Tag Archives: CBC

Industry News

CBC original comedy Terrific Women begins streaming July 11

2 Comments

From a media release:

Set in the saucy seventies, TERRIFIC WOMEN is a new CBC original comedy starring, written, and created by Toronto comedians Sara Hennessey and Stephanie Kaliner who play two clueless – and often inebriated – feminists.

Produced by Aircraft Pictures, the 9-episode series begins streaming Tuesday, July 11 at cbc.ca/watch. TERRIFIC WOMEN follows cocktail-sipping, two-time divorcée Linda Davis (Hennessey) and good-natured, naïve, and pregnant Joy Johansen (Kaliner) as they co-host their own late-night cable access television show. Together, they tackle relevant social issues geared towards the modern woman.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Mr. D

CBC’s Mr. D is back in Halifax as cameras roll on Season 7

From a media release:

Principal photography on Season 7 (11 x 30) of CBC’s original comedy series Mr. D – starring comedian Gerry Dee – is now under way in and around Halifax until mid-August. The new season will premiere in fall 2017 on CBC.  

Exploring the staff and student dynamics at a private school, Mr. D is based on the stand-up comedy act of Dee, who was a teacher for nine years before transitioning to a career in comedy. The series revolves around the eponymous Mr. D, an under-qualified and unmotivated teacher trying to fake his way through work – and life.

In the Season 6 finale, Gerry Duncan (Gerry Dee) seems to be on the upswing as he unloads wife Lisa (Lauren Hammersley) and lands his dream job – head of the Phys. Ed department. But does getting burned by Gerry and abruptly leaving her job as Principal signal the end of Lisa Mason? Better not count on it.

In Season 7, Gerry realizes Phys. Ed is not all fun and games; Robert (Jonathan Torrens) and Bobbi (Naomi Snieckus) navigate parenthood; Simon (Mark Little) and Nisha (Emma Hunter) get more physical in their new relationship; new Economics teacher Dave (guest star Dave Merheje) tries to inspire his students; and Lisa does whatever she can to return to Xavier Academy.  

Mr. D also stars Bette MacDonald (Trudy), Darrin Rose (Bill), Wes Williams (Paul), Suresh John (Malik), Kathleen Phillips (Emma), and Bill Wood (Frank), with season 7 guest stars to be announced at a later date.

A CBC original series, Mr. D is produced by Topsail Productions Limited and Gerard ADHD Entertainment Inc. and distributed worldwide by Entertainment One Television International Ltd.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Industry News

Link: “Air Farce” spoofs Canada in honour of 150th

From Bill Brioux of The Canadian Press:

Link: “Air Farce” spoofs Canada in honour of 150th
“We’re trying to make it a totally different flavour from the New Year’s show,” says Royal Canadian Air Farce founding member Don Ferguson. After consistently delivering top-rated year-end specials since the “Air Farce” series ended in 2008, Ferguson has been lobbying hard for a second annual showcase. Continue reading.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Baroness von Sketch Show, Featured

CBC’s Baroness von Sketch Show is back for even better Season 2

In what’s quickly become a wonderful summer tradition, CBC marks the end of June with the returns of Still Standing and Baroness von Sketch Show. Look for my interview with Still Standing host Jonny Harris elsewhere on the site; this column is all about the funny ladies of Baroness von Sketch Show.

Returning Tuesday at 9 p.m. on CBC, the first season was a riotous romp through the minds of Carolyn Taylor, Aurora Browne, Jennifer Whalen and Meredith MacNeil and the crazy, kooky and creative characters and situations they came up with. The group won a well-deserved Canadian Screen Award earlier this year for Best Writing for a Variety or Sketch Comedy Series and they’ve returned to form in this sophomore season. (Check out my feature story on the ladies in Canadian Screenwriter Magazine.)

The troupe’s Mad Max-inspired bit has been posted on social media over the past few weeks and is the first sketch following Tuesday’s opening credits for the episode entitled “It Satisfies on a Very Basic Level.” Filmed on the shores of Lake Ontario, it’s a well-written, supremely acted segment showing a quartet of strong women in a post-apocalyptic world where all men have been killed so ladies may rule. At least, that’s what we’re led to believe, though the truth comes out. MacNeil, as in Season 1, grabs laughs not just with her delivery and facial expressions but her entire body. A sky-high orange mohawk and fur cape complete her ludicrous look.

Browne nabs a serious laugh in the next skit regarding showing ID when shopping for a certain item, a brief history lesson on menstruation is given next, followed by an uncomfortable situation that arises when someone forgets not to ask about one woman’s ex.

Unlike Saturday Night Live, where sketches often go on way too long on expired laughs, Baroness Von Sketch Show is tight, quick and to the point. The Season 2 writing room contained—in addition to Taylor, MacNeil, Whalen and Browne— award-winning author and poet Zoe Whittall (The Best Kind of People), author Monica Heisey (I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better: A Woman’s Guide to Coping with Life), Jennifer Goodhue (This Hour Has 22 Minutes), standups Mae Martin, Elvira Kurt and Dawn Whitwell, Ann Pornel and Alex Tindal (The Sketchersons), playwright Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, Ify Chiwetelu, artist and writer Mariko Tamaki, Evany Rosen and Nelu Handa. The result? A summer of continuous laughs.

Baroness von Sketch Show airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail