Tag Archives: Paul Braunstein

Shelved

Shhh Happens: New CTV original comedy Shelved premieres March 6 on CTV

From a media release:

Stacks of laughs are ahead as new CTV Original comedy SHELVED joins the network’s midseason schedule, airing Mondays at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app beginning March 6. Created and executive produced by Playback magazine’s 2021 Showrunner of the Year recipient Anthony Q. Farrell (THE OFFICE), SHELVED follows the eclectic staff and eccentric patrons in the underfunded Jameson branch of the Metropolitan Public Library. Filmed in Toronto, the first season of the single-camera comedy consists of eight half-hour episodes.

In SHELVED, Jameson Library has seen better days. While it’s often overlooked by head office, Wendy Yarmouth (Lyndie Greenwood, THE EXPANSE), the Branch Head, is constantly aiming to provide services for the community despite bureaucracy, underfunding, and a lack of resources. Alongside her unconventional staff, including Junior Librarian Jacqueline “Jaq” Bedard (Dakota Ray Hebert, Run Woman Run), Librarian Howard Tutt (Chris Sandiford, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS), and Senior Librarian and Assistant Branch Head Bryce deLaurel (Paul Braunstein, BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW) – who all have differing opinions on how to run the library – Wendy finds a way to give back to her community and create a “found family.”

Joining the cast in supporting roles are Robin Duke (SCHITT’S CREEK) as Wendy “Unhoused Wendy” Brown, a regular library patron and self-described “wackadoo”; Taylor Love (MOST DANGEROUS GAME) as Sheila Boyd, a caring community leader and law student working part time at the Settlement Desk; and Varun Saranga (WYNNONA EARP) as Alvin Canada, an entrepreneur and freelance business consultant, who uses the library study room as his office, much to the irritation of the other patrons.

On the series premiere of SHELVED, titled “Jane Eyre FICTION BRO” (Monday, March 6 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app), replacement computers arrive for the Jameson Library, but Branch Head Wendy Yarmouth (Lyndie Greenwood) is upset that they got old hand-me-downs. She launches a plan to get her library the computers it deserves. Meanwhile, Howard Tutt (Chris Sandiford) arrives at Jameson and is shaken to find it falls far below his expectations – including the staff, consisting of Assistant Branch Head Bryce (Paul Braunstein) and Junior Librarian Jaq (Dakota Ray Hebert). When Howard gives Wendy an important piece of information, he inadvertently seals his fate at Jameson.

Exclusive videos are available throughout the season on @CTV’s social channels and on CTV.ca and the CTV app, providing viewers with an extension of the series with bonus digital content.

Alongside Anthony Q. Farrell, SHELVED is executive produced by Dan Bennett, Shane Corkery, and Anton Leo of Counterfeit Pictures. Jay Vaidya serves as co-executive producer, Sadiya Durrani as co-producer, and Colin Brunton produces. Aleysa Young (THE KIDS IN THE HALL, RUN THE BURBS) serves as executive producer and pilot director. Additional directors for SHELVED’s first season include Cory Bowles, Joyce Wong, Cazhhmere Downey, and Samantha MacAdam.

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Shelved

New CTV original comedy Shelved announces Lyndie Greenwood, Chris Sandiford, Dakota Ray Hebert and Paul Braunstein as series leads

From a media release:

CTV, together with award-winning independent production company Counterfeit Pictures, announced today the cast joining the new original comedy series, SHELVED. Created by Playback Magazine’s 2021 Showrunner of the Year recipient Anthony Q. Farrell (THE OFFICE), Lyndie Greenwood (THE EXPANSE), Chris Sandiford (WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS), Dakota Ray Hebert (Run Woman Run), and Paul Braunstein (BARONESS VON SKETCH) are confirmed to lead the cast of the eight-episode, half-hour series. With production currently underway in Toronto, Taylor Love (MOST DANGEROUS GAME), Varun Saranga (WYNNONA EARP), and Robin Duke (SCHITT’S CREEK) round out the ensemble cast.

Executive produced by Farrell, SHELVED is a single-camera workplace comedy centred around the lives of the employees and patrons at the Jameson Public Library in Parkdale as they go about their lives in this unassuming yet extraordinary place. Greenwood stars in SHELVED as Wendy, Head of the Jameson Branch. Wendy is an energetic dreamer who always sees the best in people and cares passionately about her library and the community of Parkdale. The staff at Jameson Public Library also includes the fastidious and judgmental Howard (Sandiford), who begrudgingly joins the team after getting transferred from the prestigious Midtown branch; social rights activist Jaq (Hebert), who is obsessed with dystopian Young Adult novels and calling out micro-aggressions; and Assistant Branch Head, Bryce (Braunstein), a conservative devoted to conspiracy theories and following the letter of library law.

Lyndie Greenwood
Lyndie Greenwood has appeared in several regular and reoccurring roles for television including THE EXPANSE, S.W.A.T., STAR, SLEEPY HOLLOW, and NIKITA. Greenwood’s feature film roles include The World Without You, Cut To The Chase, and This Movie Is Broken. Greenwood is repped by Management 360.

Chris Sandiford
Chris Sandiford is an actor and comedian whose television credits include multiple seasons of Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS for FX, GHOSTS, CAVENDISH, TALLBOYZ, and the recent Netflix series GOD’S FAVORITE IDIOT. Sandiford was also recently seen in the feature Moonfall. He is repped by A3 Artists Agency and Play Management.

Dakota Ray Hebert
Dakota Ray Hebert is an actress and comic who recently starred in the award-winning feature film Run Woman Run, for which she won the Best Actress Award at last years’ American Indian Film Festival and the Vancouver Film Festival. Her first televised stand-up set will be on the upcoming COMEDY NIGHT WITH RICK MERCER. She is repped by Oscar, Abrams, Zimel, & Associates.

Paul Braunstein
Paul Braunstein is a familiar face from Canadian film and television whose TV credits include BARONESS VON SKETCH, BURDEN OF TRUTH, MURDOCH MYSTERIES, and OCTOBER FACTION. He is repped by The Characters.

Alongside Farrell, SHELVED is executive produced by Dan Bennett, Shane Corkery, and Anton Leo of Counterfeit Pictures. Jay Vaidya serves as co-executive producer, Sadiya Durrani as co-producer, and Colin Brunton produces. Aleysa Young (THE KIDS IN THE HALL, RUN THE BURBS) serves as executive producer and pilot director. Additional directors for SHELVED’s first season include Cory Bowles, Joyce Wong, Cazhhmere, and Samantha MacAdam.

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Featured

Can Train 48 get back on track in Canada?

Steve Levitan is trying to get Train 48 back on track, and now seems like the perfect time to do it.

“The format that, at the time, I thought was innovative today is even more strategically smart,” Levitan says.

For those who don’t recall, Train 48 was an anomaly on the Canadian TV landscape. Broadcast on Global from 2003 until 2005 and based on the Australian series Going Home, the soapy series followed the daytime commute of a small group of characters from Toronto to Burlington, Ont. Before cell phones became the norm, folks would travel on the train and talk about the day’s events, often amongst the same four people sitting together. Levitan and his writers mirrored that for Train 48, mapping rough conversations and then letting the cast go, free forming the discussions to make them more real. Among the cast on Train 48 were Krista Sutton, Paul Braunstein, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Joe Dinicol, Raoul Bhaneja, Amy Price-Francis and Lisa Merchant, who filmed an episode every weekday for two years.

Train48_2

“I sort of vaguely remember getting up at 4:30 a.m. to drive into the set,” Merchant, who played Brenda Murphy, recalls. “We’d get into costume and have a meeting with the producer, have breakfast, and then it was time to get rolling. We’d be finished by 2:30 p.m. and then would do it all over again the next day.”

“Even though those of us who did it have done a lot of things in our careers, we’ve haven’t done anything like it again,” Bhaneja, who portrayed Pete Subramani, says. “It was such a unique journey. We’d be picked up in a van convoy, climb into our fake GO Train set, film and then what we did would be on TV that night. It was crazy.”

As a daily commuter into Toronto myself at the time, I totally got what Train 48 was all about. Aside from being tonally different from what was on television at the time, Train 48 broke new technological ground as well. Levitan recalls how Global wanted to drive traffic to its fledgling Canada.com website; the show placed Pete on the phone his bookie betting on that night’s Toronto Blue Jays-New York Yankees game. Viewers were urged to visit the website to vote who they thought would win the game; Canada.com crashed for days.

So, why the attention for Train 48 after 13 years? Because episodes are rolling out on the show’s YouTube channel. The show’s distributor, Syndicado (a deal structured through Farrago Media Inc.), suggested they be posted online and Levitan said yes. Train 48 certainly works airing on YouTube, but it would be a perfect fit for Canada’s streaming channels CraveTV and shomi. Levitan thinks so too, but no broadcaster has been interested. He also believes the format is the perfect formula for television today. Levitan points to Orphan Black, which attracts 250,000 viewers for Space every week at a cost of millions per episode versus his show, which attracted 250,000 viewers or more every night of the week at a cost of $40,000 per instalment. The model, he says, still works today.

“There are lots of ways to keep doing Train 48,” Levitan says. “And there are lots of ways to update or change the creative focus of that format, depending on who your network or audience is.”

Check out all of Train 48’s episodes as they roll out on YouTube.Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail