TV, eh? | What's up in Canadian television | Page 1230
TV,eh? What's up in Canadian television
Featured, X Company

Review: Trains and strain on X Company

1 Comment

I love Juliet Stevenson. I first saw her in Truly Madly Deeply, then Bend it Like Beckham, Nicholas Nickleby, The Hour and Atlantis. So I was thrilled to see her take on the role of Marie Bellaire, the fiery French mayor of Saint-Antoine.

X Company‘s latest, “Walk with the Devil,” carried on the exploration into the complex relationship between the French and the Nazis during the occupation of France. Though some citizens saw Marie rubbing shoulders with the SS officers in town as blasphemy, she saw it as a guarantee of keeping her citizens safe. I could certainly understand her feelings; she was voted into office and had a responsibility to uphold. Things got complicated, however, when several of the town’s girls, including her niece Claire, were taken to a private school.

Instead, the girls were impregnated by German soldiers as part of the Ledensborn Program, Adolf Hitler’s plan to breed the perfect Aryan race. Give birth to a healthy, blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby and it was adopted by a German family. Have anything else and it would be disposed of.

The lengths Marie would go for the town was driven home when Harry and Neil’s plot to blow up the German train—packed with torpedoes—hit a snag and the train was halted while still in the station and with the fuse lit. Putting a gun in the back of the SS officer was signing her death warrant, but it ensured the train left town before it blew sky-high. I knew it was coming, but I was still shocked when Marie took a bullet in the forehead.

But at least the townspeople were safe.

Notes and quotes

  • I love old trains and that one in Wednesday’s episode was beautiful.
  • I’m relieved that Sinclair knew all along that Krystina was reporting back to British high command and that the two have become a united front.
  • The Oberfuhrer better watch himself. I’m betting his underling will be all to willing to report his son has Down’s syndrome if it means an advancement.

X Company airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Industry News

Discover this, CRTC

6 Comments

I’ve been gorging on a lot of UK crime dramas lately, though crime shows have rarely been my preferred series of choice (there’s a The Wire exception to every rule though).  Luther might have been the first I devoured, but it’s been followed by The Fall, Happy Valley, Scott & Bailey, and Broadchurch. I tried others and found they weren’t to my taste: Inspector Morse and Midsommer Murders are two I remember. Some UK not-crime dramas slipped into my heart, too: Call The Midwife, The Bletchley Circle.

US series have the advantage of all the marketing money in the world and being widely covered in Canadian media, and Sherlock Holmes and Downton Abbey have become mainstream North American water cooler shows, but how did I discover all these UK series? Netflix. One after another, Netflix told me I’d probably like them, and Netflix is often right.

One of the interesting aspects of last week’s TalkTV announcements was the CRTC’s intention to host a “Discoverability Summit” this fall to “bring together innovators and thought-leaders from the public and private sectors to explore how technology can be used to help viewers find programs made by Canadians.”

Great things happen when thought leaders get together, naturally. I sure hope those innovators consist of the people who thought up the Eye on Canada brand.  That was super successful.

Sarcasm aside, very few Canadian series are on Netflix Canada, and that’s by design. Shaw, Rogers and Bell don’t want their programs on the evil empire, choosing instead to create their own walled garden streaming services where they can place their original series, unfettered by Netflix’s established, incredible recommendation engine.

I’m unlikely to be invited to this Discoverability Summit, but I have some ideas for the CRTC and the industry at large, free for the taking:

  • Sell your damn shows to Netflix.
  • Fund TV critic positions at all major newspapers in the country. Accept that these critics will not always cover or like your shows, and fund the positions anyway. Newspapers sure aren’t doing much of that lately.
  • Hell, fund TV, eh? (I may have a slight bias here.)
  • Run far, far away from attempts to brand all Canadian content as though it’s the brand and not the show that matters (hi, Eye on Canada).  In fact run from anything that smacks of “build it and they will come”.
  • Did I mention Netflix? I hear they buy shows.
Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Uncategorized

Link: Is Canadian TV Doing Better Than We Want to Admit?

4 Comments

From D.K. Latta of The Huffington Post:

Is Canadian TV Doing Better Than We Want to Admit?
Half the time you read anything about Canadian TV the columnists are ringing the death knell. “No one’s watching,” they lament, “and the shows are mediocre.”

But there’s never been another time in the history of television when so many Canadian series were boasting such numbers. No other time when you could claim over a million English-Canadians were watching so many different and varied domestic scripted series in a week (I’m assuming these numbers are mostly reflective of English-speaking viewers).

So why? And how can this be built upon? Continue reading.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Uncategorized

AMI explores the accessibility of major Canadian cities in new TV series

3 Comments

From a media release:

Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) announced today that it will air a new original series that addresses the question: just how accessible are some of Canada’s major cities?

The four-part special, entitled Access Unlimited, is produced in partnership with Summerhill Media Inc. and travels across the country with stops in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Halifax. Each 30-minute episode follows three local residents and examines their daily routine – everything from their commute to work, to visiting a local museum, to playing with their kids in the park. Those featured in the episodes are living with either vision loss or mobility restriction that can present a unique set of challenges when navigating their respective city. Episodes will also feature interviews with experts and decision makers including transit officials, politicians and accessibility innovators.

In keeping with AMI’s mandate of making accessible media for all Canadians, the series will feature embedded described video, integrating natural environmental sounds while interviewees describe actions and surroundings as needed. AMI hopes the series will inform residents of accessibility initiatives or lack thereof, inspire those living with a disability to travel and engage in their community, and encourage cities across Canada to be innovative and conscientious in terms of accessibility.

From March 23 to 26 Access Unlimited will air every night at 8 pm beginning with the Toronto episode, followed by Montreal, Halifax and Vancouver. Episodes will also be available with the AMI-player on AMI.ca one week after the initial air date. AMI-télé will air the series in French under the name Villes Accessibles at a later date.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail