Tag Archives: Featured

19-2, Featured

More Amelie and Ben in Season 3 of 19-2?

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If Tom Hastings has his way, Season 3 of 19-2 will be much “warmer” when it comes to storylines, and the relationship between Amelie (Tattiawna Jones) and Ben (Jared Keeso) will be explored more deeply.

That’s the wish of the director of Independent Production for Bell Media, who made the remark at the conclusion of “Inside the Writers Room on 19-2” at the Toronto Screenwriting Conference on Saturday. Bravo just greenlit production of 19-2 for Season 3, but development had already begun, meaning showrunner Bruce M. Smith has put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) on the first four episodes.

Smith participated in the TSC’s inaugural Writing Room Intensive, where he and six television writers spent Friday developing the basic elements of a tentpole episode of 19-2. He and Ian Carpenter, Roslyn Muir, Caitlin Fryers, Amanda Smith-Kolic, Nathalie Younglai and Tamara Moulin put their heads together and came up with an exciting episode that, while just an exercise, was as compelling as any of the stories told on the show. The group’s plot found the cops of 19 dealing with the shutting down of a halfway house and the affect it has on the neighbourhood. Escalating emotions and over-the-top reactions reach a fever pitch when a child is abducted and the men in the halfway house are accused of the crime.

After outlining the episode to the packed theatre in Daniels Spectrum, Hastings joined the group to provide his network notes, a real-life conversation he has with Smith when 19-2 is in production. Hastings made several interesting points about the script, noting it was too soon after key events of Season 2—pedophile and eviction storylines—to revisit those themes again. He also noted the panel didn’t have much for Nick (Adrian Holmes) to do in their script, so that would have to be addressed. Overall, he was pleased with what the group had created in just one day.

It may have been a made-up script, but I’d watch it.

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Featured

My wish list: Fall On Your Knees and other CanLit in development

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Remember way back when we did a poll about the Canadian literature adaptations you’d most like to see on CBC? Coppermine by Keith Ross Leckie got the most votes, with a host of other novels making the list.

Some of those books were or are already in development, so now here’s my top 5 list of  those already inching their way to our TV screens, in order of preference.

  1. Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald 
    An Oprah’s book club pick, this novel by one of my favourite authors has been in development for what seems like forever — though maybe that’s just the watched pot rule. Executive producer Sharon Mustos tells me the latest scoop: “I have partnered with Shaftesbury Films/Christina Jennings to bring this wonderful story to life. We hope to announce a writer and broadcast partner very soon.”
  2. The Orenda by Joseph Boyden
    It feels like the news about this Canada Reads winner in development as a mini-series with Robert Redford should be making a bigger splash. It seems to be an open secret in the Canadian TV world and is referenced on unsplashy websites. I’m told it’s being shopped around US networks by a “very respected Canadian showrunner.”
  3. Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai Richler 
    With money from the Harold Greenberg Fund’s Script Development Program a few years ago, this novel was in development through Serendipity Point Films. Will it ever make it to our screens? You’d need the wisdom of Solomon to know.
  4. Caught by Lisa Moore
    Alan Hawco caught the rights to this books, teaming with Entertainment One for a series announced shortly before the end of Republic of Doyle last fall. The show is being developed for CBC.
  5. John Cardinal mystery series by Giles Blunt
    It’s been a while since news has emerged on this popular book series turning to TV, after the author was quoted a couple years ago saying he’s written the first episode of the series in development for CTV. But stranger mysteries have happened than a series popping up years later.

Do you have news on shows in development? Comment or send me an email.

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Featured

Comments and queries for the week of April 10

What TV show best defines Canada?
How about Wayne Rostad’s On The Road Again? That was real reality TV! Of the current shows I’d vote for 19-2, and I loved Strange Empire!!! Now, has there been a primetime drama that did represent the entire nation (not just one region of it)? Seems an almost impossible task unless, say, you put that in an appropriate context, like, say a Canadian celebrity living down in the U.S., who reminiscences about the “homeland.” Though even then, that individual person will have roots in one region or another. Imagine, for example, Robbie Robertson, who has toured all over the world at one time or another, what it might be like for him to “come home,” which he usually does when he has to do the rounds for publicizing a project of his, or something related to The Band. Although that’s real, I wouldn’t mind watching a fictionalized version of that story. I know that’s not what this discussion is originally about, just putting my two pennies in the pot here.—Stephen

Tie between Da Vinci’s Inquest and The Newsroom.—Gregory

Seeing Things. I wouldn’t say it defined Canada, but I liked it.—Dan

I would add Intelligence to the list, nto because it is the best (which it arguably is), but because it reflects that Canadian siege mentality when dealing with Americans. It was un-self-consciously multi-racial and, it was obviously set in Vancouver.—Suzanne

How about YOU GOTTA EAT HERE! celebrating real Canadian cooks and chefs in their restaurants across the country?—Steven

More love for Murdoch Mysteries
I have really enjoyed this season so far. I happen to be someone who wanted Emily and Crabtree to get back together. I really like Crabtree with Edna, but I do not like Emily with Lillian. I just haven’t liked Lillian since the brick throwing episode and I wasn’t a major fan of her character before that. I like that they said their going to put the team back together, I look forward to seeing that happen and hope things work out well for Crabtree quickly.—Adam

This has been the most enjoyable series in decades! I became aware of Murdoch Mysteries around six months ago. I now have all seven seasons, with Season 8 pre-ordered. The characters, and their relationships are fantastic. Where does Canada come up with such talent? As earlier comments indicate, I wish were able to receive this in the U.S.A. I have one “negative” comment. I am not looking for unbridled passion, but we saw more of Yannick’s bare chest in Season 2, Episode 9. Come on, William and Julia are acting like an “old married couple.” It’s too early for them to be so “blasé.” We need more of those meaningful eye contact scenes. Can’t wait for Season 9 even if I do have to watch it on my Kindle. Keep up the excellent work!—Sharon

I think a departure from William and Julia’s relationship was a good thing. We got to see the lives of the other characters and it was nice to see William and Julia living happily together without much drama. Now we’re all raring to have a focus on them more. I don’t much like Edna – especially as when we first met her in Season 1, she was all sassy and action-taking, now she’s all boring and shy and mopey.—Maddie

Are on-screen ads killing TV?
I think of them as “necessary nuisances.” You forgot when a show does a small cliffhanger just before a commercial to keep you watching and then the resolution of said cliffhanger is blocked by the ad. Or when a channel is trying to hype up a premiere of a new season for a show so they put a countdown clock on the bottom right of your screen during the show prior to the premiere? In the final season of Lost in the episode Sun briefly couldn’t speak she wrote her words down on paper, which was blocked by the countdown for the premiere of V. That was infuriating.—Dan

Another factor is that Canadian broadcasters probably don’t want to or can under current CRTC rules squeeze more actual ads into a show like they do in the United States, where a once half-hour show like Let’s Make A Deal gets bloated to a hour so more ads can be fitted in. Another reason is that TV is trying to ape the computer screen website experience, especially for the web generation that is more use to ad screen clutter than someone much “older.”—Alan

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

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Featured, Vikings

Review: Vikings fall short of their goal

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“Today went badly.” — Bjorn
“Yes, it did.” — Ragnar

That pretty much summed up the sad result of “To the Gates!” Ragnar’s attempt to plunder Paris. I have to say, things started out so well that I honestly thought the Vikings were going to make mincemeat out of Count Odo and his soldiers. But, thanks to history, we know this actually never happened. The Vikings waged three major attacks on Paris in the past and none of them were successful. That isn’t to say show creator Michael Hirst will stick with what happened in history, but he’s been pretty accurate in his dramatic re-telling so far.

For those who are interested, historical documents actually place Rollo at the centre of one siege on Paris and find him marrying a French princess, something that certainly seemed to be in its initial stages when Rollo and Princess Gisla made goo-goo eyes at each other mid-mayhem. And what mayhem it was. I can’t imagine how long it took to choreograph, rehearse and film the multiple angles of the siege, from  the waterline to atop the towers, from outside the bridge to the drawbridge leading into Paris. It was horribly magnificent to behold, that blood-soaked fight for control of the city.

I had assumed Ragnar was setting up Floki for failure, and that was confirmed during his very Shakespearean parley with Athelstan at the end of the episode. He gave Floki the responsibility, knowing the blame would fall on the  mad genius when things went south. Ragnar may be a patient man, but his damaged kidneys and broken ribs could mean his survival past the end of this season may finally be in doubt. Speaking of survival, I did—for a moment—wonder if Bjorn had been killed. Thankfully it will take more than crossbow bolts to put Bjorn Ironside into the ground.

Vikings airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on History.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: Franklin’s lost ship found

I have a fascination with the Canadian north. What has made men and women trek to some of the most inhospitable land on earth? I’ve read the fictional works of Jack London and the real-life triumphs and tragedies of men like Ernest Shackleton and Captain John Franklin, the latter of whom is featured in Franklin’s Lost Ships, The Nature of Things’ season finale.

The news that one of Franklin’s ships, the Erebus, was discovered last year after being missing for 170 years was a discovery that excited and entranced me, and Franklin’s Lost Ships doesn’t disappoint in its exploration into how the Erebus was found. In 1845, Capt. Franklin and 129 men set sail from England  aboard two ships—the HMS Erebus and Terror—headed for the uncharted waters of the Arctic. None survived. Graves and notes left by crew members have been found since, along with Inuit tales handed down through  generations detailing what happened, but the ships remained tantalizingly out of reach.

Thursday’s documentary not only details the six-year search Parks Canada has been on for the duo National Historic sites, but the story of how Franklin and his crew ran into trouble in the first place. Franklin was a decorated war hero, but had failed in earlier overland mission to find the Northwest Passage. On his last mission, he not only had enough food to last three years, but warships Erebus and Terror had been fitted with central heating and propellors. It was expected that the elusive Northwest Passage would be traversed and mapped without problem.

Experts like Ryan Harris and Marc-André Bernier of Parks Canada, John Geiger of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society, historian Huw Lewis-Jones and authors Ken McCoogan and Dave Woodman breathe life into the tale with help from re-creations, explaining not only how last year’s adventure was undertaken with state-of-the-art sonar and satellite maps paired with the last coordinates left by the crew before they perished.

Franklin’s Lost Ships is also a story of British arrogance, of a society that preferred—in the 1800s—to ignore Inuit reports of cannibalism among the crew and reports of one ship locked in the ice and sinking while another was carried south. In fact it was those stories, and luck, that caused last summer’s mission to be a success. Incredible footage of Erebus looming up in the murk, covered in seaweed and dwarfing the divers around her is dramatic stuff. But that’s just the first chapter in the story; future dives will venture inside the ship to search for documents, film and bodies for a more accurate telling of what truly went wrong during Franklin’s last expedition.

Franklin’s Lost Ships airs as part of The Nature of Things on Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CBC.

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