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TV,eh? What's up in Canadian television
The Romeo Section

Season 2 of critically-acclaimed The Romeo Section commences principal photography

From a media release:

Haddock Entertainment announced today that production has commenced on Season 2 of the critically-acclaimed espionage crime drama series, The Romeo Section. Created by renowned showrunner Chris Haddock (Intelligence, Da Vinci’s Inquest), the second season will consist of 10 new one-hour episodes in which the players get played, the powerful stumble, and the meek rise to power. As with Season 1, the second season will be filmed entirely in Vancouver, both on location and in studio. Season 2 will premiere this fall on CBC.

The second season of The Romeo Section finds Wolfgang McGee (Andrew Airlie) tasked with a covert investigation into an alleged terrorist incident, leading him into the dark side of intelligence. He calls upon an old acquaintance to assist, a blackballed spy named Norman, , and together they sift through inconsistencies that seem too convenient to be coincidence.

Meanwhile, Wolfgang’s former asset Rufus (Juan Riedinger) uses his new connection with the Red Mountain Triad to become the newest player in Vancouver’s competitive heroin market – the profits from which are being used to finance the latest movie starring Mae Mae (Fei Ren), the wife of the Triad leader, Wing Lei. Elsewhere Lily (Leeah Wong), now a recruit for the Intelligence Service, plays Al (Eugene Lipinski) against another agent to climb the chain of command and prevent her discovery as a double agent.

Returning cast members include Andrew Airlie as Wolfgang (50 Shades of Grey, Cedar Cove); Juan Riedinger as Rufus (Narcos, RL Stine’s The Haunting Hour); Leeah Wong as Lily; Eugene Lipinski as Al (Fringe, Intelligence); and Fei Ren as Mae Mae (Lucifer; Supernatural). Joining the cast this season is Brian Markinson (Mad Men, Charlie Wilson’s War) as Norman, the unapologetic and blackballed former spy.

The first episode of Season 2 is directed by David Frazee while Chris Haddock continues as the series’ showrunner and executive producer. Laura Lightbown, Stephen Surjik, and David Frazee also serve as executive producers, Jesse McKeown is co-executive producer and Arvi Liimatainen is producer.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Intervention Canada premieres on CBC’s documentary Channel on July 25

From a media release:

CBC’s documentary Channel announced today, the latest season of the compelling docu-series Intervention Canada will premiere on Monday, July 25 at 9 p.m. ET. This [10×1] series takes viewers deep inside the life of an addict, and provides a glimpse of their reality and the gut wrenching toll it takes on family and friends. CBC has exclusive rights to air the first five episodes, which will air on Mondays, from July 25 to August 22. The airdates of the final five episodes are still to be confirmed.

This season on Intervention Canada, addicts and their families from coast-to-coast-to-coast bravely share their stories and shine a light on the issue of addiction. Episodes touch on a variety of dependencies including alcohol, crystal meth, cocaine, fentanyl, and eating disorders. In addition to seeing life through the eyes of the addict, each episode has the family meet with certified Interventionists Andrew Galloway and Maureen Brine to help them through the process of an intervention, where the addict must choose whether or not to accept professional help with their addiction.

Intervention Canada, now in its first season on documentary Channel, is a one-hour docu-series that takes the viewer inside the roller coaster of addiction. From a Winnipeg family determined to rescue their talented musician son from a deadly crystal meth addiction, to a Hamilton family’s struggle to save their daughter from the grips of an addiction to computer keyboard duster, the series provides an uncompromising glimpse at the horrifying reality of the life of an addict, as well as the incredible toll their addiction takes on their family and friends. With the help of returning Interventionists Andrew Galloway and Maureen Brine, each episode culminates in a dramatic intervention where the subject must make a life-and-death decision –- continue their descent to rock bottom alone, or accept the offer of a clear path to recovery in one of Canada’s top addiction treatment facilities.

Intervention Canada is produced by Open Door Co. and Insight Productions, in association with CBC’s documentary Channel. Executive Producers are Tom Powers for Open Door Co. and John Brunton and Barbara Bowlby for Insight Productions. Insight’s John Murray serves as Supervising Producer. The Series Producer is Thomas Chenoweth. Bruce Cowley is CBC documentary Channel’s Senior Director and Commissioning Editor, Sue Baker is the Manager, Business Rights and Content Management.

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Featured, Motive

Christina Cox and Dylan Bruce stop by for explosive Motive

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Fans of Christina Cox and Dylan Bruce rejoice! She of Blood Ties, Defying Gravity and Shadowhunters (pictured above), and he of Orphan Black and American Gothic drop by for Tuesday night’s new episode of Motive. And, like the guest cast who have appeared before, both become instantly memorable.

Here’s what we can tell you about “The Dead Hand”—written by showrunner Dennis Heaton—without giving too much away.

The main storyline is um … the bomb
The whole episode is, actually. As teased by the above picture, Angie’s day—week actually—is wrecked when Susan (Cox) arrives at the precinct with a bomb strapped to her chest. The Navy IED expert is upset her son, Jake, was convicted of killing his sister, Nancy, and forces Angie to re-open the case.

Motive2

The whole team checks in
Vega, Betty, Lucas and Paula do some digging and quickly find not everything in the case is as cut and dry as it first appeared. Jake, a recovering drug addict, blacked out while robbing his parent’s house and when he came to his sister was at the bottom of the stairs, neck broken. The problem? A 45-minute space between police interviews that has the team scratching their heads.

Dylan Bruce is a killer co-star
Bruce’s Rand Hardy is identified as the killer in the case right away (as is Motive’s M.O.), and as the story goes through twists, turns and doubles back, Rand is revealed to be one sick puppy. It’s a treat to see Bruce play a complicated character.

Motive airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Made by Destruction recycles trash into usable treasures

I’m a big fan of shows like How It’s Made and Food Factory, two programs that go behind-the-scenes to show how all manner of things are created, from everyday items we use to the food we put on our plate.

But while those programs spotlight the creation of things from base materials, Made by Destruction comes at it from a different angle. Created by Toronto’s Yap Films, the folks behind Close Up Kings, Dig WW2 and Battle Factory, Made by Destruction—airing back-to-back episodes beginning Monday on Discovery—takes cast-off items and turns them into something else via recycling.

Mondays debut begins with the lowly photocopier. As technology surges forth in that industry, old models are being broken down to create the most unlikely of objects: trumpets. Sims Recycling Solutions in California goes through the painstaking process of breaking down office-size copies into its component parts.

Using cool CGI and engaging narration, Destruction outlines how defunct machines are shredded to extract the copper hidden in the power supply and motor casings, netting about five pounds of the metal. It’s fascinating to watch how a heavy-duty conveyor belt, series of shredders, magnets and vibrating meshes extracts the minute coils of copper collected, loaded into shipping containers and transported to Olin Brass in Illinois, where the instruments are created. Once there, 70 percent recycled copper is mixed with zinc to make brass cast bars. The bars are transformed into thin sheets, wrapped and sent to S.E. Shires in Massachusetts, where the final product is made.

Other stories featured in the first half-hour show how companies in Denmark and the Netherlands team to transform potatoes into biodegradable egg cartons, and a U.S. company turns empty plastic milk jugs into park benches.

All three stories—and the series overall—show the truly interesting journey old items go through to create new things. I’ll be tuning in.

Made by Destruction airs back-to-back episodes on Mondays at 7 p.m. ET on Discovery.

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