From Vinay Menon of the Toronto Star:
Schitt’s Creek is off to a dazzling start
There hasn’t been much good news inside the CBC in recent months. From the loss of Hockey Night in Canada to budget cuts to the Jian Ghomeshi scandal, the public broadcaster has taken several roundhouse kicks to the face. Some days, as it limps around, with puffy eyes and bleeding from the nose, it’s easy to forget the corporation is still capable of throwing punches of its own. Continue reading.
From a media release:
TWO HOMEGROWN HEAVYWEIGHTS. ONE DRAMATIC NIGHT. GLOBAL PREMIERES BIG BROTHER CANADA AND REMEDY MARCH 23
From raucous reality to heart-pumping hospital drama, Shaw Media’s colossal Canadian originals Big Brother Canada and Remedy are set to premiere Monday, March 23 at 8pm and 9pm ET/PT on Global.
Following two seasons, and five Canadian Screen Awards nominations, Big Brother Canada’s third run will be its biggest and boldest yet, with 25 hours of non-stop drama broadcast nationally each week.
Big Brother Canada’s rousing reality schedule is as follows:
Following a coast-to-coast casting call, a new group of houseguests will move in to a recently renovated Big Brother Canada house outfitted wall-to-wall with cameras and microphones capturing their every move. The houseguests will compete for a grand prize of $100,000 and a $25,000 gift card from The Brick. Based on Endemol’s worldwide hit franchise and in association with Shaw Media, Big Brother Canada is produced by Insight Productions Ltd., an award-winning production company most recently honoured with an Academy Icon Award on its 35th anniversary by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.
Boasting an impressive four Canadian Screen Awards nominations including Best Dramatic Series, the second season of Remedy (from creator and showrunner Greg Spottiswood) airs in the coveted 9pm timeslot on Mondays. The much anticipated series return kicks off with each member of the Conner family pulled out of their comfort zones and Bethune Hospital in the midst of a colossal shake up. Griffin Conner (Canadian Screen Awards nominee Dillon Casey) seems to finally be getting his life on track with plans to return to medical school and a serious girlfriend, but his dark and troubled past continues to haunt him. Meanwhile, Allen (Enrico Colantoni) is adjusting following his demotion from Chief-of-Staff, while his daughters – surgeon Mel (Sara Canning) and new mom Sandy (Sarah Allen) – search to balance co-parenting baby Maya with work and play. This proven performer, averaging nearly one million viewers each week in its first season (2+)**, welcomes heartthrob ER resident Dr. Cutler (Niall Matter) who shamelessly ruffles feathers and turns heads throughout the halls of Beth-H. The series also stars Genelle Williams, Patrick McKenna, and Martha Burns.
Starting Wednesday, March 18, viewers get an insider’s peek into the downstairs world of Beth-H via GlobalTV.com and the Global Go App when the humourous and temperature-raising weekly web series Remedy: To Catch a Thief takes viewers to uncharted territory: the hospital supply closet. Supervisor of Transport and Housekeeping Frank Kanaskie tries to find the hospital thief by placing a hidden camera in the closet, and in the process captures the audience’s favourite Remedy characters including Griffin, Bruno and Nurse Patel doing some unexpected things. This 5-part mystery event of the season shows the beloved Beth-H staff like never before!
Remedy is produced by Indian Grove Productions in association with Shaw Media with the participation of the Canada Media Fund, the Ontario Film & Television Tax Credit and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit. Red Arrow International holds international distribution rights. Bernie Zukerman (King, This is Wonderland) and Greg Spottiswood (King, Shattered) serve as executive producers with Jan Peter Meyboom (Murdoch Mysteries, Listener) producing.
From Courtney Shea of the Globe and Mail:
Dan Levy: the man behind new TV show Schitt’s Creek, and those glasses
The bespectacled former MTV star has started his second act – this time as producer, writer and star of the new CBC comedy series Schitt’s Creek. Dan Levy developed the show with his comedy-legend father Eugene, and recruited dad’s frequent collaborator Catherine O’Hara as a co-star. Here, he shares some of the secrets to his success, including why you should never listen when they make fun of your glasses. Continue reading.
From Bill Harris of QMI:
Bruce McCulloch taps into his childhood on ‘Young Drunk Punk’
It’s a tale of kids hitting the wall, from a former Kid in the Hall. While I realize I’m in the exact right age group for a show about teenagers in 1980, I objectively find Young Drunk Punk very funny. And with all that I watch, it isn’t super easy for a TV show to make me chuckle. Continue reading.
One of my frequent criticisms of Canadian conventional networks is that they’re so risk averse, they would rather create shows generic enough to sell overseas than stand out with anything that hasn’t worked in the American market — or at least, worked there five years ago. And one of my most frequent criticisms of the CBC has been that they were so busy pursuing the same kind of shows as the private networks, they gave me little reason to find solace in our public broadcaster.
Then came a regime change. And a declaration that they were changing direction to pursue more cable-like series. And some rolling of eyes as some of us recalled the low-rated and swiftly cancelled cable-like Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays and Intelligence. I could almost hear them say “honest, babe, this time it’ll be different.”
It’s early days in their attempt to shift direction, and a shift can only be judged over time. But with The Book of Negroes and Schitt’s Creek, they’re finally getting rewarded with ratings as well as the critical acclaim of their first bold new-direction show, Strange Empire.
Schitt’s Creek provides the welcome return of Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, so comedically comfortable together, into our homes each week, in a show that mercifully isn’t trying to be either Corner Gas or a Chuck Lorre production.
In an unusual partnership, CBC will air ex-Kid in the Hall Bruce McCulloch’s comedy Young Drunk Punk this fall after its season airs on City, making CBC the new home of edgy comedies from nostalgic favourites.
But it’s the dramas that reveal what the public broadcaster should be able to do but hasn’t done in a while: reveal to Canadians through entertainment a history we often sanitize, from the birth of our country steeped in violence and the sex trade — not just a national railroad — to our unsavory role in the slave trade — not just the underground railroad.  Soon will come X Company, centred around Canada’s little-known role in WWII espionage.
There’s innovation with money too. With The Book of Negroes, the risk to their limited budget was mitigated by partnering with BET for the expensive co-production — not an unusual solution, to be sure. But the partnership with City (which will also have Mr. D air on that Rogers-owned network) gives them more programming for less money.
And given that the CBC debate usually circles around whether they should be chasing ratings or edgier fare, it’s a relief to see their risk rewarded both ways this winter. Schitt’s Creek premiered to 1.3 million viewers, while The Book of Negroes bowed to 1.7, dipping to a still-great 1.4 for the second episode.
In a year where it’s been hard to cheer for our public broadcaster, that’s good news for CBC, for the audience, and for a Canadian industry that could use some incentive to take more risks.
