Sort Of had such an outstanding debut last fall on CBC and HBO Max. There is some new energy for Season 2 where Amanda Brugel will come in to play 7ven’s (Amanda Cordner) mother. That should be a lot of fun.
Scott Thompson (Kids in the Hall) will appear as Bryce, a wealthy investor and potential business partner. Raymond Cham Jr. will play Wolf, Deenzie’s (Becca Blackwell) offspring.
The family unit returns: children Violet (Kaya Kanshiro) and Henry (Aden Bedard) and their parents Paul (Gray Powell) and Bessy (Grace Lynn Kung). Bessy spent most of Season 1 in a coma but that will change in Season 2.
Sort Of is airing in back-to-back episodes Tuesday nights, starting tonight at 9 pm local time on CBC. CBC Gem is streaming the show as of today. Those who watch Sort Of on HBO Max in the United States will have to wait until December 1.
Bilal Baig has a much better shot at getting nominated for an acting award now that the Canadian Screen Awards will have awards for lead and supporting performances in the drama and comedy categories that are not split off by gender. Though the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television made a terrible mistake in reducing the number of nominees from 10 to 8 in each category.
High School is the TV adaptation of the memoir from the Canadian indie pop duo Tegan and Sara. Clea DuVall, along with Tegan and Sara, created the show.
The memoir of the same name came out in 2019.
This show isn't considered Canadian even though this is literally a Canadian story. Tegan and Sara, besides being amazing singers and songwriters, have a really intriguing story.
There is a lot of relevant music from that time as part of the unofficial soundtrack.
There are a few Canadians in the cast. Amanda Fix, who was marvelous in North of Normal, is in the primary cast. Cobie Smulders plays the mother of Tegan and Sara. Recurring Canadian cast members include Jayne Eastwood and Nikki Rae Hallow.
We included a link to the Clea DuVall interview on Q with Tom Power in the Twitter capture.
The program airs on Freevee in the United States and Amazon Prime Video in Canada.
We try to write about Canadian television even with shows that aren't as accessible. Hudson & Rex on Citytv has been particularly non-accessible.
The program is the major Canadian TV show for Citytv in a sea of Canadian knock-offs from American shows, such as Canada's Got Talent.
If you are visiting the United States from Canada, you can log into the Web sites (ABC, Fox, etc.) and watch over-the-air television. Same thing if you are visiting Canada, you can watch shows on CTV and Global, since they are over-the-air networks. So your humble narrator figured to watch Citytv by being on Canadian soil.
Uh, no.
The Citytv site, at first, would only let me watch the last episode. Didn't care. Then, the site required a cable or satellite authentication — for an over-the-air network. Also, my Airbnb had a Roku setup with apps for CTV and Global, but not Citytv. Of course, you can watch CBC shows in Canada on CBC Gem.
Part of the curiosity behind this program is that Hudson & Rex is all the way up to Season 5, unlike a lot of Canadian television shows. I got a friend who got me a Hudson & Rex episode from Season 5.
The obvious comparison is Republic of Doyle, since both shows shoot in St. John's in Newfoundland. Put that out of your mind since there is little comparison other than similar space.
Charlie Hudson (John Reardon), the Hudson & Rex human partner, is milquetoast at best. Rex (Diesel vom Burgimwald) has slightly more charisma than Hudson.
Chief of Forensics Sarah Truong (Mayko Nguyen) deserves a better show as does Superintendent Joseph Donovan (Kevin Hanchard). When Donovan tells the sister of the victim to have faith in Hudson, you almost want to laugh instead of the seriousness the show is going for in the moment.
IT Specialist Jesse Mills (Justin Kelly) feels like he belongs on this show.
You could tell us that a single episode from Season 5 isn't a good indicator. Fair point but this is what we have to go with for now. Feel free to defend the show in the comments.
We are much more excited about a new Citytv Canadian TV show debuting this TV season.
Wong & Winchester features Marissa Wong (Grace Lynn Kung) and Sarah Winchester (Sofia Banzhaf), an ex-cop and a naive former university student who partner as detectives.
We talk about reasons to come to Canada: legal marijuana, poutine, abortion, a different sensibility. Watching Season 3 of Mary Kills People, the lone season that hasn't made it to the United States, or Season 3 of Jann, also not available in the States: not a huge reason to cross the border but that could be further down the list. A way to pass a winter weekend in Canada.
A fond farewell to Diggstown, ending its run on CBC after 4 seasons. The series finale airs tomorrow night on CBC at 8 pm local time.
A show has been notable with a Black female lead (Vinessa Antoine) with Black producers (Floyd Kane, creator and executive producer) and Black directors (including Cory Bowles). The show also was a rare legal drama where lawyers fought for those who really needed help.
Maybe Fox was waiting until all the episodes had aired in Canada to then run the show in the United States. The U.S. network announced almost 2 years ago that the program would be picked up. For those who think we are a little obsessed, don't announce on my birthday you did something great and then not do it.
U.S. viewers can catch up on Diggstown through BET+, though Season 4 isn't yet available on the U.S. streaming service. Canadians can watch all 4 seasons on CBC Gem.
David Suzuki has been hosting The Nature of Things since October 24, 1979. Suzuki is stepping away from the show in the spring to focus on activism and calling out BS, in his words.
Suzuki has made an amazing impact on the show. The show itself has been around for 62 seasons.
"I have been fortunate to have been endowed with good health which has enabled me to remain the host of the series long after my 'best before date'," said Suzuki.
Matt Galloway with The Current has an extensive interview with Suzuki on CBC Radio One.
We will be curious as to the new direction for the show.
Fakes is not the strongest Canadian TV show on U.S. television but you might be in the young person demo. Zoe (Emilija Banarac) and Becca (Jennifer Tong) start and end up losing a fake ID empire. That might seem like a spoiler but that info comes up in the first 5 minutes of the opening episode. Zoe is the good and smart one while Becca is the party animal.
More about the ride than the result. Any previous CW comparison based on really pretty people: well, the show is smarter and has a lot more swearing than the CW would allow (as we saw with Trickster).
Banarac and Tong, both Canadian, have a nice chemistry. Wish their characters were more realistic instead of the simplistic shy versus over the top aspects of their personalities.
Vancouver is a beautiful co-star in the show.
Fakes is available on CBC Gem in Canada and Netflix in the United States.
Twitter captures: @CBCComedy; @teganandsara
photo credits: Sort Of/CBC; Hudson & Rex/Citytv
