TV, eh?

From Jordana Divon of Metro Toronto:

• 5 minutes with: Jeff Seymour
  “You may not know his name (yet!), but you’ve definitely seen his face. That’s probably because the Being Erica star has appeared on every Canadian TV show you’ve ever seen.” Read more.

From TV Squad:

• Michelle Forbes Talks ‘Durham County’ and How She Wishes More People Watched It
  “TV Squad sat down with Forbes to discuss why she’s done talking about ‘Star Trek,’ how she stays a TV nomad and why she wishes everyone knew about ‘Durham County.” Read more.

From Toronto Life:

• The 10 best Canadian TV shows of the past 25 years
  “Here, in no particular order, our top 10 picks and memorable moments from the shows, plus a whole whack of worthy runners-up.” Read more.

10 p.m. – FLASHPOINT – “The Other Lane” – NEW EPISODE

When the Team must rescue a rogue cop hell-bent on taking down an arms dealer, they discover a surprising connection to one of its members. IanTracey (INTELLIGENCE) and Colin Cunningham (STARGATE SG-1) guest star.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Shattered fails to break
  “The first new show of the 2010-11 network season opened to a BBOE (Below Brampton Overnight Estimate) 428,000 viewers Canada wide.” Read more.

From the Toronto Star:

• So You Think You Can Dance Canada: Yonni and Bree’s exit interview
  “They say it’s better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all: that’s how Yonni Fournier and Bree Wasylenko feel about So You Think You Can Dance Canada. The day after their elimination, they were still shocked but grateful to have had the experience of being in the show’s top 20.” Read more.

From a media release:

How to Be Indie and Men with Brooms Join 2010 Actors’ Fund Film & TV Charity Challenge

The 2010 Film and Television Charity Challenge continues to showcase the creativity and generosity of those working in the industry with the latest contributions coming from two new productions.

Returning YTV series How to Be Indie took the idea of creative fundraising seriously, holding a bake sale on its Toronto set. Led by cast member Sarena Parmar, cast and crew members participated by contributing sale items or buying each other’s goods. The event raised over $500 for the Fund and was an enjoyable break in the day, proving that taking part in the Charity Challenge can be fun and easy.

Winnipeg’s Men with Brooms, a comedy series set to debut this fall on CBC, raised $2,150 for the Challenge before the first episode has even aired! Cast member Joel Keller and Production Manager Dave Mahoney led cast and crew in showing their support of the Fund, resulting in a collection of over $1,000 to help industry members in need. Producer Ari Lantos agreed to match what was raised through individual donations.

Whether it’s by holding a bake sale or collecting individual donations, every production can find a way to participate in the Challenge. Past events have ranged from donating proceeds of a prop and costume auction to throwing a barbeque for 400 people, complete with silent auction, pony rides and live fiddlers. Some of the more popular ideas have been to hold a 50/50 draw on set with half the proceeds going to the Actors’ Fund, encouraging cast and crew to sign up for the Reel Friends payroll donation plan or raising money at the wrap party. Productions who want to do something splashier could plan a community event in keeping with the theme of the show. For more ideas and updates on the challenge please visit actorsfund.ca/charitychallenge

The Actors’ Fund of Canada is the lifeline for Canada’s entertainment industry. The Actors’ Fund is not just for actors: performers and those who work behind the scenes in film and television, theatre, music and dance can apply for emergency financial aid from the Fund, which recently set a new record for the amount of financial aid delivered to industry members in a single year, topping $600,000 in 2009. The Fund has helped over 10,000 entertainment industry workers recover from illness, injury or other circumstances causing severe economic and personal hardship since it was founded in 1958. The Actors’ Fund of Canada is a registered charity. It receives no government funding and is wholly sustained by support from individuals and entertainment industry organizations.

From Bill Harris of the Toronto Sun:

• ‘Princess’ targets spendthrift women
  “In Princess, author and money maven Vaz-Oxlade – also the host of Til Debt Do Us Part – attempts to rehabilitate real-life princesses. And when we say real-life princesses, we aren’t talking about anyone with royal blood. Rather, the focus is on financially irresponsible young women whose reckless behaviour is threatening to put themselves and their loved ones in the poor house.” Read more.

From the National Post:

• Brandon Walsh would be shocked by Jason Priestley’s new role, but hey, it’s 09/02/10
  “Priestley plays Richard Fitzpatrick, the title character in HBO Canada’s Call Me Fitz, who in the first episode alone receives sexual favours from the receptionist, puts an unconscious woman in the driver’s seat after he steers a car off a cliff, and tries to sell that same car to the woman after she falls into a coma, all while drinking steadily and cursing like a sailor. If Brandon had a day like that, he would have immediately joined a monastery.” Read more.

From Jo Curtis of Unreality Shout:

• Review – Shattered: Pilot (S01E01)
  “But unluckily for Ben, and indeed the whole show, Canada seems to be the go-to place for shows to die.” Read more.

ANDY FACES THE SHOCKING POSSIBILITY THAT HER FATHER MAY BE A MURDERER

“To Serve or Protect” – After stumbling on gruesome evidence that Andy’s ex-cop father may have committed a murder during a drunken blackout, Andy and Swarek furiously search for proof of his innocence. Meanwhile, Chris and Dov show they’re not superhero crime fighters when a masked vigilante dressed like a caped crusader robs their squad car and the unintentional consequences help a drug dealer.

From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail:

• The award for ineptitude goes to … the Geminis
  “We produce some excellent television in Canada. But there is one reason to despise the Canadian TV racket as 10th-rate, unsophisticated and utterly mediocre, and that reason is the Gemini Awards.” Read more.

From a media release:

BREE and YONNI are Eliminated From So You Think You Can Dance Canada Leaving 18 in the Running to Become Canada’s Favourite Dancer

It was announced tonight that BREE Wasylenko, 22, a Contemporary dancer from Toronto, ON and YONNI Fournier, 27, a Salsa dancer from Montreal, QC would be leaving the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE CANADA stage. The results were revealed live during tonight’s broadcast after host Leah Miller revealed the three couples with the lowest number of votes would dance for their lives and await their fate. Eighteen dancers are now in the running for the chance to be crowned Canada’s Favourite Dancer.

Read the rest of this entry »

From Renee Ghert-Zand of JTA:

• ‘Being Erica’ TV character transfixes Toronto Jews
  “With much of the character derived from the life experience of the show’s creator and executive producer, Jana Sinyor, this fictional 30-something Toronto Jew is resonating with many young Canadian Jews who see in her something of themselves.” Read more.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• First review of the new season: Shattered
  “Rennie keeps it all simple and intense and makes the character real, even if the premise is a tad surreal. As a cop show, this is nuts. As a study in mental illness, it has its moments.” Read more.

From Greg David at TV Guide.ca:

• Callum Keith Rennie shines in psychotic ‘Shattered’
  “Played to perfection by veteran actor Callum Keith Rennie, Ben is a brilliant homicide detective with a secret: he suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), a.k.a. Multiple Personality Disorder. No one at his Vancouver precinct knows Ben has four alternates swirling around in his psyche, though they do wonder about the fugue states he enters from time to time, and the subtly different guy that emerges from them. When “normal,” Ben is quietly confident in his job and has a dry sense of humour.” Read more.

Wednesday, September 1 – 10pm ET/PT *Series Premiere*
*Starring Callum Keith Rennie (24, Californication), Camille Sullivan (Intelligence) and Molly Parker (Swingtown)*

“The Sins of Fathers”

In the series premiere, Ben Sullivan (Callum Keith Rennie), a smart, tough homicide detective who suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder, unwittingly drags his new partner, Amy Lynch (Camille Sullivan), into a clouded murder investigation.

From Michael Oliveira of the Canadian Press:

• After years of supporting roles, Callum Keith Rennie takes centre stage
  “Canadian actor Callum Keith Rennie has played a drinking buddy to David Duchovny’s Hank Moody on “Californication,” a foil to Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer on “24,” and chased confused amnesiac Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) during a memorable scene in the movie “Memento.” But in “Shattered,” premiering Wednesday night on Global, the actor mostly known for his supporting roles plays the lead, Det. Ben Sullivan, a troubled homicide investigator with multiple personality disorder.” Read more.

From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail:

• A head-case cop show with issues
  “The series, made in Vancouver and making good use of the city, is not easy to review. It has good bits and rather poor bits. It is, like its central character, splintered. This is to be expected, perhaps, from the opening episode of a series that promises rich psychological drama over the long run. Mind you, segments of Shattered are just a tad too rough for some people’s patience.” Read more.