Axed TV drama leads Gemini list
TORONTO (CP) – The Eleventh Hour, a dramatic series about life behind the scenes at a TV newsmagazine show and already cancelled by CTV, is the leading contender for the 20th annual Gemini television awards with 15 nominations, while the CBC is close behind with three of its programs.
The public broadcaster’s real newsmagazine show, The Fifth Estate, has 14 nods, as does its searing miniseries about the international slave trade, Sex Traffic. The CBC legal drama This Is Wonderland comes up with 12.
The Geminis, often called the Canadian Emmys, will take place over the usual three successive gala nights beginning this year Nov. 17 and culminating in the black-tie broadcast gala on Saturday the 19th, to be televised this year by Global TV.
Ironically, though, Global carries few of the nominated Canadian programs.
Contenders for best dramatic series include CBC’s Da Vinci’s Inquest and This Is Wonderland, CTV’s Degrassi: The Next Generation and Eleventh Hour, Bravo’s restaurant-based series Godiva’s and the pay-cable bio-thriller series ReGenesis.
In comedy, best series include CTV’s Corner Gas, the Comedy Network’s Puppets Who Kill, History Television’s History Bites and CBC’s The Newsroom and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. A surprise absentee this year is Showcase’s Trailer Park Boys.
Top contenders in the dramatic miniseries category are CBC’s political thriller H2O with Paul Gross, CTV’s epic Lives of the Saints with Sophia Loren and CBC’s Sex Traffic.
In the TV movie category it’s CTV’s Burn: The Robert Wraight Story, Tripping the Wire: A Stephen Tree Mystery and The Life, Citytv’s Except the Dying and premium cable’s The Last Casino.
Best movie or miniseries actors include Jonathan Scarfe in Burn, John Simm in Sex Traffic, Brendan Fletcher as a crazed killer in CTV’s The Death and Life of Nancy Eaton, Charles Martin Smith in The Last Casino and Chris Diamantopolous as Robin Williams in Global’s Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork and Mindy.
Best miniseries or movie actresses: Tina Keeper in the CBC North of 60 movie Distant Drumming, Kristen Thomson in CBC’s I, Claudia, Anamaria Marinca and Wendy Crewson for Sex Traffic and Alisen Down for The Life.
Series actors in competition are Nicholas Campbell in Da Vinci’s Inquest, Peter Outerbridge in ReGenesis, Jeff Seymour and Ben Bass in The Eleventh Hour and Michael Riley in This Is Wonderland.
In the equivalent actress category: Julie Stewart in Cold Squad – another CTV cancellation – Tammy Isbell and Victoria Snow in Showcase’s Paradise Falls, Waneta Storms in The Eleventh Hour and Cara Pifko in This Is Wonderland.
In the race for best comedy ensemble performance are the casts of History Bites, Puppets Who Kill, The Tournament, This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Trailer Park Boys.
In all there are 96 categories. One of them, Best News Information Series, is still being judged.
While more categories are opening up to other than the conventional networks, the CBC still dominates some categories. For example, the broadcaster has all six nominees in the Best Documentary Series, including Rough Cuts, The Nature of Things and The Passionate Eye. And it has all but one of the entries in the Best News Magazine Segment category.
The Best Newscast is a three-way race involving CBC’s The National, CTV News and Global National as is the news anchor category – Peter Mansbridge, Lloyd Robertson and Kevin Newman.
“Global Television is a wonderful partner for the Academy,” says Maria Topalovich, president and CEO of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, which oversees the Gemini awards and their motion picture equivalent, the Genies.
“They came to us with fresh ideas, an integrated approach to broadcasting the show and generating broader interest and coverage than we’ve ever had before.”
Two years ago, the Genies also migrated away from the CBC, getting picked up instead by CHUM Television.
“We are really proud to be part of this fabulous industry and to be part of the celebration which showcases excellence in the industry,” says Barbara Williams, senior vice president of programming at Global.
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