Mike's Bloggity Blog

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.

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!

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?

Check out the amazing cover for the new Pinups for Pink 2011 calendar. Recognize the cover girl?  Yup, that is Being Erica’s Erin Karpluk looking STUNNING!  Wowza.  She is worth the $28 for the calender alone.

100% of the proceeds generated from the smokin’ hot calendar will be donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. In addition to Karpluk, the calendar features some of Vancouver biggest rising starts including Erin Ireland, ET Canada’s Erin Cebula, Shaw TV’s Fiona Forbes and Olympian Ashleigh McIvor.

If you ever struggle with trying to find a Christmas gift with meaning, I think this just might be it.

Click here to order your calendar!

Being Erica‘s third season premiere just finished and what did I tell you, was it shocking or was it SHOCKING?  We found out what was behind the door (group therapy!), Erica got a new office (goblins), a new crush (Adam!) and someone doesn’t think Dr. Tom is doing a very good job (Nadia!). Bet you didn’t see that stuff coming!?

If there is one thing that Being Erica is good at it is covering a lot of ground in 43 minutes.  So to help explain a little more about the episode, I asked series-star Erin Karpluk to help break it down!

Now what we know what is behind the green door.  What did you think was going to be behind the last season’s big mystery?!
Oh gosh!  I was just so curious what they would write.   Part of me was like, “Is it just a rabbit hole and just falls for eternity?” And unless we got cancelled, that wouldn’t be very exciting.  I was wondering if there was going to be a development in time-travel but when I got the script, I was like, “Aha!  There we go!”

We found out that she is now in phase 2 of therapy and that phase 3 of therapy is becoming a doctor. Think you’re ready?
I don’t think Erica is anywhere near ready to be a doctor!  That I know for sure! She has no right giving advice to someone…yet. She’s getting there and if it is the grand scope of things, it’s not going to happen this season.

Erica got to visit a new character’s past.  Adam seem to have a lot of stuff going on, what can you tell us about him?
Adam (Adam Fitzpatrick) is definitely that masculine part that we’ve brought to the show.   He’s got a very assertive energy that balances out Erica.  He really challenges Erica.  He is going through therapy himself and he has a darker past, more like Dr. Tom.  Him and Erica are very different but they learn a lot from each other.  And as we saw in the first episode, they get to go back into each other’s past and help each other.   It is kinda like field trips.

Would you say Adam in the new Kai?
Hmmmm.  Yup.  I would say that.

Things changed for Erica pretty much right away.  How she’s handling it?
The huge thing in the premiere was Erica’s bewilderment that Dr. Tom has other patients.   There is a certain amount of resentment and jealously in thinking she is the only one.  Then she walks into this room and sees that Dr. Tom has been doing these treatments with other people.  The whole episode was really about expressing yourself fully, which I think we really saw in Erica as it progressed.

What can you tell us about the other people in in group therapy with you?
Rebecca (Melanie Scrofano) has been there the longest.  She was an actress who didn’t make and now she owns a clothing store in Kensington.  Jeff’s (Fab Fabrizio) character is a little of a science nerd, a little bit quieter.  He’s been there quite a while.  Camilla (Kim Roberts) is bus driver who was an alcoholic who almost ran a bus into a pole.  And then Adam came from a violent background and now he is a gardener.

What’s group therapy been like so far?
It really reminds me a lot of being in an acting class, you know where you put your trust into everyone and you having your acting teacher.   This adds a lot of different levels to it and it’s nice to have other people to go back with, now we have all these people.

Days after the Emmys, Canadian’s attention have now turned towards our own television sets with the Geminis!  Don’t sigh, the Geminis are cool. No really, seriously, stop rolling your eyes.  It is the Geminis people!

This year the Geminis are celebrating their 25th anniversary in Toronto by announcing hundreds of nominees in dozens of categories all having to do with Canadian television productions.

Click here to read the entire list of nominees.

But with so many nominations, I thought I break some down for you.

Being Erica (Six nominations)
My fave series about our dearest little time-traveller should be really happy with their six nominations including for Best Male Actor Michael Riley.  But the most shocking bit of news is that last year’s winner Erin Karpluk didn’t get nominated!!!  Uhh…what?  I nearly spit out my Honey Nut Cheerios when I read this!  Seriously shocked. Obviously this is a huge mistake.  You should expected the nominations to be retracted any minute….right?  RIGHT?!?!  (Single tear.)

Melinda Shankar from Much’s Degrassi scored a nominated for Best Performance in a Children’s Program…but not for Degrassi. She is also the star of How To Be Indie and that’s what she got nominated for!  With her nomination, we should now officially have her on lock-down so the CW can’t steal another one of our actresses.

Poor Jay Onrait.  One the funniest broadcasters was nominated for Best Sportscaster/Anchor but he’ll face some heavy competition from my secret best friend Brian Williams who pretty much should have gotten his own gold medal for his coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.  But what is working for Onrait is that he has an awesome twitter account.  That has to count for something.

The awards will be handed out on November 13th.