Tag Archives: Featured

Workin’ Moms renewed for Season 2 on CBC

There will be more Workin’ Moms at CBC. Show creator, writer, executive producer and showrunner Catherine Reitman made the announcement via Facebook Live following the first season finale.

“Um, we did not get a second season,” Reitman began. “I feel like it’s such a triumph to get a first season as we did … JUST KIDDING!  CBC has officially approved a second season. It’s because of you that we got a second season. Thank you for tuning in.”

The finale kept up the pace and personal storytelling of the episodes before it. Kate and Nathan’s son, Charlie, fell ill with the measles and she scrambled to be there with him and questioned whether she was a good mother or not. Meanwhile, Anne and Lionel dealt with the decision to have an abortion, Jenny and Ian’s marriage was at its breaking point and Frankie admitted to Giselle that she’s “broken” and is going to seek professional help; they get to keep their home.

What did you think of the season finale? Are you excited about Season 2 of Workin’ Moms? Let me know in the comments below!

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Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci dish on CBC’s Frankie Drake

To say we were excited to hear about CBC’s newest drama, Frankie Drake, would be an understatement. An original series about a spirited woman working outside of the law in the 1920s as Toronto’s first detective? We were in. Add to that This Life‘s Lauren Lee Smith in the lead role and Murdoch Mysteries‘ writers-producers Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci the creators of it all? Giddy is more like it.

In fact, we were so jazzed to hear about Frankie Drake, we got Hay and Ricci on the phone to talk about the project, which will be in production this summer in and around Toronto.

Congratulations on Frankie Drake. Has it been hard keeping this under wraps?
Both: Yes!

I’m sad you’ve left Murdoch Mysteries but I’m excited about this series. Tell me how the idea came about.
Carol Hay: Back in Season 5 [of Murdoch Mysteries], Michelle and I shared an office and we would be developing Murdoch stories and would say to each other, ‘Well if we ever had a female detective show, we could do that story.’ It was sort of a running joke between us. Two years later we thought, ‘Why don’t we actually do this?’ When it came to our first development pitch, we realized we wanted to jump forward in time. We loved the idea of the 1920s, which was really the first time in modern history where women could live on their own and not go straight from their parents’ house to their husband’s house. We thought this was a fantastic era for the idea of a female detective agency.

It was a bubble of time between two wars and, really, only 10 years between the end of the First World War and The Great Depression. There was this bubble in time when there was this huge optimism and a sense of relief that the war was over. We thought there was this great time for women.

Michelle, can you talk about the female angle?
Michelle Ricci: It’s an opportunity for us to tell a historical story from the female perspective and show what it was like for a woman to live in that time, and a female professional to operate in that time. That gives us the opportunity to go into some different worlds and story angles and really show a new perspective of a historical detective in a fun, mystery-driven adventure tone in a time of great upheaval. There was an immigration ban in 1923 of the Chinese in Canada … there are parallels we can draw in a new, fresh perspective and we’re really excited about it.

Frankie Drake star Lauren Lee Smith

When this news came out, I was reminded of the Australian series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Have you heard of that show?
MR: Actually, we came up with our show before that show. I want that on the record. Our original pitch was a year before that show came out. That’s how long it’s been. We’re aware of that show and have seen it. We think our show is very different. It’s set in the 1920s and that’s about the only similarity and Canada has very different issues from Australia. And our main character is a very different woman.

What is the tone of Frankie Drake?
CH: Murdoch Mysteries is very much about a policeman working to solve cases. Frankie Drake is a detective, so she can do things completely differently. There is a slightly more irreverent tone. It’s certainly not going to be heavy and dark; it’s going to be fun because that’s more of our style and the show we want to write. It’s got more adventure, and because she can work outside of the law Frankie might find herself on the other side of a jail cell a lot more than William Murdoch. She’ll have a different relationship … in a way the police are the antagonists. We’re still developing our stories and aren’t sure how all that will play out.

MR: Irreverent is a good word. And the key thing for her is her moral code, and that will resonate with the audience. That doesn’t mean it aligns with the law. It’s girls getting into trouble and the fun of them trying to get out of it.

Talk about the casting of Lauren Lee Smith. I can picture her in the role already.
MR: We haven’t worked with her a lot so far. We’re really still at early script stage but we’re really looking forward to getting into that. She really loves the scripts and we love her enthusiasm.

CH: The casting of Frankie’s partner, Trudy, will be next.

Frankie Drake will be on CBC’s primetime schedule this fall. What do you think of Frankie Drake based on what we’ve been told? Comment below!

Image courtesy of CBC.

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TV, Eh? podcast Episode 225 — Lovely Creme Anglaise Characters

After outlining the next two weeks of Canadian TV via the calendar, Greg and Anthony go though the shows that have been renewed or cancelled for the upcoming broadcast season, Wynonna Earp heading to Space, Private Eyes and X Company international broadcast deals and criticism regarding CBC’s Canada: The Story of Us.

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

Want to support TV, eh?’s work? Become a Patreon!

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CBC orders new original drama Frankie Drake starring This Life’s Lauren Lee Smith

We may not have another season of This Life to enjoy, but Lauren Lee Smith is staying with the CBC. Smith, who played Maggie Lawson for two rounds of This Life, has nabbed the lead role in Frankie Drake, a drama about Toronto’s only female detective in the 1920s.

The 11-episode first season of Frankie Drake will begin production this summer in Toronto and will debut this fall on CBC.

Frankie Drake takes on the cases no one else wants to handle and her gender puts her at odds with the social mores of the day. Undeterred, Frankie and her partner, Trudy, open Drake Detective Agency and tackle mysteries.


Related: Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci discuss Frankie Drake


“Frankie Drake is a real labour of love for us. It is a story about a spirited woman, breaking barriers and calling the shots, in a world that might not be ready for her. This is a one-hour detective series, set in the 20s, but this is not the roaring 20s we have seen onscreen before,” Christina Jennings, chairman and CEO, Shaftesbury said in a press release. “We are so pleased to bring this show to life, in partnership with our friends at the CBC, and with a creative team who have been part of our Shaftesbury family for many of our hit series. And of course—what a treat to work with the wonderful Lauren Lee Smith again. I can’t wait for the world to meet Frankie Drake.”

Now, some sad news for Murdoch Mysteries fans: Frankie Drake is created by Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci, which means they won’t return for Season 11 of Murdoch. Hay and Ricci also serve as executive producers on Frankie Drake; the series is executive produced by Jennings, Scott Garvie and Cal Coons, who also serves as showrunner. The series is produced by Jonathan Hackett and Julie Lacey.

We can’t wait to see the sass Smith brings to Frankie. What are your thoughts on this announcement? Will you tune in? Let us know in the comments below!

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Bellevue: Did you hear the one about the mayor, the priest, and the hockey coach?

**SPOILER ALERT** Do NOT read if you have not watched Episode 7 of Bellevue!

THAT episode of Bellevue was FREAKING INSANE! The kind of blow your mind storyline twists that we have come to expect from shows like The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones. Seriously! Bellevue may not be as epic or grand scale, but the twists are just as effective for dragging viewers down the rabbit hole.

So let’s get it out of the way right now … Brady killed Jesse! WHAT?!? Did ANYONE SEE that coming? To quote Annie Ryder: “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?” Turns out Brady, in an effort to talk Jesse (Sadie O’Neil) out of leaving town revealed to her that he was secretly in love with his sister Briana (Amber Goldfarb). Jesse’s repulsion sealed her doom, and Brady was forced to kill to keep his secret safe.

But let’s backtrack and sort out how we got there. We know Tom’s (Vincent Leclerc) alibi is blown because of his raving wife Jackie (Marianne Farley), and Peter (Shawn Doyle) calls him in for questioning. Tom finally admits he did pick Jesse up and took him to the church so that he, Lily (Janine Theriault), and Father Jay (Joe Cobden) can “talk some sense into him” and “get him on the right path again.”

Upset by all of this talk Jesse ran out of the church. She never got back into Tom’s truck. So now we know there is another white truck out there and Annie figures out that someone else was present in the church, lurking behind the curtain.

Meanwhile, we learn that The Riddler is Annie’s brother! Somehow she had entirely forgotten about him! Adam (Patrick Labbé) who at the age of 12—when Annie was three—was shunned by his father and sent away to military school because of his obsessive behaviour towards Annie. Now he is back, living in the woods, and keeping tabs on Annie with a police radio. Up until recently, he had been working at the local diner as a dishwasher under the alias Bobby Storms. Peter runs the alias through CPIC and calls up his list of priors including B&E’s, assault and a few counts of arson. Peter and Annie revisit areas in the woods Annie knows her brother frequented. Peter spots a campfire and they find Adam’s shelter. Peter pockets a note Adam intended for Annie, while Annie slips into the shelter and recognizes all of her possessions. Memories of her brother come flooding back.

Peter runs down the latest riddle at the church’s soup kitchen. Here he catches Adam off guard. Now, this is where our producers get a little audacious as they toy with viewers. Words are exchanged and are deliberately garbled for the audience. Adam says something that shocks Peter, but we are not privy to Adam’s message for Peter. Adam makes his escape leaving yet one more clue. Paraphrasing scripture from Jeremiah 4:7, and  loosely translated: “An impending calamity is about to happen; the final act of destruction.” Cheery thought, that.

On the Annie-Eddie (Allen Leech) front, Eddie is planning a move. He intends to take Daisy (Madison Ferguson) with him, and if Annie is not coming with them, he plans on fighting for custody. In the meantime Daisy, while hanging out with Bethany (Emelia Hellman) at the site where Jesse’s body was found, falls into the water. And conveniently, for investigative purposes, it happens a parasitic bacteria is present in the lake that requires a specific course of antibiotics to clear up. This means whoever killed Jesse would also require that same course of treatment. Whoever has recently been prescribed nitazoxanide would be a worthy suspect for Jesse’s murder.

Back at the station, Virginia (Sharon Taylor) picks up on an inconsistency with a CI account, and Brady is that CI’s contact. Annie decides to drop in on Brady and clearly, her spidey sense is tingling. Feigning a need to use the washroom, she checks through Brady’s medicine cabinet and garbage and there it is: nitazoxanide. Brady knows the jig is up and takes off in his truck. Annie looks in his garage and there she spots a white pickup truck, which we later find out belongs to Briana, registered in Sudbury. Unbeknownst to Annie, Brady is doubling back and takes her at gunpoint just as her call connects to Peter’s voicemail. Brady admits to being the man behind the curtain, and that he killed Jesse. And just as he is about to kill Annie, someone shows up in their own truck hitting Brady and sending his body into the windshield. Roll the credits!

Who is in need of some therapy after that episode? Huge shout out to Billy MacLellan for his performance in this episode, I was right there with him, feeling his emotional pain during his confession to Annie. Bravo!

And another shout out to Anna Paquin and Allen Leech for their hot and steamy scene! Beautifully done!

Now we know who killed Jesse, but what is the connection to Sandy Driver? Who killed her and why? We only have one episode left! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

The season finale of Bellevue airs Monday at 9 p.m. on CBC.

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