Crave and APTN premiere their much-anticipated original limited series, LITTLE BIRD, Friday, May 26, which follows an inspirational journey of self-discovery and truth. From Crave, APTN, Rezolution Pictures,OP Little Bird, and in partnership with global producer and distributor Fremantle, the six-part, one-hour limited series explores universal themes of resilience in the face of trauma and loss. It follows Bezhig Little Bird (Darla Contois) as she embarks on a path to find her birth family and uncover the hidden truth of her family history. The series streams on Friday, May 26 on Crave and APTN lumi, in English and French, with subsequent episodes dropping Fridays.
Removed from her home in Long Pine Reserve in Saskatchewan, Bezhig Little Bird is adopted into a Montréal Jewish family at age five, becoming Esther Rosenblum. Now in her 20s, Bezhig longs for the family she lost and is willing to sacrifice everything to find them. Her search lands her in the Canadian Prairies, worlds apart from everything she knows. As she begins to track down her siblings, she unravels the mystery behind her adoption and discovers that her apprehension was connected to a racist government policy, now known as the Sixties Scoop. Bezhig’s sense of identity shatters, and she is forced to reckon with who she is and who she wants to become.
Led by Contois, the character-driven drama features a talented cast of Indigenous actors, including: Ellyn Jade; Osawa Muskwa; Joshua Odjick; Imajyn Cardinal; Braeden Clarke; Eric Schweig; and Michelle Thrush. Rounding out the cast is Lisa Edelstein (HOUSE) who plays Esther’s adoptive mother, Golda Rosenblum.
The recent winner of the Audience Award Prize at the 2023 SERIES MANIA Festival in Lille, France, LITTLE BIRD was filmed in and around Winnipeg and Brokenhead Ojibway Nation on Treaty 1 territory, in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation on Treaty 2 territory, and in Muscowpetung First Nation on Treaty 4 territory. LITTLE BIRD showrunner Jennifer Podemski was also recently presented with an Academy Board Of Directors’ Tribute Award at the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards.
Alongside the final episode on June 30, Crave and APTN lumi are making available COMING HOME, a 90-minute companion documentary providing historical context, about the Sixties Scoop. Directed by Erica Daniels (Run as One), COMING HOME explores the connections between the ground-breaking movement for Indigenous narrative sovereignty and the impact of the child welfare system as experienced through the LITTLE BIRD series’ Indigenous creatives, crew, and Sixties Scoop advisors. COMING HOME provides a structuring through-line, interwoven with interviews with cast, crew, and community members revealing personal connections to the Sixties Scoop.
LITTLE BIRD is a co-production from Crave and APTN, produced by Rezolution Pictures and OP Little Bird with the participation of the Canada Media Fund (CMF), Manitoba Film and Music, the Rogers Cable Network Fund, the Bell Fund, and the COGECO Independent Production Fund. Additional training funding is provided by Bell Media, the Indigenous Screen Office, REEL Canada and the Director’s Guild of Canada (DGC). Fremantle is distributing the series globally.
Led by an Indigenous creative team, LITTLE BIRD is developed by showrunner Jennifer Podemski and Rezolution Pictures, and created by Podemski and head writer Hannah Moscovitch. The creative team includes directors Zoe Hopkins and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and was written by Hopkins and Moscovitch. The series is executive produced by Christina Fon, Ernest Webb, Catherine Bainbridge, Linda Ludwick (Rezolution Pictures), Kim Todd, Nicholas Hirst (Original Pictures), Jennifer Podemski, Hannah Moscovitch, Zoe Hopkins, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Jeremy Podeswa, along with Christian Vesper and Dante Di Loreto (Fremantle). Producers are Tanya Brunel and Jessica Dunn (OP Little Bird), Claire MacKinnon and Philippe Chabot (Rezolution Pictures) and Lori Lozinski and Ellen Rutter.
CTV Life Channel and Crave delve into the exploding vegan food scene across North America, with the launch of all-new Bell Media Studios original series, EVOLVING VEGAN, Thursday, March 30 at 8 p.m. ET. Hosted and executive produced by Mena Massoud (Aladdin), EVOLVING VEGAN is inspired by his online project of the same name, which itself has evolved into a cookbook, and now, an inspiring travel series exploring beautiful meals, talented chefs, and restauranteurs who are making plant-based living delicious and accessible.
Throughout the six, one-hour episodes, Massoud takes viewers on a plant-based escape, and serves up a refreshed look at a flourishing food scene in Los Angeles, Austin, Mexico City, Vancouver, Portland, and Toronto.
In Episode 1, Massoud explores the plant-based food scene in Los Angeles and restaurant-hops with friends Lilly Singh and Laura Marano, indulging in elevated vegan French pastries, “pastrami” sammies, Thai “chicken” wings, and unbelievable “carne” asada.
About Mena Massoud: Mena was born in Cairo and immigrated to Toronto with his parents and two sisters at the age of three. He began his post-secondary studies in neuroscience before transferring schools and programs and graduating with a BFA in theatre.
He is an actor, author, and entrepreneur. He has founded Evolving Vegan, a project which aims at making veganism accessible to all and has also launched a non-profit organization to aid underrepresented artists, the EDA (Ethnically Diverse Artists) Foundation.
The billion-dollar, international success of Aladdin inspired Mena to create Press Play Productions to continue paving the way for diverse artists and stories.
EVOLVING VEGAN is produced by Bell Media Studios. Jennifer Couke and Michelle Crespi are Executive Producers for Bell Media Studios. Mena Massoud and Ali Mashayekhi are Executive Producers for Press Play Productions.
Crave announced today that its new, four-part original gripping investigative docuseries, THUNDER BAY, premieres on Friday, Feb. 17, and is available to audiences in both English and French. The series is produced, written, and co-directed by Anishinaabe journalist Ryan McMahon, who is on a quest to uncover the truth behind the deaths of numerous Indigenous people in Thunder Bay, Ont. – a Canadian city which has historically had high rates of homicides and hate crimes. THUNDER BAY debuts on Feb. 17 with the first two episodes, followed by the final two episodes on Feb. 24.
Following the breakout success of his CANADALAND podcast of the same name, McMahon returns to Thunder Bay to discover the roots of the city’s systemic racism against its Indigenous population. From investigating the unexplained deaths of local Indigenous teens to exploring the failings of the city’s police service, McMahon sheds light on Thunder Bay’s enduring history of racism.
Over the course of four episodes, THUNDER BAY unravels Canada’s complicated relationship with colonialism, examining the consequences of a broken system in which some can thrive, while many others disproportionally struggle to survive.
Episodic synopses are outlined below:
Episode 1 – Murder Capital #1 Journalist and host Ryan McMahon is determined to uncover the truth behind multiple teenage deaths in Thunder Bay’s waterways.
Episode 2 – Whodunit Ryan explores three theories behind the deaths: serial killer, gang violence, and darkest of all, racist vigilantes.
Episode 3 – No Foul Play Ryan suspects that the police’s failure to investigate Indigenous deaths may be intentional after an inside source seeks him out.
Episode 4 – The Hive Ryan learns some inside information about the police force and his worst fears are confirmed after he receives a covertly leaked report.
THUNDER BAY is produced by Ryan McMahon and Entertainment One (eOne), and produced and developed in association with Bell Media. Created, executive produced, and hosted by Ryan McMahon. Series Producer is Leslie Lucas. Jocelyn Hamilton and Toby Dormer serve as executive producers for eOne.
Crave confirmed today that it has ordered a fourth season of its hit original series CANADA’S DRAG RACE. The series is available to audiences in Canada, in both English and French, and is produced by Blue Ant Studios in association with Crave and World of Wonder.
Canadian drag artists looking to flaunt their distinct brand of Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent can submit their applications now at http://canadasdragracecasting.com. Applicants must be 19 years of age as of Nov. 1, 2022 to apply and a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada.
Seasons 1-3 of CANADA’S DRAG RACE are currently available for streaming on Crave in Canada and on World of Wonder’s SVOD platform WOW Presents Plus in the U.S. and in more than 160 countries around the world. Additionally, audiences can look forward to the new six-episode series CANADA’S DRAG RACE: CANADA VS. THE WORLD premiering on Friday, Nov. 18 at 9 p.m. ET. Queens from the international Drag Race family will compete to become the Queen of the Mother-Pucking World. Brooke Lynn Hytes, Brad Goreski, and Traci Melchor are resident judges, with Canada as the host nation.
In association with Crave, Season 4 of CANADA’S DRAG RACE is produced by Blue Ant Studios. Executive Producers for World of Wonder are Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, and Tom Campbell. RuPaul Charles serves as Executive Producer.
Executive Producers for Blue Ant Studios are Michael Kot, Betty Orr, and Laura Michalchyshyn. Returning from CANADA’S DRAG RACE Season 3, and from CANADA’S DRAG RACE: CANADA VS. THE WORLD, are Trevor Boris, Executive Producer/Showrunner, and Yette Vandendam, Executive Producer/Supervising Producer.
The pandemic lockdown was a strange one for stand-up comedians used to performing on stage. Many, like Steve Patterson and Ron James, chose to go the virtual stage route, selling tickets and performing on a Zoom or similar platform. Sophie Buddle went the other route.
“I did nothing,” the Ottawa-born comedian says. “I was just so depressed the whole pandemic. I did a little bit of online stuff, but I really feel like what stand-up comedy is is a vibe in a room.”
Buddle is making up for that lost time in a big way, with two projects (and her continuing podcast, Obsessed with Sophie Buddle) on the go. The first for the 2020 Juno Award-winner is Smile, Baby, her new half-hour comedy special available right now on Crave. The second is a guest on Comedy Night with Rick Mercer, set to debut Monday, September 13, on CBC.
We spoke to Buddle about both projects, a bit about her background and writing new material.
Your stand-up language delivery is very different from your podcast delivery. Sophie Buddle: Podcasts are way more conversational and it’s just chit chat. When you’re on stage as a stand-up, it’s sort of presented like you’re just talking. It’s a conversation, but it’s not. It is like a speech or a monologue, so you do end up having different pacing than a regular conversation. I was teaching a beginner stand-up class for a little while, and that was the entire advice I was giving. I feel like anybody can be funny and everybody knows what’s funny and everybody makes their friends laugh, but to be a stand-up, you just need to learn how to say your stories or your jokes or your ideas in a stand-up way or in a stand-up format.
It is sort of a weird rhythm just because you do need to end at the part where the audience laughs. You’re supposed to have the funniest word at the very end of the sentence. If you could have the misdirect be the last thing you say, then that’s the easiest because it is sort of a conversation, but the only thing the audience can really contribute to the conversation is laughing or booing or whatever. Mob mentality is half of the conversation.
In Smile, Baby, you mention the pandemic. How did it, as a creative person, affect you? I know stand-ups like Steve Patterson and Ron James went the online route and did performances that way. What did you do? SB: I did nothing. I was just so depressed during the pandemic. I did a little bit of online stuff, but I really feel like what stand-up comedy is is a vibe in a room. I really do feel like so much of it is about being in the room with a group of people and having that energy. I did a little bit of online stuff too, just to feel like myself, but I was really missing that connection. We filmed all the Crave special sort of right, you could say at the tail end of the pandemic, but it’s still sort of ongoing, just as stuff was starting to open up a little bit.
I was feeling really rusty. I had not performed in a really long time and all my new stuff was sort of untested, so I was really nervous going into filming this. It was limited capacity in the building. I’ve been doing stand-up for, I think, 13 years now. As soon as I started doing it, I was doing it at least once a week and then more than that and then multiple times a week for years and years and years. The pandemic was the first time I ever wasn’t doing it and so I felt like definitely at my most rusty that I had been ever in my life. It was pretty scary to film something that’s such on a higher profile while feeling sort at my worst, but I’m still happy with how it turned out. It was just very scary going into it.
I watched your set on James Corden and you did your joke about your boyfriend having a school girl thing. That is also in Smile, Baby. How much new material went into the Crave special? SB: Yeah, that’s a great question. So that joke, in particular, is actually my oldest joke that I still do. I wrote that when I was 16. I literally remember the first time I tried it. I was 16 at the Ottawa Yuk Yuk’s, and that was one of the first times that the Ottawa comedians started being nice to me. Everyone thought that was a good joke.
I really like doing new material. The only time that I feel down about stand-up is if I’m doing my A stuff too much or my showcase set too much. If I’m getting ready for a taping, that’s always when I feel bad about stand-up because what’s fun is trying new stuff. But sometimes jokes like that do just sort of stick around forever. One of the ways to retire them is to record them, basically. And so I was really just trying to get the last juice out of that joke before I can, hopefully, finally put it on the shelf forever. But I would say about half of the Crave special is brand new to the eyes of comedy people and maybe the other half I had recorded on my album or on the late night or something like that.
I had some new stuff, but all of it was pretty untested at that point because it’s stuff that I wrote during the pandemic or stuff that I was working on right when stuff shut down. And also, it’s very hard to decide as a comic when a bit is finished because there’s always something you can add to it. And so even if something is getting a couple big laughs, you’re always telling yourself that you should have maybe a couple more little ones in between in the lead up. Whenever you’re recording anything, you’re sort of forced to be like, ‘OK, well this stuff is finished and I just have to just be OK with it.’ But all comics talk about as soon as you record something, you think of so many new tags for it, so many new angles and that’s true for this special too. As soon as I recorded this and then you watch it back, you’re like, oh I have so many more ideas for these shows, but you don’t really want to do them because people have seen the special, so it’s very annoying.
What’s your writing process? Do you set aside time in the day to sit down and write jokes or are you out in the day and doing stuff you think of something funny and you just recite it into your phone? SB: I’m not a sit down and write kind of comic. I’m definitely, something funny comes up or I think of something funny, I’ll write a little note in my phone and then I do most of my writing on stage. I’ll usually know what the punchline is or at the very least what the premise is and then I find it only possible to really do it while I’m on stage. I also am pretty conversational too, so I want it to come out naturally. I find if I write it and then I’m worried about memorizing the exact wording, then it’ll come off too stiff.
You’re working your stuff while you’re out there on stage in front of a live audience? SB: Yeah. That’s one thing that’s really fun about being a headliner and having longer sets is you can still do well, you can still do all of your material that you know is good. And then by doing that, you have a lot of trust with the audience. So what I do usually, if I’m doing an hour or 45 minutes, maybe about 20 or 30 minutes into my set, I’ll go, ‘OK. I have a couple of new things I want to try. We’ll see if they’re anything or not.’ And then I can just give it a go. If it gets anything, that means it’s worth working on and if it gets nothing, you just throw it away.
Are you rare in that you do it that way or am I just ignorant and didn’t know that most comics do it that way? SB: I don’t know how rare it is. I know that not everybody does it like that because I think that it can be a bit stressful.
But for me, that’s the only way I can really decide what to work on because I don’t want to write a whole thing. It’s honestly, maybe, more about laziness. It’s like, ‘I don’t want to write a whole thing and then find out it doesn’t work and then have wasted my time writing something.’ So I usually have the very core of the idea that I’ll just try on stage and if that gets a laugh, then I’ll think about it more and try to build around it. I’m more of a pile on to a core idea as opposed to a sculptor that’s pulling away.
CBC sent out media screeners for Comedy Night with Rick Mercer and you are in the first episode. With Rick doing stand-up, then having comedians do a short set and then talk to him afterwards has a very late-night feel. SB: I’m obsessed with Rick Mercer. I was a fan of him from Talking to Americans and from his initial rise in Canada. And then I was on tour with him with this JFL tour, which I was not supposed to be on. At the time, I was living in Halifax because I was writing on This Hour Has 22 Minutes and they were just about to start this huge cross country, Rick Mercer, Comedy Night in Canada tour. Debra DiGiovanni was one of the people on it and she was having some visa issues getting back into Canada. So they were starting on the East Coast and they were like, ‘OK, who’s around the East Coast right now that could fill in for a show or two while we wait for Debra to get her paperwork?’ They called me and were like, ‘Hey, can you come babysit Debra’s spot for a couple of nights?’
I said, ‘Of course, I would love to do that. So fun.’ The producer of 22 Minutes let me go and I did first couple shows and it was great. And then Debra still didn’t have her paperwork and they’re like, ‘OK, well let’s bring you all the way through to Ontario.’ And so they brought me there and then Debra came, and they let me stay for the whole tour, with Debra, as well, obviously. Rick was hosting and it was Ali Hassan, Ivan Decker, Debra, Rick and myself. It was really just so fun and so cool.
When he got the Comedy Night in Canada show, I was really excited and it’s really cool because I just really feel like he’s the perfect person to be in a position to do sort of a comedian Letterman-style conversation. I think Canada has always really wanted something like that. I can’t think of somebody that fits the bill more than Rick.
