Tag Archives: cancelled

Comments and queries for the week of June 29

I grew up loving What Will They Think of Next? Then along came Daily Planet and I looked forward to is so much so it was the only show I had set on the PVR. I thought we were on a summer break or something but I decided to see when it was coming back. Just found out it was canceled. I’m very sad today. It was such an adventure and it was real! Please bring it back. —Carl 

Very disappointed, the only show on television I watched on a regular basis. Poor Bell Media can’t support the only informative series on television. It must be a struggle trying to survive on millions of dollars a day profit. When is the CRTC going to put these guys in check? In Canada we pay more for these services than anyone else on earth. When I pay a good portion of my hard earned money I expect to get something useful in return. —Paul


Just found out about [InnerSpace‘s] cancellation. Sad news indeed. InnerSpace was probably one of my favourite shows to watch after my work day and get caught up on news that are of interest to my geeky heart. While I can empathize with some of the opinions stated above that it was perhaps too focused on Ontario and could have benefited from sourcing stories from across Canada, it still is a slap in the face to crew at InnerSpace and all its dedicated fans both within Canada and abroad to be treated in such a manner. I guess the further dumbing-down and all so essential Bell promotions run ad nauseam are more important. It was an original show, as was Discovery and now with both gone the Space Channel no longer has anything I wish to watch any further. I was going to be revising my channels anyways with with my provider, so this will be an easy decision to make. I have never supported Bell and now, with this lame excuse of a decision, I can safely say I never will. —Cory


I only wish that CBC had not cancelled The Goods. It was an entertaining show. I used to record it every day. —Joanne

 

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

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2018-19 Canadian TV season renewal scorecard

With the 2017-18 Canadian television season ending soon, the networks are putting the finishing touches on their primetime lineups for 2018-19. That means celebrations for fans of shows that have been renewed and sadness for programs that won’t return.

To help keep track of what’s been renewed or ending, we’ve put together a handy list for you of what will air between the summer of 2018 and the end of spring in 2019. Check back often to see the status of your favourites.

Renewed

  • Pure (Super Channel)
  • Still Standing (CBC)
  • Letterkenny (CraveTV)
  • Murdoch Mysteries (CBC)
  • Frankie Drake Mysteries (CBC)
  • Highway Thru Hell (Discovery)
  • Heavy Rescue: 401 (Discovery)
  • Dragons’ Den (CBC)
  • Frontier (Discovery)
  • Vikings (History)
  • Private Eyes (Global)
  • Cardinal (CTV)
  • Schitt’s Creek (CBC)
  • Anne with an E (CBC)
  • Killjoys (Space)
  • Tribal Police Files (APTN)
  • Eyes for the Job (AMI-tv)
  • Employable Me Canada (AMI-tv)
  • Mind Set Go (AMI-tv)
  • The Great Canadian Baking Show (CBC)
  • Bad Blood (City)
  • Kim’s Convenience (CBC)
  • Mr. D (CBC, final season)
  • Workin’ Moms (CBC)
  • Baroness Von Sketch Show (CBC)
  • Burden of Truth (CBC)
  • Travelers (Netflix)
  • Top Chef Canada (Food Network Canada)
  • When Calls the Heart (Super Channel)
  • The Stats of Life (CBC)
  • 22 Minutes (CBC)
  • Little Dog (CBC)
  • Paranormal Survivor (T+E)
  • The Other Side (APTN)
  • Wynonna Earp (Space)
  • Second Jen (City)
  • Blood & Water (Omni)
  • Heartland (CBC)
  • Mayday (Discovery)
  • Backyard Builds (HGTV Canada)
  • The Launch (CTV)
  • Carnival Eats (Food Network Canada)
  • Save My Reno (HGTV Canada)
  • Love It or List It Vancouver (HGTV Canada)
  • Property Brothers (HGTV Canada)
  • Property Brothers: Buying and Selling (HGTV Canada)
  • Worst to First (HGTV Canada)
  • Border Security: America’s Front Line (HGTV Canada)
  • Just Like Mom & Dad (YesTV)
  • The Detectives (CBC)
  • The Nature of Things (CBC)
  • Exhibitionists (CBC)
  • Marketplace (CBC)
  • The Fifth Estate (CBC)
  • Mighty Trains (Discovery)
  • Mary Kills People (Global)
  • Big Brother Canada (Global)
  • Sarah Off the Grid (HGTV Canada)
  • Holmes + Holmes (HGTV Canada)
  • Entertainment Tonight Canada (Global)
  • Odd Squad (TVO)
  • The Beaverton (Comedy Network)
  • Jade Fever (Discovery)
  • etalk (CTV)
  • The Social (CTV)
  • The Marilyn Denis Show (CTV)
  • Your Morning (CTV)
  • Mighty Cruise Ships (Discovery)
  • Dog Tales Rescue (Gusto)
  • Corner Gas Animated (The Comedy Network)
  • Canada’s Worst Driver (Discovery)
  • Last Stop Garage (Discovery)
  • Rocky Mountain Railroad (Discovery)
  • Bonacini’s Italy (Gusto)
  • Flour Power (Gusto)
  • Crazy Beautiful Weddings (Makeful)
  • Intervention Canada (T+E)
  • Lakefront Luxury (Cottage Life)
  • Hope for Wildlife (Cottage Life)
  • Hellfire Heroes (Discovery)
  • Ransom (Global)
  • MasterChef Canada (CTV)
  • Slasher

Awaiting confirmation

  • Degrassi: Next Class (Family Channel)
  • One World Kitchen (Gusto)
  • Wild Archaeology (APTN)
  • Bake with Anna Olson (Food Network)
  • Bryan Inc. (HGTV Canada)
  • Nirvanna The Band The Show (Viceland)
  • Mighty Planes (Discovery)
  • Tougher Than It Looks (Discovery)
  • Love It or List It (HGTV Canada)
  • Mighty Ships (Discovery)
  • Backstage (Family Channel)
  • Yukon Gold (History)
  • First Dates (Slice)
  • Hockey Wives (W Network)
  • Buying the View (W Network)
  • Max & Shred (YTV)
  • The Stanley Dynamic (YTV)
  • Drive Me Crazy (YTV)
  • Massive Monster Mayhem (Family Channel)
  • Crawford (CBC)
  • The Baker Sisters (Food Network)

Not Returning

  • Rick Mercer Report (CBC)
  • The Goods (CBC)
  • Ghost Wars (Netflix)
  • 21 Thunder (CBC)
  • Interrupt This Program (CBC)
  • Daily Planet (Discovery)
  • Innerspace (Space)
  • Hello Goodbye (CBC, on hiatus)
  • The Detail (CTV)
  • On the Money (CBC)
  • Guilt Free Zone (APTN)
  • Mysticons (YTV)
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Interview: Greg Spottiswood reflects on Remedy’s second (and final) season

This interview with Remedy showrunner Greg Spottiswood was supposed to be a recap of the show’s second season. A look back at the Connor clan’s struggles and a peek forward to what was to come.

Unfortunately, our chat serves more as an epitaph: Global cancelled Remedy the day after we spoke. Here’s what Spottiswood had to say about Griffin’s addiction story and why Sandy ended up being hit by a truck.

At first I wanted Griffin to get past his addiction and move on. But after Dillon Casey touched base with me, I realized Griff’s story is like real life, and there are no easy answers.
Greg Spottiswood: Dillon is very protective of that character. What we aspire to do is make the audience feel towards Griffin the way his family felt. They loved him, they cared about him and were rooting for him but at a certain point they kind of had enough of him. When we decided to go down this road, I told the network and I told [executive producer] Bernie Zukerman that if we were going to do a story about addiction that we would do it as accurately as a television show can, which is never fully accurate. We were going to talk to consultants and define it not as a flaw in this person’s character. A lot of stories about addiction on television are very much individual journeys and while Griffin had a distinct path this season, really the Trojan horse of it is to define the addiction as a family disease and to look at what happens to a family and how their feelings can be corrupted or warped when dealing with addiction. That was really our big project. The real question was, can we get the audience back? He really doesn’t hit bottom until the finale when Sandy tells him to leave the room. He doesn’t have one ally in his family. I feel like we accomplished what we set out to do.

Remedy

By the end of the finale, Griffin was headed to rehab with Frank, PJ and Bruno giving him a ride, and Sandy was OK after that horrible car accident.
Sandy being hit by the truck was a fairly late change to the script. Originally, the design was that Griffin was either going to OD, or something else that was terrible would happen. We had been working on the script—Greg Nelson wrote it—and I came in one day and said, ‘It’s not Griffin, it’s Sandy. Bottom can’t be Griffin hurting himself, bottom has to be Griffin hurting the one person in the family who has never let him down and who he’s closest to.’ And people were uncomfortable in the writers’ room. ‘Really? You’re gonna hit Sandy with a truck?’ ‘I know it’s the right thing to do.’ Everybody got on board. That’s the interesting thing about television. You have this plan and everybody has signed on and then as a showrunner you’re in the shower or driving to work and you realize, ‘No, we’ve made a mistake.’

It was interesting, and effective, to not show the actual accident, but just Sandy being brought into the ER.
There were some interesting conversations about that. Would we show the headlights? Did we want to have a horn honk? And I said, ‘Some people will see it coming, some people will hope it’s not coming, but if we do it right …’ We put Zoe in the ER because we wanted the audience to think she saw Griff so that we could keep the misdirect going just a little longer.

Griffin’s journey as a rough one. Did you sit down and talk to Dillon Casey about it beforehand and give him any advice?
What we talked about at the beginning of the season was that he’d have to take really good care of himself because it was going to get uncomfortable. He was going to go to some dark places and be unsympathetic, which for a lot of actors is very hard to do especially on a network television show. He was embracing it but I told him he’d have to take care of his health because he was playing a very unhealthy guy. He took that to heart and approached the whole season with a great commitment and discipline and desire to understand what this guy was going through.

Remedy_finale

Another plot point I really enjoyed was bringing Allen down into the ER and seeing him as a doctor and inspiration to others. Had that been in the works since Season 1?
No. By the end of the first season, I went to Bernie and the network and said, ‘I don’t think we’re using everything that Rico has to offer as an actor well enough in Allen’s current role.’ I pitched the idea of moving him down to the ER and Bernie embraced it right away, but there was a certain skepticism at one point from the network. I felt like we had this great actor in Rico with great comic chops, great dramatic chops and because of Flashpoint he’s got this father figure position that we exploit. I said, ‘I just want to make him be the underdog.’ I’m really proud of everyone this season, especially of Rico because he relished it. When I went and told him what we were going to do, he blinked once and said, ‘OK, here we go.’

Sara Canning and Sarah Allen were fantastic this season too. Speaking of comic chops, they both have them.
Sara Canning and Sarah Allen as individuals are really stellar human beings and incredibly talented actors. We did chemistry reads when we were casting the show, so we knew that there was something there, but I don’t think any of us would have predicted how well those two have worked together, how close they would become as friends. They have a genuine affection for each other. They’re also very generous actors too. They listen to one another and are sensitive to each other’s needs and trust the writing, and you get this kind of magic.

Do you have a message for the Remedy folks? Comment below or via our Twitter account at @tv_eh.

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