Tag Archives: The Comedy Network

Corner Gas

More Gas in the Tank: The Comedy Network greenlights animated reboot of Canadian comedy Corner Gas

From a media release:

– New adventures, new episodes: pre-production begins January 2017 in Vancouver and Toronto –
– Animated world allows Brent Butt’s comedy to be as limitless as his imagination –
– New series brings new opportunities for brand integration –

Life in Dog River is about to get a lot more animated! Following a trailblazing six-season run and a blockbuster 2014 movie, The Comedy Network announced today it has greenlit an all-new animated version of the acclaimed, smash-hit comedy franchise CORNER GAS from 335 Productions and Vérité Films. The 13-episode, half-hour series for The Comedy Network’s 2017-2018 broadcast season is the latest original 4K production from Bell Media. Re-imagined by CORNER GAS creator and star Brent Butt, who released a sneak peek of his animated-character yesterday, the all-new animated CORNER GAS delivers its revered brand of comedy, but this time in an animated Dog River where anything is possible.

The new series comes from CORNER GAS executive producers Brent Butt and David Storey from Prairie Pantoons (335 Productions), and Virginia Thompson from Moving Mountoons (Vérité Films), in association with The Comedy Network. Animation will be produced by Prairie Pantoons, Moving Mountoons and Smiley Guy Studios. The series begins pre-production in January 2017 in Vancouver and Toronto, with the main cast confirmed to return. Producers also confirmed today that beloved character Emma will live on in the animated world with the blessing of the late Janet Wright’s family.

Brent (Brent Butt), Lacey (Gabrielle Miller), Oscar (Eric Peterson), Hank (Fred Ewanuick), Davis (Lorne Cardinal), Karen (Tara Spencer-Nairn), and Wanda (Nancy Robertson) are all getting a cartoon makeover as the main cast returns to Dog River for CORNER GAS. Casting for the voice of Emma is currently underway.

CORNER GAS brings together Butt’s comedy style and love for comic books. Before pursuing his passion as a stand-up comedian, Butt and a friend started a publishing company – Windwolf Graphics. His first comic, Existing Earth, was nominated for a Golden Eagle Award. Windwolf Graphics published two issues before Butt hit the stand-up circuit full time. Butt’s passion for comics lived on through his work, a common theme in the CORNER GAS franchise. Bringing CORNER GAS into the animated world allows Butt’s comedy to be as limitless as his imagination.

The new animated CORNER GAS also presents a vast new world of opportunity for branded integration. With Dog River open to expansion through animation, and beyond, brands are able to explore the environment in new ways.

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Industry News

Nearly 400,000 tune in to debut of The Beaverton on The Comedy Network

From a media release:

This just in! Final Numeris data confirms that a combined audience of 379,000 viewers has tuned into the premiere episode of THE BEAVERTON since its November 9 debut on The Comedy Network. With an average audience of 189,000 viewers during its broadcast premiere timeslot, Comedy was the most-watched specialty channel in Canada for A25-54 (102,000 viewers), and the most-watched entertainment specialty channel for A18-49 (101,000 viewers). To date, the premiere episode has reached a total of 724,000 unique viewers across all airings.

During its Nov. 9 broadcast debut, #TheBeaverton was among the Top 10 trending topics on Twitter in Canada, alongside hashtags related to the American election. Worldwide #TheBeaverton has garnered an estimated 18.7 million impressions to date.

Across Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, the teaser clip for the debut episode “Obituary for America” has garnered nearly 900,000 views with nearly half a million views in just its first 12 hours of being published. To date, 19 various in-show and web exclusive clips of THE BEAVERTON have racked up more than 4 million views across Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Since its premiere, the Top 3 BEAVERTON clips on social media are:

3) Rachel Notley Caught in Yet Another Scandal with nearly 344,000 views
2) With 683,000 views, “The Donald Trump Apocalypse Begins” became the #11 trending video on YouTube, and also landed on the front pages of reddit.com and uproxx.com
1) The series’ most-watched clip to date, 5 War Atrocities Only 90s Kids Remember, has garnered nearly 708,000 views.

On tonight’s episode of THE BEAVERTON, (Wednesday, Nov. 23 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT), shocking new insights into the world of ISIS are revealed, Aisha Alfa looks at the Liberal sex-ed curriculum, and Canada ponders a new currency.

A so-called televised adaptation of the immensely popular online satirical site TheBeaverton.com, THE BEAVERTON files fake news stories of the utmost importance, informed by real events, the cultural zeitgeist, and national news media. With nearly 7.5 million views in 2016 and averaging more than half a million unique visitors a month, TheBeaverton.com has become a go-to source for Canadian satire. Viewers who need a daily-dose of biting Canadian satire can check in with TheBeaverton.com or follow @TheBeaverton for hourly updates.

THE BEAVERTON airs Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT exclusively on The Comedy Network.

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Featured

The Beaverton website heads to The Comedy Network for TV

Regardless of who the next President of the United States is, The Beaverton has got it covered. The televised adaptation of the satirical website The Beaverton debuts Wednesday night on The Comedy Network with two possible lead stories. In one? The end of the world. The other? Bill Clinton is the First Husband. [Update: Armageddon it is.]

We were one of the over 100 sitting in the audience watching The Beaverton record its second-to-last Season 1 episode last week and it made for a fun night. Each of the 13 episodes finds anchors Emma Hunter (Mr. D) and Miguel Rivas (Meet the Family) and correspondents in news reporter Aisha Alfa, provocateur Donavon Stinson, financial correspondent Laura Cilevitz and foreign correspondent Marilla Wex skewering world topics.

Co-created by Luke Gordon Field and Jeff Detsky as well as website editors Jacob Duarte Spiel and Alexander Saxton, Pier 21’s Lazlo Barna and Melissa Williamson are executive producers.

“TV was always the dream,” Field says of creating an offshoot of the website for television. “I grew up on satirical television shows like The Daily Show … they were always my favourite shows. When I started writing political satire comedy, it was always in the back of my mind that it would be fun to create a TV show. I didn’t know that The Beaverton was ever going to have that opportunity and wasn’t working towards it. We were just building our name.”

Enter Detsky (Orphan Black), who noticed his Facebook friends were posting Beaverton stories on their news feeds. He immediately recognized the unique voice the site had and its reach (more than six million views in 2016) and knew it was a natural transition to television. Production on Season 1 happened in a nondescript warehouse shared by a church and the upcoming Top Chef Canada All-Stars, with Field, Detsky and 16 writers—most recently Kurt Smeaton, Scott Montgomery and Rupinder Gill—creating, doing table reads, punching up scripts and filming external bits in the week leading up to Thursday night tapings and production that has been rolling since late spring.

This is not The Daily Show. The Beaverton isn’t reacting to what happened in America, Canada or globally the day before. That, Field says, forces them to create original content not necessarily based on a headline. That frees the team up to cover stories that are always on the peripheral, like the Loonie, at a 20-year low, being swapped out in favour of Canadian Tire money.

And while Hunter and Rivas have extensive experience in sketch comedy writing, neither contribute to The Beaverton room. Instead, they’ve focused on delivering the stories and creating their on-screen personas. Rivas is buttoned-up and stiff, so unlike his actual personality, and Hunter is arrogant and braggy, totally opposite her self-deprecating humour when cameras aren’t rolling.

“We both approached it as, ‘What would make the best dynamic behind the desk and what’s original?'” Hunter explains. “Stereotypically, the story is the guy is a goof and super-funny and the girl checks him. This organic thing happened [between us] from the audition where we had this wonderful rhythm of give and take of being the straight man or having a moment and the characters evolved from there.”

“As a man, I agree with everything she just said,” Rivas says with a laugh.

The Beaverton airs Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on The Comedy Network.

Image via Bell Media.

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Industry News

The Topics You Didn’t Know Needed Covering: The Beaverton premieres Nov. 9 on The Comedy Network

From a media release:

It’s happening. Soon-ish. The Comedy Network announced today that new original satirical series THE BEAVERTON will premiere on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT, conveniently debuting the night after the U.S. Presidential election and leading into THE DAILY SHOW.

Also revealed today are the correspondents rounding out THE BEAVERTON’s news team. Helmed by co-hosts Emma Hunter and Miguel Rivas, the 13-episode, half-hour satirical series features “hard-hitting” news reporter Aisha Alfa; resident provocateur Donavon Stinson; delightfully corrupt financial correspondent Laura Cilevitz; and sharp-tongued foreign correspondent, Marilla Wex.

Among topics on THE BEAVERTON:

  • S. militia protecting its border from Canadian Black Friday shoppers
  • With beer now available in grocery stores throughout Ontario, The Beer Store fights back by selling groceries
  • Uber reaches a deal with Québec to provide taxi drivers with free rides to job interviews
  • With the Loonie at a 20-year low, Canada moves to Canadian Tire money as its national currency
  • Justin Trudeau wins the Internet by posting dub-smash video while approving the transcontinental pipeline
  • Don Cherry unveils new clothing line for women
  • A technological breakthrough in Virtual Insanity glasses that lets users experience life as Jamiroquai

A so-called televised adaptation of the immensely popular online satirical site TheBeaverton.com, THE BEAVERTON files fake news stories of the utmost importance, informed by real events, the cultural zeitgeist, and national news media. With nearly 6 million views in 2016 and averaging more than half a million unique visitors a month, TheBeaverton.com has become a go-to source for Canadian satire. Viewers who need a daily dose of biting Canadian satire can check in with TheBeaverton.com for hourly updates.

THE BEAVERTON is the brainchild of co-creators Luke Gordon Field and Jeff Detsky (CALL ME FITZ, SEED) of TheBeaverton.com, as well as website senior editors Jacob Duarte Spiel and Alexander Saxton. Directors are Henry Sarwer-Foner (THE RICK MERCER REPORT) and Shelagh O’Brien (JUST FOR LAUGHS GALAS). Producer is Paula J. Smith. Pier 21 Film’s Laszlo Barna and Melissa Williamson serve as Executive Producers.

THE BEAVERTON is produced by Pier 21 Films in association with The Comedy Network, with the participation of Canadian Media Fund, and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit.

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Industry News

Production underway on The Comedy Network’s The Beaverton

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From a media release:

The Comedy Network announced today that production is underway on THE BEAVERTON, Canada’s hardest-hitting satire series covering the topics you didn’t know needed covering. As revealed last night in a first-look promo during the COMEDY CENTRAL ROAST OF ROB LOWE, THE BEAVERTON is set to premiere November on Comedy. Produced by Pier 21 Films in association with The Comedy Network, 13 episodes of the half-hour series are set to be filmed in front of a live studio audience in Toronto beginning Saturday, Sept. 24, with field production already in progress in Toronto and Hamilton. For those who would like to be a part of the live audience tapings, tickets are available at beavertonlive@gmail.com.

The first-look promo clip of THE BEAVERTON, introduces co-anchors Emma Hunter and Miguel Rivas as they prepare to helm the program that puts stories about news, on television. A so-called televised adaptation of the immensely popular online satirical site TheBeaverton.com, THE BEAVERTON files fake news stories of the utmost importance, informed by real events, the cultural zeitgeist, and national news media.

With nearly 6 million views in 2016 and averaging more than half a million unique visitors a month, TheBeaverton.com has become a go-to source for Canadian satire. Already known for its shareable content online, TheBeaverton.com has broken some of the decade’s most viral “news stories” including “Most Canadians can’t name all nine provinces”  and “PK Subban fined for swearing only in English”. Beginning today, the newly revamped website fuels a consistently refreshed digital experience featuring exclusive digital-only content in the form of podcasts, articles and for the first time ever, original video.

THE BEAVERTON is the brainchild of co-creators Luke Gordon Field and Jeff Detsky (CALL ME FITZ, SEED) of TheBeaverton.com, as well as website senior editors Jacob Duarte Spiel and Alexander Saxton. Directors are Henry Sarwer-Foner (THE RICK MERCER REPORT) and Shelagh O’Brien (JUST FOR LAUGHS GALAS). Pier 21 Film’s Laszlo Barna and Melissa Williamson serve as Executive Producers.

THE BEAVERTON is produced by Pier 21 Films in association with The Comedy Network, with the participation of Canadian Media Fund, and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit.

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