Tag Archives: CTV

Amazing Race Canada, Featured

Amazing Race Canada sprints into Season 5

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It really isn’t summer until The Amazing Race Canada is back on my television. When the weather gets hot and talk turns of summer vacations, CTV’s triptych is the perfect “Must Do” list of local and countrywide excursions. The series roared back for Season 5 on Tuesday night with Jon Montgomery welcoming the 10 teams to St. John’s, on a leg that took them across the country to Vancouver.

As with all first episodes, the first chunk out of the gate introduced viewers to the contestants, the stakes—a Next Generation 2018 Chevrolet Equinox True North Edition for each of the winners, a trip around the world for two and $250,000 in cash—and the fact this season will celebrate Confederation. At first blush, fitness trainers and best friends Ivana and Korey seem to be the perfect team of strength and focus, as do married couple Karen and Bert. Meanwhile, best friends Kenneth and Ryan (“Give R!”) appear to be the fun guys of the season, around for a few laughs and quips before being eliminated early on.

But appearances can be deceiving, and The Amazing Race‘s Episode 1 challenges were quick to expose some of them. It was brilliant planning by the producers to have the teams amped up and jacked with adrenaline to begin Leg 1, only to throw a Morse code thinking test at them. With everyone raring to roll, it was a reminder that they are never fully in control of their surroundings. The adrenaline and wanting to move on led business partners Ebonie and Andrea to make a ludicrous decision: they took a time penalty. Why would you do this just moments into the first Leg?!? Why not stick it out and gauge your competitors’ skill and patience levels?

Andrea and Ebonie were first to drive to the airport to jump on one of two planes to Vancouver, followed by father-son duo Shabbir and Zed who actually deciphered the Morse code message. Teamwork between Kenneth and Ryan, dating couple Sam and Paul and brother-sister team Andrea and Adam meant they filled the first plane, leaving the others far behind.

Falconry at the Capilano Suspension Bridge—with a mere clue pickup at that location—led to the city’s Gastown neighbourhood for the first Road Block of Season 5 at the storied Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. This was no gondola from last summer, but the outside tightrope between hotel wings still looked darn scary. (Having cameras attached to the Racers really adds to the freak-out factor for viewers, another smart decision by producers.) Ebonie and Ryan completed the task first followed by Kenneth and Ryan (I was regretting my flippant remark about them being mere fodder for comedy.) and sprinted to the Detour.

“Pedal” put teams to the test in a bike polo game while “Paddle” put them in Dragon Boats. Ebonie and Andrea weaved through Pedal as Kenneth and Ryan screamed across the water during Paddle. Teams were pretty evenly split between the two Detours—I would have chosen Pedal in case you were wondering—with Kenneth and Ryan the first to finish and meet with Jon in the beautiful VanDusen Botanical Garden … where they hollered their way into first place and a trip to Spain.

Meanwhile, as Ebonie and Andrea completed the Leg and sat out their two-hour penalty, other pairs quickly caught up and passed them. The business partners were lucky Megan and Courtney and Aaron and Deb had so many struggles along the way. It was mother and son duo Aaron and Deb who were eliminated in the first Leg of what promises to be another stellar summer of The Amazing Race Canada.

Here’s how the teams finished Leg 1:

  1. Kenneth and Ryan (won a trip to Barcelona)
  2. Korey and Ivana
  3. Andrea and Adam
  4. Sam and Paul
  5. Zed and Shabbir
  6. Karen and Bert
  7. Andrea and Ebonie (penalty)
  8. Riya and Dan
  9. Megan and Courtney
  10. Deb and Aaron (eliminated)

The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.

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Featured, Saving Hope

Saving Hope: Sensitive Skin’s Don McKellar guest-stars

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Will Hope Zion lose any more members? Last week, Maggie bid farewell to Zach, Alex and her co-workers to throw caution to the wind and jet to London to be with Sydney. Syd skipped her flight to stay and be with Maggie … so is Maggie still going to leave Hope Zion or will she be back?

That isn’t revealed in Thursday’s new episode, “Problem Child,” but we do get a treasure trove of other emotional goodies and notable guest stars. Here’s what CTV says about the instalment.

Dr. Alex Reid struggles to find out what’s causing the erratic behaviour of a former model student when he comes into the E.R. after hurting himself breaking into his neighbour’s house. As Alex works to determine the problem, Dr. Charlie Harris speaks with the spirit version of the child to try to find out what has been causing his behavioural changes. When one of Dr. Dev Sekara’s childhood friends is brought into the hospital after being beaten, questions arise as to who’s at fault, and if the beating was racially motivated. Meanwhile, Dr. Dawn Bell’s favourite heart patient becomes discouraged by the amount of time’s spent waiting for his transplant. A lottery winner, he’s given almost all of his prize money away, and with the remainder would like to open an animal sanctuary, so Dawn comes up with an idea that will allow him to leave the hospital and do his good Samaritan work.

And here are some non-spoilery storyline details we can give after watching the episode written by Aaron Bala and Patrick Tarr and directed by Teresa Hannigan.

Shahir in shorts!
Now that he’s back on board with regard to adopting, Shahir goes all out to impress in his and Jonathan’s interview. That includes the classic “Dad look.”

Don McKellar guest stars
We’re still sad over Sensitive Skin‘s cancellation, so it’s great to see McKellar back on TV and in such a juicy storyline. McKellar is Dr. Amos Carver, the new staff psychiatrist. And with everything that’s been going on in Charlie’s life, let’s just say the good doctor is keen to have a chat. And keep your eyes peeled for Sunnyside co-creator Dan Redican, who has an impact on Dawn’s heart transplant patient.

Dawn + Zach = a bit of conflict
Introducing someone new to your children can be complicated, as the duo is quickly finding out.

Dev gets some airtime
We love the key cast as much as anyone else, but we enjoy it when the (relative) newbies get screen time. Dev gets plenty on Thursday when his childhood best friend is brought into the ER in rough shape. A police officer’s strange reaction leads to a shocking truth about what happened to Dev’s friend … and an intimate conversation with Shahir.

Saving Hope airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.

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Saving Hope

Link: Saving Hope’s Julia Taylor Ross on Maggie’s journey

From Christy Spratlin of The TV Junkies:

Link: Saving Hope’s Julia Taylor Ross on Maggie’s journey
“I was so happy that the writers made Zach and Maggie’s friendship blossom in the way that it did. It made for a more complex dynamic at first and then an ease and a trust later in the show. I LOVED the Alex/Maggie friendship. It was wonderful to navigate how these two women balanced their professional and personal relationships and supported each other through trying times. I look back at the pilot now and see how much their relationship grew.” Continue reading.

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Featured, Saving Hope

Saving Hope: Magicians and pianists and cell phone babies, oh my!

When we last left our friends at Hope Zion, Maggie and Sydney were planning to move to London for Syd’s new job and Charlie’s gift had advanced to a new, troubling level: Spirit Blake was able to touch him. This week, a wrench in thrown into the works when Maggie is offered a new gig, throwing her future with Syd into disarray.

Here’s what CTV has revealed about this Thursday’s new episode of Saving Hope, “Leap of Faith”:

Dr. Alex Reid and Dr. Maggie Lin work together to deliver the baby of plastic surgeon Dr. Arnie Storms (Ari Cohen, SHOOT THE MESSENGER) and his wife. Charlie treats magician “Abbadon” (Joe Cobden, THIS LIFE), who shattered both his legs during an illusion gone wrong, and Dr. Shahir Hamza treats his idol – a virtuosic concert pianist – who has been inadvertently poisoning herself, while trying to curb symptoms of early onset Parkinson’s. Meanwhile, when Maggie is offered an obstetrician position at Hope Zion, it causes her to rethink her role at the hospital.

And here are a few more tidbits about the instalment, written by Adam Pettle and Hayden Simpson and directed by Jason Priestley.

Jonathan and Shahir adjust to being parents. Sort of.
We knew there’d be Alex and Charlie’s newbie factoring into Season 5 storylines but Shahir and Jonathan’s potential happy addition has been a complete surprise. We’re loving Christopher Jacot in this role and his scenes were Huse Madhavji are equal parts hilarious and emotional.

Speaking of Alex and Charlie’s baby…
We find out the sex of the little cherub.

We’ve got your guest stars
Shoot the Messenger‘s Ari Cohen, sketch comic Marty Adams (above) and Bellevue‘s Joe Cobden drop by this week. The latter two provide truly laugh-out-loud moments in Charlie’s spirit storyline. Seriously though, how many more excuses can Charlie make to his co-workers about why he’s staring off into space and/or talking to himself?

Saving Hope airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Cardinal

Links: Cardinal

From Amy Glynn of Paste:

Link: Hulu’s Cardinal Is a Watchable, but Not Unmissable, Whiteout Noir
Actually, Cardinal had me unconvinced at first, but I warmed up to it because of the delicate precision with which it anatomizes people uncovering one another’s hidden layers and buried secrets and old traumas. Continue reading.

From Rob Thomas of The Captial Times:

Link: Bingeworthy: Hulu’s ‘Cardinal’ finds murder and corruption in the Great White North
“Cardinal” is engrossing and deliberately paced, and as a native Canadian and now Wisconsinite, I’ve seldom seen the impenetrable white of a Canadian winter portrayed on screen as well as it is here. So, even though it’s the dog days of summer, wrap up in a blanket and get pulled into this chilling mystery series. Continue reading.

From Josh Sorokach of Decider:

Link: Embrace The Soothing Paint-By-Number Charms Of Crime Thriller ‘Cardinal’
Already renewed by CTV for two more seasons, the confident drama knows exactly what it is and plays to its strengths, which includes Campbell’s doleful portrayal of dogged detective John Cardinal.  Continue reading.

From David Wiegand of SF Gate:

Link: Multiple mysteries keep ‘Cardinal’ flying on Hulu
Screenwriter Aubrey Nealon is masterfully stingy with the script, carefully doling out information about Cardinal and other characters in very small but tantalizing doses.

The performances are quite good, although Campbell speaks all of his lines is a somewhat loud whisper. It feels at times like an affectation, but otherwise, he invests the right about of credible angst to make the character compelling. Continue reading.

 

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