Tag Archives: Super Channel Fuse

CBC/Radio-Canada and Super Channel partner with the BBC on UK/Canada co-production The North Water, from See-Saw Films and Rhombus Media

From a media release:

CBC/Radio-Canada and Super Channel are partnering with the BBC to bring five-part Arctic nautical adventure THE NORTH WATER to Canadian audiences across the country. Commissioned by the BBC and CBC/Radio-Canada in association with Super Channel, THE NORTH WATER is a UK/Canada treaty co-production from Canada’s Rhombus Media and the UK’s See-Saw Films. Based on the critically acclaimed, best-selling novel by Ian McGuire, the immersive drama is adapted and directed by Andrew Haigh (45 Years, Looking) and stars BAFTA-winner Jack O’Connell (Unbroken, Godless), Golden Globe®-winning actor Colin Farrell (In Bruges, True Detective), and SAG Award-winner Stephen Graham (Line of Duty, Boardwalk Empire), together with an incredible ensemble cast that includes renowned Inuit actor Natar Ungalaaq (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner).

THE NORTH WATER will make its first Canadian debut on Super Channel Fuse on Sunday, September 19 at 9 p.m. ET with each episode available on Super Channel On Demand the day following its weekly linear broadcast, followed by wide release on CBC TV, CBC Gem, ICI TÉLÉ and ICI TOU.TV in fall 2022. Super Channel is available via most cable providers across the country, as well as Amazon Prime Video channels and the Apple TV app. THE NORTH WATER will premiere in the UK on BBC Two this fall, and is streaming on AMC+ in the U.S. this summer.

Set in the UK and the ice floes of the Arctic in the late 1850s, the series tells the story of Patrick Sumner (O’Connell), a disgraced ex-army surgeon who signs up as the ship’s doctor on a whaling expedition to the Arctic. But the ferocity of the elements is matched by the violence of his crew mates, including Drax (Farrell), a harpooner and distinctly brutal force of nature. As the true purpose of the expedition becomes clear, confrontation between the two men erupts, taking them on a journey far from solid ground and way beyond the safe moorings of civilization.

THE NORTH WATER was filmed primarily in Budapest and on the frozen seas north of the Svalbard Archipelago. The cast and production team sailed as far as 81 degrees north to film sequences in the pack ice, which is believed to be the furthest north a scripted drama series has ever filmed. While plans to shoot in Nunavut had to be curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a smaller local unit in Iqaluit stepped in to properly represent and authentically capture the vastness of the Canadian Arctic.

In July 2019, the BBC and CBC/Radio-Canada announced a commitment to collaborate across a range of different areas.

A BBC and CBC/Radio-Canada original series in association with Super Channel, THE NORTH WATER is produced by See-Saw Films and Rhombus Media and distributed internationally by BBC Studios.

Executive producers on the series are Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Iain Canning and Emile Sherman for See-Saw Films, Niv Fichman for Rhombus Media, Jo McClellan for the BBC and writer/director Andrew Haigh. In addition, Rhombus Media’s Fraser Ash and Kevin Krikst are co-executive producers and Claude Paiement is co-producer on behalf of Montreal’s N63 Films. THE NORTH WATER is produced in association with the Canada Media Fund.

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Renowned entertainment personality, Teri Hart, joins Super Channel as entertainment producer and host

From a media release:

Super Channel is set to put the sizzle in summer with a nationwide free preview across all four of its channels (Fuse, Heart & Home, Vault and GINX Esports TV Canada) plus Super Channel On Demand beginning June 14. The free preview will be available on all major cable providers across the country for 10 days, ending on June 23 (start times may vary, some exceptions apply, check with local provider for details).

Adding even more sizzle to the free preview, renowned entertainment reporter/producer and on-air personality, Teri Hart, joins Super Channel as Entertainment Producer and Host. In this role, Teri will host and produce regular weekly IGTV video content outlining her hand-picked programming highlights from the network’s Fuse and Vault channels. “Teri Hart’s Super Channel Super Picks” will debut during the free preview both on-air and via social media platforms, providing Canadians with engaging insights into Super Channel’s exciting content.

Prior to joining Super Channel, Teri was Reporter and Senior Producer for the entertainment division of Rogers Television where she regularly conducted interviews with artists from movies, TV and music for Entertainment City and Your World This Week. She was also the face of The Movie Network for 18 years where she became a favourite with viewers and celebrities alike, connecting fans with all aspects of the world of movies. As one of Canada’s most renowned multi-platform entertainment personalities, Teri has become a fixture at press junkets and TV and film premieres around the world, interviewing Hollywood’s superstars including Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Steven Spielberg, to name just a few. She is an ardent champion of the Canadian film and television industry and staunch supporter of many of Canada’s most important cultural institutions, from TIFF to the Canadian Film Centre and the Canadian Screen Awards. Her knowledge and enthusiasm for film and television is second to none, making her an in-demand host of high-profile industry events and a regular contributor to a host of radio shows, as well as entertainment news program etalk.

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Pure’s Alex Paxton-Beesley: “It feels so special”

You can hear the enthusiasm in Alex Paxton-Beesley’s voice when she talks about Pure. She was crushed when CBC pulled the plug on the show after one season and thrilled when it was resurrected on Super Channel Fuse. Paxton-Beesley uses one word to describe Michael Amo’s creation: special.

With Episode 3 headed our way on Tuesday night at 10 p.m. ET on Super Channel Fuse, we spoke to her about hers and Anna Funk’s journey.

What were your initial thoughts after Pure was cancelled after Season 1?
Alex Paxton-Beesley: I was devastated because I felt like it was such a great world. I knew from talking to Michael Amo about it that there was a ton of story left to tell. I was excited for the story arc that he had planned for Season 2. And then the rumours started. There was rumbling around in the fall a year later. ‘What do you mean, stand by? What does that mean?’ It felt really surreal, even into shooting Season 2. We would look around and say, ‘Are we actually here? The dream came true?’ It’s one of those projects that feels so special.

What did Michael Amo tell you about Season 2 that got you excited?
APB: How different life was going to be at the beginning of Season 2. The Funks have been cast out of everything that they were fighting for, really, the first time around. I thought that was a very interesting place to start from because they’re sort of in purgatory. Anna has one foot in the Auslander world and she doesn’t to be there. She’s desperately trying to keep a foot in the Mennonite world but they don’t want her there. And she’s also trying to protect her kids and give them some semblance of a life. Dylan Everett, Jessica Clement and I had some conversations about what we thought had happened in that year or so since the end of Season 1 because Noah walks away and all of a sudden it’s the three of us.

That was a very satisfying and fun conversation because we went all over the place with our imagining.

How has the tone changed for Season 2?
APB: I think it’s gotten much, much darker. Part of that is afforded by the plot. We’re not so much within the Mennonite colony. There is so much more going on in the outsider world. It’s been a very satisfying element, to push the envelope story-wise.

Christopher Heyerdahl is a new addition to the cast and plays Augustus Nickel. What can you say about Augustus?
APB: I think people are going to be pretty darn surprised at the kind of man Augustus Nickel is going to turn out to be. [Laughs.] He is the most incredible human being and actor and at times made my life very difficult because he is so delightful as Augustus and in character, Anna is not always delighted. He made it really, really hard to stay in character.

The shock for me was Gord Rand returning as the not-so-dead Abel.
APB: Gord Rand is one of the most amazing actors we have in Canada. He is the most inspirational person I’ve ever seen and I want to eat his brain and absorb his knowledge. When he was killed, we all knew he wasn’t really dead because he’s too good of a character and his journey is really rich, especially now. The conversation he has with Noah in the first episode about seeing God and maybe God just wants us to be happy. I think that’s going to be a very powerful perspective for Noah to have to contend with.

Alyson Hannigan was announced as a cast member but nothing else has been revealed. Can you say anything?
APB: I’m not allowed to say much. She is going to be appearing later on in the season. She’s playing a very fun character. The day I was on set watching her, I was just losing my mind laughing. She is so funny. The character she plays is super-feisty, mouthy and integral to the plot.

Pure airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on Super Channel Fuse.

Images courtesy of Super Channel.Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Pure: Creator Michael Amo on the return of Season 2 and a favourite character

Spoiler alert: Do not continue reading unless you have watched the first episode of Pure, Season 2.

Pure‘s second season premiere was notable for a few reasons. It introduced Hector Estrada (Victor Gomez), the drug dealer who demanded Anna Funk re-start the Mennonite cocaine pipeline. And, just to give her the little push Anna needed to do that, took Isaak (Dylan Everett) as collateral. When we last saw Isaak, he was naked, caged and (rightfully) screaming for his mother. Last Tuesday’s return also brought a favourite character back from the grave. It turns out Noah’s (Ryan Robbins) brother, Abel (Gord Rand), suffered merely a flesh wound when Eli Voss shot him; the siblings shared an emotional reunion.

With so much going on not just with the characters but the show itself, we got Michael Amo on the phone to discuss it.

What were your thoughts when you were told by CBC that the second season of Pure wasn’t going to be happening with them?
Michael Amo: [Laughs.] I remember being surprised because I think we averaged over 700,000 viewers per episode which, for a freshman drama on CBC, is pretty good. But, I guess it wasn’t on brand for them. I did move on to other things and developed some other shows. It was really Cineflix. It was Brett Burlock and Peter Emerson, who are our Ontario production partners, were the ones who said, ‘You know what? It’s not going to die so easily.’ They’re the ones who engineered the deal between WGN America and Super Channel and put their own kind of equity into it as well.

Three people, dressed in black, stand next to each other.Was there a phone call to you to say it had been greenlit?
MA: For me, it was me talking to Brett about some things I was working on and him saying, ‘Not so fast, Pure isn’t dead yet.’ But I’ve got a family to feed and said, ‘I welcome the opportunity to do more of Pure.’ I hung up the phone and went about my business. Months went by and, behind the scenes, Brett and Peter were working feverishly to make it happen. So, when you get the call and are told your baby has been brought back to life, it’s a happy day indeed.

You’ve spent at least one full episode keeping Noah away from his family. What was the thinking behind that?
MA: Actually, we keep Noah away from Anna until Episode 3 because I don’t want to make it easy. [Laughs.] The audience should be rooting for this family to get back together and they can’t do that if they’re together from the get-go. It was challenging to keep them apart for so long, but I did put them on a collision course to tie in with the law enforcement angle of the show. It was a challenge to do that. Season 1 was all about their fall from grace and expulsion from paradise and Season 2 is about them, all in their own way, trying to get back to paradise and the innocence they lose along the way.

How has being on Super Channel Fuse changed the tone of the show? What have you been able to do that you couldn’t on CBC?
MA: There were fans of the show, to begin with, so when they took it on, they said, ‘We’re a premium cable network, so feel free to play in that space.’ I didn’t go too crazy because I, personally, am not a huge fan of vulgarity and the show really never had the creative bandwidth for sex. But we could push the elements that were already in the show a little harder.

Hector Estrada is, literally, taking no prisoners. What’s it been like to create this guy?
MA: In Season 1 we had Eli Voss, who had very specific spiritual views that were in opposition to Noah’s. In Season 2, I really wanted to do something different, from a character point of view for the villain, so Hector is all about the here and now. He does not believe in an afterlife, he does not believe there are any consequences for his actions in this world whatsoever. He is all about the material pleasures, but he’s sort of lonely too. So, he bonds with Isaak and that’s his Achilles heel in a way. [Actor] Victor Gomez is both extremely charming and when he wants to be, ice cold.

I was surprised to see Gord Rand returned to Pure. In Season 1, Abel was shot by Eli and left for dead. Were you always intending to bring the character of Abel back?
MA: [Laughs.] I’m going to be honest and say perhaps not. What happens is, you fall in love with these characters, and the actors who play them, and you say, ‘Oh my goodness, I have to find a way to keep Gord in the picture.’ I’m glad I did.

Pure airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on Super Channel Fuse.

Images courtesy of Super Channel.Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Links: Pure, Season 2

From John Doyle of The Globe and Mail:

Link: Pure: A grim, good cerebral drama we don’t see often in Canada
Pure is a dense drama, grimly beautiful, and it threads a fine line between cops-and-criminal storyline and an examination of stifled religious moralism. (The first season is available on Super Channel for a good binge-watch.) The manner of its melodrama isn’t an easy sell. But it’s fiercely good, a rare Canadian TV foray into new territory. Continue reading.

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: Pure’s Alex Paxton-Beesley on Anna’s isolation in Season 2
“My character was so isolated, but it was also so strange to be without Ryan, my partner in the show. It was especially hard preparing for all the Low German that I had to speak for this season. Laura Kohoot, our advisor on the show, is just the most invaluable member on our team and we spent a lot of time together working on that.” Continue reading. 

From Bill Brioux of Brioux.tv:

Link: Alex Paxton-Beesley goes Medieval on your hynie in S2 of Pure
“She is so different this season and she’s going to places I wasn’t sure of. Then again, all these things are happening to her for the first time, too, so as much as it was unknown to me, it was absolutely unknown to her.” Continue reading.

From Debra Yeo of the Toronto Star:

Link: Drugs, desperation and Mennonites all back on TV’s Pure
It’s not usually a good thing when an actor cancels an interview, but when Ryan Robbins had to bail on a chat with the Star, leaving Alex Paxton-Beesley on her own, it seemed a bit like life imitating art. Continue reading.Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail