Tag Archives: Featured

Awards, Children Ruin Everything, Featured, The Porter, Transplant

Nominees announced for the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards

From a media release:

Today, the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (the Canadian Academy) announced the nominees for the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards in 145 television, film, and digital media categories, which also include the inaugural nominations in gender-neutral performance categories for lead and supporting performers in film and television.

The first season of CBC’s The Porter leads both television and overall 2023 Canadian Screen Award nominations with 19, including Best Drama Series and Best Lead Performer, Drama Series nominations for Aml Ameen, Ronnie Rowe Jr., and Mouna Traoré. Both CBC’s Sort Of and CBC Gem’s Detention Adventure received 15 nominations, followed by CBC’s Pretty Hard Cases with 11.

In film, Clement Virgo’s Brother tops nominations with 14, including Achievement in Direction and Performance in a Leading Role for Lamar Johnson. Stéphane Lafleur’s Viking follows with 13, while David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future boasts 11.

Revenge of the Black Best Friend leads digital media nominations with nine, including Best Web Program or Series, Fiction; followed by Avocado Toast The Series with seven and Tokens with four.

“From legendary directors like David Cronenberg to new voices like Bilal Baig, the 2023 Canadian Screen Award nominees reaffirm that our country has an immensely talented industry, and we are lucky to call them Canadian,” said Tammy Frick, CEO, Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. “Supporting these artists has never been more important, and we are proud to be at the centre of those efforts. I’m thrilled to share my heartfelt congratulations with all of the nominees, and look forward to raising a glass to them in person this April.”

The 2023 Canadian Screen Awards will be presented in a series of seven intimate genre-based awards presentations, with esteemed members of the Canadian screen-based industry who brought us the best work from the last year, gathering in person at Meridian Hall in Toronto from Tuesday, April 11, 2023 through to Friday, April 14, 2023, all culminating with The Canadian Screen Awards with Samantha Bee, broadcasting on Sunday, April 16 at 8 PM (9 AT, 9:30 NT) on CBC and CBC Gem.

An intimate look at Canadian storytelling excellence on screen, The Canadian Screen Awards with Samantha Bee is an hour-long, star-studded broadcast special featuring celebrity interviews, highlights from the awards presentations throughout Canadian Screen Week 2023, and the presentation of the Cogeco Fund Audience Choice Award. The special will also include exclusive access to this year’s Special Award recipients, including: Ryan Reynolds, recipient of the Humanitarian Award, presented by Paramount+; Catherine O’Hara, who will receive the Academy Icon Award, presented by CBC; and Simu Liu, the recipient of the Radius Award, presented by MADE | NOUS.

For the full list of 2023 Canadian Screen Award nominees, please visit academy.ca/nominees; view the full schedule for Canadian Screen Week 2023 at academy.ca/schedule.

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Featured, Podcast

TV, Eh? Podcast Episode 258: Pretty Hard Cases cancelled, Shelved set to debut and more Pamela Anderson

Welcome back to another bi-weekly chat about the latest news in Canadian TV! First, Greg and Amy go through debuts and returns on the Canadian TV calendar.

Then, we cover the latest Canadian TV news, which includes the cancellation of CBC’s Pretty Hard Cases, Shelved to debut on CTV, Corus wants more Pamela Anderson, and another season of Shoresy on Crave.

This podcast brought to you by Tails Cocktails and McKeown Cider.

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Featured, The Spencer Sisters

Lea Thompson and Stacey Farber shine in CTV’s The Spencer Sisters

The British mystery genre is where I live. When I’m not watching and covering Canadian TV, I’m streaming light crime dramas from across the pond on AcornTV and BritBox. From Whitstable Pearl to Vera, Harry Wild to Murder in Suburbia, I love them all.

Consider The Spencer Sisters, debuting Friday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, as Canada’s foray into the genre.

Like the above, The Spencer Sisters features crimes being committed in a fictional small town—Alder Bluffs, Ont.—two female leads at the helm to solve them, a generous dose of humour and, when they happen, bloodless murders. It’s an irresistible formula for success that is even more pronounced thanks to its leads, Lea Thompson and Stacey Farber. The pair crackle with chemistry from the get-go, playing acclaimed mystery novelist Victoria Spencer (Thompson), mom to hot-headed former police officer Darby Spencer (Farber).

“It starts with character,” Thompson says when asked what attracted her to the shot-in-Winnpeg series. “I really liked the character and I love comedy and the comedic elements to this. This is a really good time for this show.”

Created by Alan McCullough (Private Eyes. Rookie Blue) and co-showrun and executive-produced by McCullough and Jenn Engels (Sort Of, Transplant), Friday’s debut “The Scholar’s Snafu,” finds Darby returning to Alder Bluffs after she quits her big-city police force in frustration. For Darby, who looked up to her late cop father, this was all she wanted to do. Dejected, and with nowhere to stay, Darby returns home where it only takes one backhanded comment from Victoria to let viewers know this mother-daughter relationship isn’t rosy. Unlike their characters, who are pretty bristly in the debut, Thompson and Farber connected immediately.

“She was attached to the show before I was,” Farber says. “We did a chemistry read on Zoom and then we met in Winnipeg, had dinner and clicked immediately. We have a similar sense of humour and we’ve both worked for a long time, we have a lot in common.”

The friction between mother and daughter continues throughout the first season. Darby is struggling with her failure as a cop, moving back home and being forced to acknowledge why she has avoided seeing her mother for so long. And Victoria, who has never agreed with Darby’s career choice, wants to be part of her daughter’s life and finds a way to do it through their partnering to solve crimes committed in the community.

“They do learn to get along more, but no, [that friction] never goes away,” Farber says with a laugh. “It’s realistic in that sense. You can think you’ve moved through or on from an issue, but you haven’t.”

The Spencer Sisters airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.

Image courtesy of Bell Media.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: Documentary Doug and the Slugs & Me is a filmmaker’s love letter to her childhood

Growing up in the 1980s, I heard a lot of Doug and the Slugs music.

The group’s music videos for tunes like “Too Bad,” “Making It Work,” “Tomcat Prowl” and “Day by Day” were MuchMusic staples. Heck, I have “Day by Day” as part of my most-played songs on my iPhone. But, aside from knowing they were from Vancouver and created some wild videos, Doug and the Slugs has been a bit of a mystery to me.

Until now.

Debuting Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBC, Doug and the Slugs & Me follows filmmaker Teresa Alfeld as she explores the story of Doug Bennett. And while he led one of the most iconic 80s bands in Canada, Alfeld only knew him—during her childhood—as the cool dad of her best friend next door in East Vancouver.

Unlike most music documentaries that simply trace the birth and growth of a band, Doug and the Slugs & Me adds Alfeld’s personal journey, including chats with her mother, to round out Bennett and the band’s story. That, along with interviews with the Slugs, Bob Geldof (who worked with Bennett before Doug and the Slugs formed), Bif Naked, Steven Page, Ron Sexsmith, Michael Williams, Denise Donlon (who was the band’s publicist!) and Terry David Mulligan—and treasured home video—paint a wonderfully moving picture not only of Bennett but capture a slice of Canadiana well worth checking out.

Doug and the Slugs & Me airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Image courtesy of Hans Sipma.

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Featured, Podcast

TV, Eh? Podcast Episode 257: Canadian winter TV on CBC and Citytv

Welcome back to another bi-weekly (ish) chat about the latest news in Canadian TV! First, Greg and Amy go through debuts and returns on the Canadian TV calendar.

Then, we cover the latest Canadian TV news, which includes the debut of Citytv’s newest original series, Wong & Winchester, and CBC’s Sort Of and Best in Miniature being renewed.

This podcast brought to you by Sipsmith Gin and Wayne Gretzky Pinot Grigio.

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