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This week’s episode of The L.A. Complex takes a turn for the surreal as extended dream sequences, visions of tormented ex-lovers and a show-within-a-show hospital killing spree play with our expectations of reality. Find out who left the Deluxe broken-hearted and who is just broken after the jump.
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Aptly titled “The Contract,” this week’s L.A. Complex deals with the complications than ensue every time you sign your name to paper. The paper in question this week: a non-disclosure agreement hiding a scandalous offer, a rental agreement with unusual payment terms and a promise of good behaviour. Find out who used their signing approval for good and for evil, after the jump.
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We’re back! Our favourite drama about struggling Canadians navigating Hollywood has been renewed for another season on MuchMusic—and we’re ready for the denizens of the Deluxe to get back to their usual tricks of illicit sex and blind ambition. The details on the season opener after the jump (spoiler: Alan Thicke has joined the cast!).
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Guess who’s coming to dinner? (Image: Courtesy Top Chef Canada)
Last night’s Top Chef Canada episode started in fine finale form, with the three remaining contestants—Carl Heinrich, Jonathan Korecki and Trevor Bird—offering backhanded praise to their opponents for the confessional cam (a sample: “I wouldn’t call Carl robotic, but…”), while psyching themselves up for the big competition ahead (the prize, lest you’ve forgotten: $100,000, a GE Monogram kitchen and some title or other). But the producers had one big trick up their sleeves before that could happen—such a big trick, in fact, that it necessitated a special 90-minute finale, a luxury even the U.S. version of the show hasn’t availed itself of. Find out all the nefarious twists and turns, including the return of the season’s designated villain, in our recap below.
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Jennifer McLagan joins the regular crew at the Shops at Don Mills (Image: Courtesy Top Chef Canada)
With only four chefs remaining in the competition, last night’s episode of Top Chef Canada started in style—with Carl Heinrich, David Chrystian, Trevor Bird and Jonathan Korecki suiting up at their condo, accompanied by appropriately gladiatorial music. Over the next 43-odd TV minutes they’d be confronted with a legendarily tough (and foul-mouthed) guest judge, and one of those perplexing elimination challenges that leaves a chef between a rock and a hard place. Find out who makes it to the final and who gets sent packing, below.
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It’s finally time for the big show. After eight weeks, over a dozen four-hour rehearsals, four celebrity guests, seemingly endless inner turmoil and moments of pride and shame, Sarina Condello’s production of The Wizard of Oz is about to be fully realized by 21 amateurs. It feels like it’s been a long road for director Sarina, musical ingénue Sheila and their cast of hopefuls, but, in fact, this play has been developed at warp speed. The lease is up on the church basement and they’re hauling everything down the street to Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall where, in two days, they’ll perform for a sold-out crowd of 1,000-plus friends and family.
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In this week’s episode of Way Off Broadway, a tense mood is making certain cast members varying degrees of crazy. Rebecca, the Good Witch, is super-anxious, and Jon isn’t helping her much when he shares his own neuroses. Elaine Overholt is back for a final boot camp session before the cast performs for friends and family, which is certainly causing some, if not all, of the stress. And, wouldn’t you know it, Elaine isn’t happy—and her arrow is pointing directly at the chorus.
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A bevy of guest judges showed up for an Italian feast at Fabbrica: Lorenzo Loseto, Carlo Rota, Rick Campanelli, Lidia Bastianich and Franco Stalteri (Image: Top Chef Canada)
Last night’s episode of Top Chef Canada kicked off with a little sentimental reflection by the chefs at their digs—the condo that is finally living up to its “luxury” billing now that there are only five occupants (cramming the original 16 contestants in there probably violated some kind of occupancy regulation). Trevor Bird hoped to God that he wouldn’t have to do dessert again (foreshadowing alert!), while David Chrystian announced to all of Canada that he was set to go home and propose to his girlfriend (good luck, David!). This week’s twists and turns, including guest spots from an R&B star, a former MuchMusic VJ and a legend of Italian cooking, in our recap below.
This episode is the worst yet. We have no trouble saying this, because, after the promise of an actual, legit conclusion to the series, we are still left wondering who won. Marcia is up first for judging, and every single judge says exactly the same thing: she’s a great makeup artist, but her two looks do not dazzle. Why on earth does this take five minutes to report? And why couldn’t each judge say something constructive? We don’t see Marcia rolling her eyes, but as soon as Lisa Tant takes her turn to offer her own variation of the hive-mind opinion (she says it doesn’t “razzle dazzle”), our eyes roll for her. At least when Caylee shows up for judging, there’s a somewhat constructed faux rivalry developing between Coco Rocha and Tant. Rocha apparently loves Caylee’s two hairstyles, while Tant is “overwhelmed and underwhelmed.” Caylee’s hair-noose is referred to as a beard several times before the judging is over, and then Rocha drops the bomb: the show is technically not over. The viewers (we’re not the only ones?) now have to vote for their favourite online. Let the record show that this reality web series knows how to appease its sponsors…but not our curiosity.
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It’s the finale of Canada’s Got Talent we’ve been waiting for—someone is going to win it all. Even though the judges reveal the fate of the competitors at a leisurely pace, the results only take a few minutes, which is why this final hour-long episode of Canada’s Got Talent has plenty of filler. First up is an interview between host Dina Pugliese and Martin Short’s Jiminy Glick character, which is funnier than we thought it would be. Glick suggests Pugliese (silent “g,” like lasagna, she says) change her last name to Jackson, and then says Short looks like a basset hound who’s depressed (meta!). He even gets a dig in at Stephan Moccio’s scarves (one of at least four that evening), joking, “I love that affectation.” There’s also a requisite sentimental clip montage featuring the highs and lows of the season (including judge Measha Brueggergosman’s hairdos), a zany blooper reel and performances by Hedley and Jackie Evancho. And we’ve got to give the producers credit: unlike in some American reality shows, the sponsorship by Tim Hortons, Nissan and Excel didn’t seem too in-your-face (um, except for maybe the Tim Hortons “Block Party” and the Excel “Refresh Lounge”).
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Marcus Samuelsson and Dale MacKay joined the judges this week (Image: Top Chef Canada)
Last week, we complained that the one-two punch of a vending machine quickfire followed by a camping challenge made it feel a bit like a novelty episode. So it was with great anticipation that we tuned in to see last night’s episode, which featured Top Chef Masters champ and all-around chef hero Marcus Samuelsson, who, as Ryan Gallagher suggested, did push the chefs to try harder. It also featured a shot of a young Trista Sheen, who grew up in Flemingdon Park, in full-out cornrows. In other words: an excellent episode all around.
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Canada’s Best Beauty Talent continues this week, and after last week’s elimination shocker (i.e., there wasn’t one), we were looking forward to finally finding out who won. Matthew and Jenna get the boot in the first few minutes, which leaves Caylee and Marcia to be named, respectively, best hair and best makeup talent. At this point in the episode, we make a triumphant sigh of relief because we think we made it to the very end, despite some moments when we just wanted to stop watching altogether. But we’re wrong: Coco Rocha tells the final two that there’s yet another challenge. Another challenge? Why? Please, for the love of humanity, send them both to Paris and end this thing.
This episode features the final round of performances on Canada’s Got Talent, with two hours of non-stop excitement. Oddly, it’s free of the filler one expects from this type of reality show (that’s saved for tonight’s live results show, we’re sure). Host Dina Pugliese sports a gold ball gown accessorized with a dangly necklace and armband (perhaps she’s sad about missing Coachella this year, because she looks like she’d fit right in), Stephan Moccio looks cozy in an oversized scarf (he’s wrapped up like it’s the dead of winter), Measha Brueggergosman returns to a big hairdo and Martin Short makes no sexual references (sorry, there are no style notes to report for Short). Considering the auspicious occasion, it’s surprising to see Pugliese reusing her silver mic (what, did the mic budget run out before the finale?). There are a lot of competitors with similar talents, so we’ve opted to group them all together with our bets for who might win in each category.
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When we last left off, Jon, the Scarecrow, was facing a tough decision: should he attend the first (and only) dress rehearsal, or possibly lose his lead role to perform at a charity function with Marcus, the “little brother” he mentors? With two weeks to show time, Sarina initially isn’t willing to budge on the issue: either he shows up or he has to step down. This pits Sarina and Jon against each other in a heated passive-aggressive discussion that’s uncomfortable to watch. Ultimately, Sarina tries to do what’s best for the show, but she also wants to show empathy for Jon’s commitment to Marcus. It’s all very touching, but we can’t help getting the impression that Jon is psycho-analyzing her and using some sort of weird mind trickery on her. (After all, he is a professional now.) Is it working? Sarina digs deep and reflects on her life as a single mother from a low-income family and her father issues. In the end, she asks Jon what he wants to do, and he makes it clear that he wants to fulfill his other commitment. After all the drama, Jon is victorious and the cast will just have to make do without him for that one night. (Of course, there were tears.)
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In this episode of Canada’s Best Beauty Talent, it’s judgment day for Marcia, Matt, Caylee and Jenna, and we finally get to see their red carpet looks. Caylee and Jenna create a Grecian-inspired look with lightly bronzed skin and an updo, while Matt and Marcia go for something softer with porcelain-white skin and a soft wave. However, though the judges are happy to offer up their opinions, we don’t get an actual result, because that’s being reserved for another episode. Why? We have no clue. Sigh.
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