Tag Archives: Featured

Degrassi, Featured

Degrassi: Next Class returns for “darker” Season 3

1 Comment

Degrassi: Next Class executive producer Sarah Glinski has a warning for fans: things get dark in Season 3. The teen drama returns with new episodes on Monday, Jan. 9, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Family Channel (and Netflix around the world) in dramatic fashion, as we find out who survived the Season 2 bus crash and how the experience affected them.

Add to the mix storylines involving Syrian refugees, abortion and mental health, and high school has never been more challenging. We spoke to Glinski ahead of Monday’s return about where the show is headed in the next 10 episodes.

How long have you been with the Degrassi franchise?
Sarah Glinski: I started on Season 8 of The Next Generation.

How do you feel this upcoming season of Next Class stacks up against the Degrassi seasons you’ve worked on?
Oh, they’re all so different. I would have trouble picking my favourite. There are some seasons when we did 45 episodes and there are some seasons when we did 28, some when we did movies of the week; they all have different personalities. But Season 3 of Next Class is a little bit darker than we have done for awhile. We have the combination of great stories and incredible actors performing in those stories that makes this season pretty special.

You’re right. Things start out very dark. What’s been the support like from your Canadian broadcaster, Family Channel? 
The have been wonderful and have encouraged us to tell the stories we want to tell the way we want to tell them. They trust us to talk to teens about the things teens are talking about.

I thought going to high school when I was a kid was tough, but nowadays because of social media, it’s even more difficult due to online bullying and instant messaging. In Episode 1 you have the issue between Lola and Shay; it’s a real problem.
There used to be a separation between home and school and now there isn’t. Everyone has their phones and they’re the first thing you grab when you wake up. You don’t really get a break from it, and your entire history is online, so it’s hard to move on and reinvent yourself.

You start Season 3 with the repercussions of the bus crash from the Season 2 finale, Syrian refugees, abortion and mental health. Anything else you want to let fans know about?
Another thing we look at is gender. We’ve gone into it a little bit before, but we look at gender fluidity and what’s a girl or a boy and when you don’t feel like what society defines them as. We look at that from a couple of different perspectives. What if you don’t want to wear a dress and makeup? What does that mean to you as a girl? Also, one of our characters is a lesbian and more feminine. What does that mean? Is it harder to come out when you wear lipstick, have long hair and wear dresses?

Degrassi has always covered today’s topics. When something like Syrian refugees pops up, does the writers’ room get excited?
Season 3 explores different ways of dealing, post-trauma. For a number of characters, that’s the opportunity to see something really positive. Having Syrian refugees come into the school seemed very natural.

Let’s talk about Tristan and how the bus crash affected he and Miles. Can you discuss anything to do with that storyline?
There won’t be closure on that storyline until Episode 10. There are a lot of twists and turns along the way. We explored the physical trauma of the bus crash [with our characters] and the mental trauma.

Can you talk about the new characters that are joining Degrassi this season?
We have two new characters and they’re Syrian refugees in Rasha and Saad. Rasha is very cosmopolitan, from the big city, speaks English and is very well-educated. She missed out on high school because of the war and wants to grab high school by the reins and is excited to be here, wants to be part of every club and make new friends. She lives her life vicariously through movies and TV.

Saad is from a smaller town and his English isn’t as good. Life is a little bit harder for him and we take a look at his experience as well.

When Zoe and Rasha are introduced, Rasha gives her a little look. Can you comment on that?
They are going to become very, very close friends.

In the beginning of our chat you said this was a darker season. What can fans expect when they tune in?
Even though it’s a bit of a darker season, there is hope and optimism. If you have friends and family, you can make it through. Making it through is the theme of the season.

Degrassi: Next Class airs Monday to Friday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Family Channel until Jan. 20.

Images courtesy of DHX Studios.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Four Senses expands its world in Season 4

Four seasons in, Four Senses‘ mantra continues to be “Touch it. Taste it. Hear it. Smell it.” But the cooking show—returning Thursday, Jan. 5, to AMI-tv—designed for viewers who are blind or partially sighted has expanded its scope with cross-country adventures and high-profile celebrity guests.

Co-hosts Carl Heinrich and Christine Ha (he won Top Chef Canada and she took the MasterChef title) are back and more confident than ever in their surroundings and each other. Now sure-footed as chefs and hosts and describing how they’re preparing dishes as second nature, they’re able to joke and verbally jab one another, adding to the charisma factor. Their on-screen comfort means they can give more attention to their guests.

Thursday’s return features radio and television veteran Steve Anthony, who pops in to help create crab-stuffed avocado halves, Brussels sprouts slaw and homemade salsa and chips. Anthony has spent decades interviewing folks, so it’s no surprise he turns the tables on Ha and Heinrich, asking their opinion of specialty salts or opining as to why kids don’t like Brussels sprouts, but they give it right back, enquiring as to his kitchen habits. Yes, Four Senses is a cooking show but it’s also about sharing and telling stories, and Anthony, Ha and Heinrich do plenty of that before digging into their creations. (Upcoming guests include interior design gurus Colin and Justin, fashion icon Jeanne Beker and comedian and television star Luba Goy.)

The series has also upped the air miles in Season 4 as the co-hosts swap the kitchen for trips around Ontario and Nova Scotia, highlighting Canada’s diverse culinary landscape and the chefs, farmers and purveyors who bring them to our tables.

Four Senses airs Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. ET on AMI-tv.

Image courtesy of AMI.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Podcast

TV Eh B Cs podcast 57 — Bridget on TV

Bridget Liszewski, editor in chief at The TV Junkies, comes from a long line of TV Junkies who fostered her love of television from a very young age. She’s channeled that passion into covering both U.S. and Canadian television shows, and is thankful every day for the invention of the DVR. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, she loves college football and is a fan of sports in general. Bridget is always up for talking TV and you can follow her on twitter at @BridgetOnTV or at TheTVJunkies.com.

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!

SUPPORT

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Ontario’s highways thru hell star in Discovery’s Heavy Rescue: 401

Anyone who relies on Ontario’s 400-series highways knows that, at the best of times, you’ll fly along to your destination. But throw in some weather or boneheaded move by a fellow driver and chaos ensues. That’s what’s captured in Heavy Rescue: 401.

Debuting Tuesday, Jan. 3, at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Discovery Canada—and from the same folks behind Highway Thru Hell, Heavy Rescue: 401 tracks the tow truck drivers, provincial police and emergency personnel who work long hours in dangerous conditions to keep cars and trucks full of precious cargo—human, animal and product—safe and on to their destinations. Yes, the west coast’s Coquihalla highway has snow and high peaks, but Ontario’s roads have their own challenges.

“I would fly into Toronto for meetings at Discovery and would drive from the airport and see guys smashing into each other in front of me,” executive producer Mark Miller says. “I’d get to Discovery and tell everyone about the hell I had just been through and they’d say, ‘Yeah, we go through that every day.’ We spoke to tow truck drivers that work the roads and quickly realized there was something there. It was different enough that it makes for a really cool series.” Miller likens the 401 to a spine with manufacturing plants and factories attached to it; the sheer number of tractor trailers needed to transport supplies along that route means jam-packed lanes and accidents waiting to happen.

“It’s all about time,” says longtime Abrams Towing driver John Allen (pictured above), one of several drivers featured in Heavy Rescue: 401. “You have auto parts going to Oshawa, auto parts going out to Windsor. If they get tied up, it’s costing GM or Chrysler or whoever is doing the manufacturing millions of dollars because they don’t have the storage capacity. Their storage is the trucks coming in.” Tuesday’s debut episode wastes no time showing what happens when snowy conditions and several lanes of traffic mix: a multi-vehicle accident has shut down part of the 401 and Allen is among the drivers rushing to the scene. Other companies followed in Season 1’s episodes include Herb’s Towing, Preferred Towing, Ross Services, Steve’s Towing, Classic Heavy Towing and Metro Towing.

Allen, with over 25 years in the towing business, has seen it all on Ontario’s roads and isn’t fazed by the fact he’s about to become a TV star. Instead, he’s more interested in educating viewers about the dangers involved in his profession.

“Part of what I want to get out of this show is for drivers to slow down, move over and give us a little space,” Allen says. “One tow truck driver is killed every six days in North America. That’s more than police officers, firefighters and ambulance drivers put together.” Injuries and death, he says, occur when a tow truck operator is crushed between vehicles or in what he refers to as “the 30 feet of kill zone” between his door and the back of the truck working in an active traffic lane and totally unprotected.

“Not even one in 10 drivers will move over and give me room,” Allen says. “I was watching the episode back and was getting scared! Give me some space in my workplace … that’s all I ask.”

Heavy Rescue: 401 airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Discovery Canada.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Ransom

Comments and queries for the week of December 30

Meh about Ransom

I’ll give this show a pass. To me, it looks like a Flashpoint-knockoff-filmed-in-Canada-but-trying-to-look-like-it’s-set-in-the-U.S. Plus, it’s a procedural. Hate those. —Alicia

Love for Steven and … Shahir?

So glad to see Steven back on TV. (Will always miss Chris. They both will always have a special place in my heart.) I sincerely think that Steven and Shahir would make such a great team. CBC, please consider this. Both of them could have guests talking about interesting topics, just the same. They’d be VERY successful. Thank you for reading my comment. —Bruge

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

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail