Tudors, Flashpoint vie for Gemini Awards
CBC programs Being Erica, The Border and The Tudors are among the nominees for best dramatic series at the 2009 Gemini Awards, Canada’s honours for the best in television production.
CTV crime drama Flashpoint led the pack with 19 nominations, including best drama, as nominations for the Geminis were announced Tuesday in Toronto.
ZOS: Zone of Separation, the eight-part drama about Canadian peacekeepers working in a fictional town in the Balkans, also received a nomination for best drama. It was shown on The Movie Network and Movie Central.
The best comedy category includes novice programs Less Than Kind, on Citytv; Testees, on Showcase; and Three Chords from the Truth, on Country Music Television; as well as CBC favourites Rick Mercer Report and This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
The Tudors, the CBC multinational co-production about the life of Henry VIII, has 11 nominations, including a best performance nod for Natalie Dormer as the doomed Anne Boleyn.
Other multiple nominees include Being Erica, Global TV’s Diamonds, Less than Kind and The Border, each with nine Gemini nominations.
Flashpoint dominates actor categories
Flashpoint, the drama about a police tactical unit created for CTV and CBS, dominated nominations for performance.
The show’s stars, Enrico Colantoni, Hugh Dillon and Amy Jo Johnson, were among the nominees for best actor and actress in a dramatic series.
Guests stars on the series, which was in its second season by May 2009, also earned nominations for their performances, among them Nicholas Campbell, Henry Czerny, Mpho Koaho, Sarah Gadon and Kristin Booth.
Koaho played a wrongfully convicted man who spent 11 years in Kingston Penitentiary and after he is released is determined to find out what went wrong with his prosecution.
“I really like the positive ending Ö and as a black man, the way the story wasn’t catering to negative stereotypes,” Koaho said of the role.
“I don’t play a gangster ó the kinds of parts I usually get. He’s just a guy whose life goes wrong, and he’s trying to figure it out.”
The young Toronto actor is a double nominee, also receiving a nod for best supporting role in a drama for his part in Soul.
Less Than Kind, the Winnipeg-shot drama about a dysfunctional family that runs a driving school, earned acting nominations for Benjamin Arthur and Brooke Palsson.
They are competing in the comedy performance category with Debra DiGiovanni at the Halifax Comedy Fest, Jon Dore of The Jon Dore Television Show and Terry McGurrin of Comedy Now!
TV reporting also honoured
Dormer, who won the best leading actress in a drama Gemini in 2008, is competing for the honour this year with Andrea Menard, playing the police investigator in the Aboriginal People’s Network series Rabbit Fall, Amanda Tapping in SyFy series Sanctuary and Being Erica star Erin Karpluk.
Karpluk told CBC News she was thrilled with her nomination, and credited the cast and crew of Being Erica with turning it into a winning series.
The Erica character, who is transported to the past to confront her own mistakes in each episode, is “very relatable,” she said.
“The theme of regrets is very universal regardless of your age, or class or background,” Karpluk said.
The time travel aspect of the show never seems out of place because it’s not meant to be realistic, she said. “It’s just a catalyst for my character to delve into her past,” she said.
CBC earned several nominations for best reporting, with nods for Adrienne Arsenault for coverage of the Beijing Olympics; Neil MacDonald for his work on the U.S. economic crisis; and FrÈdÈric Zalac for reports for The National. Also nominated in this category are Kevin Newman, Geoff Fontes and Bryan Mullan of Global National.
Heather Hiscox, Janet Stewart, Diana Swain and Peter Mansbridge of CBC are all nominated for best news anchor, along with Kevin Newman of Global.
Les Stroud, who in 2009 completed his last season of Survivorman, in which he tests himself against the elements, has three nominations, including best host, best direction and best documentary series.
CBC’s The Lens, TVO’s The View from Here, History TV’s Ancestors in the Attic and The Adventurers also have nominations for best documentary.
There are 99 Gemini categories. Most of the awards will be given out in Toronto on Oct. 19 and 20.
The main Gemini gala will be held Nov. 14 in Calgary and broadcast on Global TV and Showcase.
Gemini Awards selected nominees
Best drama
Flashpoint
Being Erica
The Border
The Tudors
ZOS: Zone of Separation
Best comedy
Less Than Kind
Rick Mercer Report
Testees
This Hour Has 22 Minutes
Three Chords from the Truth
Best reality TV show
disBAND – The Homecoming
Dragons’ Den
GoldMind
Project Runway Canada
The Week the Women Went
Best ensemble comedy performance
Rent-a-Goalie
Three Chords from the Truth
Billable Hours
This Hour has 22 Minutes
Black Cake, White Cake
Best dramatic mini-series
Burn Up
Diamonds
The Last Templar
XIII
Best preschool series
Are We There Yet: World Adventure
Get Ready for School
Kids’ Canada
The Mighty Jungle
Best children’s or youth series
Instant Star 4
The Latest Buzz
Life with Derek
Categories