Tag Archives: T+E

Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

T+E’s Bathsheba: Search for Evil serves up a history lesson with its scares

Anyone who visits this site already knows I love paranormal programming. I’m especially fond of the series that delves into the true tales behind the spookiness, marrying fact with what some regard as myth.

T+E has knocked out out of the park with scary series before, but the two-part documentary Bathsheba: Search for Evil, debuting Monday on the specialty channel, has reached another level.

Airing as part of its “Creep Week,” event programming, Bathsheba explores the true story behind The Conjuring. The 2013 feature film, starring Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as demonologists Lorraine and Ed Warren, was a box office smash. Now, Bathsheba pulls back the curtain on the Perron family—and the house—at the centre of the story. The entire Perron family was terrorized by an evil paranormal presence, a 19th-century ghost believed by many to be a witch named Bathsheba Sherman, who allegedly haunted generations of families that had taken residence within her remote grounds. Anchored by first-hand accounts from the living Perron family members and paranormal investigator Erin Goodpipe (APTN’s The Other Side), Bathsheba separates fact from fiction, with disturbing results.

“The original camera operator had nightmares for several days and quit the project,” series producer and director Sunny Grewal says. “They had done the first batch of interviews and were supposed to visit and film on-site, and they basically said, ‘Sorry, not sorry.'” The interviews are pretty intense stuff. Regardless of whether you personally believe in ghosts, hauntings and the paranormal, something happened to the Perron family in what was named the Old Arnold Estate.

Investigator Erin Goodpipe

The odd stuff isn’t contained to behind-the-scenes either. In Monday’s premiere, something happens behind Goodpipe that is, luckily, captured on camera. There was, Grewal says, no explanation for the occurrence.

Aside from intimate interviews with members of the Perron family—sisters Cindy, Christine, Andrea, Nancy and father Roger all participate— and current homeowners Cory and Jennifer Heinzen, Bathsheba gets to the heart of the woman the documentary is named after.

Bathsheba Sherman, born in 1812, was a farm wife, but rumours swirled. Myths claimed she was malicious. Townspeople hated her, believing she killed a baby with a sewing needle and sacrificed it to the devil in exchange for eternal youth and beauty. Bathsheba attempts to get the facts right, and credit goes to Grewal and her team for being respectful in their storytelling of the living and the dead.

“One of the things I am most happy about is, it’s essentially a very female story, between [the late] Carolyn [Perron] and the sisters and then Bathsheba herself,” Grewal says. “Bathsheba was a real person, who has been collateral damage in some respects.”

Bathsheba: Search for Evil airs Monday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on T+E.

Images courtesy of Blue Ant Media.

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Industry News, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Blue Ant Media celebrates 10-year anniversary with 10 new and returning original productions for its Canadian broadcast channels

From a media release:

To mark Blue Ant Media’s 10-year anniversary this September, the international producer, distributor and channel operator announced today 10 new and returning originals to premiere on its portfolio of Canadian specialty networks. The new premium programming lineup includes outdoor lifestyle and survival shows, paranormal anthology series, compelling documentaries and relevant specials with several programs available for licensing globally by Blue Ant International. Overseen by Sam Linton, Head of Original Content, Blue Ant Media, the new commissioning slate will begin airing on the media company’s Canadian channels this fall and into 2022, with several series premiering during nationwide free preview events.

Cottage Life’s highest-rated original, Life Below Zero: Canada (Season 2; World Broadcast Premiere), has been renewed for a second season. Based on the Emmy® Award-winning format Life Below Zero, created and produced by BBC Studios’ Los Angeles production arm, the Canadian adaptation follows a diverse group of individuals surviving in the coldest and most remote regions of Canada. The second installment is co-produced by Blue Ant Media, Quebecor Content and APTN. Also returning to Cottage Life, the Blue Ant Media and APTN co-production Merchants of the Wild (Season 4; Broadcast Premiere) has been renewed for a fourth season. The series follows six Indigenous Adventurers who spend 25 days living off the land in the vast territory known to the L’nu (Mi’kmaq) people as Kespukwitk (lands end), and known to non-Indigenous people as the Southern Nova Scotia. They must use the teachings from the L’nu Elders and Knowledge Holders, who they meet along the way, to help them on their journey and reconnect to who they are as Indigenous Peoples. Finally, Blue Ant Media has greenlit a third installment of Ice Vikings (Season 3; World Broadcast Premiere), which follows fearless descendants of Icelandic Vikings as they battle the elements to keep ice fishing alive on Manitoba’s Lake Winnipeg, reeling in big fish and fat paycheques along the way. Blue Ant Media has also acquired Seasons 1 and 2 of the Ice Vikings franchise to air on Cottage Life. Both Life Below Zero: Canada, Season 2 and Ice Vikings, Season 3 are scheduled to premiere on Cottage Life during the channel’s nationwide free preview event in spring 2022.

On T+E, Canada’s home to paranormal programming, the new original anthology series Eli Roth Presents: A Ghost Ruined My Life (Season 1; Canadian Broadcast Premiere) examines horrifying real-life stories of hauntings experienced by everyday people. Executive produced by the award-winning film director, producer, writer and actor Eli Roth (Inglourious Basterds, Hostel, The Last Exorcism) and Cream Productions, the Blue Ant Media and discovery+ co-production features chilling eyewitness accounts and dramatic reconstructions reminiscent of Roth’s vivid cinematic masterpieces. Also new on T+E, The Lost Colony of Roanoke (Season 1; Canadian Broadcast Premiere), follows a team of archaeologists as they dig for evidence that could help solve one of America’s oldest and most controversial mysteries: what happened to the English colony on Roanoke Island? Featuring exclusive interviews, never-before-seen archaeological evidence and cutting-edge scientific analysis, the series offers compelling theories on the fate of the first European colony in the Americas, who settled on Roanoke Island in 1587 and suddenly vanished without a trace. The Lost Colony of Roanoke will premiere in spring 2022 during T+E’s nationwide free preview event.

The new documentary series Griff’s Great Canadian Adventure (Canadian Broadcast Premiere) marks the first original commission for BBC First in Canada since Blue Ant Media launched the channel in partnership with BBC Studios in March 2021. The six-part series, co-produced by Nikki Ray Media Agency and EQ Media Group, in association with Blue Ant Media, Channel 4, Abacus Media Rights, Quiver Entertainment, Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The History Channel (NZ), follows Welsh comedian and travel enthusiast Griff Rhys Jones on an epic journey across the commonwealth country as he explores Canadian cultures and traditions.

Blue Ant Media has greenlit two new Canadian documentary specials, The Digital Divide (working title) (Season 1; World Broadcast Premiere) and Strange Creatures (working title) (Season 1; World Broadcast Premiere), for its premium factual channel, BBC Earth. This is the first time Blue Ant Media has commissioned originals for BBC Earth in Canada since the channel launched in partnership with BBC Studios in 2017. The Digital Divide (working title) explores the growing chasm between the have and have-nots of digital, mobile and satellite technology. The timely documentary special looks at how COVID-19 exposed the underlying reality that not everyone can afford essential digital devices and examines the significant implications it has on society when there is not an equal playing ground to access technology. The special will have a digital premiere on the MobileSyrup website, a Blue Ant Media-owned company and Canada’s leading technology news website, before airing on BBC Earth. Strange Creatures (working title, a nature and wildlife documentary, is a one-hour spinoff special to Blue Ant Media’s hit YouTube series, Animalogic. Hosted by Animalogic’s scientific illustrator, Danielle Dufault, the special explores Canada’s unusual and fascinating creatures. Both documentary specials are scheduled to premiere in spring 2022 on BBC Earth during the channel’s nationwide free preview event.

On Smithsonian Channel in Canada, the Blue Ant Media and Channel 5 co-production, World’s Most Scenic River Journeys (Season 2; Canadian Premiere) has been renewed for a second season. Narrated by Golden Globe®, Tony and BAFTA award-winning actor Bill Nighy (Love Actually, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), the documentary series takes audiences on a visually stunning trip alongside some of the most beautiful and famous rivers around the world. Also new is History by the Numbers (Canadian Broadcast Premiere), an energetic, fast-paced 20-part series about the extraordinary and often overlooked numbers that help us decode world history. Each episode delves into the numbers to give audiences unimaginable numerical facts and top stats behind a different subject – from the massive growth of the global fast-food empire to the wealth and bloodshed of the world’s top crime bosses, the herculean numbers behind Mount Everest, the lives of the richest people on earth, and so much more. The series offers a fresh perspective on how the world adds up today. History by the Numbers is scheduled to premiere in winter 2022 on Smithsonian Channel in Canada during the channel’s nationwide free preview event.

Additional original commissions will be announced by Blue Ant Media in the coming months.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

T+E explores the unexplained as new original series Encounter: UFO premieres Tuesday, August 10

From a media release:

A national survey, commissioned by Canada’s leading paranormal television broadcaster T+E and conducted by market research firm Ipsos, reveals one in 10 Canadians claim to have seen an unidentified flying object. Among the 1,000 Canadians polled, more than half (56%) believe in UFOs, while a majority 65% believe intelligent extraterrestrial life exists. The belief that aliens exist is more prevalent among men (70%) than women (61%), and among Millennials (69%) and Gen X’ers (71%) than Boomers (58%).

The survey was commissioned by T+E ahead of the premiere of the broadcaster’s new original series Encounter: UFO. The eight-part docuseries weaves together powerful and credible first-hand accounts of UFO encounters and abductions, authentic video evidence and dramatic paranormal reenactments, while expert contributors explore the world-shattering realities of the witnessed events. The world broadcast premiere of Encounter: UFO airs Tuesday, August 10 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, exclusively on T+E.

According to the survey results, close encounters of the alien kind are most likely to happen in the Prairies: 16% of Saskatchewan and Manitoba residents claim to have seen a UFO, compared to 10% of Quebecers, 9% of Ontarians, 8% of Albertans, 7% of British Columbians, and just 5% of Atlantic Canadians. Men (64%) are significantly more likely than women (48%) to believe in UFOs and to claim they have seen one (11% vs. 7%).

Acclaimed Canadian science writer, ufologist and expert contributor in T+E’s new series Encounter: UFO, Chris Rutkowski says the survey results are in line with his own research. Rutkowski has collected and analyzed Canadian UFO report data since the 1970s and published the Canadian UFO Survey since 1989. “Canada has a long history of UFO sightings; they are more common than we think. About 1,000 UFO reports are filed in Canada every year, and there were more reports during the pandemic,” says Rutkowski. “When it comes to speculating about aliens visiting earth, most Canadians expect interstellar visitors to be friendly like E.T., and unlike the villainous aliens you see in films like Independence Day.”

Audiences who watch T+E’s all-new original series Encounter: UFO will hear from over 24 eyewitnesses from across the globe who swear they’ve seen unidentified flying objects, high-speed saucers and flashing bright lights in the night sky. One episode explores one of Canada’s most infamous UFO encounters, the case of Stefan Michalak, who reported being burned by a UFO in the wilderness of Falcon Lake, Manitoba, and features an in-depth interview with Stefan’s son, Stan Michalak. Encounter: UFO also delves into Canada’s best-documented UFO sighting in Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia. This paranormal event involves a UFO crash landing in the waters off Shag Harbour that was witnessed by several onlookers and resulted in a series of RCMP reports. UFO researcher and author Chris Styles, who played an integral role in the investigation, speaks about this mysterious incident in the docuseries.

Encounter: UFO is produced by Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Studios company. Michael Kot, Betty Orr, Nick Crowe, Pam McNair and Paul Kilback serve as Executive Producers. Brian Rice is the Director and Series Producer.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: T+E’s Hotel Paranormal checks in with more spooky tales

A little over a year ago, Season 1 of Hotel Paranormal launched on T+E. Narrated by Dan Aykroyd—who hosted PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, whose great-grandfather was a spiritualist and whose father published a book called A History of Ghosts—retraces the terrifying, true stories of those who have come face-to-face with otherworldly hotel guests.

Now the series is back for more scares in Season 2.

Returning Friday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on T+E with the ominously titled “Touched by Evil,” Aykroyd guides viewers through some twisted tales.

First up is a trip to Jefferson, Texas, in 2018, where new hotel owners Jeromy and Pam learn there are supernatural goings-on in their Jefferson Hotel. Built in the 1850s, the building had seen a lot of history and, apparently, contained some dark tales within its walls. It didn’t take long for Jeromy and Pam to witness clunks, clanks and exploding light bulbs. Were these the hallmarks of iffy plumbing and elderly electrical work or something more sinister? Without giving anything away, things get much, much worse.

As with Season 1, paranormal experts complement the stories told by witnesses, offering suggestions and clues as to what—and why—spookiness is going on. Many believe the fact hotel rooms, which see thousands of guests, are the perfect places to house spirits. 

Tune in to Hotel Paranormal and see if you agree.

Hotel Paranormal airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on T+E.

Image courtesy of Blue Ant Media.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

T+E serves bite-size scares with dark, modern-day horror anthology Series, Web of Darkness

T+E’s new original series Web of Darkness (8×60’) is a dark, modern-day anthology series that pays homage to the classic horror and sci-fi genre. Inspired by horror stories found in the deepest recesses of the web, each episode follows five chilling tales narrated by everyday characters reliving their nightmarish run-ins with the unexplained. From ghosts seeking revenge to encounters with UFOs and a resentful witch bearing a grudge, Web of Darkness accelerates the terror to deliver bursts of fright in a bite-size format. The series shows audiences what could happen if our world ever intertwined with the supernatural, offering a vivid portrayal of modern-day horror stories often caught on camera by the main characters. The world broadcast premiere of Web of Darkness airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on T+E, starting June 8.

The first two episodes of Web of Darkness include:

Episode 1 – Not So Scary Now, Are You?
June 8 at 10 p.m. ET/PT
A nurse is plunged into a frightening battle with mysterious patients who infect her with their dark qualities. A farmer is in mortal danger from a “scarecrow” that is terrifyingly more than what it seems. A UFO crash puts a doctor in an impossible and deadly battle with alien lifeforms. When an old theatre reopens, a clown ghost is reawakened and embarks on a frightening rampage. A teen couple are having fun live streaming their explorations of haunted places until they find themselves way in over their heads.

Episode 2 – The Game’s Just Begun
June 15 at 10 p.m. ET/PT
At a school with a sordid past, a desperate ghost reaches out to an unsuspecting new teacher. On Hallowe’en, a young man fatally misjudges what he thinks are only frightening decorations. Discovering her boyfriend is part of a horrifying offworld experiment, a young woman realizes she’s their next target. The only survivor of an office massacre returns to work, only to be trapped with the killer who died at the scene. Discovering his family’s brutal past when he returns to their old homestead, a tailor tries to outrun ferocious, newly-awakened spirits.

Web of Darkness is produced by Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Studios company, in partnership with the U.S.-based MY Entertainment. Michael Kot, Betty Orr, Julie Chang, Joe Townley and Michael Yudin serve as Executive Producers. Paul Kilback and Tara Elwood serve as Series Producers.

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