From Quill & Quire:
Q&A: Barbara Gowdy on swearing and her television debut on HBO’s Sensitive Skin
“Jokingly over the years, Michael Ondaatje said he would be my agent. I would bug him and say, “You’re a lousy agent, I’m not getting any roles.†Then he phones me to say he got me a speaking part on Don McKellar’s show. Of course I withheld his 15 per cent because it’s the only role he’s ever gotten me. It’s all a joke between Michael and me and Don.” Continue reading.
From a media release:
Following a record-breaking sophomore season, Big Brother Canada is gearing up for its national casting call for season three, airing on Global in 2015. Canadians 19 years of age and older can apply online at BigBrotherCanada.ca beginning today, and in person this fall at open casting calls across Canada. The online submission deadline is November 24, 2014.
“Our Canadian edition of the beloved Big Brother franchise has quickly become one of the most acclaimed productions in the world and with its move to Global this year, Big Brother Canada’s third installment is looking for the biggest, boldest personalities in Canada to entertain our audiences three nights a week on-air and 24/7 online,†said Barbara Williams, Senior Vice President of Content, Shaw Media.
Big Brother Canada is looking for Canucks from all corners of the country; from superfans and strategists to drama kings and queens. As part of Endemol’s worldwide hit franchise, Big Brother Canada’s secret recipe for raucous reality is in its eclectic crew of houseguests. They boldly compete for a grand cash prize through a gruelling series of weekly challenges that test both brain and brawn.
“Big Brother Canada season two was a blockbuster for the franchise with a perfect storm of personalities pitted against each other inside the Big Brother house and cut off from the outside world,†said John Brunton, Chairman & CEO, Insight Production Company Ltd. “The bar has once again been raised and we know our BBCAN Superfans will bring their A-Game to the casting calls this year.â€
Those interested in applying can either apply online at BigBrotherCanada.ca with a short video about why they would make the perfect houseguest, or in person at open casting calls throughout October and November. Applicants must be 19 years of age by March 1, 2015. Additional information about the casting calls in select cities will be released in the coming months.
Open casting calls will be held in the following cities:
Vancouver, British Columbia – Sunday, October 19
Calgary, Alberta – Sunday, October 19
Regina, Saskatchewan – Friday, October 24
Halifax, Nova Scotia – Friday, October 24
St. John’s, Newfoundland – Wednesday, October 29
Montréal, Québec – Thursday, October 30
Toronto, Ontario – Sunday, November 23
Coming exclusively to Global in spring 2015, Big Brother Canada season three plucks a group of hand-picked strangers from their homes, sequesters them from the outside world, and places them inside a house outfitted wall-to-wall with cameras and microphones that capture their every move. Each week the houseguests compete in a series of challenges that give the houseguests power or punishment, voting each other out until the fate of the final two is decided by a jury of fellow houseguests.
You may have heard about the CRTC’s Talk TV consultation. It’s been a multi-part consultation that first started with an online discussion forum where the public was asked for their thoughts on issues related to Canadian television. The public and industry groups were also encouraged to conduct Flash! conferences to talk about Canadian television and send in reports to the CRTC.
The CRTC took all of that information and floated a few proposals to the public and asked them to answer a survey. Finally (we thought), they announced a public hearing and solicited submissions on 80 specific questions to be followed by an oral public hearing starting September 8, 2014.  [If you’re interested, summaries of the other phases of consultations and the public notices can all be found on the CRTC TalkTV microsite.]
Today the CRTC added in another public consultation and provided more proposals for the public and stakeholders to consider and respond to. They re-opened the online discussion forum and they would like you, yes you, to read the working document and share your thoughts. The discussion forum will stay open from today until the last day of the hearing and close on September 19, 2014. This will allow you to respond to things said during the hearing as well as to the working document. That is a very interesting option, particularly for those who don’t live tweet hearings (I tend to have very immediate tweet responses to things said during hearings).
I believe that the Commission’s attempt to look at the entire television landscape is laudable but too much for one hearing. Having received all of the submissions it looks like they might have come to the same conclusion. While maintaining that anyone presenting at the hearing can bring up any topic they wish (though hopefully a relevant one – please no Value For Signal), they are trying to focus the discussion under the headings of pick and pay, the relationship between cable and satellite companies and broadcasters, Canadian programming and specifically local programming.  They would also like comments on the specific proposals including implementation schedule and how proposed regulation can be adaptable to future change.
Some of the proposals are wonky but several would have a direct impact on audiences and creators. Your input is important regardless of which side of the screen you sit on. And which screen. This CRTC has been known to read into the record written submissions from the public. So please share your thoughts.
A few of the issues:
Pick and pay: In addition to the proposal contained in the public notice (a small all-Canadian basic), the CRTC is floating another option. Under that scenario, cable and satellite companies would be able to add in any other services that they wish as long as the small basic has the price of $20 per month, $25 per month or $30 per month. The benefit of this is that the cable and satellite companies can add in ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and PBS if they want but still need to keep the basic package small.
After the small basic, consumers will be able to either pay for only the specialties they want, put together their own packages or buy prebuilt packages.
Simultaneous substitution: There are two options, either no more simsub or remove simsub from live events such as the Superbowl or Oscars. It’s interesting that these are even proposed when so many stakeholders pointed out to the Commission the importance of simsub revenue to broadcasters and therefore the amount they have to spend on Canadian programming.
Preponderance: Two options again – either Canadians receive a preponderance of Canadian services or they are offered a preponderance of Canadian services (and could pick only the US ones after small basic if they wanted).
Redefining Broadcasting Revenues: Currently there are expenditure obligations that are calculated as a percentage of a broadcaster’s revenues from broadcast (CPE or Canadian Programming Expenditure). The proposal is to include revenue from programs offered online in the base for calculation. Broadcasters would then also be able to count expenditures from programming created for online platforms as part of their CPE. The CRTC sees this as a way to encourage made for digital content but it is also a huge potential first step towards looking at the broadcasting system as a whole and not its regulated and unregulated parts.
Programs of National Interest:  This expenditure requirement, which obligates broadcasters to spend money on drama, docs and Canadian award shows, will be maintained and children’s programming will be included. There has been a decline in commissioning original children’s programming and this is the CRTC’s response. Expect to see discussion about whether this proposal will be effective or whether there also needs to be CPE sub-quotas for children’s programming (as well as feature films and long form documentaries).
Programming requirements: An interesting proposal is to eliminate exhibition requirements during the day but maintain them for prime time. This will mean no incentive for Canadian daytime talk shows, particularly on conventional stations that can also simulcast US daytime talk shows or soaps. Do people care?
Genre protection: The proposal is to eliminate genre protection (which says that there can only be one service per genre, so only one science fiction channel, history channel etc) and nature of service definitions. If this goes through then the Commission will overturn its recent decision on OLN and you’ll get your Whisker Wars back because services will be able to morph into anything that they want, whenever they want. Good thing?
There are a number of other issues on local programming, community programming, Official Language Minorities, accessibility, set top boxes, vertical integration rules and a few other issues probably of less interest to TV, eh? readers. The big topic missing from the proposals is any attempt to include OTT (foreign or domestic) within regulation. I doubt that will stop it from being a topic of discussion. The proposed implementation schedule is to have it all in place by December 15, 2015.
I encourage you to go online and have your say. If you do not like any of the proposals share your thoughts. If you think any of them are good ideas, let the CRTC know.
And stay tuned – this is going to be an interesting hearing.
I will leave the CRTC with the last word:
It’s the end of the road for homegrown comedy Seed. Rogers made the decision official on Thursday morning via email.
“We are extremely proud of Seed and the two seasons that we were able to bring to our viewers,” the statement reads. “It was a privilege to work with the immense talent behind both the cast and creators involved in this quality Canadian production. It was a difficult decision, but, despite critical acclaim, the series was unable to connect with the audience it needed to continue. We thank Canadians for their support for Seed over the last two years and look forward to bringing them more original content in the future.”
The writing was on the wall. Late last month The CW–which had acquired it and CTV Extend series Backpackers for summer broadcast on the U.S. network–announced it was pulling both off the air for Arrow repeats and the next cycle of America’s Next Top Model. That move erased any chance of grabbing Seed some seed-money to help fund a third season.
Seed starred Adam Korson as Harry, a sperm donor who became involved in the lives of the three families he helped spawn. The cast included Carrie-Lynne Neales, Amanda Brugel, Stephanie Anne Mills, Laura De Carteret, Matt Baram, Vanessa Matsui, Abby Ross and William Ainscough.
Seed was created by Joseph Raso, who served as co-showrunner and executive producer alongside Mark Farrell, John Ritchie, Rob Bromley, Gillian Lowrey, Karen Wentzell and Paula J. Smith. Seed was produced by Force Four Entertainment and Waterstar Entertainment.
Rogers does have original comedies waiting in the wings. Package Deal returns for Season 2 next month, Meet the Family will be back in the coming broadcast season and the company has greenlit production of Sunnyside, a sketch comedy series created by Gary Pearson and Dan Redican and starring Pat Thorton, Lauren Ash and Kathleen Phillips.
From Eleni Armenakis of The TV Junkies:
Haven returns to Canada
“Feeling Troubled? Maybe that’s because Showcase has announced the return date of Haven for September 18 along with a two-hour premiere starting at 9 p.m. ET. The series will then return to 10 p.m. ET on Sept. 25 for Episode 3. Season 5 has already marked some big changes for the show as it’s renewal earlier this summer also came with the news that the upcoming season would be double the usual length, clocking in at 26 episodes.” Continue reading.
