Tag Archives: CTV

Shelved

Shelved, Season 1

From Noel Ransome of the Canadian Press:

Link: ‘Shelved’ is a sitcom that shows a deep love for public libraries
When Toronto’s Lyndie Greenwood received the script material for CTV’s library-based comedy “Shelved” more than a year ago, she was living in California and prepared to say goodbye to her acting career. Continue reading.

From Aisling Murphy of The Record:

Link: ‘This is the Toronto I want to be a part of’: How ‘The Office’ alum Anthony Q. Farrell made a TV show about a Parkdale library
“I’m interested in people who have differences of opinion, people who come from different sides of the tracks. I want to look at places where stories come and the library is one of those places for me. The people who walk through that door are always interesting.” Continue reading.

From Kevin Bourne of Shifter:

Link: Shelved is a comedic look at classism and diversity in Toronto
As the premiere begins, it immediately feels like more like an independent theatre production than a show on a major network. This creates a sense of community and intimacy; not only among the characters, but also with viewers. Continue reading.

From Michelle Dorey Forestell of The Kingstonist:

Link: Hometown ‘nerd’ Chris Sandiford stars in CTV’s ‘Shelved’
Chris Sandiford isn’t just a nerd. He plays one on television. And he learned all of his nerdiness right here in Kingston. Continue reading.

From Melody McCune of Geek Girl Authority:

Link: Taylor Love Talks Getting Her Funny On in SHELVED
“Sheila is very funny, but she’s far more grounded because she’s dealing with so much. She’s mature. She’s almost a straight woman without sounding too boring, [even though] she’s not boring at all. I think a lot of people will see themselves in her.” Continue reading.

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Sullivan's Crossing

New CTV original drama Sullivan’s Crossing premieres March 19

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From a media release:

The longest road travelled is from the head to the heart. CTV announced today that all-new original drama series SULLIVAN’S CROSSING joins the network’s midseason schedule Sundays at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app beginning March 19. From the team behind the hit series VIRGIN RIVER, and adapted by executive producer and showrunner Roma Roth from the New York Times bestselling novels by beloved author and Virgin River scribe Robyn Carr, SULLIVAN’S CROSSING stars Morgan Kohan (TRANSPLANT), alongside Chad Michael Murray (ONE TREE HILL), and Scott Patterson (GILMORE GIRLS).

Filmed in Nova Scotia, the 10-episode one-hour drama follows the journey of neurosurgeon Maggie Sullivan (Kohan), whose perfectly planned life is turned upside down after finding herself in unexpected legal troubles. Needing time to reflect, she temporarily leaves her life in Boston taking refuge in her childhood home of Sullivan’s Crossing, a campground in picturesque Nova Scotia that is run by her estranged father, Sully Sullivan (Patterson). There, Maggie must deal with her complicated present while she also navigates her painful past. Further complicating matters is the irritating mysterious newcomer, Cal Jones (Murray), whose presence in Sullivan’s Crossing ultimately will lead Maggie to question her carefully laid plans.

Rounding out the SULLIVAN’S CROSSING cast are actor, singer, and a Companion of the Order of Canada, Tom Jackson (CARDINAL) as Frank Cranebear; actor, singer, songwriter, Andrea Menard (THE VELVET DEVIL) as Edna Cranebear; Lindura (GHOSTS) as Sydney Shandon; Amalia Williamson (NORTHERN RESCUE) as Lola Gunderson; Reid Price (THE SINNER) as Rob Shandon; Allan Hawco (JACK RYAN) as Andrew Mathews; Lynda Boyd (VIRGIN RIVER) as Phoebe Lancaster; Peter Outerbridge (DESIGNATED SURVIVOR) as Walter Lancaster; and Lauren Hammersley (VIRGIN RIVER) as Connie Boyle.

On the series premiere, “Coming Home” (Sunday, March 19 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app), when neurosurgeon Maggie Sullivan’s (Kohan) seemingly perfect life in Boston is turned upside down, she leaves the city and her boyfriend Andrew (Hawco) to return to her childhood home of Sullivan’s Crossing, a picturesque Nova Scotia campground owned by her estranged father, Sully Sullivan (Patterson), whom she hasn’t seen in years. While there, Maggie attempts to reunite with her father as well as her old friends as she butts heads with Cal Jones (Murray), the irritating, yet handsome mysterious stranger who has been helping her father around the campground. But coming home isn’t easy and it brings up memories and feelings Maggie is not ready to face.

Exclusive videos are available throughout the season on @CTV’s social channels and on CTV.ca and the CTV app, providing viewers with an extension of the series with bonus digital content.

Adapted by Showrunner Roma Roth from the New York Times bestselling novels by author Robyn Carr, SULLIVAN’S CROSSING is executive produced by Reel World Management in association with CTV and Fremantle and is an interprovincial co-production with Nova Scotia-based producer Mike Volpe and Ontario based producer Mark Gingras with the participation of Canadian Media Fund, Bell Fund, Cogeco Fund, Screen Nova Scotia, the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, and the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit. SULLIVAN’S CROSSING is distributed internationally by Fremantle.

Showrunner, Roma Roth executive produces alongside Christopher. E. Perry with Mike Volpe and Mark Gingras producing.

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Shelved

Shhh Happens: New CTV original comedy Shelved premieres March 6 on CTV

From a media release:

Stacks of laughs are ahead as new CTV Original comedy SHELVED joins the network’s midseason schedule, airing Mondays at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app beginning March 6. Created and executive produced by Playback magazine’s 2021 Showrunner of the Year recipient Anthony Q. Farrell (THE OFFICE), SHELVED follows the eclectic staff and eccentric patrons in the underfunded Jameson branch of the Metropolitan Public Library. Filmed in Toronto, the first season of the single-camera comedy consists of eight half-hour episodes.

In SHELVED, Jameson Library has seen better days. While it’s often overlooked by head office, Wendy Yarmouth (Lyndie Greenwood, THE EXPANSE), the Branch Head, is constantly aiming to provide services for the community despite bureaucracy, underfunding, and a lack of resources. Alongside her unconventional staff, including Junior Librarian Jacqueline “Jaq” Bedard (Dakota Ray Hebert, Run Woman Run), Librarian Howard Tutt (Chris Sandiford, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS), and Senior Librarian and Assistant Branch Head Bryce deLaurel (Paul Braunstein, BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW) – who all have differing opinions on how to run the library – Wendy finds a way to give back to her community and create a “found family.”

Joining the cast in supporting roles are Robin Duke (SCHITT’S CREEK) as Wendy “Unhoused Wendy” Brown, a regular library patron and self-described “wackadoo”; Taylor Love (MOST DANGEROUS GAME) as Sheila Boyd, a caring community leader and law student working part time at the Settlement Desk; and Varun Saranga (WYNNONA EARP) as Alvin Canada, an entrepreneur and freelance business consultant, who uses the library study room as his office, much to the irritation of the other patrons.

On the series premiere of SHELVED, titled “Jane Eyre FICTION BRO” (Monday, March 6 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app), replacement computers arrive for the Jameson Library, but Branch Head Wendy Yarmouth (Lyndie Greenwood) is upset that they got old hand-me-downs. She launches a plan to get her library the computers it deserves. Meanwhile, Howard Tutt (Chris Sandiford) arrives at Jameson and is shaken to find it falls far below his expectations – including the staff, consisting of Assistant Branch Head Bryce (Paul Braunstein) and Junior Librarian Jaq (Dakota Ray Hebert). When Howard gives Wendy an important piece of information, he inadvertently seals his fate at Jameson.

Exclusive videos are available throughout the season on @CTV’s social channels and on CTV.ca and the CTV app, providing viewers with an extension of the series with bonus digital content.

Alongside Anthony Q. Farrell, SHELVED is executive produced by Dan Bennett, Shane Corkery, and Anton Leo of Counterfeit Pictures. Jay Vaidya serves as co-executive producer, Sadiya Durrani as co-producer, and Colin Brunton produces. Aleysa Young (THE KIDS IN THE HALL, RUN THE BURBS) serves as executive producer and pilot director. Additional directors for SHELVED’s first season include Cory Bowles, Joyce Wong, Cazhhmere Downey, and Samantha MacAdam.

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The Spencer Sisters

Links: The Spencer Sisters, Season 1

From Melissa G. of The Televixen:

Link: Previewing The Spencer Sisters with Lea Thompson and Stacey Farber
“The pilot was so funny while [also] having the traditional detective, procedural crime thing going on. And [for me], playing a cop but also having all the comedic beats of her life falling apart in the first half of the first episode. I thought it would be really fun to play that and go through all of those scenes leading up to the big moment where she returns home to her mom’s house.” Continue reading.

From Debra Yeo of the Toronto Star:

Link: Lea Thompson and Stacey Farber on playing ‘two nosy redheads’ in CTV series ‘The Spencer Sisters’
One of the stranger reactions Lea Thompson gets in relation to her star-making role in the “Back to the Future” films is from fans who wonder why she “quit acting” after those movies came out in the 1980s and early ’90s. Continue reading.

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Featured, The Spencer Sisters

Lea Thompson and Stacey Farber shine in CTV’s The Spencer Sisters

The British mystery genre is where I live. When I’m not watching and covering Canadian TV, I’m streaming light crime dramas from across the pond on AcornTV and BritBox. From Whitstable Pearl to Vera, Harry Wild to Murder in Suburbia, I love them all.

Consider The Spencer Sisters, debuting Friday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, as Canada’s foray into the genre.

Like the above, The Spencer Sisters features crimes being committed in a fictional small town—Alder Bluffs, Ont.—two female leads at the helm to solve them, a generous dose of humour and, when they happen, bloodless murders. It’s an irresistible formula for success that is even more pronounced thanks to its leads, Lea Thompson and Stacey Farber. The pair crackle with chemistry from the get-go, playing acclaimed mystery novelist Victoria Spencer (Thompson), mom to hot-headed former police officer Darby Spencer (Farber).

“It starts with character,” Thompson says when asked what attracted her to the shot-in-Winnpeg series. “I really liked the character and I love comedy and the comedic elements to this. This is a really good time for this show.”

Created by Alan McCullough (Private Eyes. Rookie Blue) and co-showrun and executive-produced by McCullough and Jenn Engels (Sort Of, Transplant), Friday’s debut “The Scholar’s Snafu,” finds Darby returning to Alder Bluffs after she quits her big-city police force in frustration. For Darby, who looked up to her late cop father, this was all she wanted to do. Dejected, and with nowhere to stay, Darby returns home where it only takes one backhanded comment from Victoria to let viewers know this mother-daughter relationship isn’t rosy. Unlike their characters, who are pretty bristly in the debut, Thompson and Farber connected immediately.

“She was attached to the show before I was,” Farber says. “We did a chemistry read on Zoom and then we met in Winnipeg, had dinner and clicked immediately. We have a similar sense of humour and we’ve both worked for a long time, we have a lot in common.”

The friction between mother and daughter continues throughout the first season. Darby is struggling with her failure as a cop, moving back home and being forced to acknowledge why she has avoided seeing her mother for so long. And Victoria, who has never agreed with Darby’s career choice, wants to be part of her daughter’s life and finds a way to do it through their partnering to solve crimes committed in the community.

“They do learn to get along more, but no, [that friction] never goes away,” Farber says with a laugh. “It’s realistic in that sense. You can think you’ve moved through or on from an issue, but you haven’t.”

The Spencer Sisters airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.

Image courtesy of Bell Media.

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