Hudson & Rex Season 8, on Up Faith & Family

Apparently, in St. John’s, Newfoundland, half the cops are named Hudson. It makes it easy to keep the same title when Rex the police dog gets a new partner. Frankly, it hardly seems to matter to the canine copper, because he knows he is the true star of Hudson & Rex, the Canadian remake of Pope Benedict’s favorite series, Kommissar Rex. It is a new Hudson and the late Diesel von Burgimwald’s nephews, Dillon and Dante, have taken over the role of Rex, with his cousin Dreamer performing some of the stunt dog work, but the formula remains the same in season eight of Hudson & Rex, which premieres tomorrow on Up Faith & Family.

Reportedly, many Canadian fans did not exactly warm to the new Hudson, Det. Mark Hudson, who replaced Det. Charlie Hudson, no relation. But seriously, who is paying attention to any of the Hudsons? Rex, the wildly photogenic German Shepard, is uncannily intuitive, yet never cloying. That is your show, right there. It clearly inspired fellow Faith & Family series Blue Skies. Admittedly, none of the humans are particularly interesting in the first two episodes of season eight, but anyone would be a fool to try to compete with Rex. It is better to just play it straight, hit your marks, and collect a paycheck for eight years running.

The season premiere, “Into the Wilds,” showcases Rex’s tracking nose, when [Mark] Hudson and Rex search for a witness hiking a mountain trail, before an assassin finds him first. It also gives Hudson a chance to demonstrate some of his military training. Frankly, this could have been a really grabby procedural episode, if it had been somewhat grittier, but showrunner Sherry White and writer Peter Mohan would never go there. This show is as “family friendly” as modern television gets. Unfortunately, the main villains, gangster Jason Trainor and his dimwit son Tylor, played by guest-stars Dylan Roberts and David Klein, are about as menacing as Laurel and Hardy.

Season two’s second episode, “Runaway Witness,” focuses on Rex’s empathy. When a whistle-blowing attorney is abducted in broad daylight, an autistic boy, Brian Jansen, witnesses the crime, but the trauma stimulates his flight impulse. Of course, Rex tracks him down and helps calm the boy, so he can identify the suspect. Nolan Oehr’s portrayal of Jansen is quite impressive and writer Cal Coons deserves credit for making the bad guys lawyers instead of the usual anti-business stereotypes. Still, the whole point of this episode is obviously to show of Rex’s ability to sooth distressed people.

Wild Cards, Season Three, on CW

Say it isn’t so. Surely Max Mitchell, the thief and con artist forced to serve as a “consultant” to the Vancouver police hasn’t gone straight? Okay, it isn’t so, but she really wanted to. She was also ready to run off with Det. Cole Ellis, her on-again-off-again partner, whose will-they-or-won’t-they romantic tension never lets up. Unfortunately, she stood him up due to some unusually messy family business, even by her standards. Yet, she still hopes to remain a reformed crime-fighter in the third season of creator Michael Konyves’s Wild Cards, which premieres tonight on CW.

Ellis is back from his head-clearing Mexican vacation and fully cleared by Internal Affairs, so Chief Li immediately re-teams him with Mitchell. She wants to explain, but finds him strangely chill with regards to her apparent rejection. Frankly, she seems more distracted than Ellis as they work the case of a murdered pool player.

Mitchell has a right to be a bit preoccupied. During the season two cliffhanger finale, she discovered her supposedly dead mother Vivienne faked her demise, after stealing 98 million from Gedeon Varga, a Keyser Soze-like crime figure. Now, she is back, to beg for all the money from the big score Mitchell and her father George Graham pulled off at the end of season two. Of course, she’ll need to cover interest too, so Varga’s intimidating associate, Tomo Hayashi suggests a little job to clear their debt: stealing a big Hopey diamond.

Understandably Mitchell’s bestie Ricky Wilson is dashed resentful to find himself caught-up in Vivienne’s mess—and out several million dollars. Regardless, Mitchell has murders to solve, starting with the pool hustler in “Rack ‘Em Up,” written by Konyves and directed by Andy Mikita. Of course, we know from past episodes Mitchell is also quite the pool shark. In fact, it is rather fun to watch this episode riff on The Color of Money, when the victim’s stake-horse, a former hustler himself, emerges as a prime suspect.

“Quit Playing Games (with My Life),” directed by Mikita and written by Kristin Slaney, leans heavily into 1990s boyband nostalgia, or at least the idea of it. None of the guest stars are notable boy band alumni, but they can carry a tune okay, and look like aging idols. The mystery isn’t terribly written, but the real murder conspicuously stands out due to lack of subtlety in the performance and direction. Regardless, a lot viewers will relate to this episode. Plus, there is some decent comic relief from Amy Goodmurphy and Michael Xavier as somewhat rival Detectives Yates and Simmons.

Sight Unseen, on CW

Just because a detective might be blind doesn’t mean they aren’t observant. Indeed, there is a long tradition of vision-impaired crime-fighters, including Daredevil, Longstreet, Clive Owen in Second Sight, and Andy Lau in Blind Detective. Tess Avery is the latest. Her hereditary Leber’s Neuropathy came on quickly but decisively, forcing her to resign from the police force. Yet, we all know she can never walk away from solving crimes in creators Karen & Nikolijne Troubetzkoy’s Sight Unseen, which premieres Wednesday on the CW.

Avery was so good at her job, she used to make all the other detectives look bad, even including her partner Jake Campbell, who maybe also carried an ambiguously romantic torch for her. However, she abruptly resigns when she is unable to shoot a suspect fleeing with an abduction victim. Even though he nearly died during the incident, Campbell assumes it is a one-time choke, but she knows she finally inherited her late mother’s Leber’s.

She does not deal with it well. Refusing to confide in Campbell, she constantly dodges Mia Moss, her new adaptation “coach,” who is also legally blind. Instead, she relies on Sunny Patel, her video chat guide, much like the one featured in Randall Okita’s horror-thriller, See for Me. Rather conveniently, Patel is an agoraphobe, so she is pretty much always available. She is also a true crime junkie, so she is also willing.

Unfortunately, Campbell’s new partner Leo Li is one of those cops who cares more about his “numbers” than justice, so Avery must constantly supply Campbell with the motivation and ammunition to do the right thing. In the premiere episode, “Tess,” she starts by searching for the still-missing woman. For a change of pace this time, Avery believes the husband is innocent. Given the limited number of supporting characters, that leaves very few alternate suspects.

Of the first three episodes provided for review, the second, “Sunny,” probably serves up the best crime story. Since hit-and-runs are notoriously difficult to solve, Avery returns to one of the final cases she worked before losing her vision. Soon, she suspects it involves the disappearance of a disgraced tech-lifestyle guru, which is definitely the sort of case Det. Li would like to solve. Avery still has trouble leveling with Campbell, even though their on-screen chemistry starts to take on greater definition.

Again, the mystery of the third episode, “Jake,” has a very Quinn Martin-esque lack of mystery, because there are literally only one or maybe two suspects it could be. However, writer Russ Cochrane does a nice job using the search for a John Doe’s identity to tease out elements of Avery’s character. It also introduces her deadbeat brother Lucas, who will obviously get into serious trouble later. We learn more about Patel’s issues, but so far, they do not land as compellingly as Avery’s.

Son of a Critch: Reach for the Top

As a proud geek, Mark Critch has a passion for Star Trek and trivia. He is also interested in two girls who actually talk to him. They all collide when he and his sort-of-ex Fox compete against his current flirt-more-than-girlfriend on a TV quiz show in “Reach for the Top,” the next episode of Son of a Critch, which airs tomorrow on CW.

Critch and Fox are in a just-friends phase, which is still a real step up from when she used to bully him. Somehow, he convinced her to be a member of his trivia team when they represent St. Bridget’s on Reach for the Top, a TV quiz show for kids. Of course, Critch is a know-it-all, but his pseudo-girlfriend Cara, who captains the team from their Protestant rivals is better at handling pressure. She might also have a talent for mind-games.

As Critch crumbles under the studio lights, he imagines what Kirk would do, in a fantasy sequence set on the Enterprise bridge, with him in the captain’s conn. It looks quite true to the original Trek, as Paramount required, when they granted their permission. Conveniently, the production designer for this episode, Mark Steel, has worked as the art or production designer on six Star Trek: Discovery installments.

Frankly, some fans will be disappointed the fantasy segment wraps up so quickly, because of Steel’s eye for authenticity. Young Mark Critch also definitely has an affinity for Shatner-esque histrionics. Captain Benjamin Sisko is a strong runner-up, but in Star Trek, “Captain” means “Kirk” first and foremost.

Wild Cards, on CW

In It Takes a Thief, Robert Wagner was a cat-burglar hired by the U.S. government to fight crime. That show was from the 1960s, but the apparently the Vancouver police are just catching up with it. Frankly, they are not thrilled to take on con artist Max Mitchell as a “consultant,” but that’s politics. “Disgraced” former detective Cole Ellis is the one forced to partner up with her in creator Michael Konyves’s Wild Cards, which premieres Wednesday on CW.

Mitchell was impersonating the owner of a safety-deposit box when she was collared, but since the force was preoccupied with the “Infinity Thief,” Ellis, a demoted boat patrol officer, was called in to book her. While waiting to be processed, she overhears a briefing regarding the Infinity Burglar, who has been targeting the mayor’s biggest donors.

In the spirit of “it takes a thief,” Mitchell volunteers her services to catch the Infinity Thief, in exchange for her freedom. Of course, that is not happening, but the hapless Ellis still gets caught up in her amateur sleuthing. When they uncover the investigation’s first lead, the politically canny commissioner semi-officially assigns them to the case, with vague promises of reinstatement and leniency if they get further results.

Naturally, they have trust issues, but Ellis grudgingly admits Mitchell has insight into this crime. In fact, she knows the only fence who can handle the readily identifiable pieces they are looking for. Not surprisingly, he is “Caviar Stan,” a Russian with diplomatic immunity. Give Canadian television a point for being willing to cast regime-friendly Russians as bad guys. To get close to him, they will need an invite to his private poker game. Mitchell’s dad George Graham can arrange that, even though the legendary crook is currently behind bars. Clearly, he will regularly provide criminal insight for their investigations, but he also has his own agenda.

The first two episodes provided for review are competent light-comedy procedurals, like a somewhat less noir Remington Steele. However, the brief lip-service to wokeness introduced in episode two, “Show Me the Murder,” by the unfairly arrested prime suspect, will alienate the show’s target demo. The regular viewers for Wild Cards will be older than me, so Mitchell’s praise for Angela Lansbury in Murder She Wrote is far more on target.

The pilot, “The Infinity Thief,’ is the better episode of the two, because the Russian angle provides a greater sense of danger and the murder involving twin art dealers taps into classic mystery archetypes. “Show Me the Money” follows a fairly routine investigation of a sports agent’s murder. Since this is Canada, presumably, most of his clients are hockey players and professional curlers, but an MMA star plays a pivotal role in the drama.

On the plus side, Vanessa Morgan and Giacomo Gianniotti already start to develop some decent bickering-bantering ambiguously romantic chemistry in the second episode. She plays up Mitchell’s flamboyance without getting annoying, while Gianniotti is so earnest as Ellis, viewers will respect his integrity, even though we can tell it will make him the butt of endless jokes in future episodes.

The Spencer Sisters, on CW

A lot of mystery novelists probably think they could be the next Jessica Fletcher. Of course, it is not like she ever had to solve any particularly complex mysteries. Each episode basically had three guest stars: a cop, the daughter of an old friend, and some dude acting squirrely. Regardless, Darby Spencer has little patience for her novelist mother Victoria’s drama, but she still solves cases with her, because she doesn’t have anything better to do in creator Alan McCullough’s The Spencer Sisters, which premieres tomorrow on the CW.

Sometimes, flatterers say Victoria and Darby Spencer look like sisters. The mother loves it, but it makes the daughter wince. The daughter-sister was trying to pursue a career as a Toronto cop, like her deceased father, but she quits in frustration at the sexism and incompetence of senior detectives. She also breaks up with her cheating crypto-trading boyfriend, forcing her to temporarily crash with mom.

Mother Victoria is stressing everyone out over her latest book launch, because sales have been slipping. Of course, Darby is annoyed to be there, but it offers her a chance to catch up with her old friend, Kaia Zhang, who will become their first client in the pilot, “The Scholar’s Snafu.” Poor Zhang has been unfairly accused of plagiarism, because her thesis turned up on a site of frequently re-purposed academic papers. However, the posted paper happens to be an earlier draft, not reflecting her recent revisions.

McCullough and co-writer Jason Ip are clearly more focused on the mother-daughter relationship dynamic than intricately plotted mysteries. However, this episode shines a light on corruption in academia, which most network programs are reluctant to address. Jennifer Hui is reasonable credible as the confused and alarmed Zhang, so we can almost believe she would desperate enough to ask the squabbling Spencers for help.

The second episode is a legit murder case, ostensibly being investigated by the Ontario suburb’s new Lestrade-like detective, so naturally Victoria Spencer wants to step in. She sees crime-solving as a way to heal her strained relationship with her daughter. Darby is not so sure, but she still doesn’t have any better offers. Apparently, Marlina Briggs’ boy-toy fiancé was killed with an experimental drug her own company developed, but at least the episode is not as anti-Big Pharma as you might expect. It isn’t very complicated either. (Of course, it does not help that each episode must devote substantial time for Darby Spencer to seek the sage counsel of her gay besties, Zane and Antonio).

Run the Burbs, on CW

If you can’t laugh at family, who can you laugh at? Of course, they still have to be funny. The Phams are very hit-or-miss when it comes to comedy, but boy do they try hard to bring the yuck-yucks. There is a lot of running around and complaining in their suburban Canadian neighborhood, but each problem is resolved in about twenty-two minutes by the diverse cast in creators Andrew Phung & Scott Townsend’s Run the Burbs, which premieres Monday on the CW.

Run the Burbs is shot in Ontario, but it is based on Phung’s Calgary suburb. Wherever it is, it is definitely Canadian, which is what we are coming to expect from CW shows, especially during the writers and actors strikes. Phung plays Andrew Pham, a stay-at-home dad, who raises his abrasively woke teen daughter Khia and geeky pre-teen son Leo, while his wife Camille makes money doing her “entrepreneurial” thing. Of course, Khia has some sort of trendy alphabet sexuality, so they can avoid the trouble of writing a complex persona for her.

There are times when the writing appears poised to make sharp satirical commentary, but it always backs off at the last minute. For instance, in the pilot episode “Blockbuster,” the neighborhood block-party is in danger of cancellation, by the officious paper-work-obsessed community-association president, but it down-shifts into a cheesy Fast & Furious parody (in which Camille takes on a street-racer for his party permit) rather than seriously skewering the buzzkill that is bureaucracy.

Likewise, “Heatwave” sees Khia accept a mural commission at their favorite bubble tea store, only to squander it with a highly politicized and massively inappropriate monstrosity. It is a great set-up to skewer the woke mentality, but the toothless follow-up mostly consists of some apathetic shrugs.

Son of a Critch, on CW

In Canada, this show is sort of like Everyone Hates Chris or Young Rock. Since comedian Mark Critch is not particularly well-known in America, we can think of it as The Wonder Years with some Rush songs. Coming of age is always hard, especially with an embarrassing family, but young Mark Critch learns nearly everyone has an embarrassing family in Son of a Critch, which premieres Monday on the CW.

The Critch family lives on the outskirts of late-1980’s St. John’s, Newfoundland. His father Mike (played by grown-up Mark Critch, who also narrates, like Daniel Stern on The Wonder Years) is a gung-ho reporter for the local radio station and his somewhat high-strung mother Mary boils all their food. Perhaps his moody teen brother Mike Jr. is his least embarrassing family member. However, sharing a bedroom with his crotchety grandfather Peter (“Pops”) is definitely way up there, even though he is probably closer to Pops than his parents or brother. Attending wakes to grade the food is one of their favorite things to do together.

Regardless, the best parts of Critch happen at the Catholic junior high school young Mark is forced to attend. To say the Dean Martin-listening Critch is socially awkward is an understatement, but he manages to befriend Ritchie Perez, the son of successful Filipino doctors. Unfortunately, he is quickly bullied by “Fox,” one of three thuggish red-haired siblings all known by their surname. She also has a massive crush on Critch, which he reciprocates, even though he will not admit it.

Based on the first four episodes, young Critch’s relationships with Perez and Fox are the best things going for the series. His rapport with grouchy grandpa is also very likable, especially since the old dude is played by the legendary Malcolm McDowell (try to forget how many times we have seen him naked in films like A Clockwork Orange and Cat People). Listening to him kvetch with Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, the young Mark Critch, is pretty amusing, particularly in the funeral-focused second episode, “Lordy, Lordy, Look Who’s Dead.”

The ”Pilot” episode truly feels like a pilot, since it is literally Critch’s first day of school. Still, the third act shows some of the chemistry developing between Ainsworth and Sophia Powers and Mark Ezekiel Rivera as Fox and Perez. That is where the charm and humor of the third and fourth episodes (“Cello, I Must Be Going” and “Cucumber Slumber”) come from. That said, the digs at Catholic school life and the portrayal of the nuns are mostly cliched and derivative material.

Moonshine, on CW

One of the only good things about the Finley-Cullen family resort is the lobster, but their animal rights activist granddaughter is about to wreck that too. Everyone is supposed to be mourning the irascible aunt who just died, but they are really too busy feuding and acting crazy in creator Sheri Elwood’s Moonshine, which premieres (sort of) this Friday on CW.

Maybe you saw Moonshine in Canada, as a CBC original, or maybe you saw it when it briefly streamed on Freevee, but now it’s a CW property. Here it is regardless. That is also sort of Lidia Bennett’s attitude when she arrives at the Moonshine on Nova Scotia’s South Coast in the pilot, “Standby Out of Newark.” She is the prodigal daughter who left to be an architect in New York. Her son Finn is endurable, but her self-styled activist daughter Eleanor is a real pain. They do not expect to be staying long, but surprise: Bennett is about to inherit her cranky aunt’s shares in the Moonshine.

Turns out the Bennetts might be sticking around longer than they thought, especially when her mother suffers from a very mild but dramatically convenient stroke. Bennett will have to corral her psychedelic mushroom-growing brother Ryan Finley-Cullen and her resentful sister with a martyr complex, Rhian Finley-Cullen, to whip the indebted resort into shape.

Inevitably, Lidia and Rhian will clash, especially when the former starts asserting her new authority in the second episode, “Escape Goat.” Bennett decides to transform the Moonshine’s annual goat roast into a New Age Goddess festival. Of course, Eleanor will want to sabotage the goat roast, just like she freed all the lobsters intended for the memorial reception.

So, clearly the morale of Moonshine is millennial activists ruin everything. Maybe Bennett will not say so in so many words, but any viewer could tell she would be happier without Eleanor—at least the audience certainly would be.

However, Jennifer Finnigan brings a great deal of charm to the first two episodes playing Bennett. She also has a nice bantering comedic rhythm with Emma Hunter, who plays Nora Finley-Cullen, the DJ sister, who mercifully has no day-to-day involvement in the management of the Moonshine. On the other hand, the obnoxious petulance of Anastasia Philips’ sister Rhian and the cliched stoner stock character that is Tom Stevens’ brother Ryan are already annoying in the pilot.

Family Law (Pilot), on CW

Maybe a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client, but what is he, if he hires his toxic, alcoholic daughter? Abigail Bianchi is actually the third of Harry Svensson’s three grown children (all from different mothers) that he hired at his family law firm. She is not happy to be there, but it is her only option after a drunken vomiting courtroom incident. Even in Canada, the courts frown on such behavior, but each case offers more dramedy-redemption in writer-creator Susin Nielsen’s Family Law, which premieres Sunday on the CW.

In the pilot episode, “Sins of the Father,” Bianchi does not know her entitled half-siblings very well and neither of them is happy to have her join the firm. Before the regurgitation incident, Bianchi was a hot shot litigator, so she feels like family law is beneath her. Only the transgender receptionist is happy to see her.

Currently, Bianchi is separated from her unfaithful husband, who still has custody of the kids, because she is such a dumpster fire. Their little boy always looks forward to her visits, but their teen daughter is openly siding with dad and against her. At least she has the boozy support of her Ab-Fab mother Joanne Kowalski, Svensson’s first wife. Perhaps understandably, some of Bianchi’s baggage comes out during her first case for the firm, involving years of unpaid child support from a father, who answered an online ad for a no-strings-attached sperm donor.

Honestly, most of the legal plotlines of the pilot episode feel like they could have been brainstorming notes discarded from the writers’ room when L.A. Law was cancelled in the mid-1990s. It is basically the same formula. The pilot gives us one primary case, addressing a mildly controversial issue, while also following a slightly comical secondary case (this time around it is a doggie custody battle).

Family Law might not be stylistically innovative, but that is no great sin. The problem is the complete and utter lack of characters any sane viewer would want to spend time with. Bianchi is abrasively annoying, Svensson is insufferably arrogant, and the step-siblings combine the worst of both. Even Lauren Holly generates more eye-rolls than laughs as the diva-ish Kowalski.

Premonitions, on MHz

You Know how Tolstoy wrote unhappy families are always unhappy in their own unique ways? Well, the Jacobs’ dysfunction is in a league of its own—of fantastical dimensions. The Jacobs all develop a “gift” that always manifests itself in a different way. Those powers can be dangerous, but the family would also be in great peril if they were ever discovered, as they very well might be in Patrick Lowell, Estelle Bouchard, and Charles-Olivier Michaud’s ten-part French-Canadian series Premonitions, which premieres tomorrow on MHz.

Clara Jacob is the matriarch of the Jacob family, but she is definitely a cool grandmother. She even wears a snappy fedora to prove it. Her power is the ability to see into the future of anyone she is not related to by blood. That comes in handy for her chosen line of work: professional gambler. She tends to know when hold them and when to fold them.

She has few qualms about wielding her powers, but her son Arnaud considers his “gift” an intrusive violation. He can read people’s minds and even get in there to erase memories. Having sworn off using them, he has been plagued by severe migraines. His sister Lilli on the other hand, constantly employs her powers to bewitch potential lovers. That seems like a bad idea, but viewers will halfway sympathize when they see the burn scars on her back.

As a teen, Lilli was thrown into a bonfire by a shadowy member of a witch-hunting cult dedicated to killing so-called “aberrations” like the Jacobs. Unfortunately, one of the last survviors of the brethren will try to use her latest “lover” to get to the Jacobs. Arnaud tried to wipe Pascal Derapse’s memories of Lilli, but being out of practice, he might have erased too much and maybe even left a mental connection to himself behind.

Premonitions is an unusual and addictive take on the themes of superhero franchises like The X-Men and Heroes. Although we root for the Jacobs, the plain truth is Derapse is a victim of the family several times over. First Lilli’s enchantment drives him into a state of psychotic jealousy and then Arnaud really does a number on his head. Yet, when the vicious brotherhood enters the picture, Premonitions even takes on some elements of the horror genre (much more so than Firestarter).

Regardless, Pascale Bussieres is a terrific lead as the steely Clara. She also has some keenly compelling and deeply conflicted chemistry with her ex, Jules Samson, who remains a close friend of Arnaud’s. Nicely played by Benoit Gouin, Samson provides sympathetic human perspective on the chaos that unfolds.

Marc Messier is creepy as heck as William Putnam, the aberration-hunter, while Eric Bruneau is spectacularly unhinged as the brain-scrambled Derapse. Likewise, Mikhail Ahooja is impressively squirrely playing Arnaud, especially when under the influence of Derapse.

Trickster, on the CW

In the Southwest, the mythological trickster figure is usually a coyote or the flute-playing Kokopelli. Up in the Pacific Northwest, the trickster is a raven spirit. Not coincidentally, Jared Martin will be seeing a lot of those foreboding birds (amongst other visions). In fact, he might even be related to one, as the confused hero of Eden Robinson’s teen novel, Son of a Trickster, which gets the small-screen treatment in Michelle Latimer & Tony Elliott’s six-episode Canadian series [just plain] Trickster, beginning tonight on the CW (following its premiere at last year’s TIFF and subsequent run on the CBC).

Martin is a smart Haisla teen in Kitimat, BC, but he spends more time hustling for money at a legit fast-food job and selling his home-brewed pills. Even though he is still in high school, Martin is the primary support of his divorced parents: hard-partying mom Maggie and hard-luck dad Phil. Rather inconveniently, his mom owes three grand to her sleazy dealer and Martin just got cold-cocked for his stash and his cash. He only saw his attacker out of the corner of his eye, but it could have been his doppelganger.

Whoever it was, it also looks a lot like Wade, a former friend of his father, who has just blown back into town. There is something different about Wade—really different. He also claims to be Martin’s real father, which is hard to dismiss, given their resemblance. Martin is unsure how he feels about him, but his mother is decidedly upset. Her history with Wade is not just complicated. It is also violent and supernatural.

Trickster’s teen roots are easy to see, but the way it incorporates indigenous tradition and lore is both respectful and intriguing. There is a good deal of spell-casting and a fair amount of shape-shifting in Trickster, but the series always feels grounded in the difficult realities of high school life and the economically depressed Kitimat community.

As Martin, Joel Oulette broods hard, which makes him a convincing teenager. However, he is also terrific playing with and off Crystle Lightning, Kalani Queypo, and Craig Lauzon, as his mom, Wade, and his presumed father, respectively. All three of these relationships are smartly and compellingly developed. Lightning is a particular standout, taking absolutely no prisoners as the self-destructive and somewhat spooky Mother Maggie. The contrast between her mercurial mood swings and Queypo’s coolly calculating and ambiguously sinister Wade is quite effective.

Coroner (Pilot)

In the days of Burke and Hare, anatomists were not held in high regard by the popular press. Times have changed. These days, some of our favorite TV crime fighters are pathologists. The CSI franchises and Da Vinci’s Inquest (also Canadian) are the best examples, but the tradition goes back to Quincy M.E. Dr. Jenny Cooper, Toronto’s freshly appointed coroner, now joins their ranks. The protagonist of M.R. Hall’s mystery novels comes to American television, when the Canadian series Coroner premieres this Wednesday on the CW.

As a former ER doctor, Cooper thought she knew the sort of things people did to each other, but now she sees the patients who do not make it to the hospital. Frankly, she is maybe not in the best mindset for her new gig, since her husband recently died from an aneurism right in front of her eyes. However, she will need the job, when she discovers the mountain of debt her late spouse left her holding.

Det. Donovan “Mac” McAvoy and his partner Det. Taylor Kim are a bit surprised to see her offer what looks like a quick prayer over her first pick-up, but he warms to her relatively quickly. Her dogged pursuit of the truth rather matches his own working methods. He also shares her empathy for the kids incarcerated at the juvy facility where two supposed suicides were found.

The actual mystery Dr. Cooper investigates in the pilot is not particularly complicated and resolves itself surprisingly easily, but the first episode also has to carry a lot of exposition. However, the chemistry developing between her and Det. McAvoy is already quite promising. Plus, Cooper’s foreboding visions of a sinister black dog are quite a distinctive motif. Still, the general level of writing seems pretty conventional, largely on par with shows like Profiler and Crossing Jordan, from about twenty years ago.

NYTVF '09: Durham County

Canadians have a reputation for being peaceful and polite, yet hockey is their national game. That hidden aggression lurking beneath the seemingly placid surface of our northern neighbors is what Ion Television’s Durham County (trailer here) is all about. Following in the tradition of Twin Peaks (but without the giants and dwarves), things are not as peaceful as they seem in that suburban community, as quickly discover in the first episode, “What Lies Beneath,” which had a special screening last night at the New York Television Festival.

Previously known as the Pax, Ion’s name change was part of a rebranding effort to make the network more attractive to younger, hipper audiences. Already a hit in Canada, the noirish Durham is certainly part of that effort. After the death of his partner and his wife’s bout with cancer, Toronto cop Mike Sweeney moves his family back to his boyhood hometown. Unbeknownst to him, he buys a house right across the street from his high school nemesis Ray Prager.

Though the two rivals initially agree to bury the hatchet Prager still seems a little off, in an unsettling way. Rather than offering support and encouragement, he has nothing but contempt for his literarily inclined teenaged son. As it turns out, he might also be implicated in a ritualistic murder, but it is hard to judge the extent of his involvement due to the shrewdly fragmented editing and camera work. Still, by the end of the first episode, it is safe to say Prager is definitely bad news.

Based on “Beneath,” it seems the series will be quite moody and perhaps even a bit graphic—not at all Pax-like. As Sweeney, Hugh Dillon already shows an intense screen presence, completely looking and sounding the part of a decidedly imperfect police officer. It is hard to adequately judge the rest of the cast from the initial episode, but there no glaring miscues in “Beneath.” Ultimately, episode one does its job, raising several intriguing questions.

In addition to premieres and showcases, the NYTVF continues its pilot competition screenings. Of the programming blocks, the animation showcase is quite strong. God & Co. (trailer here) features some recognizable voice talent (Bob Balaban and Jonathan Katz) and some legitimately funny dialogue, much of it improvised. Stylistically, Elliot Cowan’s The Stressful Adventures of Boxhead and Roundhead (trailer here) was far and away the most striking pilot, but considering its somewhat surreal nature, it is difficult to imagine it on any commercial network. Still, it is a richly inventive piece (actually consisting of two short shorts) that ought to help establish Cowan as an emerging talent to watch.

Durham County airs Monday nights on Ion. The animation block screens again tonight at NYTVF, with the festival concluding tomorrow night (9/26) with the awards presentation.