Up In Arms: A Gem Of A Documentary

When a copy of a new TVO documentary was sent to me in late August I somehow found reasons not to watch it.
Then I noticed the name of the film maker --Nadine Pequeneza (15 To Life, Bomb Hunters)  --and curiosity got the best of me.
I can now report Up In Arms, a stinging commentary on the ominous transition to a gun culture in Canada is must viewing.
One of its strengths is the unusually long length --for contemporary Canadian television.
At 75 minutes it is by far too long for a CBC hour long slot (44 minutes plus 16 minutes of commercials).
So although I believe it is deserving of a national TV network slot I'm still grateful for TVOntario for showing it completely uncut.
You can watch it on TVO Wednesday September 23 at 9 p.m. Got that?
After watching I now believe this is the most important TV show to watch before deciding how you'll cast your ballot in the upcoming federal election --forget those silly and staged leaders' "debates".
My first reaction was one of complete surprise.
I had absolutely no idea the gun lobby was so powerful here --and it is growing by leaps and bounds.
First shock: there are 10 million privately owned guns in Canada.
I had to stop the tape and think about that for a few moments.
Pequeneza has done her homework, yes, and she has a definite point of view.
There's none of that balanced on-the-one-hand and on-the-other-hand.
At the same time she's very fair to everyone concerned.
She goes to gun shows and gets the points of view of the militant gun fanatics. She paints them as concerned and often very loquacious in defense of what they consider their rights.
She follows Tony Bernardo, executive director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association who is very well versed and hardly a fanatic.
We see how he is trying to get the new gun control act Bill C-42 through Parliament --ironically it is due tro come to a crucial debate just as Parliament is hit by a mad gun man.
Just as compelling is John Evers, Ontario Regional Director for the CSSA.
And considerable time is spent at the gun store run by grandmotherly Pauline Langois whose store Al Simmons Gun Shop has been in the same location for 40 years.
Balanced against these scenes are the ominous feelings of police chief Bill Blair who makes some great points about getting local initiatives started to keep teens off guns.
We get to know 18-year old Alex who grew up in Regent Park, did drugs in the lobby and on stairwells, in a gun culture made possible by illegal guns imported from the U.S.
Strangest scenes? The comments of a convicted U.S. gun smuggler now in a U.S, penitentiary who describes how he got his gun cargoes across an increasingly porous boundary.
The best thing about Pequeneza's approach is her slow, methodical style that gets us right into the debate and her refusal to go for quick fix answers.
She keeps us watching with fine editing and camerawork and her instinctive feeling for what makes the best camera shots.
The new TV season is only just beginning but I'm betting Up In Arms will be a contender for all kinds of awards by season's end.
UP IN ARMS PREMIERES ON TVONTARIO WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 23 AT 9 P.M.
MY RATING: ****.

Gotham Is Back For Season 2

 

Big news Monday night is the return of Gotham for its second season.
You can catch all the action on CTV Monday September 21 at 8 p.m. Got that?
Whether Gotham is better than season one is another matter.
One TV critic wisely noted that in this series the villains appear to have all the fun.
Remember this is a Barman prequel and the action is seen through the eyes of an increasingly precocious Bruce Wayne.
It seems to me that the dominating presence of Ben Mackenzie as James Gordon is deliberately dimming as villains pop up all over the place.
I liked the original pilot with its great atmosphere --the whole thing was shot like a Thirties thriller and art deco artifacts imbued ever scene.
But splendid  atmosphere can only get one so far and the series seemed to be lumbering along.
Ratings predictably plummeted and Fox then announced the second season would be themed "Rise Of The Villains".
Indeed the first new show looks at a crazy plot organized by the thugs to discredit Gordon and have him discharged from the police force.
Now it seems the great new anti-hero played persuasively by a wonderfully menacing James Frain as Theo Galavan is the new focal point.
Season Two's premiere titled "Damned If you Don't"  is still chock full of atmosphere. But the storytelling seems to be more of the same from the First Year.
I was a bit disappointed --I believed the PR turn about a new vision for a new year.
Here it is a month after Season 1 ended with Bruce trying to break into his father's secret bunker. The new season has Gordon demoted to traffic cop duty.
I'm not the only one out there who finds the series getting campy instead of letting the tension built --I can watch new co-star James Frain snarl all the time and be amused but it's not enough to build a show around.

I'd prefer a lot more character development mixed into the atmosphere. Sure, this is based on a comic book but that won't work for long in building a respectable TV audience.
Or am I wrong in taking it all too seriouskly --it's still stylish and well acted.
Beside Frain I liked Cory Michael Smith as Edward Nygma and his character's second mirror self. And Cameron Montague as The Joker is peerless.
Maybe I just wanted more. I know I'll keep watching, at least for a few more episodes.
Any show with great acting turns from Robin Lord Taylor and Donal Logue deserves every consideration,rigt?h.
GOTHAM SEASON 2 PREMIERES ON CTV MONDAY SEPTEMBER 21 AT 8 P.M.
MY RATING: ***.

Introducing Mitchell Kummen

It was sheer coincidence but there I was just sitting down to watch vimeos of the new CBC-TV series When Calls The Heart and the opportunity came to interview the young co-star of the show Mitchell Kummen.
I'd been hearing about When Calls The Heart for several years --it's a Hallmark TV series shot in B.C. with a Canadian theme.
There's a stalwart Mountie played by Daniel Lissing (he's actually Australian), there's Lori Loughlin who I first met decades ago on Full House and the recreation of turn-of-the century recreation is pretty impressive.
So why has this show already been seen in the U.S. and Britain but not on Canadian TV?
When I chatted up Lissing and co-star Erin Krakow at the CBC TV launch they seemed pleasantly surprised it was finally coming to Canadian TV.
Mitchell Kummen has the choice role of Gabe Montgomery on WCTH --the third season currents airs on US and UK TV.
Which means in the scenes I've caught him in he's more than two years younger than he is today, right?
He also has a strange resume in that he's played younger versions of big stars --he was the younger Daniel Radcliffe in Horns.
And he was a young Callum Keith Rennie in the TV series Shattered.
And he played Don Cherry as a young kid in the TV movie The Don Cherry Story.
Kummen says for WCTH a cool million dollars worth of nineteenth century era sets were built and the series certainly looks handsome.
When I met up with Lissing and Krakow both they were boldly predicting future seasons of the show and CBC reports initial ratings are sturdy.
Kummen says he has no problem memorizing the dozen pages of dialogue regularly needed for a TV series --he manages to read them with his mom and is a pretty quick study.
And if his acting career isn't enough Kummen reports he just might study quantum physics at university.
I was the very first TV critic on the set of Kids Of Degrassi Street in 1979, visited that series and spinoffs every year since then and note that some of those young actors grew up to become directors and screen writers in their own right.
Kummen reminds me of the teen star Andrew Bednarski who I used to interview on the set of the hit CTV series Katts And Dog (1987-1993) --he was 12 when he started and 17 when he"retired"  from the series to attenmd Queen's University.
His parents were both high school teachers who  provided expert home study and he sailed through Cambridge University ( PhD. in archaeology) financed by his salary which his parents banked and currently is on a dig in Egypt.
Getting that first big break is very important --one must also be tough enough to withstand rejection.

Then there was the twentysomething blonde on the 1980 TV set of B.A.D. Cats who was devastated when her show folded after 10 episodes.
And that's how Michelle Pfeiffer started in the biz --and is still around 35 years later.
Kummen is smart enough to have observed the work ethics of Radtcliffe who was friendly with everyone on set but also one of the hardest workers around --that kind of attitude works wonders on a busy production.
And currently Mitchell is also filming a second series (for UPtv in the U.S.) in B.C. titled Ties That Bind with Kelli Williams cast as his police detective mom and Jonathan Scarfe as his dad.
A Canadian sale is pending.
Did he say Jonathan Scarfe?
I first interviewed Jonathan Scarfe as a shy 19-year old for the high school series Madison in 1994.
So believe me based on what I've seen so far I expect to be interviewing Mitchel Kummen for years to come.

Discovery Canada's Fool's Gold Is Sheer Fun

I have this thing for Canadian TV reality shows.
Which is why I was excited to chat on the phone with Atikokan's Todd Ryznar who leads a rag tag bunch of prospectors in the often funny reality series Fool's Gold.
It revs up for a second season Monday September 8 on Discovery at 9 p.m.
Twelve half hour episodes were filmed --Discovery is running two of them back to back. 
This is the second season debut for these ingratiating reality stars and Todd says his new found fame gets a lot of getting used to.
Fans contact him on Facebook and they come not only from Canada but such countries as Sweden and Iceland where the show is also as hit.
The second season was made last summer --if it gets high enough ratings a third season just may be offered but it would have to be filmed next summer.
"We have to shut down operations come fall ," he explains. "It all depends on water pressure to get at the gold and there's a big freeze up starting in November."
Another season would certainly be welcome, Todd says, because all the money made from the show gets plowed right back into the business.
He purchased his mine in 2005 and has been working it "off and on"  ever since.
The mine at Straw Lake --which is near Fort Frances --was in full operation from 1933 to 1941 and then ceased production after some 11,000 ounces of gold were extracted.
In this year's shows Todd sets a goal of getting 10 ounces a week from the production --you figure out the prices with gold currently selling at $900 an ounce.
"I always thought I had the makings of a TV show," Todd says.
In fact he was such a believer he even shot a pilot himself in 2012 and took the material to the Banff TV Festival to try to get producers interested.
Essential Media Canada is the production company.
For one thing there's the strange line of work --the fact there still are gold prospectors out there in the wilderness is fascinating in itself.
And then there are the cast of characters.
"Characters --that's right," laughs Todd. He insists nothing is made up.
"We just go about our work while the TV crews shoots all day," he notes. "The second season it was so much more smooth. They even used a drone one day. We sort of forgot about them because we had so much work to get done."
Some of the boys have gold mining experience, others have none. What they all have is enthusiasm to get rich as quickly as possible which hasn't happened as yet.
This past year, says Todd, "the crew is scattered all over the place. I'm still there though and I'm still hopeful."
The company, Shotgun Exploration, is cash strapped to say the least.  The equipment is primitive until Todd invests in an expensive  rock blasting machine that can pulverize rocks a--the gold is inside and must be thoroughly washed at high speeds before it collects in buckets of water.
The crew even took to connecting via walkie talkies to be sure they're around for the dramatic or comedic highlights.
In one scene a haphazard wooden bridge is built to get a huge part of the equipment over a gulley --when it crashes hilarity ensues.
The cast includes Roj who seems to know something about metallurgy. And then there's Matt and Mikey, complaining they are expected to work hard but for a lesser stake of the profits. Their Mutt and Jeff routines are hilarious.
From time ti time Todd can be heard over the loudspeaker shouting at the boys: "Work!Work!"
And in another scene one of the boys hot from exerting takes a swim in the water supply --I'm hoping it isn't the drinking water.
Todd says he likes such reality outings as Duck Dynasty and also the Canadian made Yukon Gold "which isn't at all like our show."
I'm honor bound not to reveal any more plot but each half hour is tightly edited and very funny --viewers will be bond with these guys and hope they make it.
And if enough of us watch then there' can be a third season with the profits going back into the mine.
"I'd like it to continue," says Todd. "I think we've got lots more stories to tell."
FOOL'S GOLD 'S SECOND SEASON PREMIERES ON DISCOVERY CANADA TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 8 AT 8 P.M.
MY RATING: ***.

Where Are The Canadian TV Talk Shows?

So there I was the other day lunching with two of the most powerful Canadian TV producers in the business.
And as usual these days the talk started with an assessment of the departure of Jon Stewart whose presence late nights redefined the American talk TV landscape.
Here are snippets of what was said:
Me: "I can never understand why Canadian TV has no late night talk shows at all.
"A few years back at the CTV Upfronts Jon Stewart appeared on the screen live from his New York headquarters and began ribbing his hosts about the lack of Canadian shows on their primarily imported schedules! Boy did those executives visibly wince!"
Producer 1: "The only successful Canadian talk show when I was at CBC was Peter Gzowski. And he was continually trounced by the critics. But you know the longer he was on the better he got. Finally near the end he said what-the-hell and came out as battered and rumpled as he'd always been on radio. And that really worked.
Later Comedy had Mike Bullard and the budget was so low he didn't have a cordless mike so he couldn't walk into the audience."
Producer 2:"You see that's why it has always been cheaper to import shows than make our own. And after midnight there are no Canadian content regulations anyway."
Me:"But the fall TV lineups of CTV, Rogers, Shaw have no Canadian scripted shows at all. The claim is Canadian shows would get mowed down in the early on in the new season."
Producer 1: "I can't sell any series that is openly Canadian. Nobody wants it. Canadian TV movies have disappeared. CBC started a series on the Fathers of Confederation and it sank like a stone. It was cancelled after one episode."
Producer 2: "I watch Saving Hope and love it. It's made here with Canadian talent but it might be situated in any America city. I liked Rookie Blue, too, hardly 'must see TV' but still very professional."
Me: "CBC told me the only buyer for its TV movie on Don Cherry was Finnish TV--the fact is the rest of the world does not find us fascinating."
Producer 1: "Canadian TV is disappearing. The more channels we have the less Canadian TV there is."
Producer 2: "Jon Stewart's freedom to really go after politicians would not be allowed up here. Look at all Chretien and Harper did and TV criticism on CTV and CBC news was very muted."
Me: "But isn't American politics more exciting?"
Producer 1: "The love affair of Americans for all things American is very apparent on these shows. How often does Anderson Cooper cover something in Canada? Almost never."
Me; "Who's picking up the check?"
Producer 1: "I can. My new series is going into production --filmed here, of course, but set in the U.S."

I Remember Dick Van Patten

 

 So there I was in the dentist's chair when my favorite dentist stopped buzz sawing for a minute to whisper these words:
"What was Dick Van Patten really like?"
The question is not as far fetched as one might suppose.
I found how genial the round faced actor was with several set visits to Eight Is Enough over the years (it ran 1977-81)
And there were sequels and TV movies to keep the public attention.
In addition at the 50th anniversary of ABC in 1999 I was appropriately assigned to the Eight Is Enough table where Van Patten greeted me as a long lost friend.
Van Patten died a few weeks ago, aged 86, of complications from diabetes.
That night at his table was rather bizarre: all the kids and their spouses had gathered along with Van Patten and his lovely wife.
But few had worked as actors since the show went off.
Grant Goodeve had been on an afternoon soap for awhile he told me.
Willie Aames later managed a co-starring gig in Charles At Charge.
"We got typecast," explained Lani O'Grady who sat next to me --brother Don Grady toiled on My Three Sons.
She later became a TV agent like her mom but died of a drug overdose alone in her trailer in 2001.

Most of the evening I spent chatting up Van Patten.
"My TV credits go way back," he laughed. "So far back I was the teenager Nels on I Remember Mama which ran live every Friday night on CBS (1949-1957).
"I remember one time  Judson Laire who played papa forgot he was included in the last scene and walked off the set.It was live remember so Peggy Wood as mama said her lines to an open door and a stagehand responded on the other side as papa."
I reminded Van Patten when we had first met on the set in 1977 ABC had low expectations for the show.
"Oh, it wasn't at all realistic. We were presenting an idealized view of what a modern family should look like."
Biggest hurdle happened after the first season when Diana Hyland who played mom Joan Bradford died unexpectedly.
"I went off the deep end for a bit," he said. "We all did. Then the show went back into production and eventually Betty Buckley came on board as my second wife."
Buckley has since soared into a dynamite Broadway performer in such hits as Sunset Boulevard.
Van Patten told me he remainmed interested in all the bright young performers who portrayed his kids.
Later when Adam Rich (he was the youngest kid Nicholas) got into trouble with the law he went to live with Van Patten for a bit.
"Hey, I'm his second dad""laughed Van Patten who had three sons of his own.
When I told him I'd interviewed son James Van Patten on the set of his series Three For The Road Van Patten cracked :"I hope he was polite!:"
Van Patten, of course, had a huge career outside of Eight Is Enough but said being so identified as Tom Bradford"is OK with me."

Welcome To Discovery's Shark Week

 I always thought I knew quite a lot about sharks.
But it turns out after watching the first two hour long episodes of the new BBC miniseries Shark I obviously was very ill informed indeed.
To coincide with the 40th anniversary of the movie Jaws this sumptuously produced three part BBC documentary series opens up whole new worlds.
This is must see TV and in a dreary summer of never ending reruns you can catch Episode 1 and 2 Thursday July 9 starting at 8 p.m. on Discovery.one of the highlights of Shark Week.
In the first episode you'll meet the "tasselled wobbegongg" which camouflages itself in the coral reef to the extent it seems to be another pierce of coral.
It can even produce an enticing piece of "bait" that looks like a small fish --when other fish come too close it gulps them down.
Then there's the lonely Greenland shark living deep in the murky depth beneath the ice pack --it can live up to 200 years and subsists on dead polar bears and seals but is almost totally blind because of a parasite which eats out its eyes.
Then we move to Australia to meet the epaulette shark which when it finds itself high and dry on a beach calmly uses its fins as legs and walks back into the water.
Or what about the mako, a species of shark so fast it can swim with ease at 46 miles per hour to catch its prey.
Or there's the black tip who gather in great packs to round up a shoals of 10 million anchovie only to collectively gobble down their victims in one gigantic underwater massacre.
It was around then that I experienced a fright attack far more terrifying than watching the mechanical star of the movie Jaws.
The production took two solid years of filming --to photograph the elusive Greenland shark required drilling through eight feet of ice in temperatures of -20 C with the divers limited to 40 minutes in the freezing water or their oxygen supply might freeze.
Yes, there is quite a lot about the great white, the superstar of the shark world.
But here he must cede center stage to a wide variety of his kinsmen who are simply elusively wonderful.
There's the red-grilled frilled shark lurking in the shadows and looking like a cobra in  contrast to the goblin shark with its built-in sonar and an extendable mouth crammed with hundreds of teeth.
Strangest of all are the hammerheads with their eyes at the tips of their broad snouts --these ones existed even before the dinosaurs.
Discovery has 22 hours of shark programming over the week.
Starting Sunday Jul 5 at 7 p.m. Daily Planety with co-hosts Ziya Tong and Dr. Dan Riskin will have dozens of shark stories. The clip that was sent me about how sharks poop is not recommended for viewers who have not yet had their dinner.
SHARK PREMIERES ON DISCOVERY THURSDAY JULY 9 AT 8 P.M.
MY RATING: ****.