Tag Archives: Featured

Featured, Fubar

FUBAR heads to the small screen for stoner fun on Viceland

I once dismissed the mockumentary FUBAR as a ripoff of the Trailer Park Boys. The first FUBAR movie came out in 2002, a year after TPB debuted on Showcase, so the timing seemed apt. And, with buddies Terry (David Lawrence) and Dean (Paul Spence) getting drunk and shouting expletives at one another and folks in their community, I couldn’t help but assume they were the same as Bubbles, Ricky and Julian. There are definitely similarities, but Lawrence, Spence and Michael Dowse created their own brand of Canadian hosers via two feature films.

Now the trio has reunited for FUBAR: Age of Computer, an eight-episode adventure—created by Dowse, Lawrence, Spence, North Darling and Immanuela Lawrence—debuting Friday at 10 p.m. ET on Viceland. When we catch up with Dean and Terry, they’re down on their luck, have no jobs (“Jobs aren’t even jobs anymore,” Terry laments as he mocks millennials. “I’m at home in my man-bun on the computer.”) and off to do the most Canadian of things: blowing off some steam camping in Alberta. Who hasn’t gone into the wilderness, gotten drunk, put WAY too much wood on the fire and shot fireworks at one another? Except that, in the case of Terry and Dean, it’s hinted their antics may have caused the legendary fire in Fort McMurray. (The producers make a point of noting the joke in the disclaimer ahead of Episode 1 lest anyone get upset.)

The pair flees to Calgary to meet up with Terry’s cousin, Shank (Darling), after hearing that those displaced by the fire would receive $1,800 from the federal government. Aiming to get a new start, Terry applies for the credit … and then spends most of it on frivolous items (a lifesized cardboard cutout of AC/DC guitarist Angus Young is just one). Meanwhile, Dean’s King Diamond-esque falsetto could land him a singing career.

The homer genre is hot right now thanks to Letterkenny (creator Jared Keeso was inspired by FUBAR), the Canadianity podcast from Jonathan Torrens and Jeremy Taggart and even Team Give’r from this summer’s exploits on The Amazing Race Canada. As a result, FUBAR: Age of Computer fits right in with its well-timed laughs and memorable characters.

FUBAR: Age of Computer airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on Viceland.

Image courtesy of Rogers.

 

 

 

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Featured, The Disappearance

TV Eh B Cs podcast 72 — The Appearance of Camille Sullivan

Camille Sullivan was nominated for a Gemini Award for best actress in a television series for her work on Shattered, opposite Callum Keith Rennie. Camille was also nominated for a Gemini for her portrayal of Francine Reardon, the volatile cocaine and alcohol addicted wife of a west coast crime boss, in the critically acclaimed Intelligence, a series from DaVinci’s Inquest creator Chris Haddock.

She recurred on Rookie Blue and Hellcats, both times as the ex who has come back to haunt you. She recently played a large recurring role on The Man in the High Castle for Amazon and can be seen currently in the indie films; The Birdwatcher and The Unseen.

Camille’s latest project is the limited series The Disappearance for CTV/NBC Universal.

Listen or download below, or subscribe via iTunes or any other podcast catcher with the TV, eh? podcast feed.

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Featured, Web series

A group of friends trade their way through life in Fare Trade

I first met Shawn Ahmed and Scott Leaver of Crazy Shirt Productions through their Bell Fibe project Touring T.O. The pair managed to create an engaging series on a shoestring budget and a little luck.

Now the pair is back with a new series that pushes the envelope of where a series can be broadcast via key partnerships.

Fare Trade—a new comedy series written and directed by Ahmed and Leaver and co-created and executive-produced by Jonathan Hirsh of Floating Island Entertainment—focuses on a group of friends who trade their way through life. With that as the backdrop, Fare Trade not only shows its episodes on Bell Fibe TV but on Bunz, the online trading platform.

The first episode is a riot of confusion. Landlord Jordi (Anand Rajaram) bursts into an apartment to find his tenants, Janet (Ana Golja), Cleo (Erin Carter) and Vic (Darrell Faria), have been robbed. Unable to pay the rent, the quartet agrees to a deal: if his tenants can get his car fixed, Jordi will waive rent for the month. The next several scenes focus on getting the car running smoothly but the road to success is a bumpy one and includes a Grease ripoff, rabies and a mechanic with his own money troubles: scoring a performer for his son’s birthday party. Surprise! The roomies have a plan for that, and it involves trading. Bigger surprise? The mechanic’s son is an adult and expects a certain kind of entertainment at his birthday party.

With 800,000 possible viewers for via the Bunz website alone, Fare Trade is the next step in television creation via partnerships with companies looking to invest in production. Will Bunz, like Amazon, score the next Red Oaks in Fare Trade? We’ll see.

Fare Trade is available now on Bell Fibe TV, Channel 1 and Bunz.

Image courtesy of Fare Trade.

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Featured, Great Canadian Baking Show

Dan Levy and Julia Chan bake up fun on CBC’s The Great Canadian Baking Show

Never underestimate the power of social media. That’s what Schitt’s Creek co-creator, executive producer, writer and star Daniel Levy learned when he tweeted his love for The Great British Bake Off and announced he’d be honoured to host a Canadian version of the culinary competition if that was ever in the cards.

“I had tweeted, quite naively, that if it ever came to Canada that I’ve love to throw my hat in the ring,” Levy says with a smile. “Almost immediately I started getting these responses, ‘It is for sure coming to Canada.’ ‘It’s happening.’ And then I inevitably got the call asking me if I would actually be interested. I said yes.”

Levy fulfils his dream on Wednesday when The Great Canadian Baking Show debuts at 8 p.m. on CBC. As if helming the homegrown version of your favourite program wasn’t enough, Levy does it with one of his best friends in Julia Chan; the former Saving Hope actress (who went by Julia Taylor Ross) joins him as narrator and co-host.

“We are great friends and were watching The Great British Bake Off together and Dan got involved,” Chan recalls. “Dan threw my hat in the ring, I got a call, went through the process and, apparently, we have good chemistry.”

“Watching this show and kind of colour commentating through the whole process, I was like, ‘I have a friend, she’s never hosted before but I think she would be a great, fresh voice for the show,'” Levy explains.

The Great Canadian Baking Show is fresh on a couple of levels. First, unlike other culinary competitions such as Top Chef Canada and MasterChef Canada, this is all about the baking. That, for watchers of those other shows, is often the hardest challenge put towards competitors thanks to the unforgiving science behind baking. You can fly by the seat of your pants when searing a steak. Not so when baking a multi-tiered cake. Second, The Great Canadian Baking Show is light-hearted and fun. If Wednesday’s debut is accurate, we’re in for one heck of an enjoyable ride. Levy and Chan are natural hosts, walking amongst the 10 home bakers, tasting here, asking questions there and genuinely having a good time.

Of course, the program isn’t all crumpets, tea and giggles. Each of the eight episodes contains three rounds—the Signature Bake, Technical Bake and Show Stopper—judged by baking legends Rochelle Adonis and Bruno Feldeisen. At the end of each episode, one home cook will be eliminated. This season’s 10 competitors represent a thick slice of Canada, from Regina CFO Vandana Jain to Victoria animator Jude Somers, from Toronto human rights lawyer Corey Shefman to Montreal graphic designer Sabrina Degni. All have a passion for baking and a flair for drama on a platter. Wednesday’s challenges force the 10 competitors to up the ante with regard to cakes and the results are stunning.

And while Levy is a longtime fan of The Great British Bake Off, he’s not so great in the kitchen, admitting to just one item in his culinary repertoire: frittata.

“I don’t have any culinary experience, but I do have a lot of opinions,” he says with a laugh. “That’s something that I can bring to this. I can’t bake a thing, but I can eat.”

The Great Canadian Baking Show airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

 

 

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Featured, Travelers

Travelers: Enrico Colantoni discusses Vincent’s Season 2 journey

This season of Travelers has been crazy. It’s hard to believe we’re only in Week 2 of the second go-round because Brad Wright and his writing squad have really upped the drama. It all began with that stunning introduction to Vincent Ingram, played by Enrico Colantoni. By the end of Episode 1, we learned Vincent arrived in this time period as the September 11th terrorist attack was taking place. Now, exceedingly rich and paranoid, Vincent has been capturing and torturing travelers … including our team in Season 1.

But rather than waiting all season long for a showdown between Vincent and MacLaren, Wright does it in this Monday’s new episode, “Jacob.” Like we said, no punches are being pulled in Season 2 and the scene between MacLaren and Vincent is chilling in its intensity.

We spoke to Colantoni, who most recently appeared in the City miniseries Bad Blood, about Vincent’s Season 2 journey.

Eric McCormack told me that he thought of you immediately when they were casting Vincent, based on your role on Person of Interest.
Enrico Colantoni: He was very candid about that part of it and I’m just thrilled that he sees me that way. It’s not every day that you get a call from an actor friend with a job. It’s pretty cool. [Laughs.] I’m sure with everything that Eric has to do casting isn’t one of them. He’s the cat’s meow and I’m thrilled that he thought of me. I see the connection between Elias and him seeing me as Vincent, but I took liberties with Vincent that I never would have been allowed to with Elias, which was cool.

This is a character who was hinted at in Season 1 but wasn’t revealed until the first episode of Season 2. It was a great reveal.
Can you imagine? It all makes sense, time-wise. And to play a character who has a new lease on life. You come into this world that changed on that day. There he is, coming in with a new lease on life. What would anybody do if they knew the future and still fear for their life? How would you proceed? You’d be completely paranoid, completely cloistered, avoid all the technology that everybody else is embracing and yet have complete control of it.

Was it hard to wrap your mind around it?
I had to have a few phone calls with Brad. I’m a fan of the show so I got the whole encyclopedia of it. Brad was nice enough to tell me where Vincent was headed but it was too much information to find useful before I even had shown up. The fun of it was I got to be a spiteful, paranoid old guy who just didn’t give a f–k, which was so much fun. And to watch Eric’s eyes bug because of some of the most ridiculous takes I’d ever given to camera. They couldn’t use them but I gave Brad everything from zero to 100. It’s just so much fun to play somebody who can’t be pigeonholed.

Does not being pigeonholed the result of the genre or the script?
The script. The genre itself is so broad, but Brad has really narrowed it down. To call The Director The Director as if it were God and then realize it’s an AI and there are factions in the future that are now at odds because of what happened in the past. You come wanting to prevent a catastrophe but now what do you do because it’s a new catastrophe.

And yet, it’s about dealing with the mundane. How do I raise this child and still save the world? How do I make this marriage work and still save the world? How do I deal with this drug addiction and still save the world?

Travelers airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Showcase.

Image courtesy of Corus.

 

 

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