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TV,eh? What's up in Canadian television
Schitt's Creek

Link: Eugene and Dan Levy’s family funnybone strikes a chord south of border

From Robert Lloyd of the LA Times:

Eugene and Dan Levy’s family funnybone strikes a chord south of border
Eugene Levy, of SCTV, American Pie and the films of Christopher Guest, was waiting at the old Culver Hotel in Culver City, Calif., for his son and collaborator, Dan, to arrive.

“It’s the fashionably late thing they (young people) really take to heart,” Levy said.

The Levys, 69 and 32 respectively, are the co-creators and co-stars of Schitt’s Creek, an exceedingly funny situation comedy of Canadian origin that plays in the United States on the Pop channel. Continue reading. 

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Sunnyside

Link: Sunnyside: a fine madness on the wrong channel

From Bill Brioux of Brioux.tv:

Sunnyside: a fine madness on the wrong channel
A few days after I razzed Rogers to make a call on Sunnyside, they did. The show, as expected, was officially cancelled.

The sketch-uational comedy, shot for all the right tax reasons in Winnipeg, pleased fans dying to see some of Canada’s best comedy performers romp through a half-hour of unbridled madness. Here was a show where no idea seemed too far-fetched–an infestation of ponies? Sure. An open manhole version of the Internet? Log it on. Continue reading.

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Featured, Sunnyside

Comments and queries for the week of March 18

Sunnyside cancelled by City

So confused. It seems somebody had the vision to greenlight the show, then someone with no nurturing supportive vision stepped in to red light it. Sheesh. Apparently a similar decision was almost made after the first season of Seinfeld. —Chris

How can great new shows like Sunnyside possibly achieve the coveted audience numbers if networks don’t invest in sufficient advertising and promotion for them? They are competing against the juggernaut of American shows and American ads; why aren’t our country’s broadcasters supporting great Cancon like this?
What a sad day. And what an ominous sign for the future of Canadian television: Great show. Great cast. Adored by critics. Award- winning. And cancelled?!? Yikes. —Dave

Sunnyside was the best. Too bad the higher ups didn’t feel the same way as everyone who watched it. Very funny and inventive. Finally we had a good Canadian comedy show and now it’s gone. I’m very disappointed in City. —Matt

I’m disappointed and will miss this show. It was hilarious and I found it amusing how different the actors looked when they dressed up as different characters. I’ve enjoyed Sunnyside while it lasted. —Iris

Orphan Black and Schitt’s Creek capture key Canadian Screen Awards

Norm McDonald did a GREAT job IMO. Overall, a pretty good show … just a few clunky presenter moments. Jacob Tremblay shows incredible poise for someone his age and the interaction between he and Christopher Plummer was fun. Great to see Schitt’s Creek do so well. And I don’t know if it was really scripted or not, but I liked how so many of the presenters and award recipients quickly jumped on the Candy bandwagon. While the late John Candy may not have had an extensive enough career to actually deserve such an honour, it does make for a catchy and fun name as Norm Macdonald mentioned, so, let’s hope there is plenty more Candy for Canada’s screen industry for many more years to come! —Byron

 

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

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Colin and Justin get down and dirty for Season 3 of Cabin Pressure

Anyone who’s done grand-scale home renovations knows that feeling of hopelessness. A “simple” job that grew to into a catastrophe, a project that morphed from costing a few thousand dollars into a massive bank black hole. Such is the case for Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan, the Scottish design duo who return for a third go-round of Cabin Pressure this Sunday on Cottage Life.

The timing of the series couldn’t be better—Cottage Life is currently in an eight-week free preview—plenty of time to watch the lads’ cottage country exploits and commiserate when things go wrong. And do they ever. Episode 1 quickly sets up the premise—the pair have purchased a Haliburton, Ont., cottage to renovate and use as an income property—before plans go awry.

“We’re trying to redevelop one of the worst cabins on one of the loveliest lakes in Haliburton,” Ryan said. “It’s been a huge challenge from start to finish.” As in Season 2 with a reno of their own cottage, the pair wanted to lift this cabin off the ground and dig out a basement. But decades of moisture and a bad foundation threaten to shatter hopes and bank accounts. Ryan’s frustration at being over $80,000 in the hole just days into the work is plain. Thankfully, there is good news; sections of the fractured foundation could be saved and most of the floor joists escaped spreading mould, meaning a return to the hilarious (and sometimes very un-PC) comments Colin and Justin fans love. Well, that, and the ingenious design ideas they come up with, sometimes costing just pennies to do, like the coffee-stained walls utilized in Season 1.

McAllister and Ryan’s design inspiration for this project is a black-on-black European minimalism transported to cottage country, something not only reflected in the building itself but deck too. Ryan remembered how they were struggling to find someone to build the deck until a woman named Andrea contacted them via Twitter. Her boyfriend’s St. Catharine’s company, Boys with Big Decks could complete the 2,400 square-foot task.

“We’re now boys with big decks,” McAllister quipped.

“Actually, we’re boys with massive decks,” Ryan corrected.

Cabin Pressure airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Cottage Life.

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Uncategorized

Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH returns to Knowledge Network

1 Comment

From a media release:

Record-breaking documentary series Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH returns to B.C.’s Knowledge Network with second season

  • Meet the next generation of life-saving care providers at one of Western Canada’s largest and busiest emergency departments

The highly-anticipated season two of Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH delves deeper into the province’s most pressing health and social issues. The new season premieres on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 9 p.m. PT on British Columbia’s Knowledge Network. Episodes will be simulcast on the series’ interactive companion website at knowledge.ca/er, which will also feature 49 web shorts, and interactive surveys to spark debate and conversation around critical health topics impacting our province today.

Filmed at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH)’s emergency department, Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH gives viewers a look into one of British Columbia’s busiest emergency departments and the only accredited Level 1 Trauma Centre in the province. Season one broke viewership records with more than 1.2 million TV and online viewers. It was also critically acclaimed as Best Television Show and Best Documentary at the 2014 Leo Awards and earned two Canadian Screen Award nominations.

The second season of Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH continues to examine the high-intensity, life-and-death stakes of emergency medicine, and the important issues that arise. It also takes a closer look at the patient’s medical journey, at times following their story with medical specialists beyond the walls of the emergency room.

To create the new season, Knowledge Network again partnered with Vancouver Coastal Health and B.C.-based Lark Productions for almost 80 days of shooting, with unrestricted access to all areas of the VGH emergency department. The second season features returning familiar faces and introduces viewers to new staff and care providers. Among the timely and thought-provoking issues explored in the six-episode second season are the unique problems created by an aging population, the impact of common accidents, and the life-saving role of new technology. There will also be an entire episode dedicated to nurses and the vital role they play in the emergency department. With registered nurses representing the majority of VGH’s emergency department staff (81 per cent), and often the frontline of care, it’s a tribute that will engage audiences across the province. In watching the series as well as the web shorts, viewers will come to know the patient stories, as well as the established faces of emergency medicine professionals at VGH, and the next generation who are being trained and mentored in saving lives and in providing critical health support in the most difficult of circumstances.

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