting Awards have a unique focus: it’s all about screenwriter and script.

Guest presenters include X Company’s Connor Price and Sunnyside’s Patrice Goodman. They will be joined onstage by show runners Stephanie Morgenstern and Mark Ellis (X Company), and Gary Pearson (Sunnyside).

More than 150 scripts were nominated for awards in seven categories, with 29 chosen as finalists. In total, 51 screenwriters are up for awards at the gala event. Several special awards, including the WGC Showrunner Award, the Sondra Kelly Award, and the Writers Block Award, will also be presented.

Among this year’s finalists are the screenwriters behind TV drama hits like Saving Hope, Orphan Black and 19-2. TV comedy nominees include scripts from well-known shows like Trailer Park Boys and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. All of the scripts in each category —children’s, animation, documentary, movies and miniseries, shorts and webseries, TV comedy, and TV drama — are strong contenders.

The winners will be announced on Monday, April 27, 2015 at 8:30 p.m., at the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning’s Koerner Hall.

The Writers Guild of Canada represents more than 2,200 professional English-language screenwriters across Canada. These are the creators who write the distinctly Canadian entertainment we enjoy on our televisions, movie screens, and digital platforms.
2015 WGC Screenwriting Awards Finalists

ANIMATION
The Day My Butt Went Psycho, Season 1 “Everybooty Loves the Great White Butt”
Written by Craig Martin

Fangbone, Season 1 “The Warbrute of Friendship”
Written by Simon Racioppa & Richard Elliott

Johnny Test, Season 6 “Johnny’s Junky Trunk”
Written by Sean Jara

Nerds and Monsters, Season 1 “Kaboom With a View”
Written by Greg Sullivan

CHILDREN & YOUTH
Annedroids, Season 1 “New Pals”
Written by J.J. Johnson

R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, Season 4 “Goodwill Toward Men”
Written by Billy Brown & Dan Angel

R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, Season 4 “Mrs. Worthington”
Written by Melody Fox

Some Assembly Required, Season 1 “Dance Crew Evolution”
Written by Cole Bastedo & Jenny Siddle

You & Me, Season 1 “Ninja Squirrel”
Written by Katherine Sandford

DOCUMENTARY
The Cholesterol Question
Written by Michael McNamara

Norman McLaren: Animated Musician
Written by Donald McWilliams

Shameless Propaganda
Written by Robert Lower

MOVIES & MINISERIES
The Best Laid Plans “You Had an Option, Sir”
Written by Jason Sherman and Susan Coyne

Elephant Song
Written by Nicolas Billon

Sex and Violence, Season 1 “Surface Scars”
Written by Thom Fitzgerald

SHORTS & WEBSERIES
Bill & Sons Towing, Season 2 “Cleaning House”
Written by Mark De Angelis

Darknet “Episode 3”
Written by Doug Taylor

Darknet “Episode 5”
Written by Randall Cole

Out With Dad, Season 3 “Outed”
Written by Jason Leaver

Ruby Skye P.I.: The Maltese Puppy “Everyone’s a Suspect”
Written by Jill Golick & Julie Strassman

TV COMEDY
Mr. D, Season 3 “Old School”
Written by Andrew De Angelis

Sensitive Skin, Season 1 “Not the Haitian Corpse”
Written by Bob Martin

This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Season XXI “Episode 16”
Written by Mark Critch, Shaun Majumder, Mike Allison, Bob Kerr, Susan Kent, Greg Thomey, Jon Blair, Sonya Bell, Abdul Butt, Tim Polley, Heidi Brander, Adam Christie, Kevin Shustack, Jeremy Woodcock
Contributing Writers: Dean Jenkinson, Ron Sparks

Trailer Park Boys, Season 8 “Episode 4”
Written by Mike Smith & JP Tremblay & Robb Wells

TV DRAMA
19-2, Season 1 “Partners”
Adapted by Bruce M. Smith

Lost Girl, Season 4 “La Fae Époque”
Written by Michael Grassi

Orphan Black, Season 2 “Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est”
Written by Tony Elliott

Saving Hope, Season 3 “The Way We Were”
Written by John Krizanc

Strange Empire, Season 1 “The Oath”
Written by Jackie May

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Featured

Video: Street Legal reunion on ET Canada

Order in the court! Up until Heartland did it this year, Street Legal was the longest running one-hour scripted drama in Canadian television history. Airing from 1987 to 1994, the CBC legal series focused on the folks who worked at the Toronto firm of Barr, Robinovitch and Tchobanian.

ET Canada continues Canadian TV Week with a focus on Street Legal with Sangita Patel sitting down with stars Cynthia Dale and C. David Johnson to discuss, among other things, network censors freaking out over characters getting, um, intimate in the courtroom.

Here’s a sneak peek at what’s in store on tonight’s instalment. Upcoming segments include Danger Bay (Wed.) and Due South (Thur.).

ET Canada airs weeknights at 7:30 p.m. ET on Global.

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