Tag Archives: Featured

Bachelor Canada, Featured

Review: Tears and tequila on The Bachelor Canada

After last week’s drama in The Bachelor Canada mansion–Kaylynn’s tears and jealousy–it was time for a change of scenery and what better place to let your hair down than in Los Cabos, Mexico? Things started off happily enough, with the remaining ladies all excited to be basking in the sun, reclining near the ocean and imbibing all things alcoholic before Tim put a damper on the end of the week by announcing four women–not two as originally announced–would be going home.

Everything started off sunny, with Lisa scoring the first one-on-one date with a horrifying, gut-twisting affair involving a contraption that swung she and Tim out into space. (The gals left behind complained Lisa wasn’t his type, but how is he supposed to know that unless he goes on a date with her??) A shared near-death experience led to a lip-lock between the two and a rose handoff over dinner as the sun set.

Meanwhile, back on the beach, Kaylynn tried to make nice with Martha over her actions at the cocktail party, an ill-advised move that just led to more crying and bully talk from the emotional ballerina.

A four-girl group date tested everyone’s dance moves in front of a Mariachi band, with the best dancer nabbing a one-on-one dinner with Tim. After a public performance that celebrated the cheesiness of the situation–and The Bachelor Canada–Tim chose Sachelle, she of two left feet, as his date. Sachelle revealed over dinner that she’d been cheated on twice and Tim had that happen once before, and the two shared a smooch.

Kaylynn once again jeopardized her spot on the show by heading over to Tim’s room when she learned she was the only person who wasn’t getting some date time with him. Instead of blowing her off, Tim listened to what she had to say and remarked he was frustrated with the speed of the show. Ugh. Tim threw a wrench in production by, rather than having a beach volleyball match with six girls, decided to just hang out with everyone. Natalie (who I chose to be around for the finale) decided to put all her cards on the table by explaining she may come off as a nice girl, but she can be bad too. It was a desperation move, and I worried it would scare Tim off. Speaking of being scared, April Brockman broke down in tears and went off by herself, which caused Tim to head over to chat with her and eventually he carried her into the ocean.

“I need to spend time with people that there’s a connection with next week and I don’t feel like I can do that with this many people here.” Tim’s bombshell announcement caught everyone off guard and Trish was sure she’d be one of those leaving. She needn’t have worried; she along with Kaylynn, Sachelle, April Brockman, Natalie (YES!), Dominique and Rileigh all received roses. Martha, April Borgnetta, Jenny and Christine were eliminated from the competition.

Next week the group heads to the Bahamas, where it looks like Lisa shows her claws.

The Bachelor Canada airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on City.

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Featured

Poll: What Canadian show would you fight for?

95 Comments

The Writers Guild of Canada is asking their Twitter followers what Canadian TV shows they’d fight for, so I thought we’d do a little scientific* study of our own (*not scientific at all).  Vote now!

If these shows were in a cage match for survival, which would you fight to save?

  • Lost Girl (46%, 5,821 Votes)
  • Murdoch Mysteries (25%, 3,215 Votes)
  • Orphan Black (10%, 1,226 Votes)
  • Continuum (4%, 480 Votes)
  • Rookie Blue (4%, 455 Votes)
  • Haven (3%, 322 Votes)
  • Bitten (2%, 314 Votes)
  • Heartland (2%, 267 Votes)
  • Republic of Doyle (2%, 199 Votes)
  • Saving Hope (1%, 122 Votes)
  • Degrassi (0%, 40 Votes)
  • Motive (0%, 39 Votes)
  • Remedy (0%, 29 Votes)
  • 19-2 (0%, 21 Votes)
  • Mr. D (0%, 19 Votes)
  • Call Me Fitz (0%, 12 Votes)
  • Spun Out (0%, 9 Votes)
  • Played (0%, 7 Votes)
  • Blackstone (0%, 5 Votes)
  • Sensitive Skin (0%, 4 Votes)
  • Package Deal (0%, 3 Votes)

Total Voters: 12,618

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Featured, Saving Hope

Saving Hope star talks most challenging season yet

Saving Hope just might be the Canadian show that could. While this summer saw two Canadian shows, Seed and Working the Engels, come to a sudden end after failing to grab an American audience, Saving Hope avoided that fate after NBC dropped it at the end of Season 1. Going into Season 3, it’s not only managed to stay on the air in Canada, but it’s gotten picked up by another American network.

The difference between NBC and ION, Saving Hope’s new southern home, is a U.S. network willing to put the energy into promoting the show. Canada-born Daniel Gillies, who plays Dr. Joel Goran, can’t say enough about the attention the drama’s been getting south of the border.

“They’re an interesting new energy. They’re the kind of hot, burgeoning new network in the United States and they’ve got all these amazing shows,” which include Canada’s Rookie Blue, Flashpoint and the recently-finished The Listener. He adds, “I think there are a lot of viewers who managed to watch it in spite of the lack of publicity in the beginning and those sort of steadfast fans who had to sort of either download or whatever to find out what was happening with us and now, obviously, are pretty delighted it’s got some U.S. distribution again.”

But it’s the support at home that’s kept Saving Hope on the air and the Canadian fan-base has certainly been a strong and vocal one—when the show returned with a two-night premiere, it won its Thursday night timeslot with 1.2 million viewers. “If it had even a fraction of what was happening here in Toronto that first year,” he says, “We would have had a degree of longevity because it’s a very good show.”

Things only seem to be picking up this season, which opened with Dr. Alex Reid (Erica Durance) on the operating table after being stabbed in the heart with a pair of scissors. While the second half of the return ended with Alex waking up, it only set the stage for more tension on the hospital drama, which meant plenty more Joel for Gillies to discover. “I’ve been shooting this show for three years and I’ve never seen his bedroom,” he laughs, before calling it the most challenging season for the character yet. Since Joel was partially responsible for Alex getting stabbed in the first place, it’s taken his character to a much darker place.

“He’s sort of addressing and embracing a lot more of the emotional aspects of his career than he ever did,” Gilles explains. “I think that Joel was someone who derived his identity purely from his work and I think now he’s discovering he’s much more than that. By sticking around in one place he’s been forced—there’s this kind of mandatory introspection by being around. These energies around him are eliciting all this stuff from him that he’s probably never looked at himself before.”

Saving Hope airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Featured

Ruby Skye jumps from online to TV

Ruby Skye P.I. is a detective series, but the show’s success is a Cinderella story. An independent project two seasons old, filmed on a shoestring budget and posted on the Internet garners wide acclaim. A third season is partially funded by the CBC, debuts online and then jumps to the network’s morning television schedule. That’s Ruby Skye‘s story, and it’s one borne out of frustration.

“I wasn’t able to tell the stories that I wanted to in the restricted, narrow focus that children’s television has at this moment,” creator Jill Golick says. “There wasn’t a mystery show on television. Nobody was looking at making show’s with girl leads. It was a way for me to tell the story that I wanted to tell.”

Ruby Skye P.I.‘s tale began in 2010 when the Independent Production Fund started offering funding for web series. Golick–after writing on such series as Sesame Street, Noddy, Shining Time Station and Instant Star–was dabbling in the digital realm and had pitched several ideas to the IPF; they backed seasons 1 and 2 of Ruby Skye. A chance conversation with CBC executives at a conference led to the public broadcaster acquiring the first two seasons–The Spam Scam and The Haunted Library–for their website and commissioning a third season, The Maltese Puppy, along with the IPF, Bell Fund, Shaw Rocket Fund and Canada Media Fund. Now Ruby’s Season 3 adventures are available on CBC television as of Oct. 4.

“CBC’s intention was always to make a web show and we didn’t start Ruby thinking, ‘Oh, this should be a TV series,'” Golick explains. “We started thinking when you’re talking to today’s youth you put it on the screen where they are.”

Golick and Julie Strassman (Full House, Sophie, Metropia) co-write Ruby Skye P.I., and this third instalment, The Maltese Puppy, is a fun one. Ruby (Madison Cheratow, Wingin’ It), the sassy, smart star of the series, takes over the dog-walking route run by her sister Hailey (Marlee Maslove, Hailey Hacks) when she comes upon a crime scene. A local charity has been robbed of precious toys and there are a number of suspects, including the charity’s founder, Colin Cumberbund (Seán Cullen). Plus, Ruby has somehow ended up with one extra dog at the end of her leashes–a Maltese–and she’s doesn’t know where the owner is. Each episode–clocking in around the five-minute mark–is packed with whip-smart dialogue, top-notch performances and a cliffhanger style that keeps you wanting more.

“When people find it on the Internet they blow through all the episodes all at once,” Golick says. “We have that pace that makes you want to keep consuming it like potato chips.”

Episodes of Ruby Skye P.I.: The Maltese Puppy can be seen during the Kids CBC! programming block starting Saturday, Oct. 4, or on the network’s web page.

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Bitten, Featured, Podcast

TV eh B Cs podcast – Daegan Fryklind on Floof, Hearts, and the Vest of Asskickery

In this week’s discussion with Daegan Fryklind, we talk about getting ready for Season Two of Bitten, the interactive relationships between writers and fans, planning a ten episode season, cascading hierarchies of producers, and a little place called Castle Frightenstein.

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

Want to become a Patron of the Podcast? We’ve got a Patreon page where you can donate a small amount per podcast and get a sneak peek of each release.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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