On CTV Action Is King

Prerelease is back as a force on Canadian TV.

It's the device whereby CTV is showing the new series Human Target two days earlier than the U.S. web Fox TV.

It seems like a new programming trick but at one time (say 25 seasons back) most Canadian networks preferred to prerelease their American shows based on the assumption Canadian viewers would want to catch them first on local stations.

When cable TV came in prereleasing was out and simulcasting in. Until now.

It actually makes sense for CTV to start off showing its new six part series Human Target before Fox.

The premiere is on Friday night at 10 before Fox runs the same episode Sunday night at 9.

Then a second episode will run in the usual CTV timeslot of Mondays at 10 with Fox running the same episode Wednesday nights at 9. Got that?

Human Target goes back to the days of cliffhangers. It stars an action hero named Christopher Chance (played by square jawed Mark Valley of Fringe).

There's more tension in the first hour than in any recent action flick I've seen but the question remains whether a weekly series can afford such expensive special effects.

A whole lot of money was spent on the opener. Will viewers be expecting this same quality every week?

The action begins with our buff hero strategically placing himself in front of a nut strapped with explosives who plans to blow himself up and everybody else around him.

The story then diverts to a speeding bullet train that flies by at 200 miles per hour but the breaks have been tampered with so a sprint through a tunnel will spark a mass derailment and a fireball to destroy all passengers..

If you think you've seen it all before, well you have. Human Target started out as a 1972 DC Action Comic and 20 years later was a short lived ABC TV series starring rocker Rick Springfield.

Fox is obviously test marketing this one to see if it can stand up to weekly scrutiny.

Co-starring with Valley as associates are Chi McBride (Pushing Daisies) and Jackie Earle Haley (Watchman) and in the first episode Vancouver native Emmanuelle Vaugier guest stars as the gal in distress on the train.

The action is never ending and one has to wonder how so much tension can be maintained on a weekly basis. You won't find much character development here. There's no time!

Valley rarely works up a sweat with all his heroics which are cagily pitched on a comic book level. And if you notice all the Canadians in the cast why that's only normal because the whole shebang was filmed in Vancouver.

Fox is obviously hoping after a slew of cerebral dramas it's time for a series that endlessly moves.

I kept thinking all this might really look impressive on a big theatrical screen.

However, I did keep watching right up to the end with the introduction of a big movie star name to frame the conclusion. I'm honor bound not to reveal his identity.

HUMAN TARGET PREMIERES ON CTV FRID. JAN. 15 AT 10 P.M. WITH THE FIRST REGULAR EPISODE ON CTV MOND. JAN. 18 AT 8 P.M.

FOX TV DEBUTS THE U.S. VERSION SUNDAY NIGHT AT 9 P.M. WITH THE FIRST REGULAR EPISODE ON WED. AT 9 P.M.

RATING: ***.

You can't go home again. Especially on TV.

That's what I always thought and I'm the TV critic who had to sit through numerous failed TV reunions over the years from the Father Knows Best get-together to a aborted attempt at pairing up Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper one more time.

So it was a shock to learn Kids In The Hall were reuniting on CBC-TV after a break of 15 years.

First thought: they're not kids anymore, are they?

But wisely the guys are not back as sketch artists but in an eight-part sitcom called Death Comes To Town which revs up Tuesday Jan. 12 at 8 p.m.

It's unlike anything they've ever attempted which means comparisons are out. And it seems to owe more to Paradise Falls and Corner Gas than anything else on Canadian TV.

Gone are all the old familiar characters. The toupe instead play a wide variety of local bumpkins in a small town called Shockton (really North Bay).

The premise is very much Bruce McCullough's --his comedic sensibility is all through the story and he co-wrote the scripts with Kevin McDonald.

The story opens with a pot bellied Death alighting from the local bus with a list of people he has to kill off. Mark McKinney plays Grim Reaper complete with leather jockstrap, a large false tooth and a leather cape. And that huge stomach.

Running the town is an odious small town politician played zestfully by McCullogh; hizzonner walks into a local greasy spoon and eats fries off one patron's plate and steals a burger from another guy and for all this he's applauded.

When the missus says she put on weight after their son arrived he reminds her the kid was adopted.

"It was sympathy weight," she snaps back.

His goal in politics is to claim the 2028 Winter Games for Shockton. But at home he's hooked up with an alcoholic wife (Dave Foley) and an autistic kid he labels "retarded".

McCullough also plays Rusty the town blimp, a huge guy in a bed who orders pizzas and dreams of the time he was the town hockey fave before he let everybody down. He's also a diminutive cop who shouts murder and then runs.

Scott Thompson is hilarious as the town drug addict who tries to get by on his claim he is discriminated against because he's 1/16th aboriginal.

But he's just as funny as "Heather Weather" the ditzy local TV weather gal who tries to inject a little rain and sunshine into ever story she reports on.

And he's also the balded coroner Dusty who investigates a murder and orders everything to immediately be bagged. And he's also the local abortionist who says business is booming because of the young people in town.

Scott Foley also plays a frizzy haired cleaning attendant at the local motel where the devil is staying.

McKinney is also a female promiscuous local news reporter and a scardey cat cop.

And McDonald is great as a weasley blonde-haired TV technician. He's also a pizza delivery gal with short term memory loss.

The sight gags are often so bad they're good and the dialogue rife with triple entendres.

I think the "Kids" made a fine decision in tackling something new instead of going back in time and competing with their younger selves.

This time I hope they're back for good.

DEATH COMES TO THE TOWN PREMIERES TUESD. JAN. 12 AT 9 P.M. ON CBC-TV.

RATING: ***.

It Just Didn't Work

NBC has finally conceded it made one of the most massive programming errors in TV history.

The peacock proud network has pulled the plug on Jay Leno's 10 p.m. prime time talk show after just five months.

The ploy to run Leno against top rated CBS and NBC dramas didn't make it on so many levels.

The Leno show ends Feb. 12 when NBC switches to Winter Olympic coverage. And after that?

Its still not clear what Leno and Conan O'Brien will do. If you watched the normally affable Conan on Friday night he's fighting mad while Leno has been making snide remarks about the climate over at FOX being oh so much better.

But Leno at 10 did exactly what NBC had predicted. The show was making money even though ratings were abysmally low.

What NBC did not count on was a full scale rebellion by its affiliates who are complaining Leno at 10 provided no audience flow into their 11 p.m. local newscasts which began suffering in the ratings. And the affiliates make much of their profits out of local news.

And moving Conan an hour earlier to 11:30 also proved to be a flop. The red headed guy has been steadily losing viewers to CBS's Letterman.

NBC's solution: move Leno back to 11:30 but only in a half hour format.

But Conan has a "play me or pay me" clause worth up to $45 million that says he can't be moved from his Tonight berth and he's resisting the move to midnight.

And what will NBC do at 10 p.m. Sources say Law & Order can be moved there but what about the other nights. It takes years to grow dramatic franchises. Remember this whole mess started when NBC's 10 p.m. dramas began failing miserably.

How Old Is Old?

At first glance the new British made documentary World's Oldest Mom seems to be on the frivolous side.

Actually the "Mom" in the title was originally "Mum" which somehow seems to suit an older woman, right. Relax, I'm just kidding.

Producer-Director Amanda Blue seems to have done most of this on her own (she even photographed it). She starts off with the news of a 70-year-old Indian mother giving birth and thus succeeding to the oldest mom title.

Her decision to try in vitro fertilization was greeted with applause in India where having children is part of the culture. The new mom had spent 50 years as a childless wife.

Around the same time a 66-year-old British woman gave birth and the nation seemed positively appalled.

Callers to an open line radio program ranted that she was going against the laws of nature. And many wondered what would happen to her kid --when it came time to graduate from university mom would be around 87.

So Blue did some traveling with her camera. First off she interviewed a retired British biologist determined to have a baby at 72. Now the mood of the hour turns inward as she's continually turned down and reduced to phoning fertility clinics in the Ukraine.

Next up it's a visit to India and the Indian mom of 70 who still suffers bleeding and fatigue from her pregnancy and still must tend to her cattle and hope her husband's other wife looks after the daughter should she die along the way.

And then it's to the American West where a 53-year-old gave birth to twins 17 years ago and at 70 water skies with her girls. When she finally tells them she's not their biological mother (her husband supplied the sperm but another woman's eggs were used) the daughters are very conflicted.

And then it's on to Spain for a visit with a 66-year-old mom who gave birth to twins but six months later discovered she had cervical cancer. She died before the program aired in Britain. Her brother thinks she may have been selfish because the twins must now grow up without parents.

There's lot to think about in this one. Because some new procedure is available should it really be used? And by whom? Technology may be surging ahead of morality and when should it be stopped?

THE WORLD'S OLDEST MOM PREMIERES ON THE PASSIONATE EYE ON CBC NEWS NETWORK MOND. JAN. 11 AT 10 P.M.

RATING:***

A New Medical Drama And It's Canadian!

Don't ask me why but Canadian TV has always avoided that series staple --the medical melodrama.

The last homegrown one I can think of was Side Effects which had a short run on CBC in 1994. It had the bad luck to debut the same season as ER and Chicago hope roared onto North american TV screens and quickly disappeared..

Canadian viewers were not impressed by this badly plotted mess which even had Street Legal expatriates Albert Schultz and Cynthia Dale in the sprawling cast.

Now comes another medical epic but it's decidedly better in almost every way.

And it's on Canadian cable as another indication the way quality drama has virtually withered away on the old line networks.

Based on the Giller Prize winner Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam this one has an authenticity missing in such popular fare as Gray's Anatomy.

The set looks completely real and I'm thinking it might be an abandoned hospital. The medical staff arent't freshly cosmeticized but frequently sweaty and harassed. And the love triangle is presented in a way that makes it achingly real.

But at the center this is a love triangle between the principal medicos. The book went through the seven years it takes from medical school through internship but that's not always clearly expounded in the hour opener (there are eight episodes).

Shot beautifully and seamlessly over the summer of 2009, the look is comparable or even better than anything seen in competition on the U.S. networks.

Shawn Ashmore compellingly stars as the young ER doctor Fitz torn between his profession and love for another young student Ming (played by Mako Nguyen) who very quickly has married another intern Chen (Byron Mann) on the rebound.

Perhaps the initial hour tries to pack in too much narrative which isn't presented in a straightforward progression but hops and skips back and forth. But as we get to know these three driven young people we feel something has gone awry for them.

Ming is trying to get pregnant using Fitz as the sperm donor and not her husband. And Fitz has been off in Peru and other countries rather than accepting the ER position he was offered.

Ming obviously loves both men but is driven by the demands of her traditionalist father to concentrate on her studies and marry within her race. But Chen seems the most enigmatic character of all, so tightly coiled he lashes out at patients who persist in silly questions.

And he feels Ming and Fitz are obviously still in love when he sights them hugging in a parking lot reunion -look on his face is devastating.

One caveat: there are two "dream sequences" in the opener that are confusing to say the least --they dramatize the inner feelings of participants but for viewers could prove irksome as well as confusing.

Racel Talalay directs the first episode like a movie making it exciting to watch (veterans Kari Skogland , Erik Canuel and Gail Harey are the other helmers).

Nguyen is sensationally fine, completely believable as the object of desire of two friends. Mann (Drahon Boys) smolders internally as the tortured one who could burst emotionally at any time.

Watching Ashmore so successfully play the alcoholic Fritz reminded me of the swift passage of time.

I first interviewed him way back in 2000 when he was still young enough to pass as a high schooler in the Disney series In A Heartbeat all about EMT students helping their community.

That was the same year he scored in X-Men and in 2005 he excelled as Terry Fox in the TV movie remake.

And unlike others I have never mistaken him for his identical twin, actor Aaron Ashmore (Jimmy Olsen on TV's Smallville).

The eight hours was made by Shaftesbury Films (ReGenesis, Dr. Murdoch Mysteries) which concentrates on upscale Canadian drama and has prospered accordingly.

Is there going to be enough story for a possible second season or will it be all over in eight hours? Stay tuned as they say in the biz.

BLOODLETTING & MIRACULOUS CURES PREMIERES ON HBO CANADA ON SUNDAY JAN. 10 AT 8 P.M.

RATING: *** 1/2.

Are Jay Leno's Prime Time Nights Numbered?

The American TV industry magazines are filling up with rumors of Jay Leno's prime time demise.

According to some NBC sources the peacock proud network is dissatisfied with Len's picayune ratings and has ordered up a record 18 new pilots for the fall, an indication Leno's tenure is threatened.

According to The New York Post when Leno goes on hiatus for the Winter Olympics he won't be returning to his 10 p.m. slot but rather back to his old 11:30 p.m. Tonight time.

What this means for Conan O'Brien (currently at 11:30) or Jimmy Kimmel (at 1 .m.) remains unclear.

Leno currently averages 6 million nightly viewers which is unacceptable to the affiliates because 10 p.m. is traditionally the most watched hour of the prime time schedule.

What's apparent is a revolt of NBC affiliates concerned about the disastrously low ratings which are severely impacting their 11 p.m. local news casts.

NBC honcho Angela Bromstad is quoted as saying the network has ordered its most pilots since 2003 to fill the schedule's many holes and helping to rebuild the schedule.

One theory is attributed to Newsday: that NBC will be bumping Leno on Thursdays and Fridays at 10 to make way for its new version of The Rockford Files.

The new owners of NBC have to be dissatisfied with the network's slow prime time ratings decline especially as this is the season ABC and CBS have roared back with a bunch of new hour dramas.

And NBC has a few rapidly aging hits which may not last much longer including The Office and Law And Order.

One theory I've heard calls for Leno to front a single hour variety and talk show next season much as Jack Paar and Steve Allen did after leaving the Tonight Show.

NBC can't allow the situation to slide. Both ABC and CBS are up in the ratings this season because of the NBC slump.

Another British Spin Off For Canadian TV?

Quick! Can anybody think of a British series that got a Canadian TV spin off?

Well, I can, so there. Let's time travel way back to the time CTV had a Canadian version of The Avengers starring our own Linda Thorson.

And currently running on HGTV there are homegrown versions of two U.L. hits: The Unsellables and Colin And Justin.

So it was just a matter of time before we got How To Look Good Naked Canada, right?

Here's where I admit I never watched a full edition of the original British edition.

But I did catch the premier episode of HTLGC with Canadian host Zain Meghji.

The poster arts hows Meghji peering over a clothes line of women's panties but the show is anything but exploitative.

"First we advertised in the papers, that sort of thing," Meghji tells me. "The response was huge."

Then prospective candidates were interviewed and a spectrum selected --no two women could be the same type.

The fourth episode to be made is actually the first out of the box and that makes sense becauseMenghji and crew needed time to come up with the formulas.

Made by Insight Productions for W Network, this one is pleasant enough and has a few surprises.

"First of all we're not saying new clothes, new hairdo are going to solve anybody's problems," Menghji explains. "But it might jump start a person, I think that's entirely possible."

I'd guestimate Meghji is in his early thirties and he's always impeccably under dressed in this show although he adds the clothes are his own.

But I remember once watching him walk up Yonge Street in grungy attire. However, he still looked spiffy and seemed oblivious to the stares from E! fans.

He was then a featured interviewer on E! and his unenviable job was to chatter up very tired movie stars who were doing a full day's worth of promotions for their latest celluloid epic.

Instead of the usual industry p.r. Menghji got them laughing at something weird that happened or asked them if they'd behaved as outrageously as their characters in private.

I had typecast him as an entertainment reporter which may be one reason he took a walk in June and settled into this very different show.

"Each week there's a different woman and we'll show how they can face their flaws and come out looking great. With the first one, Jillian, I was surprised how fast she got into the groove. When a guy says she has great breasts it makes her day. Others were decidedly harder to turn around. It usually wasn't that simple."

Single mom Jillian has given up on dating and schleps around in unbecoming, baggy clothes and a hairdo that doesn't suit her. She splashes on some water on her face in the morning and walks around sans makeup and that's it.

Meghji goes through the whole routine of redressing her to de-emphasize her flaws and instead highlights her strong points. Being chubby and tiny she needs clothes that show off her other assets,

And yes there is a segment with a nude appearance on a ramp --way out in Markham for some reason (I forget).

Meghji grew up in Vancouver, has been involved in the entertainment side since he directed plays at UBC. Later he taught drama to high school students in Swindon.

He has a real flair for interviewing people and should go far. He says he wondered what might happen if a man got the same treatment for one episode. But it wouldn't be the same kind of series at all, would it.

And women viewers would tune out in jealousy, I suspect.

There are 13 hour episodes in the first year.

Later on somebody should really attempt a follow up episode looking at how far the women have come. Or have any regressed?

HOW TO LOOK GOOD NAKED CANADA PREMIERES ON W NETWORK TUESD. JAN. 5 AT 10 P.M.