Tag Archives: CTV

Featured, Orphan Black

Comments and queries for the week of May 13

Canada AM‘s Jeff Hutcheson announces retirement

Jeff, the very best to you in the next transition in your life. I retired two years ago, but before that, I woke up to the AM gang. Loved it, the laughs, the classy ways of all of you. Bev and Marci must feel like their brother is leaving. I’m trusting you that you aren’t hiking off to live with Kelly Ripa to replace Michael! KIDDING. Enjoy. —Beverley

One of the reasons I watch Canada AM is because of Jeff’s genuine character, sense of humour and all around likability. He gets my day off to a happy start. I am happiest when he, Bev and Marci are all there together—you can tell they have a wonderful relationship. He will definitely be missed, but who could deny him a well-deserved retirement? I wish him all the best and hope he’ll drop by Canada AM on Skype or in person, now and again. Happy everything, Jeff! Enjoy every minute in good health. —Sharon

Donnie steals the spotlight in Orphan Black

I think Kristian Bruun is spectacularly talented, just like Maslany, and is getting a chance to showcase it on this show. It’s so fun to watch more and more of this couple because they are such a spectacularly dysfunctional, want-to-look-perfect suburban couple. When I first saw the fertility clinic scene, I knew he was going to call her and they would do some role play over the phone. They are so into each other in these weird ways, she really gets off on his neediness … did you catch the admiring glance they threw each other when he said, “Clear, concise, and colour coded, well done.” I thought that was a kind of foreplay for them! Then when he said Air Italia, I thought, ‘Oh, they’re into accents?!!!!’ ROFLMAO. More serious aspects of show aside, this was just wonderful, as good or better than the money-in-the-bedroom scene. The two lead actors are probably letting improv dictate this chemistry, and the results are fantastic. You get plenty of literary references, both are college educated, they have adopted children of colour specifically. So now we can predict that with Donnie asking Helena to be understanding of his wife’s envy, that Helena will go out of her way to make Alison feel very included in her pregnancy. Hand on belly and everything. They better do this. It’s what you do for a sestra, innit?

I LOVE this show and the actors they’ve assembled are amazing (Jordan, too). I’m seriously thinking of writing my own weekly blog on this show and a few other semi-sci-fi (highly speculative fiction!) shows I love. I think we will get to see Donnie and Alison get to experience pregnancy through Helena—we saw an inkling of this when Donnie and Helena went to the ultrasound together—they both are giving each other something the other never had: families, and babies. How beautiful is this show on some cosmic level? Amidst all this ugly manipulation, for-profit-minded genetic tampering, and weird subcultures (bifurcated dicks and sister-kissing, no less), there is this amazing undercurrent of love, and of challenging of notions about what constitutes “kin.” This is what I believe this show is all about on an emotional level. And the biotech angle is just whipped cream on the cake … hey there is an idea for Donnie and Alison to explore! —Heather

Jennifer Valentyne exits Breakfast Television Toronto

I have no idea how some of you could talk about Jen’s Live Eye segments as if they were a waste of time. They made the show worth watching. She will be missed greatly by so many of us long time BT viewers for a reason: she was simply fantastic! Charming, funny, enthusiastic, full of energy, personable, beautiful and so on. Good luck Jennifer V. No, I will not be watching BT very much at all anymore. Idiotic decision by The Rogers Corp. to let her go. —Todd

I am so sad to hear that BT let Jen go. Well, no more BT and CityLine. Back to Canada AM. —Mary

 

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

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Featured, Masterchef Canada

MasterChef Canada’s Cathie James makes life difficult for the home cooks

Being a home cook on MasterChef Canada is tough. Not only have they left the comfort of a regular life behind to enter the competition, but they’re prepared dishes for three bona fide chefs in Michael Bonacini, Alvin Leung and Claudio Aprile. As if that wasn’t difficult enough, the contestants experience victories and defeats via Mystery Box and Pressure Test challenges in the studio and complex, intricate tests in numerous on-location tests.

Those challenges, designed to apply pressure to the contestants on the road to crowning a winner, are the responsibility of MasterChef Canada executive producer Cathie James, who reveals the details behind the tests and the challenges they have to make them work.

Certain home cooks get more airtime on the show than others. Is that because they are quote-worthy? How do you decide who to focus on week-to-week?
Cathie James: In other shows that I’ve worked on, you make those decisions based on who is the most charismatic. With MasterChef, what’s happening on the show with regard to the food and the cooking really pushes your decision in the edit because, in some respects, we edit the show backwards. Whoever wins the Mystery Box, for example, you want to see how it came together … the person who is eliminated at the end, you want to make the audience care about them so they may get a little more attention in the lead-up to their elimination. And if there is a jeopardy moment with a contestant—something goes badly wrong—we often cliffhang the action and focus our energies on it.

The storytelling really comes together in the editing suite.
This year, there were 14 people who make it into the competition and there are 10 cameras, so the amount of tape for day of filming was absolutely overwhelming. The decisions that are made in the editing really do shape the episode. That’s the case for any non-scripted television. And just because you construct the situation—flying 40 people in for auditions and putting them through a series of challenges—doesn’t mean what happens to those people and their reactions to them, isn’t authentic.

For the show to resonate with you, me and the viewers, what you see has to be genuine.

A huge part of MasterChef Canada are the challenges you put the home cooks through. I’m fascinated by the work that goes into the on-location tests. Can you walk me through the process?
They’re really hard to come up with and have worked with some really strong brands in Kraft and Unilever, so often they want to be a part of things. Not only are you looking for a location that’s beautiful and exciting and plays to a particular type of food or a theme … you’re looking to give the audience something that is really different and captures a type of cooking. We usually come up with six off-site challenges every season, so we start the summer collecting ideas and will come up with 10-15 ideas.

I have a challenge team that are logistical wizards. Once an idea has been approved by the network, the team takes it and makes it happen. The big creative process is, how are we going to reveal the winner? So we have the model on the runway with ether the red or blue dress or the pyrotechnic thing. Some work better than others. The pyrotechnic reveal, where the judges lit a fuse and it was supposed to go around the MasterChef symbol … that fuse was supposed to go around the symbol 100 times faster than it did. [Laughs.] We cut it, so it didn’t look so bad. You’re always flying by the seat of your pants with this and you can’t go back and re-shoot. We get what we get.

With 10 cameras, it’s impossible to see what’s really going on until we go through the footage. And then you have the confessional interviews with the contestants, where you get their perspective on what was happening at the time.

You’re three seasons into MasterChef Canada. Are you still surprised by the skill level of the home cooks?
I’m absolutely amazed and they keep getting better. This season, the food is better than it ever has been.

MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Industry News

CTV orders Canada in a Day, a new crowd-sourced event celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday

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From a media release:

CTV today announced it has ordered the two-hour event broadcast CANADA IN A DAY, from Vancouver-based Screen Siren Pictures, to premiere in 2017 in celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary. Based on the highly successful Life in a Day series of films from Academy Award® and Golden Globe®-nominee Ridley Scott and Academy Award-winner Kevin Macdonald, CANADA IN A DAY will allow viewers to experience a day in the life of Canada. Comprised entirely of footage shot by Canadians across the nation on a single day later this year, the event special will make its broadcast television debut on CTV.

Canadians will be asked to participate in the nationwide event this fall that will see citizens from across the country shoot and submit video in any language that captures a moment in their life, on that day. From these stories, viewers will learn what it means to be Canadian via a video snapshot of who we are as a nation. The filming date, as well as details on how to submit footage, will be announced in the coming months. Leading up to the film day, CTV and Screen Siren Pictures will launch an extensive campaign that will engage celebrity and community ambassadors as well as organizations across Canada, to help bring as much awareness as possible to the project.

Celebrated filmmaker and director Trish Dolman (Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson; LUNA: SPIRIT OF THE WHALE) will curate the video submissions and then craft a two-hour event broadcast to capture Canadians as they really are during one moment in time.

CANADA IN A DAY is inspired by the original award-winning Ridley Scott film, Life in a Day. Shot in 2010 and released in 2011, Life in a Day was the remarkable story of one day on Earth. The project garnered more than 80,000 submissions around the world, and contained more than 4,500 hours of deeply personal, powerful moments shot by contributors from Australia to Zambia – from the heart of bustling major cities to some of the most remote places on Earth. Since then, several countries have launched their own In a Day films, including Britain and Japan.

CANADA IN A DAY is produced by Screen Siren Pictures Inc. in association with CTV, with the financial participation of the Canada Media Fund, Bell Fund, Creative BC, FIBC, and the Government of Canada. Executive producers are Scott Free Films and Christine Haebler with Trish Dolman and Michael Ghent producing for Screen Siren Pictures Inc. Switch United is the web producer and Innovate by Day is the Social Media producer.

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Featured, Masterchef Canada

Seeing red on MasterChef Canada

After taking over Claudio’s Origin in Season 1 and Michael’s Canoe in Season 2, it was Alvin’s turn to hand the keys to his restaurant to the Top 6 during Sunday’s instalment. The episode title, “Demon at the Pass,” certainly lived up to its name as Chef Leung barked orders to the Red and Blue teams as they cooked at Toronto’s R&D restaurant, launched by Season 1 winner Eric Chong (Rebel) and Leung (Demon).

And by the end of the episode, it was Dr. Shawn who surrendered his apron (and signature ball cap) and exited the competition. But back to the Restaurant Takeover for a second, where the Demon Chef lived up to his name by barking orders and refusing to mince words when plates delivered by the Red and Blue teams weren’t up to par. I felt badly for the Top 6, who not only had to learn and execute complex Asian dishes but served them to former MasterChef Canada competitors. Mary’s Red team of Veronica and April Lee gutted it out against Jeremy’s Blue squad of Matthew and Shawn and everything appeared to be evenly matched … until a second plate of wonky chow mein was sent back to the Blue kitchen. That spelled their defeat and sent the men to the Pressure Test.

Kudos to MasterChef Canada‘s producers for coming up with increasingly difficult challenges for the home cooks; making a Charlotte cake in just one hour seemed impossible and created some especially tense moments as Matthew’s glaze bled down the sides of his cake and Shawn’s lady fingers were chunky and child-like. The former edged out the latter when it came to taste, however, eliminating the good doctor from the competition.

MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Featured, Industry News

Canada AM’s Jeff Hutcheson announces retirement

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It’s the end of the road for Jeff Hutcheson. The longtime sports reporter, weather guru and Canada AM co-host announced during Friday’s broadcast that he is retiring following one final remote tour across the country.

Canada AM followed up Hutcheson’s on-air reveal with the following Facebook post:

“This morning, Jeff shared the news that he is retiring next month. Of course, we’ve been heartbroken since he told us his decision last June… but his wife is thrilled. Since they met twelve years ago, Jeff and Heather have spent 2,600 nights apart, with his work in Toronto and her work and life in PEI. As we get ready to say farewell, Jeff is heading out on one last Canadian tour, visiting some of his favourite places and remembering some of his favourite moments. If you’re near Niagara-on-the-Lake next Wednesday, May 11th, please come out and join us. If you have any retirement messages or advice for Jeff, you can share it with us here, or email us at canadaam@ctv.ca”

“I am humbled and overwhelmed by all your well wishes…thank you very much,” Hutcheson posted on his Twitter page soon after. “Looking forward to my last six weeks..it’s been my pleasure.”

Hutcheson has been with Canada AM since 1998, and has created several trademark segments for the show, including remote broadcast tours that have taken him to points in Canada and around the world and “Things I Learned on the Internet Today.” He began his broadcast career in 1976 as a college student on Toronto’s CFRB 1010 radio before being hired by Kitchener, Ont.’s CKCO-TV after graduating. The next two decades were spent at CKCO-TV as a sports anchor, reporter, producer, writer and program host before making his final move to Canada AM.

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