Astral has recently announced fall 2010 schedules for the six premium-cable properties it owns.  For the purposes of this site, I will just highlight two Canadian premieres and one returning series.

Call Me Fitz, the Jason Priestley sitcom, will debut Sunday, September 19, 2010 at 8:00 PM ET/MT.  The show also stars Ernest Grunwald, Peter MacNeill, Kathleen Munroe, Tracy Dawson, Donavon Stinson and Brooke Nevin.

Durham County‘s third and final season will debut October 2010, with no specific date or time announced so far.  The show stars Hugh Dillon, Hélène Joy, Laurence Leboeuf and Greyston Holt.  Michael Nardone will join the cast for Durham County‘s swan song.  Both Durham County and Call Me Fitz will air on HBO Canada.

Meanwhile, Family Channel will debut Connor Undercover Friday, September 17, 2010 at 9:30 PM ET/PT.  The show will stay in the Friday timeslot for the duration of its run.  The show stars Max Morrow, Lola Tash and Jordan Francis.

Call Me Fitz will debut with back-to-back episodes.  I’m not sure if that’s a good sign.  This line from the press bumf worries me a bit:

His sybaritic lifestyle undergoes a radical transformation after a disastrous test-drive puts a potential customer in a coma and unleashes Fitz’s conscience, literally, in the form of Larry, a gentle man intent on rehabilitating Fitz’s battered psyche.

Oh boy!  A crisis-of-conscience sitcom!  The trailer looks better than the concept, at least.  I get the feeling Call Me Fitz was pitched as “Jason Priestley is a conflicted asshole!…yeah, we’ll come up with more later.”  At least it’s not the Minder ripoff I thought it was going to be.

As for airing Durham County on HBO Canada…why?  That’s an arbitrary move, considering HBO Canada is a sister channel to The Movie Network/Movie Central.  While I’m looking forward to DC‘s final season, what’s wrong with airing it on TMN/MC?

The two networks have a branding I don’t fully understand, other than HBO Canada airing HBO shows and The Movie Network/Movie Central airing Showtime shows.  I don’t think there’s much of a distinction.  As an aside, that new Astral logo is a multicoloured turd, isn’t it?

Mike MacDonald: A Comic Stripped will be released by VSC on October 5, 2010.  The single-disc compendium of his CBC/Showtime specials will MSRP for $19.98 CDN.  The listed running time is 130 minutes.

Mike MacDonald: A Comic Stripped covers MacDonald’s three CBC/Showtime standup comedy specials, On Target, My House! My Rules!, and Happy As I Can Be.  Extras include a commentary track and Mike MacDonald performing air guitar.

Mike MacDonald is the star of the 1989-91 CBC series Mosquito Lake, though he can hardly be blamed for that show being an epic comedy abortion.  More importantly, he’s the voice of Rip Friend in the Teletoon/Fox Kids cartoon Ripping Friends (2001-02.)

MacDonald is one of Canada’s great standup comics, and it’s too bad he hasn’t become bigger than he is.  How CBC goes from Mike MacDonald and The Kids in the Hall to Ron James and The Ron James Show, I’ll never know.  At least one of Mike MacDonald’s old films is out on DVD, even if it is Loose Screws.

Here’s Mike MacDonald from the 1987 Just For Laughs Festival.  You may remember 1987 as the year Eddie Windsor spent a few minutes desperately trying to wring laughs from a dog and a hoop.

Ten years later, Eddie Windsor was featured on The Worst of Just For Laughs.  WoJFL aired just after The Just For Laughs 15th Anniversary Special.  Guess who hosted The Just For Laughs 15th Anniversary Special?

Yeah, Kevin Bacon!  You sons of bitches.

When I published an article about Tangled (CBC: CBC/Shaftesbury Films/Colossal Entertainment/Salient Point Productions Ltd., 2010) last week, I figured it would get a slightly above-average number of readers for a day, then flatline.  Pilot news and reviews generally don’t do well on URBMN, with the exception of B Team.

Tangled is by far the most-searched-for program this month on URBMN.  The article promoting Tangled has 13 comments (not including mine) so far.  Think about it – thirteen comments for a pilot aired in the dead of summer.  I’m usually lucky if one person gives a tinker’s piss about an unsold pilot on CBC, never mind thirteen.

Tangled is the sort of show that fits with CBC’s desired female demographic, yet can also attract a decent male audience.  Aside from the budgetary restrictions that can hobble a show like Tangled, I have no idea why CBC would reject this.  Foreign references are copious, but The Tudors gets away with worse.

Sarah Wayne Callies is Sally or Chloe – it depends on which part of her life one follows.  A sham marriage is planned around Sally/Chloe and Nick Hobbes (Bill Ward.)  Hobbes is seen as a rogue freelancer/former CIA golden boy stealing intel from Sally/Chloe’s employer, the North Atlantic Intelligence Agency (NAIA.)  NAIA is also trying to nail down main antagonist Oleg Gasparian.

Needless to say, there are the twists and turns common to an espionage show.  It’s all familiar stuff, but Tangled at least couches the espionage in proper human drama.  As a pilot, Tangled gives viewers a reason to care about Sally/Chloe’s life, convoluted as it is.

Callies is a bit stiff and monotonous as Sally/Chloe, but serviceable enough as a lead.  Ward plays Hobbes almost effortlessly.  Leslie Hope plays Sally/Chloe’s sister Marlene rather well, understandably miffed that Sally/Chloe has been playing dead for twelve years.  Hope doesn’t have a big part in the pilot, but she makes the most of her role.

I’m not exactly fond of the acting in Tangled.  The acting is a bit underplayed in general, aside from Ward’s character and a few minor characters I can’t name.  At the same time, the balance of action and drama sells Tangled.  Had Tangled made series, I’m sure it would have found its own level.

This isn’t the best pilot I’ve seen on CBC in 2010.  The Cult ranks highest on my list, for its excellent acting and choice of subject matter.  Tangled is still very good, better than the bet-hedging of the concept would suggest.  I sincerely hope Shaftesbury Films sells the series to another network or cable channel.

One day after I post news about cartoonist John Callahan dying, another death comes from left field.  Esteemed actor Maury Chaykin has died, just hours before his 61st birthday.

Chaykin’s most recent high-profile role is as Sam Blecher in the CityTV/HBO Canada series Less Than Kind.  He will also appear in Showcase’s The Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour.  Chaykin had been battling kidney problems for a few years, though the cause of his death has not yet been disseminated.

Three of Chaykin’s best-known roles are as Desmond Howl in the 1994 film Whale Music, as Harvey Weingard in the HBO series Entourage (2004- ), and as Nero Wolfe in the 2001-02 A&E series A Nero Wolfe Mystery.  It was for Whale Music that Chaykin won a Genie Award, for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role.

This is stating the obvious, but I wonder how much Less Than Kind will be impacted by Chaykin’s passing.  Much of LTK‘s personality is due to Sam Blecher.  This doesn’t take away from Jesse Camacho’s character, but Chaykin’s death leaves a big hole that Less Than Kind‘s third season will have to fill.

Everyone of note has already mentioned Chaykin’s list of accomplishments.  It would be stupid to elaborate further.

Instead, I will link to the first ten minutes of Def-Con 4 (1985), in which Chaykin plays Vinny.  This might be disrespectful, but that’s the grim reality of the Canadian film scene.  Even the great actors have to appear in bad films.  I don’t think it can be avoided in this country.  At least Chaykin had the ability to make chicken salad from owl shit.

I don’t usually post obituary notices on URBMN, but this obituary is appropriate enough for here.  John Callahan, the quadriplegic cartoonist/musician/satirist, died July 24, 2010 from complications resulting from a 2009 surgery.  He was 59.

John Callahan has had two shows based on his works, both from Nelvana.  Pelswick aired from 2000-02.  Nickelodeon broadcast the show in the United States, while CBC handled the Canadian airings.

John Callahan’s Quads! is Callahan’s adult show, which first aired on Teletoon and Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service from 2001-02.  Quads! is notable as one of the first Flash-animated series to air on television.

I’m admittedly most familiar with Callahan through Pelswick and Quads!  He’s infamous for his one-panel cartoons.  Callahan was not afraid of offending anyone.  This was balanced with blunt honesty about his struggles with alcoholism, even after the 1972 car accident which severed his spinal cord.

Here’s a link to a Cartoon Brew post about Callahan.  Said link contains I Think I Was an Alcoholic, a short animated film of Callahan’s from 1993.

Frankly, I Think I Was an Alcoholic captures Callahan’s essence much better than either Pelswick or Quads!  Pelswick and Quads! are serviceable shows, yet hardly essential.  I also dog Teletoon for reairing Quads! way too much, since the show does not hold up in reruns.

Callahan’s life is too varied for me to properly eulogize.  Portland, Oregon citizens do this far better than I ever could.

APTN has recently released its September 2010 schedule, as it debuts its 2010-11 season.  Of note is its Tuesday night schedule, which begins on September 7:

9:00 PM ET: The Candy Show
9:30 PM ET: Bionic Bannock Boys
10:00 PM ET: CAUTION: May Contain Nuts
10:30 PM ET: Arbor Live

CAUTION: May Contain Nuts and Arbor Live are in their second seasons.  Bionic Bannock Boys and The Candy Show will make their debuts.  Arbor Live is the only non-comedy, though The Candy Show and Arbor Live are both variety shows.

CMCN‘s second season has already debuted, albeit in the form of two episodes aired during the Olympics.  In the meantime, CMCN has posted material to Funny or Die.

I have reviewed Bionic Bannock Boys‘ pilot.  I’ll probably give the show another look, just to see if BBB has improved since then.  There are a couple of trailers for the show, found here and here.

As for The Candy Show, I was actually surprised to see CBC News mention it back in April 2010.  Host Candy Palmater has done some pieces for CBC Radio One’s Definitely Not the Opera, which I don’t hold against her.

Arbor Live features mainstream acts like Joe Satriani and Velvet Revolver alongside aboriginal artists, though the musical guest lineup is rather disjointed.  Eric Schweig is on the show for some odd reason.

At the same time, CBC doesn’t mount shows like Arbor Live.  Joe Satriani and Velvet Revolver aren’t the freshest of acts to feature on a music variety show, but at least APTN tries.  When was the last time CBC mounted an actual variety show?  ZeD?  Rita and Friends?  Devin Townsend would be perfect for a variety show.  I’m just saying.

Tangled, the Shaftesbury Films pilot starring Sarah Wayne Callies and Leslie Hope, will air on CBC July 21, 2010 at 9:00 PM ET/PT.  As mentioned earlier on this site, CBC has passed on the pilot.

CBC’s website summarizes the show’s concept as a spy attempting to “remake herself and rediscover her own humanity, even as the bullets fly.”  It’s a female-oriented series, but CBC rarely mounts action shows.  It will be interesting to see how Tangled works on television.

Sarah Wayne Callies will soon appear on AMC’s The Walking Dead, a television adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s long-running zombie comic.  Callies will play Lori Grimes, wife of lead character Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln.)

As for Hope, she guest-stars as Kristina Frye on The Mentalist every so often.  She also appears on Lifetime Movie Network’s Seven Deadly Sins.  Both actors have their fans, so I see at least a torrent for Tangled.

Aside: if Tangled had made series, it would have had to change its name.  Disney will soon debut a film with a similar title.  Maybe Tangled should have changed its name to Being Alias.