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 Porter, Sort Of and The Hardy Boys winning DGC Awards, Lilly Singh hosting Battle of the Generations for CTV and Crave ordering Season 4 of Canada’s Drag Race.
This podcast brought to you byLittle Giant Adelaide Hills Chardonnay and Chateau Saint-Florin Bordeaux.
I’m a huge fan of genealogy series. Whether it’s Who Do You Think You Are? or Finding Your Roots, I can’t get enough of the tales of family from peoples’ pasts. I was excited to learn more about Lark Productions’ latest, Our War, which follows the descendants of Canadian war veterans as they learn what their family members did during the First and Second World Wars. Many stories have been forgotten; even more, have never been told.
Debuting Friday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on History Channel, the four-part Our War is a real-life genealogical investigation that reveals the past through a younger generation.
In the first installment, we follow Stephanie Watts, who is on a mission to learn more about her great-great-grandfather Samuel. Other than some scant information about him serving as an Army band member in the First World War and some photos, his life, and his role in the war are a blank. The quest begins in Calgary, where Stephanie, who is Caucasian, reflects on learning, as a child, that Samuel was Black. Then it’s off to learn more about a missing Memorial Plaque, also known as a “Death Penny,” in his name and given to families of those killed in the First World War. With help from Militaria Auctioneer Linda Baggaley and War Memorabilia dealer Marvin Taylor, Stephanie learns the story of the Death Penny and how rare they are.
Meanwhile, in Winnipeg, Chris Black is looking for some answers of his own. His grandfather, Edward Walter Drost, was injured in Anzio while fighting in Italy during the Second World War. One of Chris’ last conversations with his grandfather has led Chris on a quest to learn more about a word Edward uttered: Camino.
Then it’s back to Stephanie, who learns Samuel’s birthplace, and the circumstances he grew up in before coming to Canada on the promise of land in the Prairies from history teacher Christian Mbanza (above right, with Stephanie). It’s fascinating to learn about Canada circa 1907, when Samuel arrived in small-town Alberta, determined to make a go of it and to see Stephanie’s reaction when she’s presented with documents she’s never seen.
In the second episode, airing Friday at 10 p.m. ET/PT, a teenage descendant of legendary Onondaga runner Tom Longboat learns of his ancestor’s valiant, yet little-known, actions during the First World War.
Our War is an incredible, and exciting way, of telling the stories of these Canadian heroes. Fingers crossed there is another season of Our War to come next year.
Our War airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on History Channel.
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 production beginning on a Murdoch Mysteries spinoff; Season 2 of Run the Burbs; the final season of The Hardy Boys; casting for CBC’s new series, Essex County; and David Suzuki retiring from The Nature of Things. We finish the podcast by getting into the Halloween spirit with Are You Afraid of the Dark?
This podcast brought to you byCandy Corn Cocktails and Pommies Cider.
[Editor’s Note: Greg erroneously said that Anthony Q. Farrell was the showrunner for Diggstown. Anthony Q. Farrell was the showrunner for Overload and the Underwoods, The Parker Andersons/Amelia Parker and the upcoming Shelved. He apologizes for the error.]
Last month, we got the scoop on Season 5 of Hudson & Rex from Mary Pedersen. The writer and co-executive producer (top left in the image above)—who has done stints on Murdoch Mysteries and Frankie Drake Mysteries—added director to her resumé when she went behind the camera on Sunday’s newest episode.
“The Good Shepherd,” airing Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern on Citytv, finds Charlie enlisting the help of an unorthodox ally when Rex is accused of attacking a decorated former police officer. With a guest turn by Shaun Majumder, we spoke to Mary Pedersen about her transition to directing. And, she gives us a major behind-the-scenes peek at the decision to put Charlie and Sarah together.
Was directing an episode of Hudson & Rex something you’ve been interested in doing? And did you end up shadowing some directors over the past few seasons to get ready? Mary Pedersen: I had shadowed [showrunner] Pete [Mitchell]. I don’t remember if it was my last season on Murdoch or the second to last, but I did shadow him on one of the last blocks when he was directing. Pete’s always been such a mentor and a role model to me as a showrunner and I could see how being a director informs his show running. I think it helps him really marry the creative and the practical. We always have to think about both things in film and he’s got a great eye for, ‘What are we going to see of this? What’s going to be on screen and what’s going to be entertaining?’ And I love his directing.
I knew that, as I’m aiming towards trying to show run one day, that I wanted to direct and learn more about making TV from that perspective, so I’d asked. They were generous enough to take a shot at me. I’d never directed anything before, so I’m very grateful for the opportunity for sure.
What was the hardest part of directing? MP: The hardest thing was the waiting. We started making plans in January or February for who was going to direct the season. I found out then and started prepping, I think, in July. I was very nervous, but also really what a great creative challenge, to have to do something that I haven’t done before and to look at the show in a whole new way.
When you get into the process of prepping for a season, that’s also very familiar because the writer’s going to prep meetings and we’re familiar with that whole process from start to finish. It was just sitting in a different chair during prep.
One of the great things is that having been on the show for a season and a half, I have so much trust in our cast and crew and people would say to me, ‘You’re not going to be able to mess it up.’ I have so much confidence in our director of photography, Ian Vatcher, who has been on the show from the start, and the first AD that I was working with, George Jeffery, so I felt like I had a good safety net and the nerves basically, for the most part, dissipated after Day 1.
MaryPedersen, second from right, on the set of Hudson & Rex
Writing for the page, you have got the picture in your head. When you’re directing, the pictures are evolving in front of you. Did you find that to be a huge, huge difference? MP: No. I say no because the first script I wrote 20 years ago, I was faced with that shock of the difference between what you imagine when you’re writing it and what it is when they shoot it and that’s been happening to me over and over since then. It’s never what you think it was, but very often it’s better.
Shaun Majumder guests in this episode. What it was working with him? MP: I mean he is so lovely and he’s so funny and he’s so thorough. He’s got a speech in the episode and he adjusted it to make it more Newfoundland which I really appreciated. I feel like I lucked out so much with him and, really, with all the cast because they are all so professional, so prepared and so delightful.
Unlike Murdoch Mysteries, where William and Julia’s relationship was dragged out, you didn’t really wait with Charlie and Sarah. They are together. Were you happy with that decision? You can either answer that as a writer and executive producer or as a television fan. MP: We actually shot two endings for last season. And then it was decided a bit later [which ending to use]. That was because of that exact question, ‘Are you going to want to draw the will they, won’t they out for longer?’
I love a will they, won’t they. I will stick with the show forever for that. I love it, but I also love Sarah and Charlie together. We thought, ‘We can do it.’ They have such great chemistry and I felt like that’s really a challenge for the writers to keep it interesting. What’s it going to be like while they’re together? I’m hoping that we’ve done that.
Hudson & Rex airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Citytv.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused chaos in the film and television industry. When productions weren’t completely shut down, contact between cast and crew was deeply restricted. For Kenny Brain, it meant he wasn’t able to really get to know his co-star, Kortney Wilson until cameras were rolling on Season 1 of Making It Home with Kortney and Kenny.
“The first time Kortney and I met face-to-face was about an hour before they yelled, ‘Action!'” he says with a laugh. “We did some online stuff but nothing in-person until we showed up to film.
“My legs were shaking when I walked in,” he recalls. “I’m thinking, ‘How did I end up here? Did I make the right decision?'”
Those worries were for naught. As viewers see when they tune in, there is a connection, chemistry and repartee between the duo. That’s even more pronounced in Season 3 of Making It Home with Kortney and Kenny. Currently airing Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV Canada, each instalment follows Wilson and Brain as they visit properties in dire need of a makeover. With her spunk and design know-how and his consummate contracting skills, it’s a wild, funny and tear-filled ride.
It’s been quite the journey for Brain. The Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland, native first made waves on Canadian TV when he appeared on Season 2 of Global’s Big Brother Canada. Once his stint on reality TV came to an end, Brain didn’t plan on returning to the small screen.
“I thought Big Brother Canada would be a one-off,” Brain says. “A really cool, massive experience, but I never dreamed I would end up where I am today.” Brain was quite comfortable transforming properties across the country, something he fell in love with in his 20s when he helped friends renovate their home and cabin. Putting the time and energy into something with his own hands that provided a tangible result had great allure. It quickly turned into his every day.
Now Brain finds himself standing among some of the biggest names in Canadian DIY, mentioned alongside Bryan Baeumler, Scott McGillivray, Sarah Richardson, Jonathan and Drew Scott, Mike Holmes, Sarah Keenleyside and Sebastian Clovis. It’s not something he takes for granted.
“HGTV Canada is such a staple in people’s homes,” he says. “To be a part of that family and to feel supported, I have to pinch myself because I never imagined my life being where it is right now.”
Making It Home with Kortney and Kenny airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV Canada.
