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TV,eh? What's up in Canadian television
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Comments and queries for the week of November 16

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Wow, people need to relax a little, so [Murdoch Mysteries] had a little fun and did a one-off episode that was a standalone and not part of the Murdoch Mysteries continuity/canon. The horror. I mean seriously, if you didn’t like it, then that’s fine (though I feel a little bad for you as it was clever, fun, and exciting). But to accuse the writers of being lazy because they didn’t tie it up to the storyline … I suggest you get over yourselves a little and let the writers who have delivered a consistently fun and entertaining show have a little fun of their own with this. Lots of shows have done Halloween themed episodes that don’t have any bearing on the main story. And those of you who can’t get past that miss the fact that they did it damn well. Solid nods to classic horror/sci-fi and still utilizing the charisma and solid acting chops of all the main cast. If you can’t get over yourselves long enough to have a little fun and indulge in a Halloween episode, then just skip it and move right on to the next episode. But don’t take it out on the writers. It’s not them, it’s you. —Alex

I loved this one. It was very funny and spoofed so many vintage horror/sci-fi movies. I especially loved when alien-Murdoch tried to laugh. It reminded me of the time Wednesday Addams tried to smile. I know I sound sadistic, but I also enjoyed Julia’s horror when she realized that she had killed her husband because she had listened to George Crabtree!! And Murdoch’s repeated demands for “romance”! I too was expecting someone to wake up at the end. But I don’t understand why so many fans are angry because the show did the unexpected instead. Those who claim the episode had no ending are wrong. As in the original ending to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the ending is that the aliens succeed in taking over the Earth. Once I realized that WAS the ending, I realized it was a standalone Halloween episode. I LOVE Halloween episodes. I was pretty sure there would be no references to the incidents in this episode the following week. Though I did need to check that things really did go back to normal the next week. —Clare

 

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? Email greg.david@tv-eh.com or via Twitter @tv_eh.

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Travelers

Travelers Season 3 premieres on December 14th only on Netflix

From a media release:

The third season of Travelers finds Grant MacLaren and his team of highly-trained operatives from the future pushed to the limit and dealing with themes of loyalty, trust, death, and the ever-growing power of Artificial Intelligence. With their existence now leaked to the world, the team must find a way to keep knowledge of the Travelers program from the general public, while continuing to perform missions under the watchful eye of the FBI.   Each team member will face their own personal breaking point, all while trying to stop the Faction, hunt down elusive Traveler 001, and to save the world from a terrible future.

Season 3 stars Eric McCormack, MacKenzie Porter, Nesta Cooper, Jared Abrahamson, Reilly Dolman and Patrick Gilmore.

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Departure, Industry News

Archie Panjabi and Christopher Plummer lead Global’s new original event series Departure now in production

From a media release:

Global announced today that it has commissioned a new Canadian original six-part event series, Departure. Produced by Shaftesbury and Greenpoint Productions Ltd., the thrilling drama is directed by Canadian Screen Award Winner T.J. Scott (Orphan Black, Star Trek: Discovery), with Malcolm MacRury (Saving Hope) joining as showrunner, and created by Vincent Shiao (Ransom, Aftermath). With principal photography now underway in Toronto, the Canada/UK co-production will also shoot in London, England. The project was developed by Shaftesbury in association with Corus Entertainment and Red Arrow Studios International.

Slated to join Global’s 2019 primetime schedule, the high-octane conspiracy series follows the mystery of a passenger plane that vanishes over the Atlantic Ocean. Featuring an all-star cast, the series stars Emmy® winner Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife) and Oscar® winner Christopher Plummer (All the Money In the World). The adrenaline-fueled serialized thrill ride also includes an impressive supporting cast with Kris Holden-Ried (Vikings), Claire Forlani (Hawaii Five-O), Rebecca Liddiard (Frankie Drake Mysteries), Shazad Latif (Star Trek: Discovery), Tamara Duarte (Longmire), Peter Mensah (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Kristian Bruun (Orphan Black), Allan Hawco (Caught), Dougray Scott (Snatch), Sasha Roiz (Grimm), Mark Rendall (30 Days of Night), Dmitry Chepovetsky(Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), Paris Jefferson (Sunset Contract), and more.

Departure is a six-part event series that follows the shocking disappearance of Flight 716, a passenger plane that vanishes over the Atlantic Ocean. Kendra Malley (Panjabi), the recently widowed, brilliant aviation investigator, is called in by her former boss and mentor Howard Lawson (Plummer) to investigate the mysterious crash. With the whole world watching, Kendra and her team race to pinpoint the missing aircraft and locate possible survivors. They must battle through a host of suspects and motives – pilot suicide, terrorism, politically motivated murder, systems failure – to determine what really happened to Flight 716… and to stop it from happening again.

This newly greenlit series is the final original series commissioned by Global for the 2019 broadcast year joining Nurses, Ransom, Mary Kills People, Private Eyes, and Big Brother Canada.

Departure is a Canada/UK treaty co-production produced by Shaftesbury (Canada) and Greenpoint Productions Ltd. (UK) in association with Corus Entertainment.

Departure is executive produced by Christina Jennings, Scott Garvie, Malcolm MacRury, and T.J. Scott. Creator Vincent Shiao is co-executive producer; Patrick Cassavetti, Tina Grewal are producers, with Julie Laceyserving as Shaftesbury’s producer.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

CBC digs deep for a monumental history of music in From the Vaults

As Canada’s public broadcaster, the CBC has—literally—a treasure trove of an archive from which to pull footage and information. With over 90,000 reels to draw from, it was a monumental task. But it paid off with the network’s latest project.

From the Vaults—bowing Thursday at 9 p.m. on CBC—isn’t an update of the wonderful 1982 miniseries Heart of Gold. Where that three-hour special, narrated by Donald Sutherland, only explored Canadian singer-songwriters, From the Vaults uses music to tell the stories of Canada and the world through not just homegrown talent but international ones who visited CBC’s studios.

“I think the CBC has been trying to find a way to share their archive with Canadians,” says executive producer Sam Dunn. “It’s this massive, titanic, vault of material that not only exists in the basement of Toronto’s [CBC headquarters] but major cities across the country.”

Dunn’s Banger Films serves as producers of From the Vaults and CBC couldn’t have picked a better partner. Banger Films has produced a plethora of top-notch documentary films and TV series in Super Duper Alice Cooper, Metal Evolution, Long Time Running and Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage. Teaming with the CBC was a no-brainer, Dunn says. He and co-executive producer and Banger Films partner Scot McFadyen love working with archival material and being storytellers and embraced the opportunity to cross decades and musical styles. They and their staff know music and how to tell a story but were nonetheless overwhelmed by the sheer amount of source material.

“We were completely daunted,” Dunn says with a laugh. “We couldn’t just go down there and pull a tape off a shelf because it was like throwing a pebble into an ocean.” The solution? They reached out to people they knew in Canada: music writers, musicians, folks who had a great knowledge of the archive and had worked at the CBC for years. The team slowly began piecing together performances that stood out for people. A key appearance by The Who in a student union building. A special hosted by Harry Belafonte documenting his travels across Canada.

Sammy Davis Jr. on the set of his CBC special, Parade.

The next step was to structure each of the six one-hour episodes. The CBC, Dunn explains, didn’t want them divided by genre, decade or regions of Canada. The solution? Use a theme that says something about Canada and our culture.

Narrated by Amanda Parris and Tom Power, Episode 1—labelled “Land of Opportunities”—recalls musical acts that used this country as a stepping stone or key component in their career. Though he was a world-renown entertainer and member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack, Sammy Davis Jr. would never be able to headline his own television show in the U.S. because of his skin colour. He came to Canada to do it, hosting a special called Parade. Singer-songwriter Joan Baez, meanwhile, performed and was interviewed at the CBC during the Vietnam War; and reggae legend Jackie Mittoo and blues singer Muddy Waters sought the freedom to explore their talents on Canadian soil.

From the Vaults not only spotlights music and musicians but the network as well. Footage is culled from several past projects like Adrienne Clarkson Presents, Let’s Go, Nightcap, Pilot One, Take 30, Talent Caravan, The Tommy Hunter Show and The Wayne & Shuster Hour, providing a history of the CBC and its ongoing relationship with the arts.

“Up until The New Music and the emergence of MuchMusic the CBC was the only place in town that would show music on television,” Dunn says. “I think the other factor is that we’re talking about a CBC at a time when it a little more like the Wild West out there. It’s a credit to independent-minded producers who were really determined to create the kind of shows they wanted to see on the network.”

From the Vaults airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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Featured, Murdoch Mysteries

Murdoch Mysteries: Writer Noelle Girard reveals the inspiration behind Monday’s murder

3 Comments

Spoiler alert: Do not continue reading until you have watched the latest episode of Murdoch Mysteries, “Drowning in Money.”

For a few seasons of Murdoch Mysteries, I thought Mary Pedersen had the most twisted mind in the writers’ room. After all, she aimed to make viewers cry in Season 11’s “The Accident.” But Pedersen has some competition in Noelle Girard, who penned Monday’s latest. The morbid tale of a daughter who poisoned her parents to protect her sibling from mistreatment was downright dark. And, at first glance, seemed in part to be inspired by the real-life deaths of Toronto couple Barry and Honey Sherman.

I spoke to Girard to get the scoop on her storyline.

Watching this episode, I wondered if it was inspired by the recent case of Barry and Honey Sherman. Was your episode ripped from the headlines?
Noelle Girard: That definitely did come up in our many talks about this episode, but it really wasn’t the genesis of it.

What was the genesis of it?
NG: I was reading about Consuelo Vanderbilt, who was the daughter of the Vanderbilt family. This family had immense wealth but her mother, Alva, really craved social standing and a title. It was kind of what money couldn’t buy. She raised her daughter, Consuelo, to marry a duke. I was reading that she was kept locked in her room, would bring in all of these tutors for her and would make her wear this brace to give her perfect posture. She was trying to engineer the perfect woman to marry a duke. Consuelo did marry a duke when she was 18 and she was miserable.

I came to the room saying, ‘I just read about this really interesting woman.’ We were talking about Consuelo and Peter [Mitchell] let me run with some macabre ideas. ‘What if there was a young woman who was being bred to be the perfect woman and she got her revenge on her parents?’ That’s kind of how it started. The Shermans did come up, but it was really centred on the daughter. As we were fleshing out the story, we wondered if the daughter would make the parents’ murder look like a suicide.

I feel like you and Mary Pedersen are competing for twisted ideas. It takes a lot of research to learn scorpion venom is the most expensive poison.
NG: [Laughs.] I just happened to read that scorpion venom is classified as the most expensive liquid in the world. Again, it was me coming into the room and saying, ‘Hey, what if she used scorpion venom? She would use the most expensive thing to kill her parents.’ Pete was like, ‘Great, do it!’

Diana Seymour saying nothing but the best for her parents when referring to the poison was chilling. The actress who played her, Erica Anderson, did a wonderful job.
NG: The actors were great. Joanna, our costume designer, was so great. She really tried to work with one colour palette. We talked about the perfect lady and what they would wear. It was kind of Picnic at Hanging Rock-ish with a lot of whites and making them look virginal and innocent when, really, they were murderers.

I love finding out those little bit of information regarding wardrobe or set pieces.
NG: Everyone who works on the show is at the top of their game and are great people. As soon as they get the script, everyone runs with it and makes it much better than what I envision.

This episode featured another Newsome in Effie. We did meet her in the wedding episode; this time she had a more meaty role when she represented a cousin who was trying to sue George’s garage.
NG: In the wedding episode we wanted to show that Crabtree is still smarting from Nina leaving for Paris. He doesn’t want to date anyone. We had him with a few women at the wedding but we just loved Clare McConnell. We just thought, ‘What if we bring her back and they still have this antagonistic relationship but there is a glimmer of Crabtree being interested in her and she in him?’ We just had fun with that.

You had a lot of characters to juggle in this episode.
NG: I kind of got carried away. I handed in the first draft to Pete and said, ‘I know I just wrote a million characters in a million different locations. I understand if they get winnowed down.’ But he just let me have all my characters.

The final scene, where Persephone was being taken away and Diana was behind bars, was tragic and very emotional.
NG: When we talked about ways to take the story we thought about not having the girls be on each other’s side and how that story would look. But I really liked the idea of the two sisters looking out for each other. Obviously committing murder is terrible but they’re trying to look out for each other.

Next Monday, Nov. 19, Murdoch Mysteries is pre-empted due to the Scotiabank Giller Prize awards.

Murdoch Mysteries airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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