Tag Archives: Mike Clattenburg

Crawford, Featured

Crank it up! CBC Music releases Crawford’s playlist

Music is a huge part of television. The right orchestral piece can add incredible drama and the correct bit of rock can add pop to a scene. Crawford definitely uses music to that advantage.

Available for streaming via CBC.ca and the CBC TV app, Crawford centres on a dysfunctional family headed by Cynthia (Jill Hennessy), an award-winning cereal executive trying to juggle work, her husband Owen, and her lover; and Owen (John Carroll Lynch), a former police chief who suffered a bullet wound on the job and communicates via an app on his smartphone. Adding to the nuttiness are siblings Don (Kyle Mac), a musician who returns home following an emotional breakdown; Wendy (Alice Moran), Brian (Daniel Davis Yang) and a family of raccoons. Yes, you read that right. Raccoons.

Now CBC Music has teamed with Crawford co-creators Mike Clattenburg and Mike O’Neill for the ultimate playlist. The series’ original soundtrack, along with additional songs from TUNS, The Weeknd, The Tragically Hip, A Tribe Called Quest, Tracy Chapman, Prince, Holy Fuck and Rush make up a list of 92 curated tracks. Check them out below.

“It’s what would happen if some of the of the people who worked on Crawford, including me, took turns playing music at a party. Some of it is thematic some of it is personal,” O’Neill says. Clattenburg, O’Neill and executive producer Laura Michalchyshyn, and cast—Jill Hennessy, John Carroll Lynch, Kyle Mac, Alice Moran, Daniel Davis Yang—share some of the music that served as inspiration while writing and filming the series.

In the below video, O’Neill and Clattenburg discuss how they scored Crawford‘s original soundtrack.

 

Crawford‘s first season is available for streaming via CBC.ca and the CBC TV app. It will be broadcast on CBC later this year.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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Crawford

Links: Crawford, Season 1

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: Crawford’s Alice Moran on CBC’s “Joyful and Kind” new comedy series
“Wendy has the most normal problems of anyone in the family, but she is the least chill in dealing with them. Her parents are being blackmailed, her brother thinks he can talk to raccoons and in Wendy’s brain the biggest problem is that her boyfriend isn’t committed. It’s a real treat to play a character who thinks like that.” Continue reading.

From Tony Wong of the Toronto Star:

Link: Jill Hennessy plays matriarch of weirdly dysfunctional family in Crawford
“When I got the script I had to read the first three episodes first a couple of times to get a through line; I couldn’t figure out what was happening. But that’s what I loved. I had no clue where this is going. All I knew was that in the first episode my character walks in with a police officer and they say, ‘Mama, we’re not sure what happened, but somebody peed in the sink.’ That got me. They had me at someone peed in the sink.” Continue reading.

From John Doyle of The Globe and Mail:

Link: CBC’s Crawford is weird, in a beguiling and hopelessly sweet way
The 10-part series is indeed weird, but in the most beguiling, hopelessly sweet way. It has a fine cast and a style and tone that is bonkers but seductive. As with all of Clattenburg’s work, it’s really about getting along, being decent to other people no matter how strange they are and being kind to animals. Continue reading.

From Norm Wilner of Now Toronto:

Link: TV review: new CBC comedy Crawford isn’t remotely funny
Crawford, the new ensemble comedy from Mike Clattenburg and his frequent collaborator Mike O’Neill, is similar to Clattenburg’s cult smash Trailer Park Boys in that it’s also a show about eccentric characters played by unquestionably committed comic performers.

I suppose it is also similar in that I did not find it funny – like, at all. Continue reading.

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: Crawford’s Kyle Mac on CBC’s eccentric new family comedy
“Even after reading the scripts, performing them on the day and seeing the show I didn’t really know what to expect. I was super stoked to get this part, but I thought the script was super weird. I dig weird things, but I also know Mike Clattenburg is a brilliant man so I was optimistic.” Continue reading.

From Bill Brioux of the Canadian Press:

Link: CBC launches new comedy ‘Crawford’ digitally first, TV later
Whether it’s the father “Dre” on “Black-ish,” “Appa” on “Kim’s Convenience,” or especially Homer Simpson on “The Simpsons,” when sitcom dads talk, nobody seems to listen.

Here then is a novel TV twist: a dad who cannot talk but won’t be ignored.

That’s the deal on “Crawford,” a new CBC comedy that begins streaming this Friday. All 12 episodes can be binged before the show is broadcast this summer on the main network, making this CBC’s first major series to launch first digitally. Continue reading.

From Alexandra Pope of Canadian Geographic:

Link: Q&A: Director Mike Clattenburg on “Crawford,” a comedic tribute to raccoons
There’s one scene where he rescues a raccoon out of a tree. It was pretty incredible; the raccoon felt safe enough to climb down the tree and jump into his basket. We didn’t expect it to go that far, but Kyle continued to act the scene with the raccoon trying to climb out of the box to sniff him. He really engaged the animal and it really had a relationship with him personally, moreso than anyone on set. Continue reading.

From Ron Johnson of Post City:

Link: Actor Jill Hennessy talks Toronto hangout spots, raccoon invasions and new TV show Crawford
“The raccoons invading the home in the first episode throws everyone into chaos in a necessary way. It was necessary to upset the balance of this family to reinvigorate relationships. The raccoons are the instigators of a lot of really good positive stuff and a lot of comedy. It’s really emotional and it’s hilarious.” Continue reading. 

From Sean McIntosh of the Red Deer Advocate:

Link: Former Red Deer Advocate papergirl starring in CBC show
Alice Moran went from delivering the Red Deer Advocate to delivering lines on television.

Moran, 29, stars in CBC’s Crawford, which debuted Friday. Before she made it on the screen, Moran lived in Red Deer for a few years when she was growing up, attending Holy Family School. Continue reading.

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21 Thunder, Crawford, Featured

Jill Hennessy stars in CBC’s offbeat critter-filled comedy Crawford

While you may not know exactly what you’re going to get from a television series involving Mike Clattenburg, you have a pretty good idea. He is, after all, the creator of Trailer Park Boys, that ribald comedy starring three East Coast dudes smoking weed, sipping adult beverages and going on profanity-laced adventures. At its heart, Trailer Park Boys was about family. Family is also at the heart of Clattenburg’s latest project, Crawford. Well, family and raccoons. Many, many raccoons.

Debuting Friday on CBC.ca and the CBC TV app before moving to the main network on June 14 at 9 p.m., Crawford‘s 12 episodes centre on a dysfunctional family headed by Cynthia (Jill Hennessy), an award-winning cereal executive trying to juggle work, her husband Owen, and her lover; and Owen (John Carroll Lynch), a former police chief who suffered a bullet wound on the job and communicates via an app on his smartphone. Adding to the nuttiness are siblings Don (Kyle Mac), a musician who returns home following an emotional breakdown; Wendy (Alice Moran) and Brian (Daniel Davis Yang).

In the first episode, “I’m not crazy, I love you,” Owen awakes to a ransacked kitchen. Food is all over the place and he has no idea who, or what has done it. Suddenly, Don arrives and begins hauling clothes and musical equipment into his old bedroom, putting a strain on a father-son relationship already smarting from something in the pair’s past. Owen is convinced burglars broke into the house while he was asleep; turns out a family of raccoons enjoyed a buffet lunch while he snoozed. And, strangely, Don feels a weird connection with the little beasts.

“I had worked with raccoons once before on Trailer Park Boys, and had a wonderful experience with them,” says series creator, head writer, director and executive producer Clattenburg. “And then I saw a documentary called Raccoon Nation and I became infatuated with them and what kind of person might try to relocate them.”

Clattenburg and co-creator, writer and composer Mike O’Neill were thinking about their own fathers—who had recently passed away—and came up with the dad character. The rest of the family dynamic followed soon after and the duo was determined to create something not seen on television before. Far from being outlandish, the pair sought to make Crawford as realistic as possible via scripts written by them, Zoe Whittall, Kathleen Phillips-Locke, Monica Heisey and Timm Hannebohm and hired dramatic actors to take on comic roles. And, in a departure from how television is usually made—table read followed by filming—the cast rehearsed extensively in advance.

“It was a luxurious, delicious gift,” Hennessy says. “You never get a chance to rehearse in TV or even in films. The rehearsal process was so invaluable because we got to know each other and become a family. We heard the dialogue come to life and the spectrum of the characters really came to life. It was one of the closest experiences I’ve had in TV to theatre.” Lines were workshopped, improvised and worked on to determine what was best for the scene and the plotline.

“It’s really spoiled me,” Mac admits. “On other shows, like 21 Thunder, for example, I had gotten into trouble all of the time for changing lines to suit how I wanted [my character] Tim to speak. You feel nervous to even experiment. And then, on Crawford, I was allowed to do that. Liberating is really the only way to describe it as an actor.”

Crawford‘s first season is available for streaming this Friday via CBC.ca and the CBC TV app. Crawford airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on CBC beginning June 14.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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Crawford

Casting announced for CBC’s upcoming comedy series Crawford

From a media release:

CBC and Rabbit Square Productions today announced casting for new unconventional family comedy series CRAWFORD. Created by Mike Clattenburg (Trailer Park Boys, Black Jesus), and co-created by recording artist Mike O’Neill (Moving Day, Trailer Park Boys: Don’t Legalize It), the half-hour comedy features an ensemble cast led by Jill Hennessy (Shots Fired, Crossing Jordan), Kyle Mac (Miss Sloane, 21 Thunder), Daniel Davis Yang (Riverdale), Alice Moran (Sunnyside, Man Seeking Woman) and John Carroll Lynch (The Founder, American Horror Story). Production starts this week in Toronto and will continue until June for a winter 2018 launch on CBC.

The world of CRAWFORD is a familiar yet unusual one. When raccoons invade the world’s most functioning dysfunctional family’s home, they help breathe life and new meaning into the odd behaviours of the family. Jill Hennessy plays Cynthia (aka Mom), an award-winning cereal executive struggling to deal with the stress of juggling work with the needs of her husband, Owen, and her lover. John Carroll Lynch is cast as Owen, family patriarch and former police chief, who is unable to use his voice due to a medical condition and communicates via his smartphone. Kyle Mac is Don, “temporarily” crashing at his parents’ after being dropped by his music label. Much to his surprise, he soon finds his calling as a raccoon whisperer. Older sister Wendy, played by Alice Moran, and younger brother Brian, played by Daniel Davis Yang, aren’t too surprised by Don’s return and welcome him back—sort of—they have issues of their own. It’s weird, but in CRAWFORD weird is the new normal.

Produced by Rabbit Square Productions for CBC in Canada and Comedy Central in the U.S., CRAWFORD is executive produced by Laura Michalchyshyn and Mike Clattenburg. The series is written by Mike Clattenburg, Mike O’Neill, Zoe Whittall (Baroness von Sketch Show, The Best Kind of People), Kathleen Phillips-Locke (Sunnyside, The Ron James Show), Monica Heisey (Baroness Von Sketch Show, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better) and Timm Hannebohm (Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day, Say Goodnight to the Bad Guys).

Janice Dawe and Kathy Avrich-Johnson are co-executive producers for Bizable Media (Saving Hope, A Better Man). Line producer is Suzanne Colvin-Goulding (The Girlfriend Experience, The Virgin Suicides). Series cinematography by David Makin (Reign, Beauty and the Beast), production design by Rupert Lazarus (Eyewitness, Shoot the Messenger) and costume design by Aline Gilmore (Indian Horse, Game On). Content Media handles international distribution for the series. CRAWFORD is produced with the participation of the Canada Media Fund.

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Crawford, Industry News

CBC and Comedy Central greenlight new series from Mike Clattenburg

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From a media release:

CBC in Canada and Comedy Central in the U.S. today announced that they have commissioned new comedy series CRAWFORD from Rabbit Square Productions, created by Mike Clattenburg (Trailer Park Boys, Black Jesus), executive produced by Laura Michalchyshyn (Trailer Park Boys, Chicagoland, The American West) and co-created by recording artist Mike O’Neill (Moving Day, Trailer Park Boys – Don’t Legalize It). The 13×30 series centers around a young man who, after a run of bad luck, moves back in with his parents and turns his natural ability to relate to raccoons into a successful business, all while navigating life with his eccentric family. Production will begin in Toronto in 2017. Content Media will handle international distribution for the series.

What happens when you fail your Bachelor of Arts and your record label drops your Metal band on the same day? For 28-year-old Don, it means moving back home with your polyamorous parents and finding a job that comes easily. Don has always thought differently – ‘thinking sideways’, as his Mom puts it. Following intuition rather than logic is the unique approach that turns Don’s compassion for and affinity for raccoons into a booming business – just as the town’s raccoon population explodes.

Commissioned by CBC in Canada and Comedy Central in the U.S., CRAWFORD is produced by Rabbit Square Productions, Laura Michalchyshyn and Mike Clattenburg’s company. Janice Dawe and Kathy Avrich-Johnson will also produce for Bizable Media. The series deal was negotiated by Maggie Pisacane of Frankfurt, Kurnit, Klein and Selz and Bizable Media. Mike Clattenburg is represented by The Gersh Agency and managed by Echo Lake Entertainment.

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