TV, eh? | What's up in Canadian television | Page 938
TV,eh? What's up in Canadian television

Uncertainty strikes Hockey Wives star Ashley Booth

Of all the things Hockey Wives cameras have recorded, there’s nothing more emotional than seeing a wife concerned about her husband’s future. That’s exactly what’s facing Ashley Booth when new episodes of W Network’s series resume on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

While other couples like Dan and Taylor Winnik make the long drive to Toronto, where he’s been traded—Dan has since been moved to Washington—and Carey and Angela Price enjoy some white water rafting, David Booth’s career at the time of production was up in the air. After a year with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, David was trying out for the Florida Panthers when cameras recorded he and Ashley’s uncertain status in North America. You can’t help but feel badly for the pair, and wonder if they’d regretted agreeing to cameras capturing that for TV.

“I watched the first season and I knew that Hockey Wives wasn’t all about drama and gossip, so I said yes,” Ashley said during a phone call to promote the remainder of Season 2. Though they don’t appear until next week’s episode, the duo make up for it with entertaining moments. Eagle-eyed viewers may be able to suss out the secrets to Ashley’s South of the Border dip or be in awe of David’s typical restaurant meal until the next step in his hockey career is decided: he signs with Admiral Vladivostok of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League. Viewers won’t see David’s exploits there, which is too bad, because everything is a contrast to North America.

“There’s so much that’s different, it’s too much to cover in one phone call,” he says. “Everything is different from the very beginning. The players all shake hands when they arrive in the dressing room. The coach goes around and shakes everyone’s hand. After a couple of games I was like, ‘Guys, we’ve already met!'” Ashley admits adapting to Russia was tough and her faith (and blog) were instrumental in getting her through tough times. As for what viewers can expect from the pair, Ashley offers up the following tease: “There’s something big that happens at the end of the season.”

Hockey Wives airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on W Network.

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Link: X Company’s Torben Liebrecht on the many shades of Faber

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

X Company’s Torben Liebrecht on the many shades of Faber
“It’s hard for me to describe what this episode does, because it does so much. It’s the ultimate face off of two people representing different sides of this war, but on the other hand, are united by their love of innocence. There’s also the fact that they are supposed to act, and it’s demanded of them that they lead and not act how they are as people. In a way, that makes them two sides of the same coin.” Continue reading.

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The tables have turned on Some Assembly Required

When we last saw Some Assembly Required’s Jarvis (Kolton Stewart), the young toy company CEO had finally declared his love for Piper (Charlie Storwick). The third season of the YTV series premieres tonight and the stars promise even more romance and laughs.

Piper had moved on from what she thought was unrequited love to pursue her music career and “the love situation ends not how you’d expect,” is the only hint Storwick will offer. “Make of that what you will.”

“It’s a switch,” she says of Jarvis’s cliffhanger declaration. “Usually I’m falling all over his character. I have the power now. All the tables have turned.”

Stewart says the show has evolved to show more of Jarvis’s friendships now that his work life has been more established. He taps into the similarities between the teen CEO and himself as a teen actor: “We both have the same work ethic.”

Both Storwick and Stewart were musicians before pursuing acting — Some Assembly Required was Storwick’s first acting role — and both find filming in front of a live studio audience to  be the best of both worlds, creating a TV show while performing on stage.

“It doesn’t ever feel like I’m working, but throw in an audience with genuine joy, laughter and fun and I never want to leave,” says Storwick.

They each marvel at the international audience the show, which airs on U.S. Netflix, has attracted, after getting messages from fans in Brazil, Australia and Finland, to name a few.

With her single Ghosts getting radio play and plans to record an EP and pursue a film career at some point, she says: “I’m setting crazy goals for myself but if you don’t set them you never know. I might as well put them out there.”

Stewart has Justin Timberlake-like ambitions for his future, with similar music and acting plans. “He is so talented it actually makes me sad,” Storwick laughed. “You can give him an instrument and literally in five minutes he’ll kill it.”

Some Assembly Required season three premieres tonight on YTV. 

 

 

 

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Link: Women behind Canadian TV: Tassie Cameron

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Women behind Canadian TV: Tassie Cameron
“We have a huge responsibility to help people along, to mentor them, to make sure young writers are getting their names on scripts, to make sure they are getting paid properly, to make sure they are getting the opportunities they need to rise up to become the next generation of television writers. It’s something I take very seriously. Partly just for job insurance. When they are all running shows and I’m 100 years old, maybe they will hire me.” Continue reading. 

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MasterChef Canada salutes the firefighters

Reality television is a heightened reality, not really “real” at all. Footage is filmed and then the storytelling is all done in the editing room. The result? What happened in Sunday’s episode of MasterChef Canada, where an open smoker door and open oven door was played up for dramatic effect.

Listen, I get that Sean likes to constantly check on food—he probably opens his front door in the winter—but there’s no way cracking the barbecue smoker lid for a few seconds to check on those ribs is the reason Team Red’s weren’t as tender as Team Blue. That is, unless Sean opened the smoker and walked away for five minutes. Now, he could have done that, except no one actually said how long the lid was open. Everyone was talking about how bad it was he’d done it, but there was no indication as to the time lapse. The outcome? The Blue Team won and Sean was blamed for the loss. (I also find it interesting that Matthew got to pick his “dream team” all at once, but no one mentioned the fact Michelle got an extra home cook in the deal.)

So it was the Red Team ended up in their first Pressure Test of this season. Matthew, rightly so, chose to save himself from cooking and picked best bud Jeremy to join him in the loft. That left Sean, Vince, Jacqueline and Mary to fend for themselves. Of those, I knew Mary would be safe as soon as Michael Bonacini revealed cupcakes were the challenge. Mary lives and breathes baking and her confections stole the show. The biggest surprise was Jacqueline, who didn’t let a little celiac disease stop her from creating wicked-good delights for the judges.

Meanwhile, the ham-handed Sean and Vince were in a neck-in-neck race for “clumsiest looking” cupcakes, something Vince won and was eliminated for.

MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.

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