Realityeo.com

Because I love television. How about you?

Month: July 2020

The heart goes on, this queen not so much on ‘Canada’s Drag Race’

July 31, 2020 /
Clockwise from bottom left: Rita Baga as Edith Piaf, BOA as Gypsy Rose Blanchard, Jimbo as Joan Rivers, Scarlett BoBo as Liza Minnelli in the first Canadian Snatch Game. PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

SPOILER ALERT: DON’T READ THIS UNLESS YOU’RE COOL WITH LEARNING THE RESULTS OF EPISODE 5 OF “CANADA’S DRAG RACE.”

Can we talk?

Canada had its first ever “Snatch Game” on Thursday night and, thanks to Jimbo doing a hilarious Joan Rivers and a few other excellent impersonations, it was a hoot.

I mean, I had never seen JoJo Siwa before (sorry, I missed “Dance Moms”), but Lemon cracked me up as the over-enthusiastic teenager. Ditto with porn star Rebecca More — Ilona Verley earned some genuine laughs impersonating the bawdy Brit (Brooke Lynn Hytes: “Spell cock”; Ilona as Rebecca: “C-ock”). Rita Baga was fantastic as a cranky, sleepy version of French singer Edith Piaf and Scarlett BoBo did a decent Liza Minnelli.

(Don’t take my word for it. Check it out on Crave if you haven’t seen the episode yet.)

Lemon killed as JoJo Siwa of “Dance Moms” fame. PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

But what the hell happened to Priyanka? Even though I had never heard of psychic Miss Cleo I figured Priyanka was going to kill it given her triumphs in the ‘Her-itage Moments” and “Canada Gay-M” challenges. Instead she was like a deer in the headlights whenever Brooke Lynn came to her for answers. 

Priyanka claimed she was good at improv as a former kids’ TV host. I guess children are way easier to please than a bunch of drag queens and a couple of gay designers (hello Colin and Justin).

What’s that Priyanka? The Toronto queens are “dropping like flies”? No shit. Priyanka ended up in the bottom two but survived the lip sync against Montreal’s Kiara.

I’ve had Priyanka figured for top three or four, at least. Maybe Miss Cleo would know . . . er, never mind.

Thursday solidified Victoria’s Jimbo and Montreal’s Rita Baga as the front-runners. They’re both smart, quick-witted and inventive on the runway.

Speaking of the runway — “Night of a Thousand Celines” as in Dion — Jimbo was a hit there too as she recreated Celine Dion’s 2019 Paris Fashion Week look. Together with her Snatch Game triumph, it won Jimbo the maxi-challenge.

Jimbo does Celine Dion’s Paris Fashion Week outfit, but way sparklier. PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Jimbo’s wasn’t my favourite look, however. That was Priyanka, who started out in a replica of Dion’s over-the-top 1994 wedding dress and fur cape then stripped off to reveal a copy of her gold gown from the 2016 Billboard Music Awards.

Rita Baga did a double look too — the white Eurovision coat dress from 1988 and a sparkly black mini dress from Dion’s tour that same year — but it wasn’t as impressive as Priyanka’s.

Given Priyanka’s runway excellence, I don’t get how she ended up in bottom two instead of BOA, who underwhelmed the judges with both her Snatch Game and her copy of Dion’s fringed Met Gala dress. Maybe it’s just me.

Kiara had a nice look — a sparkly, ruffly version of Dion’s little black 2019 album release dress — but her Snatch Game was just as bad as Priyanka’s. Let’s just say if you have a strong Quebecois accent, imitating a celeb who doesn’t sound French is not the best call. Kiara might have redeemed herself with a clever answer or two to Brooke’s questions, but she had nothin’.

However, she definitely left it all on the stage in an epic lip sync to Dion’s version of “I Drove All Night” — perhaps a little too much as there were moments she looked frantic. Priyanka struck a better balance between tricks and emoting for the win.

Kiara and Priyanka lip sync for their lives on “Canada’s Drag Race.” PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

And can I pause here and say I loved comedian Mary Walsh as guest host? (Mary to Brooke: “Miss Brooke Lynn Hytes, have you ever tasted cod tongue?” Brooke: “I’m sorry, I don’t speak East Coast lesbian.”)

The episode marked another first for Canada’s drag queens: the first reading session. Lemon won that mini-challenge, but I would have given it to Rita Baga. After all, she had the audacity to read Brooke Lynn: “I’m very grateful that we have this opportunity to do ‘Drag Race’ so finally a Canadian can win ‘Drag Race.'” That’s gotta take balls, tucked or untucked.

Anyway, if you want to talk about being shady, next week the seven remaining queens have to tell the judges which of their fellow queens should go home and why. Until then . . .

Catch “Canada’s Drag Race” Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Crave.

Watchable the week of July 27, 2020

July 27, 2020 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: The Umbrella Academy (July 31, Netflix)

From left, Aidan Gallagher, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Tom Hopper, David Castaneda
and Ellen Page in Season 2 of “The Umbrella Academy.” PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Netflix

As fun as the first season of “The Umbrella Academy” was, it could be a little bleak too, given the hostility between the adopted Hargreeves siblings.

In Season 2, the superpowered sibs still have some trust and daddy issues (who wouldn’t, being raised by an icy-hearted taskmaster like Reginald Hargreeves?), but there’s a little more light at the end of the dysfunctional tunnel.

We catch up with the six of them, plus deceased brother Ben (Justin H. Min), in Dallas, Texas, in the early 1960s. That’s where they all ended up after Number Five (Aidan Gallagher) used time travel to save them from the apocalypse caused by Vanya (Ellen Page) shooting a hole in the moon. But each landed on a different day, beginning with Klaus (Robert Sheehan) and Ben in February 1960, culminating with Number Five on Nov. 25, 1963.

Yes, that’s three days after the assassination in Dallas of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, a historical event that intersects with the academy’s attempts to prevent another apocalypse, which Five sees unfolding the day he lands.

Each sibling has a life of sorts in the new time period. Klaus has become the leader of a cult; Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) is married and part of the civil rights movement; Luther (Tom Hopper) is a nightclub bouncer and bare-knuckle fighter; Diego (David Castaneda) ends up in a mental hospital, although not for long; Vanya is a nanny for a farm family and she has amnesia, which means she’s no longer trying to kill everyone.

The new connections they form allow for some character growth and introduce new cast members, including Ritu Arya (“Humans”) as Diego’s new sidekick from the mental hospital, Lila. There’s also a new trio of Commission assassins, the Swedes, led by Canadian actor Kris Holden-Ried (“Lost Girl”).

The siblings also revisit characters who were lost to them in Season 1, including Reginald Hargreeves (Canadian-American actor Colm Feore), who is alive in this timeline and figures into the plot to save the world (again). And a certain scene-stealing Commission bigwig returns (no spoiling the surprise here) to mess with Five’s plans.

Feore isn’t the only one who gets more screen time this season. Canadian Ken Hall, one of two actors who brought talking chimp Pogo to life, is back as Commission analyst Herb. And Ben, despite being dead, gets far more to do, playing a key role in one of the most dramatic developments as well as the season’s most heartbreaking scene.

Don’t puzzle too hard over timelines and paradoxes and the like. The series maintains its entertaining blend of kick-ass action, comedy, pathos, relationship drama and great music (there’s a scene in a hair salon with Allison, Klaus and Vanya that may put you in mind of Season 1’s “I Think We’re Alone Now”) — and it gets a boost from the change of time and place.

The Go-Go’s (July 31, 9 p.m., Crave)

From left, Belinda Carlisle, Kathy Valentine, Charlotte Caffey, Jane Wiedlin and Gina Schock
on the cover of Rolling Stone in a scene from “The Go-Go’s.” CREDIT: Showtime

If you think of the Go-Go’s as mere MTV-spawned 1980s pop stars, then consider this documentary by Alison Ellwood essential viewing. It makes a persuasive case for why it’s way past time for this group of five women to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (like seriously, WTF?). 

Did you know the Go-Go’s got their start in the late 1970s Los Angeles punk scene? And  their first tour was opening for Madness and the Specials in England, getting spit on and verbally abused by angry skinheads night after night? Neither did I.

With a couple of changes of membership, they eventually became the pop darlings we all remember, with hits like “We Got the Beat,” “Our Lips Are Sealed,” “Vacation” and “Head Over Heels.” They battled rock ‘n’ roll demons like drug addiction, mental illness, competing egos, burnout and breakups – along with music industry sexism. They made history in 1982 as the first all-female band who wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to have a No. 1 album, a record that still stands.

Belinda Carlisle, Charlotte Caffey, Jane Wiedlin, Gina Schock and Kathy Valentine have reunited. Their new single, “Club Zero,” will be released the same day as the film. 

Black Is King (July 31, Disney Plus)

Beyonce in the trailer for the visual album “Black Is King.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Disney Plus/YouTube

The biggest release of the week is also the one I haven’t seen, other than the trailer. I doubt anyone has. It’s the Beyonce film/visual album based on her 2019 record “The Lion King: The Gift.”

It’s described as “a celebratory memoir for the world on the Black experience,” and features a wide range of Black talent beyond Queen Bey herself, on the creative team, behind the camera and on the screen as actors and dancers. It was shot in South and West Africa as well as New York, Los Angeles, London and Belgium, and will be available to audiences on much of the African continent, the news release says. 

Certainly, it looks sumptuous and epic and very expensive. It has apparently already stirred up controversy for romanticizing Africa, cultural appropriation and “Wakandafication” among some in the Black community. But there’s no question a film by one of the world’s most powerful Black artists celebrating Blackness is a powerful statement to make as the U.S. still roils with anti-racism protests after the police killing of George Floyd.

Odds and Ends

Sascha Zacharias stars in Season 2 of “Rebecka Martinsson.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Acorn TV

If you like your crime drama a little broody, a little rainy and grounded in natural beauty, check out “Rebecka Martinsson” (July 27), which returns to Acorn with a new actor in the lead role. Rebecka (Sascha Zacharias) has decided to stay in her hometown of Ziruna in northern Sweden, where she’s getting up to speed as a public prosecutor and tackling local crime, starting off with a violent feud among Sami neighbours.

“Red Dwarf: The Promised Land,” a special episode of the sci-fi cult hit that reunites the original cast, debuted on BritBox on July 26. BritBox also has Season 1 of the excellent Irish crime drama “The Fall” (July 28), starring the sublime Gillian Anderson and a pre-“50 Shades of Grey” Jamie Dornan.

If you’re a Muppets fan, you’ll want to check out “Muppets Now” (July 31) on Disney Plus, which is basically the Muppets being the Muppets, but with the conceit of the characters vlogging and social media branding and so on.

A queen is binned and the mood is blue on ‘Canada’s Drag Race’

July 24, 2020 /
Ilona Verley, Tynomi Banks and Jimbo, a.k.a. Maison Papier, in Episode 4 of “Canada’s Drag Race.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

SPOILER ALERT: DON’T READ THIS IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW WHO WON AND LOST ON EPISODE 4 OF “CANADA’S DRAG RACE.”

How many times can a queen be recycled from near elimination on “Canada’s Drag Race”?

Twice was the limit for Tynomi Banks, who didn’t survive her third trip to the bottom in the show’s fourth episode.

There was no acting or rapping challenge to trip up the well known Toronto queen this week but, once again, the judges were unimpressed by her runway outfit.

All nine queens, split into groups of three, had to create “couture” fashion lines out of recyclable materials.

Scarlett BoBo, Kiara and Rita Baga, a.k.a. La Maison Boraga, in their plastic couture.
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Plastic may be a scourge in the environment, but it ruled the day for the trio made up of Rita Baga, Kiara and Scarlett BoBo – deservedly so, in my opinion – with Rita winning her second maxi-challenge with a dramatic plastic tarp column dress and jacket, and a stole of plastic netting. 

The metal team, Priyanka, BOA and Lemon, were the runners-up — with the judges particularly gagged by Priyanka’s sheer silver dress, although I found it a little basic compared to Lemon’s dress of unravelled rose gold scouring pads. That left Jimbo, Tynomi and Ilona Verley and their paper couture headed for the dumpster.

House of Rust, made up of BOA, Priyanka and Lemon, earned mostly positive reviews
for their metal outfits. PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Would Tynomi have done better if Jimbo hadn’t kept the best outfit for herself, a gown bursting with paper flowers? I don’t know, but it didn’t help.

Tynomi and Ilona were dressed in far less flattering “knight” costumes to Jimbo’s “queen.” As judge Brooke Lynn Hytes told Ilona about her paper armour and hoop skirt: “I got much more ‘gay pride at the Renaissance fair’ than I did runway show … It looks like I should hang you in my backyard and beat you with a stick.”

Harsh but fair, Brooke. Also funny.

She also told Ilona and Tynomi they were being “way too Canadian” by allowing Jimbo to shine at their expense.

Jimbo did not escape unscathed, with judge Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman criticizing the fact she painted her face and chest white but not her arms and hands. (I wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t brought it up.)

“We are given a very limited amount of time to construct these looks, paint our faces, prepare,” responded Jimbo.

“Everyone gets the same amount of time. Use it better maybe,” retorted Jeffrey with narrowed eyes.

Oh snap.

At the beginning of the episode, Tynomi claimed not to be concerned about the warning Brooke gave her last week, to bring out the “fierce girl” within at every challenge. “I don’t fucking care about that. I was, like, calm down, bitch,” Tynomi said.

The consensus seemed to be that even if Tynomi did sink back to the bottom, no one could beat her in a lip sync — no one until Ilona, that is.

I don’t know how the Vancouver queen went from crying and protesting, “I can’t do it,” to throwing down in a lip sync of Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” that was the best battle we’ve seen all season, but she pulled it off.

There wasn’t a dry eye onstage as Tynomi was told to sashay away. Ilona was flat out sobbing and even guest host Biddell was wiping away tears. But Tynomi held her head up: “I know I’m fire and it will never be put out,” she said.

As Brooke Lynn said earlier, “You’re Tynomi motherfucking Banks.”

Tynomi’s exit leaves just four Toronto queens in the competition, which might suit Rita Baga fine. She complained early in the episode that the Toronto girls were “savage” and self-centred.

Priyanka did not disagree, saying the Toronto queens “think we’re high and mighty,” but also that they’re “dropping like flies.”

Mind you, Rita did bond with Toronto’s Scarlett BoBo, who confided in her about the death of her drag mentor, Ottawa’s Ginette BoBo, shortly before Scarlett came to “Drag Race.”

The bitchiest clash in the episode had nothing to do with Toronto at all, but was between Ilona and Jimbo, who’s from Victoria.

Basically, Ilona was feeling sorry for herself after the judges’ critiques and didn’t appreciate Jimbo changing the subject by talking about being cold in the werkroom. There were some swears. Ilona told Jimbo to “eat shit.”

Then everyone’s attention switched to Tynomi, who was crying and despondent, and then Ilona shifted the focus back to herself and started crying too.

“Like, this is not my drag. I wanted to come here (to) represent my culture,” said the Indigenous, two-spirit queen, “and all I’m representing for right now is fucking dumpster divers.”

That made everyone laugh, ratcheting down the tension.

A supersized pit crew was the main attraction in the mini-challenge.
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

I haven’t mentioned the mini-challenge, which Jimbo won, but there’s not much to say. It was ostensibly a memory test for the queens, but it was really just an extended ogle of a supersized pit crew of 10, as the queens matched the different coloured bikini briefs under their black shorts.

Next week promises something even better than half-naked men: the first ever Canadian Snatch Game. Until then …

Catch “Drag Race” Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Crave.

Watchable the week of July 20, 2020

July 20, 2020 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Wynonna Earp (July 26, 10 p.m., CTV Sci-Fi Channel)

Melanie Scrofano as Wynonna and Katherine Barrell as Nicole in “Wynonna Earp.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Come for the supernatural shenanigans; stay for the ass-kicking action and smart-as-a-whip dialogue. That’s how this Canadian-made cult hit rolls.

If you’re an Earper, a hardcore fan of “Wynonna Earp,” you’ve been waiting an awfully long time for this Season 4 debut, since September 2018. The good news is it’s finally here; the bad news is that only six episodes are in the can.

The coronavirus pandemic touched down just as the series took a hiatus from shooting, so a one-week break turned into four months. But production resumed last week in Calgary, so be assured the final six are on their way.

In the meantime, we’ve got Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano), great-great-granddaughter of Wyatt Earp, doing what she does best: fighting, saying funny things and stepping up for her family and friends. The first order of business is to retrieve her sister Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) and her lover Doc Holliday (Tim Rozon) from the Garden of Eden and bring them back to their hometown of Purgatory.

Change seems to be a theme this season: changes in Purgatory once the trio returns and a reckoning for Wynonna now that the Earp family curse has been broken and she’s no longer a demon hunter.

You don’t have to be up to speed on the series mythology to enjoy it; underneath the talk of demons and angels and vampires and magical weapons it’s about people who love each other and would do anything for each other. But if you do want to catch up, seasons 1 to 3 are on Crave.

Stella & Co. (July 25, 4:30 p.m., PBS)

Estelle Craig, the “Stella” in the documentary “Stella & Co.”
PHOTO CREDIT: PBS

The star of this documentary is 103-year-old Estelle “Stella” Craig, a former Toronto resident who was a pioneering journalist and radio host, and the mother of filmmaker Robin Baker Leacock. Leacock uses interviews with Stella and seven of her friends at her Florida seniors residence to make a point that isn’t new but is worth reinforcing: that old people have more to offer than society gives them credit for. The take-aways from the octagenarians, nonagenarians and centenarians in the doc is that age is just a number and that they feel far younger than their years. It’s a message that has added poignancy given that the coronavirus pandemic exposed the deadly gaps in the way we care for our elderly, here in Ontario and elsewhere.

Odds and Ends

Aunjanue Ellis and Cuba Gooding Jr. in a scene from “The Book of Negroes.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Entertainment One/BET

CBC is rerunning the 2015 miniseries “The Book of Negroes” (July 26, 8 p.m.) in honour of Emancipation Day, which commemorates the abolition of slavery in the British empire on Aug. 1, 1834. The series tells the story of Aminata Diallo (Aunjanue Ellis) and her eventual escape from slavery in the United States, and is based on the Lawrence Hill novel of the same name, which in turn is based on the real “Book of Negroes,” containing the names of Black loyalists who were shipped to Nova Scotia after the American Revolutionary War. See cbc.ca for a full list of special Emancipation Day programming.

I can’t say I’m a fan, but the Duplass brothers’ odd anthology series “Room 104” returns to HBO for its fourth and final season, July 24 at 11 p.m.

Disney Plus has “Rogue Trip” (July 24), in which former ABC News foreign correspondent Bob Woodruff and his son Mack travel to nations with bad reputations for one reason or another to seek the beauty within.

If you’d like to know what an episodic series looks like on Instagram you can check out “1 of Those Days” (July 23), which was shot on iPhones, and written and directed by Argentinian actor Andy Gorostiaga. It’s in Spanish with English subtitles.

It’s so long to an ‘Itt girl’ on ‘Canada’s Drag Race’

July 17, 2020 /
Tynomi Banks, front, and the other queens stage a rap battle on “Canada’s Drag Race.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

SPOILER ALERT: DON’T READ THIS IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW WHO WON AND LOST IN WEEK THREE OF “CANADA’S DRAG RACE.”

“Canada’s Drag Race” made fun this week of Canadians’ predilection for saying sorry, but one queen left with no apologies and no regrets.

It was Anastarzia Anaquway’s turn to sashay away and she did it with class. “The thing about life, everything happens in its time. If I’m leaving it’s definitely my time. No regrets whatsoever,” said the Toronto queen.

Starzi was done in by a runway concept that missed the mark and a lip sync that was stately but dull (and to be honest I’m still waiting to see a really epic lip sync battle this season). Just as regrettable: Tynomi Banks made bottom two for the second week in a row.

Her lip sync skills saved her once again, but if she doesn’t find her footing she won’t be long for the competition — a reminder that having a name outside “Drag Race” is no guarantee you’ll be a name on the show.

Priyanka gets down with her bad self in the “Not Sorry Aboot It” rap battle.
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Speaking of names, I predict Priyanka is a name we’re going to remember for the rest of this season and beyond, jokes about the other queens forgetting her name notwithstanding.

Her wit and charisma helped her win both the mini- and maxi-challenges and made her a star on the runway. (As an aside, I really hope her father took it well when he found out she was both gay and a drag queen via “Drag Race.”)

In the mini-challenge, the queens had to pair up as anchors for morning show “Canada Gay-M,” reading their lines in English, French and “Draglish.” Quebec queens Rita Baga and Kiara had the French in the “baga” (that’s Rita’s joke) and did better in English than most of the other queens did in French, but it was co-winners Priyanka and Lemon who had the most spirited delivery. 

Honourable mention goes to Jimbo for her Nancy Grace impression.

For the maxi-challenge, the queens separated into “girl groups” (Mooseknuckles, best name ever) and prerecorded lyrics for a “rap battle” with the help of Toronto singer Ralph. Hollywood Jade taught them choreography.

Overall, it was fun, flashy and energetic, but it was more of a skirmish than a battle. Calling Rita “old,” Ilona Verley “fake” and the Mooseknuckles’ clothes smelly like “Brie” was about as biting as it got.

Priyanka had the judges gagging over her runway look on Episode 3.
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Once again, Lemon and Priyanka were the standouts, but Priyanka snatched a repeat victory from Lemon with her runway outfit.

The theme was “Quebecky With the Good Hair” and Priyanka wore a cutout hair tutu in blue and orange, with a be-bunned wig and booties to match. “Bitch stole my look!” quipped judge Brooke Lynn Hytes, who was wearing the same colour combination.

Truthfully, I liked Ilona’s powder blue “hair of the dog” outfit the best, complete with toy poodles on her arms, a diamante leash, and pawprints on her corset and matching boots. Shout-outs also to Lemon’s tree-bark dress and lemon tree wig; and Scarlett BoBo’s hair fringe mini dress with “BOBO” spelled out in her wig.

And what can I say about BOA? Underneath her luxurious-looking fur coat was a full hairy-chested bodysuit, a green sequinned banana hammock a la “Borat” and a giant fake pubic bush. You have to give her points for originality, which the judges did. 

Anastarzia combined two completely unrelated pop culture characters in her runway look.
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

The worst outfit was definitely Anastarzia’s. It was Cousin Itt of “The Addams Family” in the back — Chun Li from “Mortal Kombat” in the front? Huh? I didn’t get it and neither did the judges.

They also came down hard on Tynomi for her orange and green hair dress and rainbow hair hat and I do get that; it just wasn’t flattering. Poor Kiara was brought to tears when judge Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman told her that her gold pantsuit was “a little basic” but lived to fight another day.

And can I just digress here to say that Deborah Cox was the best guest host so far? She looked like a goddess in that gold dress and she delivered her dialogue like the pro that she is. More like her please. I also loved Stacey McKenzie’s multi-coloured leopard get-up.

Next week, the nine queens who are left have to create fashion looks out of recycled materials. Who’ll think outside the (blue) box? Until then …

Watchable the week of July 13, 2020

July 13, 2020 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK NO. 1: The Nest (July 13, Acorn TV)

Mirren Mack as Kaya in “The Nest.” PHOTO CREDIT: Studio Lambert and all3media International

The best TV drama paints its pictures in shades of grey with layered, fallible characters, which is exactly what “The Nest” does. The psychological drama plays like a thriller and keeps you guessing from episode to episode who the heroes and villains are.

It begins with Dan and Emily, a wealthy Glasgow couple who’ve tried repeatedly to conceive a child. After Emily almost runs over a troubled teenager named Kaya she comes up with a reckless scheme to have Kaya act as a surrogate. Dan goes along with it because he’d do anything to make Emily happy, but things go off the rails when he discovers a secret from Kaya’s past.

Much of the credit for how absorbing “The Nest” is belongs to the three lead actors. “Line of Duty” favourite Martin Compston plays Dan; and Sophie Rundle, a standout in shows like “Gentleman Jack” and “Peaky Blinders,” is Emily. Mirren Mack is the real revelation as Kaya. Her only other listed credits are a few episodes of “Sex Education,” but she brings much depth to Kaya, who matures from aimless teenager to determined young woman over the five episodes.

No one gets to claim the moral high ground in “The Nest,” which keeps your sympathies shifting from character to character. The most consistent villain is Kaya’s mother, Siobhan, played by Scottish stalwart Shirley Henderson (“Trainspotting,” “Happy Valley”) with simpering loathsomeness.

Nor is anyone untouched by the fallout when Kaya’s secret is revealed, including Dan’s sister (Fiona Bell, “Shetland”) and her family; and Kaya’s social worker (James Harkness, “The Victim”).

“The Nest” offers food for thought, about social inequality and the commodification of fertility; about defining people by their pasts and rushing to judgment. But most importantly, it’s just good entertainment.

SHOW OF THE WEEK NO. 2: Decoys (July 17, CBC Gem)

Brian Paul, Keram Malicki-Sanchez, Alice Moran, Rup Magon and David Pelech in “Decoys.”
PHOTO CREDIT: CBC Gem

What “Best in Show” did for dog competitions this web series does for competitive duck carving. 

Like that brilliant Christopher Guest mockumentary film, “Decoys” makes a group of obsessed losers funny by playing their devotion to their craft absolutely straight. And its underlying affection for the characters leavens the mockery with sweetness.

Three months before the Northern Alberta Carving Cup contest, we meet five of the competitors: lonely single girl Mary Jane (Alice Moran), who gives her decoys names and voices; Sikh immigrant Amandeep (Rup Magon), who sees duck-carving as a way to be more Canadian; Donald Sinclair (series creator David Pelech), who’s trying to live up to the reputation of his deceased father, the “Loonatic”; tortured artist Zeke (Keram Malicki-Sanchez), who’s battling “carver’s block”; and old-timer Frank (Brian Paul), who’s bitter that he’s never won despite his mastery of traditional techniques.

Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll and Tracey Hoyt are also spot on as competition organizers Dennis and Barb. So are Kelly Van der Burg and Nelu Handa as Margaret and Simran, the long-suffering partners of Donald and Amandeep, and Brandon Oakes as Rhett, “the original bad boy of Alberta carving.”

Some of the dialogue is laugh-out-loud funny and the ending will leave you with a smile on  your face. And at just six episodes ranging from nine to 15 minutes each you can watch and still have time to carve a duck.

The Secrets That She Keeps (July 16, Sundance Now)

Jessica De Gouw and Laura Carmichael in “The Secrets That She Keeps.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Sundance Now

Two pregnant women – one a married blogger living in a tony neighbourhood, the other an unmarried supermarket shelf stocker – both with secrets about their pregnancies. The secrets that Agatha (Laura Carmichael of “Downton Abbey”) keeps intertwine her life with that of Meghan (Jessica De Gouw, “Arrow”) in devastating ways. The baby-crazy woman is a well-worn trope and you can easily see the main plot twists coming, but the story hums along over its six episodes. It’s based on a book by Australian crime novelist Michael Robotham.

Cursed (July 17, Netflix)

Katherine Langford as Nimue and Devon Terrell as Arthur in “Cursed.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Netflix

I’m not allowed to review this until the day it debuts, but I can tell you it’s a fantasy series, a sort of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table prequel starring Katherine Langford of “13 Reasons Why” as teenage sorceress Nimue, the future Lady of the Lake. It also stars Devon Terrell as young knight Arthur, Gustaf Skarsgard of “Vikings” as sorcerer Merlin and Peter Mullan (“Westword,” “Ozark”) as leader of a band of religious zealots out to destroy fae and other “demons.” It’s based on the illustrated YA novel by Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler.

Odds and Ends

A scene from the new Starz series “P-Valley.” PHOTO CREDIT: Starz/Bell Media

“P-Valley” debuted on Starz on Sunday, which means it’s still available on Crave to anyone with the Starz add-on. Alas, I didn’t get to screen this one, a female-centred look at a strip club in the Mississippi Delta, but it’s getting good reviews.

Lifetime has Variety’s Power of Women: Frontline Heroes (July 15, 8 p.m.), which sounds like another “rah rah, we’ll get through the pandemic together” kind of thing, but it does feature some impressive women, including Cate Blanchett, Patti LuPone and Janelle Monae.

The pandemic has brought us one gift, TV cast reunions, and there’s a special episode of “30 Rock” airing on NBC (July 16, 8 p.m.)

If you’re game to give Canadian cinema a shot, Canadian Screen Award winner “The Song of Names,” directed by Francois Girard and starring Tim Roth and Clive Owen, screens on Crave on July 17 at 9 p.m.

The queens make her-story on ‘Canada’s Drag Race’

July 10, 2020 /
Lemon was the clear standout on the runway in the second episode of “Canada’s Drag Race.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

SPOILER ALERT: DON’T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN EPISODE 2 OF ‘CANADA’S DRAG RACE.’

Jimbo wore the zombie outfit, but it was Lemon who came back from the dead on “Canada’s Drag Race.”

After lip-syncing for her life last week, the New York-by-way-of-Toronto queen slayed on the runway and was tops in the maxi-challenge: videos based on Canada’s iconic Heritage Minutes. Condragulations, indeed.

My compliments to whoever came up with the “Her-itage Moments” idea; it was truly inspired to take something so quintessentially, earnestly Canadian and give it a drag makeover. More on that below.

But as much fun as it was to make light of a Canadian tradition, we were reminded that there’s more to Canadian values than TV infomercials when Anastarzia revealed why she immigrated here from the Bahamas. She told a harrowing story about being shot by two men back home for being gay. She still carries a bullet in her right kidney.

Anastarzia Anaquway does “Black Swan” in the mini-challenge on Episode 2 of “Canada’s Drag Race.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

“The minute the doctor gave me the clearance I said, ‘You know what? Peace out.’ Got my drag and I came straight to Canada, claimed asylum and I’ve been here ever since … I am so grateful to Canada,” she said.

The other queens surrounded and comforted Anastarzia as she broke into tears.

“As Canadians we live in a lot of privilege that we’re born with,” said Jimbo. “So I think this is a great reminder to all of us that what we have is lucky and that it should be celebrated.”

Agreed, Jimbo. We’re far from perfect, but I’ll sure as hell wave the flag for that.

Back to the competition.

The mini-challenge was inspired by the resident ballet star on “Canada’s Drag Race,” the divine Brooke Lynn Hytes.

The queens had 20 minutes to transform themselves into ballerinas and perform “The Nut Smacker,” about a “demure ingenue who at the stroke of midnight transforms from a bashful ballerina into a nut-smacking bitch,” in Brooke’s words.

(Apropos of nothing, was Brooke’s outfit during that challenge an homage to David from “Schitt’s Creek”? Just asking)

Anastarzia won for doing her best “Black Swan” with a bitch-smacking chaser. BOA also won for … well, I don’t really know what BOA was doing, but it was funny.

Honourable mention goes to Priyanka, who finished her dance by miming undoing a fly and getting smacked by, ahem, nuts.

As for those “Her-itage Moments,” they weren’t as hilarious as I hoped they would be, but they certainly separated the actors from the queens.

Kyne, Jimbo and Priyanka in the “Her-itage Moment” called “Muffragettes.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Team BOA performed “Muffragettes,” a takeoff on the 1991 “Nellie McClung” Heritage Minute, except it was drag queens instead of suffragettes getting the vote; for Team Anastarzia, it was “Burnt Tuck.” The inspiration was the “Wilder Penfield” Minute from 1993, in which a patient having a seizure smells burnt toast. (You can check out all the Minutes if you visit historicacanada.ca.)

A couple of stars were born: Kiara, playing a drag queen with a disease that kept her from doing death drops, and Lemon, as a queen with “contouritis.” Rita “Teabag” Baga (that will make sense if you watched the Moment), Priyanka and Jimbo were standouts too. But a couple of duds were also born. BOA, blaming her ADHD, couldn’t remember her lines. Neither could Tynomi Banks and when she did, her delivery was flat and stilted.

Tynomi also had bad luck on the runway, where the queens displayed reinterpretations of their first time in drag. The judges didn’t like her cinched silver dress with sequinned hood. Brooke said she looked like a Knight of the Round Table. The only good news was that they liked Kyne’s outfit less: a pleather take on Ursula the Sea Witch.

Brooke Lynn Hytes said Tynomi Banks looked like a “Knight of the Round Table” on the runway.
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

As for the winners, Lemon ran away with the runway, pun intended. I’m a sucker for old Hollywood-style glamour and her long-trained gown, platinum wig, faux diamonds and long, sheer gloves were to die for, not to mention the regal way she swished all that fabric around.

I also enjoyed Priyanka’s slinky latex dress and Jimbo’s zombie cheerleader outfit, complete with detachable ponytails. As guest host Jade Hassoune said, “Jimbo is the reason I watch ‘Drag Race.’ I want to be freaked out.” Me too, Jade, me too.

Jimbo serves “zombie cheerleader” on the runway in Episode 2.
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

And while I didn’t love her outfit, tribute must be paid to the fact that Scarlett BoBo ate fire on the runway.

And what of Kyne, you might be wondering (or maybe not). After distinguishing herself with brattiness last week, did the Kitchener queen see the error of her arrogant ways?

Yes, she was much more humble and downright collaborative — although she did “forgive” Brooke Lynn for last week’s runway critique. Insert eye roll here. But the new ‘tude could only go so far.

Kyne and Tynomi had to lip sync for their lives to “If You Could Read My Mind,” the Ultra Nate, Amber and Jocelyn Enriquez version (yes, OK, I’ll admit there was a split second where I wondered how they’d lip sync to Gordon Lightfoot).

Tynomi’s years of experience saw her through. Although Kyne was very emotive, her moves were far less dynamic and varied. Still, Tynomi was convinced she’d be sashaying away and broke down in tears while Kyne comforted her.

Kyne’s Ursula the Sea Witch look helped sink her on “Canada’s Drag Race.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Kyne left with “a group of some great new friends and a big slice of humble pie.”

Next week, we get to see some singing and dancing and maybe a little reading too. Until then …

Watchable Part 2, the week of July 5, 2020

July 6, 2020 /

Little Voice (July 10, Apple TV Plus)

Brittany O’Grady as Bess King in “Little Voice.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Apple TV Plus

The music hooks you early in this half-hour drama, that and the engaging performance of theatre and screen actor Brittany O’Grady, who is both relatably ordinary and luminously extraordinary as singer-songwriter Bess King.

Bess is a talented 20-something who, when we first meet her, is virtually paralyzed with self-doubt. She’s working multiple jobs — dog walker, music teacher, nursing home entertainer, bartender — scribbling song lyrics in a notebook every chance she gets and writing music on her portable keyboard in a rented storage locker, but unwilling to share those songs with anybody.

The series is inspired by the life of singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles and shares a name with her breakthrough 2007 album. She and her “Waitress” collaborator Jessie Nelson created the show, with TV and movie mega-producer J.J. Abrams on board as executive producer.

Obviously, with a creative team like that, music is front and centre. Bareilles wrote original songs for Bess to sing, which she does beautifully, but the series shines a light on other talented musicians who get to cameo as buskers and performers at the bar where Bess works. 

The series also has theatre DNA, which seems only right given the New York City setting. Some of the cast have serious stage credentials, especially Chuck Cooper, who plays Bess’s washed-up musician father. And her autistic brother Louie (autistic actor Kevin Valdez) is a Broadway savant, not to mention a scene stealer.

Other cast include Phillip Johnson Richardson as Bess’s close friend and bar co-worker turned manager, Benny; Shalini Bathina as her roommate Prisha, a fellow musician and closeted lesbian; Sean Teale (“Reign”) as the videographer with whom Bess falls in love, despite his live-in girlfriend; and Colton Ryan as rival love interest Samuel, who’s Bess’s guitarist.

Canadian actor Luke Kirby, whose work I will always take the opportunity to promote, has a small role as a predatory studio producer.

The city itself, in all its lively pre-COVID-19 glory, is also a character here.

It’s not groundbreaking television, but it is watchable. It’s like a catchy song that gets stuck in your head and keeps you humming the tune.

If you missed it: Trigonometry (CBC Gem)

Thalissa Teixeira as Gemma, Ariane Labed as Ray and Gary Carr as Kieran in “Trigonometry.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of CBC

My thanks to fellow TV writer John Doyle from the Globe and Mail for reminding me about this series, which kind of got lost in the shuffle of a very busy week last week.

I have watched enough of it to know it’s well worth your time.

It’s about a polyamorous relationship between cafe owner Gemma (Thalissa Teixeira), her paramedic boyfriend Kieran (Gary Carr) and their synchronized swimmer tenant Ray (Ariane Labed). But it’s not played for laughs or titillation; the actors do a wonderful job of conveying the attraction between these three people as an entirely organic and relatably human thing.

Watchable the week of July 5, 2020

July 5, 2020 /

Happy Canada Day and 4th of July! This week’s list is a “to be continued” situation since reviews of “Little Voice,” from Apple TV Plus, are embargoed until Monday morning. In fact, I’m running into embargoes more and more these days, so starting next week I’m going to transition “Watchable” from a Sunday to Saturday list, to a Monday to Sunday list since Mondays seem to be the day many of the embargoes lift. In the meantime …

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Above the Law (July 11, 8 p.m., CBC Docs POV and CBC Gem)

Godfred Addai-Nyamekye has been unable to work since being assaulted
by police in Calgary in 2013. PHOTO CREDIT: CBC

This doc is both infuriating and disheartening: infuriating because it shows lives lost or maimed through the actions of violent Calgary cops; disheartening because the stories the victims and their families tell are all too familiar to anyone paying attention to the news across North America.

In December 2013, Godfred Addai-Nyamekye, an immigrant from Ghana, was acting as a designated driver for his friends when their car got stuck in the snow. When police pulled up and told them to move on, Godfred explained that they’d tried to push the car to no avail. He was wrestled to the ground, handcuffed, driven away and dropped off in an industrial area he wasn’t familiar with, in minus 28 C temperatures, in a tracksuit. He repeatedly called 911 for help and when the cops finally responded he was punched in the face, kneed in the back and then HE WAS CHARGED with assaulting police. Sound familiar?

Godfred now suffers from post-traumatic stress, hasn’t been able to work because of his back injuries and a once promising future has been derailed thanks to a police officer’s anger management issues.

The only thing that likely saved Godfred from being convicted — because we all know who judges and juries believe when it’s the suspect’s word against officers’ — was a video from a police helicopter that clearly shows the vicious assault on Godfred.

Let’s move on to 2015. The same cop who assaulted Godfred is still on duty, despite Godfred filing a complaint against him, and is caught on video removing a handcuffed man from a cruiser, punching him from behind several times in the head and slamming him to the ground. The man, Daniel Haworth, who’d been arrested for breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s house, suffered a traumatic brain injury. He later died of a fentanyl overdose, which the cops say isn’t connected to the assault, except the brain injury caused memory loss, which led to Daniel being kicked out of drug treatment, so you can connect the dots.

At least in that case, officer Trevor Lindsay was charged with and convicted of aggravated assault, and was still awaiting sentence when the documentary was made.

The doc also profiles a third case, involving a man named Anthony Heffernan, a drug addict who’d had a relapse after a couple of years clean and had refused to vacate the hotel room he was in, which led to police being called. Anthony wasn’t armed, but apparently the five officers who responded found one drug-addled white guy such a threat that one of them had to shoot him in the head several times.

ASIRT, Alberta’s version of Ontario’s SIU, referred the case for charges against the officers, but the deputy minister of justice refused to prosecute, saying there wasn’t sufficient evidence the use of force was “unjustified.”

I’ll just echo what Anthony’s brother, Grant, says in the doc: this is “complete bullshit.”

I’ll also quote Anthony’s father, Patrick: “This must never happen again in Calgary or Canada.” Except incidents like this are still happening across Canada and the United States and will continue to do so until somebody finds a way to rein in police violence.

Employable Me (July 5, TVO, 10 p.m.)

Ariana in “Employable Me.” The young woman has Down syndrome and is looking to land her first job.
PHOTO CREDIT: TVO

This is both doing good and feel-good television. The series, which is in its third season, features subjects with physical or neurological impairments who just want to work. Through interviews with them and their families, and professional assessments of their skills, it’s proven — both to potential employers and to viewers — that they are indeed employable. And if you’ve never interacted with someone who’s what society regards as disabled, you might learn a thing or two. The episode I watched featured an intelligent young man named Jordan on the autism spectrum, who is mad about trains; and a charming young woman with Down syndrome named Ariana with untapped people skills.

An Inspector Calls (July 7, BritBox)

From left, David Thewlis, Finn Cole, Ken Stott and Chloe Pirrie in “An Inspector Calls.”
PHOTO CREDIT: BritBox

The play on which this TV movie is based was first performed in 1945, but contempt for the poor and downtrodden is ever with us, perhaps even more so today than in J.B. Priestley’s time or the Edwardian era in which this is set.

The inspector of the title (David Thewlis) calls on a rich family in the midst of a self-congratulatory dinner: father Arthur Birling (Ken Stott) is expecting to be knighted soon and daughter Sheila (Chloe Pirrie) has just got engaged to the son of a rival captain of industry. But their smugness dissipates when the inspector, who gives his name as Goole, delivers news of a young woman who has just committed suicide. He then demonstrates how each member of the family, including mother Sybil (Miranda Richardson) and son Eric (Finn Cole), contributed to her downfall.

The victim, Eva Smith, who goes from being a worker in Birling’s factory to pregnant and utterly destitute, is played by the ever reliable Sophie Rundle (“Peaky Blinders,” “Gentleman Jack”), who’ll soon be seen in Acorn TV’s “The Nest.”

There’s a twist at the end that I won’t give away if you’re not familiar with the play.

Odds and Ends

Kim Cattrall as Davina Jackson in “Sensitive Skin .” PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Canadian actor Kim Cattrall, who will forever be known as Samantha from “Sex and the City,” stars as a woman coming to terms with aging in “Sensitive Skin,” a Canadian remake of a British series. It’s still viewable on Crave TV, but if you’re an Acorn subscriber, Season 1 will also be available there as of July 6.

Netflix has several debuts this week that I’d love to tell you all about, except preview episodes weren’t provided — not to me, anyway. They include “Stateless” (July 8), a drama set in an immigration detention centre in Australia co-created by Cate Blanchett and starring Yvonne Strahovski of “The Handmaid’s Tale”; “Down to Earth With Zac Efron” (July 10), a travel documentary about finding healthy, sustainable ways to live; and “The Twelve” (July 10), a Dutch drama about jurors adjudicating the disturbing case of a woman charged with murdering her own daughter and her best friend.

“Tough as Nails” (July 8, 8 p.m., Global and CBS) was created by U.S. “Amazing Race” host Phil Keoghan. The contestants are Americans who do physically demanding jobs and whose strength, endurance and mental toughness are tested in a series of “real-world” challenges until one is left standing.

Potatoes and cheese curds hit the spot on ‘Canada’s Drag Race’

July 3, 2020 /
From left, Anastarzia Anaquway, Kiara, Lemon, Ilona Verley, Kyne and Scarlett BoBo wait to be judged in the maxi-challenge on Night 1 of “Canada’s Drag Race.” PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

SPOILER ALERT: DON’T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED EPISODE 1 OF “CANADA’S DRAG RACE.”

Hey RuPaul, we didn’t fuck it up.

“Canada’s Drag Race” is finally here and the debut was fun, bitchy, naughty, sparkly, snarky and sometimes weird.

It had everything you’d want from a “Drag Race” episode: fabulous, witty judges; an interesting, varied group of queens; eye-popping costumes and entertaining challenges — plus a sequinned maple leaf entrance to the werk room and gold moose antlers.

We even have a villain after just one episode. Say hello to Kyne, more on her below.

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” namesake RuPaul Charles was there in spirit and on video, welcoming the Canadian queens to the family. “It’s aboot time, eh?” Ru joked, which is kind of cute but, honestly, I’ve never pronounced “about” as “aboot” in my life. I will cop to saying “eh” occasionally.

Anyhow, I didn’t miss RuPaul thanks to Brooke Lynn Hytes. Brooke, who has a great rapport with her fellow judges, Stacey McKenzie and Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, truly is the Queen of the North. She’s also the Queen of the Quip.

She had some gems during the mini-challenge, which had the queens climbing a fake-snow-covered ramp (ahem, the Rocky Mountains) while carrying a checkered flag, then posing for celebrity photographer Matt Barnes as a high-powered fan nearly blew their false eyelashes off. 

“I do love a built-in glory hole,” said Brooke as Ilona Verley put her flag pole through the giant ring in her nose. “I think I’ve seen this porn: Sid Vicious, ‘White Christmas,’” Brooke quipped as Scarlett BoBo writhed and squealed atop the ramp. And, of French-Canadian queen Rita Baga: “Her tuck is separatiste.” 

Kyne was judged to have the best photo and won the challenge. The 21-year-old is from Kitchener, Ont., not exactly known as a drag hot spot, but if you thought she’d be a bit humble around veterans like Toronto’s Tynomi Banks and Montreal’s Rita Baga, think again.

“I’ve taught 100,000 people how to do drag in my videos and I’m here to teach 11 more,” boasted Kyne, the self-declared “queen of social media.”

A little trash talking is a good thing; if you’re not bragging about yourself, why are you on “Drag Race”? But confidence started to look more like arrogance after Kyne’s victory, as she boasted that she was also going to win the maxi-challenge: a runway show in which the queens had to create costumes out of fabric and props with Canadian themes.

BOA made good use of the potatoes in her “Anne of Green Gables”-themed box
on Night 1 of “Canada’s Drag Race.” PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Kyne talked back to the judges when they didn’t gag over her disco “Yukon gold digger” outfit.

When guest host Elisha Cuthbert said it wasn’t her favourite, Kyne snarked, “Well, it’s my favourite look tonight.” She also rolled her eyes hard while the judges praised Toronto queen BOA (which stands for Bitch on Arrival), who made it into the top three with her “Man of Green Gay-bles” outfit. Back in the work room, Kyne loudly complained, “We are living in a world where BOA beat me!”

Well, yeah, duh. BOA put potatoes on her tits and Kyne thought sewing gold balls to her bell bottoms was the height of creativity? Puhleeze.

Kyne’s brattiness did not go unnoticed by the judges. “There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance,” Brooke told Kyne when she declared her safe. “We all suggest you find it.”

What are the chances? We’ll find out next week, although the promo of her telling Brooke Lynn she “forgives” her doesn’t look promising.

My personal favourite outfit was Victoria queen Jimbo’s “Rain-blow It Up” dress of many colours. Honourable mention goes to BOA’s potatoes, Tynomi Banks’ sock accessories and the crab legs on Priyanka’s shoes. But Rita Baga won with her “Quebec-Froid” snow queen outfit, complete with real cheese curds. There’s no doubt it was the most coherently themed look. Brooke affectionately described Rita as a “campy Quebecois queen.”

Forced to lip-sync for their lives were Lemon and Juice Boxx, who are both from Toronto although Lemon lives in New York.

No way I saw that coming for Lemon, given her level of experience as a New York queen, but she got stuck with a box of sports paraphernalia for her costume – thanks to Kyne – for which she had no affinity. She tried hard, but the look didn’t gel.

Juice Boxx got tripped up by her lack of sewing skills. Her Flintstone-esque top and skirt with bits of broken CDs glued to them looked basic and unfinished.

Lemon put her Alvin Ailey dance school training to use during the lip sync, to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “I Really Like You.” I thought Juice Boxx had a lot of heart, but it’s hard to compete with two splits. Juice Boxx sashayed away with a smile on her face and the C-word on her lips, but she said it with love.

Until next week …

© 2024 Realityeo.com

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑