TV, eh? | What's up in Canadian television | Page 1431
TV,eh? What's up in Canadian television

Link: A conversation with Erica Durance of Saving Hope

From Melissa of The Televixen:

A Conversation with Saving Hope Star Erica Durance
Season 3 of Saving Hope premieres tonight on CTV, and I had a chance to speak with star Erica Durance last week in Toronto about what’s coming in Season 3 following that cliffhanger of a Season 2 finale. Read our full interview below, and tune in to CTV tonight at 9pm ET for the first hour of their two-part season premiere. Continue reading.

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Max & Shred premieres October 7 on YTV

From a media release:

YTV Introduces New Buddy Comedy Series Max & Shred Tuesday, October 7 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on YTV

  • George Doty IV, writer/producer on iCarly and Victorious behind new series as showrunner

YTV is bringing its viewers straight to the snow-covered slopes in a new hilarious buddy comedy Max & Shred produced by Breakthrough Entertainment. The show is about an unlikely friendship between superstar snowboarder, Max Asher and genius inventor, Alvin “Shred” Ackerman. The series centres on their odd couple relationship as they help and hinder each other through the trials of teenage life. Max & Shred premieres on Tuesday, October 7 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on YTV and will also debut in the U.S. on Nickelodeon during the same week. For a sneak peek of the series, click here.

“At the core of Max & Shred is a bromance between Max and his new roommate Alvin (a.k.a. Shred),” said Jamie Piekarz,” Director of Content, YTV, Treehouse, Nickelodeon (Canada). “Kids are going to fall in love with the characters and the talented cast we’ve assembled. We’re thrilled to be working with Breakthrough Entertainment and having George Doty at the helm to give the series his expert touch.”

Newcomer Jonny Gray (Annedroids) stars as snowboarder Max and his co-star Jake Goodman (Life with Boys) stars as Alvin. The series also stars Emilia McCarthy (Zapped, Maps to the Stars) as Abby, Alvin’s sister and Saara Chaudry (Degrassi) as his super smart eight-year old protégé, Howie.

“Working work with YTV and Breakthrough Entertainment has been one of the most positive experiences of my career,” said George Doty, Showrunner and an Executive Producer on Max & Shred. “The support, creativity, and vision of everyone involved led to the creation of a show that I couldn’t be more proud of, and one I know kids everywhere are absolutely going to love.”

Aside from their age, Max and Shred have almost nothing in common. But when Max gets invited out to snowy Blizzard Springs to train for the Winter Cup, and Alvin’s parents sign up to house an athlete, Max moves in with the Ackermans and the boys are forced to share a room together.

In the premiere episode, a case of mistaken identity lands Alvin in Max’s shoes at the top of a mountain, and he has to pull it together in order to save his new roommate’s career. Meanwhile, with the help of Howie, Max finds himself having to fill Alvin’s shoes at the school Science Fair! With both boys completely out of their element, they quickly discover a new appreciation for one another. And when Alvin impresses Max with his impromptu moves on the slopes, Max gives him a sweet new nickname – Shred. They may have had a rough start, but Max and Shred are quickly learning what it means to have a bro.

Showrunner for Max & Shred is George Doty IV, whose credits include Nickelodeon series iCarly, Victorious, Zoey 101 and Drake and Josh as well as the iconic animated series Scooby Doo, in which he served as Story Editor. Early in George’s career he worked on the NBC hit comedy series Seinfeld as the Writer’s Assistant, eventually becoming Script Coordinator. He worked on the series for the last three years of the show’s run and learned about writing comedies from the show’s creator Larry David. Max & Shred Executive Producers include George Doty, Ira Levy, Peter Williamson, Joan Lambur, Nat Abraham and Michael McGuigan for Breakthrough Entertainment.

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Link: Erica Durance on the Saving Hope changes

From Eleni Armenakis of TV Junkies:

Change coming to Saving Hope
Saving Hope ended on quite the Season 2 cliffhanger with Alex’s life in danger in the OR after she’d been stabbed in the heart by a patient. And, for the first time, she had proof Charlie (Michael Shanks) could actually see the hospitals ghosts—a shocking, if welcome, conclusion to the problems between the two that had been building up ever since Charlie made the decision to tell Alex the truth about his abilities. But since the screen faded to black almost immediately after, viewers have been left wondering all summer about what that means for Hope Zion’s lead doctor. Continue reading.

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Game of Homes announces Cameron Mathison as host

From a media release:

W Network’s Big Competition Series Game of Homes Announces Cameron Mathison as Host

image003W Network’s Game of Homes, announces Cameron Mathison as series host. The Emmy® nominated actor has graced the screen in both film and television projects. Mathison, a Sarnia, Ontario native, made his feature film debut in 54, opposite Salma Hayek and Ryan Phillippe, he followed that role up with the independent movie Washed Up and the feature film The Surrogate, which was released in 2013. A man of many talents, Mathison, is a featured contributor for ABC’s Good Morning America and Entertainment Tonight, and has also appeared on the fifth season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, where he advanced all the way to Week nine.

As host of the series, Mathison will guide teams of skilled amateur home renovators as they compete for the chance to trade their skills for the prize of a lifetime. The teams save rundown houses that are marked to be torn down and revive them into dream homes. Each team must redo the houses room by room, as they cope with small budgets, tight deadlines and even tighter living spaces.

The action-based series pits each team’s skill, ingenuity and teamwork against each other. In each episode, two expert judges along with a celebrity guest judges including Jillian Harris and Todd Talbot from W Network’s Love It or List It Vancouver, Drew and Jonathan Scott from the Property Brothers and CMT Canada’s Kortney and Dave Wilson from The Wilson’s Flip Out, vote for their favourite room renovations based on design and workmanship. In the finale, in addition to the judges, the public will cast their vote. The winners will be revealed and awarded with the house they have renovated.

Produced by Great Pacific Media in association with W Network, Vancouver based Game of Homes includes eight one-hour episodes and is scheduled to air in March 2015 on W Network.

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The sexy ghost doctors of Saving Hope outlive competitors

The Canadian television industry has cornered the market on police procedurals, a format palatable to  the international marketplace and audiences at home. After the successes of Flashpoint, Rookie Blue and a number of imitators (“with a twist!”) of varying levels of success, the thoughts of the industry turned to that other staple of case-of-the-week TV: the medical drama.

Combat Hospital got stellar ratings on Global and a cancellation when ABC withdrew after the first season.  They’re trying again with Remedy, which hasn’t landed quite as solidly in the ratings but is in production for a second season.

It’s Saving Hope that’s our medical  success story: it’s held on to million-and-a-half-ish ratings for CTV — and its life — despite NBC pulling out early on due to low ratings Stateside (it has a new American home on ION now).

The initial twist — Dr. Alex Reid’s fiance is in a coma and appears as a spirit —  sounded familiar to those who’d seen CBS’s A Gifted Man, but it has outlived that show by a couple of seasons now, reinventing itself somewhat each time but retaining its relationship-drama-in-a-hospital core with an appealing lead in Erica Durance, supported by an ensemble that this season adds Danso Gordon, Mac Fyfe and Stacey Farber.

Season three tonight starts where season two left off, with Dr. Reid’s colleagues trying to save her life after she was stabbed in the heart (literally this time). There’s a oddly mellow pace to the life-saving attempts as it intercuts with her own spirit-world journey at the beginning of a two-night premiere week, but fans are likely to find the two-parter a satisfyingly novel exploration of its characters without straying from the familiar patterns of the series.

CTV has wisely given the first six episodes a cushy regular timeslot on Thursday nights following Grey’s Anatomy, which has dabbled in its own relationship dramas and not-quite-alive spirit characters.

Saving Hope doesn’t break new ground but it walks its familiar medical soap (with a twist) ground with confidence. Watch tonight and Thursday on CTV, followed by four more fall episodes on Thursdays.

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