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TV,eh? What's up in Canadian television
Continuum, Uncategorized

Hugh Dillon to guest star on Continuum

From a media release:

HUGH DILLON TO GUEST STAR ON CONTINUUM

  • Season two returns on Sunday, April 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT

Hugh Dillon (Flashpoint, Durham County) has landed a guest star role in the upcoming second season of Showcase’s number one series, Continuum. The Gemini Award-winning actor will join the cast in a multiple episode story arc.

Making his first appearance midway through the season, Dillon plays a charismatic CEO of a corporation with a mysterious past.

The highly anticipated sophomore season of Continuum continues Kiera’s (Rachel Nichols) uneasy alliance with Detective Carlos Fonnegra (Victor Webster), and sees her grapple with the big question that closed the first season – why was she sent there? While Alec (Erik Knudsen) struggles to understand the implications of the mysterious message he received from his future self, the Liber8 terrorists become more strategic and even more lethal as they seek to ward off what they see as the seeds of a disastrous future.

Rounding out the cast are Stephen Lobo (Smallville, Little Mosque On The Prairie), Roger Cross (Fringe, Arrow), Lexa Doig (V, Stargate SG-I), Omari Newton (Blue Mountain State, Sophie) and Luvia Petersen (The L Word).

Continuum is created by Executive Producer Simon Barry (The Art of War) while DGC award winner Patrick Williams (Shattered, DeGrassi:The Next Generation) is Executive Producer and Director. Reunion Pictures partners Tom Rowe, Lisa Richardson and Matthew O’Connnor are Executive Producers.

The second season of the Canadian original drama returns on April 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

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Murdoch Mysteries, Seed

Monday: Murdoch Mysteries, Seed, Wild Things, Being Human

Murdoch

Murdoch Mysteries, CBC – “Victoria Cross”
An uncooperative witness impedes Murdoch’s investigation into a pawnbroker’s murder, and Brackenreid faces resistance while looking into the prison death of an old army buddy. Guest star: Tattiawna Jones.

Seed, City – “Corner Orifice”
When Rose (Carrie-Lynn Neales) competes for a big promotion at work, Harry (Adam Korson) recommends that she hide her pregnancy for the sake of her career. Janet (Laura De Carteret) lets it slip to Harry that she and Jonathan (Matt Baram ) schedule their sex life, and when Jonathan finds out, he cuts his wife off. Meanwhile, Billy (William Ainscough) and Zoey’s (Stephanie Anne Mills) night-time fears are realized when they discover their home has been broken into.

Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan, OLN – Season Finale “Guatemala – Beaded Lizard”
Dominic Monaghan (Lost) wraps up a season of exhilarating adventures in Guatemala. Immersing himself in the rich world of Mayan legend, Dom seeks out the Guatemalan beaded lizard, one of the most endangered and venomous reptiles on the planet.

Being Human, Space – “Of Mice and Wolfmen”
Aidan remembers his wife as he gets sicker, and Sally struggles with a hunger that she hasn’t felt before. Josh and Nora meet an older wolf as Josh deals with his changing circumstances.

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Featured

Producer Laszlo Barna pays tribute to Jack Layton

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By Diane Wild of TV, eh?

Laszlo Barna has produced biopics of some of Canada’s most colourful characters: Roméo Dallaire, Don Cherry, David Suzuki, Henry Morgentaler, Joyce Milgaard, Celine Dion. Sunday he adds Jack Layton to that list. Starring Rick Roberts and Sook-Yin Lee, the CBC movie Jack follows the story of the NDP leader’s last campaign and his relationship with wife Olivia Chow, from their first meeting until his death shortly after that election.

“I saw how the Canadian public reacted to Jack Layton’s death, not only NDP supporters but nationwide. I believe in making movies about people Canadians care about,” said Barna, the president of Pier 21 Films, in a recent interview. “You can’t take the NDP out of Jack Layton, but when you look at the historical view we remember people, we don’t remember political parties. The overwhelming memory is of someone who cared and worked for his country.”

The film entwines the political and personal, making the point explicit in an exchange between Chow and Layton that the political is personal to him.

Laszlo Barna“The biographies I’ve done are people with great determination and drive, and usually there’s a great story behind the person,” Barna explained. “David Suzuki was interned during the war and it helped shape who he was. Joyce Milgaard was a woman who started life as a party girl and ended up a warrior who helped get her son released.”

“What surprised me in the story of Jack was that the story of Olivia and Jack was so sweet and all-encompassing. We learn from it, we empathize with it and that makes a good biography.”

The movie was produced with the cooperation of Chow, who was approached about a month after her husband’s death. “She’s a very open and interesting person. She looked at the movies I’d done before, and she wanted his story told,” Barna said, dismissing concerns about going into production so soon after Layton’s death. “The legacy Jack left is of celebration and optimism, not of negativity and darkness. I think now’s the right time to do it because people recently lost him and the film is relevant.”

Barna has also produced television series such as Da Vinci’s Inquest, Call Me Fitz and Haven, among many others. But he sees the dearth of television movies in recent years as a loss to the Canadian industry and the Canadian public, though he’s pragmatic about the cause: “Networks like to promote series and invest in series. Promotion of a television movie is costly and a one-off. I don’t see there being a return to the old days.”

“It’s so sad. There used to be so many more television movies. My guess is that we’re not making a third of the movies we used to make,” he said. “The great loss is often you want to tell these stories that aren’t necessarily for an international marketplace. I make television shows that sell all over the world; Jack is a Canadian film. And it’s a great loss to Canadians that broadcasters are shying away from television movies because they’re a great thing for telling stories about ourselves.”

He knows he’s hit on a perfect television movie subject when he can tell a cab driver the name and get a nod of recognition. “It means we’ve hit on our common currency.”

With Jack in particular, he calls it “a great romance a positive image, and a very entertaining film. He lived well and he lived a very colourful life. It’s a tribute and a fun journey.”

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Lost Girl, Motive

Sunday: Jack, Motive, Lost Girl

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Jack, CBC
The inspirational story of the late New Democratic Party Leader, Jack Layton whose historic election campaign while battling cancer captured the attention of the nation. Starring Rick Roberts, Sook-Yin Lee, Wendy Crewson, Erin Karpluk, Zachary Bennett, Joel Keller, Judah Katz, Victoria Snow and Diana Ha.

Motive, CTV – “Public Enemy”
After finding a health food guru dead in his hot tub, detectives Flynn (Kristin Lehman) and Vega (Louis Ferreira) discover that this man doesn’t always practice what he preaches. The transformational experience he brought to at least one young girl (Molly Parker, Hemingway & Gellhorn) was indeed, a motive for vengeance. Never short on questionable inspiration himself, Manny (Cameron Bright) tries to convince Angie to flirt with his high school math teacher in order to better his grades.

Lost Girl, Showcase – “Fae-ge Against The Machine”
What was meant as a much-needed day off for Bo grows into a scavenger hunt in a lawless Dark Fae territory.

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Uncategorized

Bitten casts lead actor Laura Vandervoort

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From a media release:

Laura Vandervoort Gets BITTEN:
Canadian-Born Actress to Star in New Space Original Series

As revealed to fans today at Toronto ComiCon, Toronto-born actress Laura Vandervoort (SMALLVILLE, Ted) is set to star in the new Space original series BITTEN, produced by No Equal Entertainment, Hoodwink Entertainment, and Entertainment One (eOne). Set in Toronto and Upstate New York, Vandervoort stars as Elena Michaels, the world’s only female werewolf. Based on the critically-acclaimed Women of the Otherworld novels by Canadian author Kelley Armstrong, BITTEN is set to begin production in Toronto next month, and additional casting for the 13-episode series will be announced soon.

A foster child, Elena thought she finally found her “happily ever after” with her new love Clayton, but with one small bite, her life was changed forever and she was forced to survive life with the Pack as a werewolf. Years later, Elena has found refuge in Toronto, working as a photographer and dating a new man. But when bodies turn up in the backwoods of Stonehaven, the rural mansion that has served as a werewolf sanctuary for generations, the perfect life Elena has constructed begins to crumble. With the Pack threatened by an unknown predator, they turn to Elena for help. Caught between two worlds and two loves, Elena returns to Stonehaven out of duty, but once back in the fold she realizes that when push comes to shove, like any true alpha female, she’ll stop at nothing to defend her family.

An emotionally charged thriller, BITTEN examines the age-old battle between man and beast as human and inhuman forces come to a head in one small town – with Elena at the centre.

About Laura Vandervoort
Vandervoort is a uniquely versatile actress crossing genres from intense dramas to action to comedy. Recognized regularly from her performance as Tanya in the summer’s biggest comedy hit, Ted, and already well-known for her roles on the hit CW series SMALLVILLE and the ABC network series V, Vandervoort continues to garner a significant international fan base of men and women of all ages. From being listed in Maxim’s ‘Top 100 Hottest Women’ two years in a row, to recently spearheading a national PETA campaign, Vandervoort enjoys a personal life as diverse as her career.

Vandervoort earned her first key role at the age of 13 on the children’s series GOOSEBUMPS, followed by ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? While attending York University, Vandervoort landed a lead role on the CTV/Teen Nick TV series INSTANT STAR, which ran for four seasons.

Vandervoort’s credits have been numerous since then. From her first feature, The Lookout with Jeff Daniels and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, to This Means War with Chris Pine and Tom Hardy, to the many other film and television guest appearances in between.

A second degree Black Belt in Shotokan Karate, Vandervoort spends considerable time maintaining a rigorous fitness regime. She has also written the first in a series of children’s books which may see her role evolve to writer/producer.

BITTEN is based on the critically-acclaimed series of novels from Kelley Armstrong, a Globe and Mail and New York Times bestselling author. Originally from Sudbury, ON, Armstrong’s first book, Bitten, was released in 2001 by Random House Canada. She has since written 12 additional books in the Women of the Otherworld series, with the final book, Thirteen, released last year. Armstrong still lives in Southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids, and far too many pets.

BITTEN is executive produced by J.B. Sugar (THE COLLECTOR, JPOD) for No Equal Entertainment, and John Barbisan and Patrick Banister (WHISTLER) for Hoodwink Entertainment. Daegan Fryklind and Grant Rosenberg are executive producers and co-show runners.

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