Mike's Bloggity Blog

CBC won’t announce its full Fall schedule until May 10th, but late last week, they announced the new shows it will be bringing to our TV sets, inadvertently also telling us which shows won’t be back at all. Saying the schedule got slaughtered might be a little dramatic, but the network did what it could after the government chopped its budget.

But before we get to the bad news, let’s look at the new shows first!

The details of the new shows will come out in May, but we know that Cracked, Titanic: Blood and Steel the live competition series Over the Rainbow, will all be on the schedule. Titanic: Blood and Steel, seems like an odd choice, since most people’s interest in the doomed shipped peaked last week with the 100th anniversary. However, with a cast that includes Neve Campbell and Chris Noth, timing might not matter. Over the Rainbow is a reality singing show that seeks to find the next Dorothy for a theatre production of The Wizard of Oz. The network had a pretty good success with a similar series, How Do you Solve A Problem Maria? back in 2008. Murdoch Mysteries, which has been on Citytv for the past five seasons, will be joining the ranks of CBC this year.

The shows that won’t be coming back include the quirky Michael: Tuesdays & Thursdays and the action comedy Insecurity. Being Erica and Little Mosque on the Prairie were officially canceled too, although writers and actors had already prepared for the news and had aired fitting series finales. The CBC also chopped a slew of its failed reality shows, including Cover Me Canada, Redemption Inc, Battle of the Blades, Village on a Diet and The Debaters, though The Debaters will still be available on CBC Radio. Battle of The Blades, which is technically on a one year sabbatical, is most surprising, since it garnered fairly good ratings. Yet, it was the cost of the show that was likely it’s undoing.

In terms of renewals, there weren’t a lot of surprises, Arctic Air, Dragon’s Den, Heartland, Mr. D, Republic of Doyle and The Rick Mercer Report all picked up new seasons. It seems that the million viewer mark was the point to hit if you wanted to see new episodes.

What do you think of the CBC line up?  Does it stand a chance up against CTV, Global and Citytv?

With the season premiere of Being Erica just a few days away, I’ve been emotionally preparing myself for what many are saying will be its last season.   I’ve made no secret about how much I love this slow, and I feel proud to say that I’ve slowly converted many of my friends to the addictive Canadian drama.  That’s right, I said addictive.

Erin Karpluk is the series’ star and the other day she tweeted from the set, pictures of the cast and crew as they gathered, for what could be there last time together. For Being Erica fans, the pics also reveal a sneak peek at the show’s final moments….

Being Erica returns to CBC this Monday.

We’re only a week until a lot of our favourite shows come back to CBC and the network has set up a pretty sweet offer to get you all caught up on your “stories” and offering a sneak peek at their new upcoming shows!

If you head on over to iTunes, you can pick up the final episodes of last season’s Being Erica, Heartland and InSecurity for FREE!  Also included in the free promotion are previews of the new ten-part series Camelot and the all-new series Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Heartland fans will be extra excited by the fact that they’ll get a sneak peek at the show’s upcoming season!

Basically this deal offers three of my favourite things, FREE, TV and Being Erica.

’nuff said.

Click here to download the Fall TV preview!

While Jason Priestly‘s Call Me Fitz was never a huge ratings it, that didn’t seem to stop the HBO Canada series from dominating this morning’s Gemini nominations!  The show picked up 16 nominations, which is especially impressive considering that the show has only been on for one season!  Among it’s many nods, Jason Priestly was nominated for Best Actor and the show for Best Comedy.

CTV’s Flashpoint has a lot to celebrate this morning!  The show, which also airs on CBS, picked up a total of 17 nominations including best drama and best leading actor in a drama, for Enrico Colantoni.

The Geminis also fixed a huge wrong from last year, and nominated Being Erica’s main lady Erin Karpluk.  Fans will remember that after winning Best Actress two years ago, she wasn’t even nominated last year.

Also of note, Angela Asher and Peter Keleghan are both nominated for their roles in the now canceled 18 to Life. Being canceled didn’t seem to stop Showcase’s Endgame from being nominated for Best Drama either.

The Gemini’s will be handed out in Toronto on September 7th.

There probably isn’t any one that is more surprised and relieved that CBC’s Being Erica was renewed for a fourth and final season.  I’ve always been a big giant fan of the show, but last year’s ratings were so dismal, I totally didn’t think it would be able to survive CBC’s Fall 2011 schedule.

I was luckily very, very wrong.

The show, which is having an American counterpart developed for ABC, started filming season four this week and thanks to Erin Karpluk‘s twitter account, fans have been able to get a sneak peek at the beginning of the end.

If you’re an uberfan like me, you’ll be happy to know that Adam Fergus will be returning to finish his run as Adam, Erica’s newest and most troubled love interest. Earlier this week, he tweeted: “Day 1, Season 4 tmrw – A nice 5:30am p/up to get things started….”

Okay, so I few tweet pics isn’t much, but it still got me excited!  Can’t wait for the fourth season, which premieres in September!

CBC made some giant announcements about the 2011-2012 tv season even though the current season is only half done.  Talk about jumping the gun.  Either way, it’s great to get an early look at what the the new season will look and yes, there a quite a few surprises, including the fact that Being Erica has been renewed for a fourth season!  This surely comes as a shock to many people (sometimes including myself), who thought this show has seen its last patient.  Also surprising is the return of Little Mosque on The Prairie, which has long out grown its cutesy name.

Here’s some of the highs and lows of CBC’s big announcement!

Renewed:
22 Minutes, Battle of the Blades, Being Erica, Best Recipes Ever, Doc Zone, Dragons’ Den, the fifth estate, George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, Heartland, InSecurity, Little Mosque on the Prairie, Marketplace, The Nature of Things, Republic of Doyle, The Rick Mercer Report, The Ron James Show, Steven & Chris.

Canceled (presumably):
18 to Life, Men With Brooms, Village on a Diet, All for One with Debbie Travis and Just Four Laughs

New:
Mr. D, starring Gerry D,  Michael Tuesdays and Thursdays with Bob Martin,  Dealer to Leader with Kevin O’Leary and something called Cover Me Canada. God I hope that’s not a show about tattoos.

It’s been several weeks since the finale of Being Erica and fans of the show like me have now had sometime to deal that shocking season finale.  While naysayers are saying that the show won’t be returning for a fourth season, fans have their fingers crossed that the show’s shocking cliff hanger won’t remain unresolved.  So instead of waiting for CBC to make a decision, I went right to the source, executive producers Jana Sinyor and Aaron Martin, to get my burning questions answered!

Warning:  If you live in the USA, season three premieres tomorrow on SoapNet.  Spoilers galore can be found below. Here’s a sneak peek of tomorrow night’s premiere.

Bloggity: Okay, just tell us: Who is Erica’s first patient?
Jana and aaron: Kai. Ha-ha, just kidding. Or are we?

Bloggity: That’s not very helpful. Can you at least tell us if the patient will always be wearing gloves?
Jana and Aaron: Yes, it’s a new trend we’re hoping to start.

Bloggity: Do books about cat lullabies really exist?
Jana and Aaron: Aaron and I are writing one.  It’s our next exciting project.

Bloggity:What was your favourite episode of the season?
Jana and Aaron: We loved the finale – 312, as a finished product. We had the most fun writing the gay pride episode, 306. So much of this season was emotional and heavy, 306 was a lot of fun because it was silly and crazy and sexy and weird. And we like that stuff.

Bloggity: What was with that out of place Christmas episode?
Jana and Aaron: CBC wanted to do a holiday special, and it made sense to air it the week before Christmas. It’s a stand alone episode, something we’ve never done before. It turned out warm and fun and light – which is exactly what we were going for.

Bloggity: When will we know if Being Erica is coming back for season four.
Jana and Aaron: Soon, we hope. We’ve got our fingers crossed.

Bloggity:If Rick Mercer-forbids the show doesn’t come back, can you do a Being Erica season 4 via comic books (ala Buffy).
Jana and Aaron:Yes! That would be great.

Bloggity: Who is your choice for Erica Strange in the upcoming American adaptation?
Jana and Aaron: Erin Karpluk. No one else is Erica in our eyes.

Bloggity: Are you happy with the way CBC has been dealing with the show?
Jana and Aaron: Yes. They’ve been beyond supportive from day one. They take risks, they trust us, they get the show, and we feel that they are behind us 100%.

Bloggity: It seems like you never know who is going to knock on Erica’s door. Does her apartment have the worst security ever?
Jana and Aaron: Are  you kidding? How about the fact that Erica’s apartment and the hallway leading to it repaints itself every other episode. Erica’s apartment adds rooms between seasons, the kitchen changes, gets bigger and a window appears out of nowhere.

It’s no secret that Being Erica is probably on it’s last legs.  While bloggers like myself have done everything they can to promote the show, the ratings just never showed.  So as Erin Karpluk wraps up her third season as Erica Strange, it might not be a bad idea to start preparing your goodbyes.

BUT there is some good news.  Of course, this news being interpreted as “good” totally depends on the eye of the beholder. According to Variety, ABC is currently developing an American version of Being Erica.  The article says that Maggie Friedman (“Eastwick”) will write the U.S. version and exec produce. David Fortier and Ivan Schneeberg, who head up Toronto-based Temple Street Prods., which produces the original series, will also exec produce.

While I’m excited that the show will still see life in some form or another, I think it’s weird that they are re-making a show that already does quite well on American airwaves on SOAPNET.  I guess this is what fans of the original ‘The Office’ felt like!

There’s no word on casting but for the execs at ABC, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: Erin Karpluk made Being Erica. You know what to do.  (That, or cast in Grey’s Anatomy.)

This year’s Geminis were a who’s who of the best minds behind Canadian television.

The big winner of the night was HBO Canada’s Less Than Kind, which walked away with three awards, including Best Comedy.  The Best Drama went to the UK co-production of The Tudors.  I’ve never heard of The Cupcake Girls but they won Best Reality Show over Dragon’s Den and This House Has 22 Minutes won for best ensemble performance.  Flashpoint and Being Erica were essentially shut out!

As predicted, host Cory Monteith played the drums instead of singing. Besides that, I’ve read nothing buy glowing reviews for the Glee star for his role as MC!

The highlight of the night may have been the Degrassi reunion that say cast members from the last twenty years gather together to celebrate Degrassi being named Canada’s favourite show!  It definitely got my vote!

Here’s the list of this year’s Gemini Award Winners:

Best drama: The Tudors
Best comedy: Less Than Kind
Best actor, drama: Robert Carlyle, Stargate Universe
Best actress, drama: Caroline Cave, Cra$h and Burn
Best supporting actor: Clé Bennett, The Line
Best supporting actress: Catherine Disher, The Border
Best reality program: The Cupcake Girls
Best miniseries: The Summit
Best ensemble performance, comedy: Cathy Jones, Gavin Crawford, Mark Critch, Geri Hall, Shaun Majumder, This Hour has 22 Minutes.
Best music or variety program: 2009 MuchMusic Video Awards
Best host in a music or variety program: Michael Bublé, At the Concert Hall
Best actor, miniseries: Jared Keeso, Keep Your Head Up: The Don Cherry Story
Best actress, miniseries: Sun Li, Iron Road

If you’ve ever read this blog before you know that I couldn’t be more proud about being from Fredericton, New Brunswick.  Not only is it a beautiful city, it is also the home of Kel, the second person eliminated from Survivor: Australia.  (Remember him?  The Beef Jerky Guy?).

Anyway, Fredericton is an amazing place and besides failed reality stars, it also has produced some of the most amazing talent this country has ever seen.  (Shockingly, I’m not talking about myself.)

If you want an example of what I’m talking about, make sure you check out tonight’s Being Erica on CBC.  The episode features not one but TWO Fredericton actresses who are eqaully making their way up in the ranks of the Canadian acting world.  Anna Silk (Lost Girl) returns to Being Erica as Erica’s lesbian friend Cassidy.  As I say lesbian not to identify her but to help you remember that she once tried to seduce Erica…topless.

Natalie Roy makes her BE debut as one of Sam’s best friends.  Interestingly enough, these two Fredericton natives don’t have any scenes together but it will still be so much fun to see actresses from New Brunswick on such a great show.

Now all the show is missing is a cameo from Measha Brueggergosman.

Want a fun fact?  Natalie Roy and I were co-students of the year when we graduated high school!

Tonight’s Being Erica promises to be a great one as the gang finds themselves thrown into the middle of Toronto’s biggest party: Gay Pride!  If I’m being honest, I was supposed to have my brand new Erin Karpluk/Adam Fergus interview to post for this episode but I’m dreadfully behind.  I promise to have it up by next week’s episode, mmmkay?