TV

U of T grad draws on real-life experience to play patient on ‘The Good Doctor’: CTV

bresgead — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 17:12:00 +0000

U of T grad draws on real-life experience to play patient on ‘The Good Doctor’: CTV

bresgead Fri, 02/24/2023 - 12:12

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With her mother at her side, Elspeth Arbow poses for a convocation photo in 2019 – about a about a year after receiving her second double-lung transplant (photo by Lisa Lightbourn)

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Our Community

Alumni

Faculty of Arts & Science

Innis College

Elspeth Arbow brought authenticity to her acting debut on The Good Doctor as a cystic fibrosis patient in need of a lung transplant – a procedure she’s undergone twice in real life.

Arbow graduated from University of Toronto with a bachelor’s degree in cinema studies in 2019, about a year after receiving her second double-lung transplant.

Originally from Saint John, N.B., Arbow told CTV News Atlantic that she initially had reservations about playing a character whose health struggles so closely mirrored her own – but has never been one to back down from a challenge. “I realized the thing I would be reliving is the same thing that made me the type of person that would want to do this,” she told the broadcaster.

Arbow, who was a member of Innis College, says she had some emotional moments while shooting the TV medical drama, but ultimately, she enjoyed her experience on set – from the catering to meeting Freddie Highmore, the show’s star.

Watch a video of Elspeth Arbow’s U of T convocation

U of T prof to teach course about Netflix’s dystopian Squid Game drama: blogTO

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 16:12:20 +0000

U of T prof to teach course about Netflix’s dystopian Squid Game drama: blogTO

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 06/20/2022 - 12:12

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(Photo by Noh Juhan/Netflix)

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City & Culture

Academics

Faculty of Arts & Science

Global

St. Michael's College

University of Toronto students will soon be able to take a course about the South Korean dystopian drama Squid Game, which is Netflix’s most popular TV series ever.

Paulo Granata, an associate professor in book and media studies at St. Michael’s College, announced the course, titled “Squid Game and the Media,” on Twitter following news that the show is being renewed for a second season, blogTO reports. The first season of “Squid Game” was viewed for over 1.65 billion hours in the first 28 days after the show’s release, according to Netflix’s Top 10 website.

With the announcement of #SquidGame Season 2 by #Netflix, it’s a green light for my BMS411 advanced course on 'Squid Game and the Media' I'll be teaching this Winter at the @UofTArtSci @uStMikes #UofT BMS program.

Any ideas, proposals, thoughts, experts?
Please step in! pic.twitter.com/EsMwOQqG8y
— Paolo Granata (@paologranata) June 13, 2022

“Squid Game” is about a large group of cash-strapped contestants who compete in deadly and violent versions of children’s games for financial reward. Granata’s course will explore various themes related to the show, including political and ethical implications; philosophical and psychological concerns; and linguistic and cinematic aspects, according to blogTO.

Granata told blogTO that he was “inspired, almost obsessed and excited” at the prospect of delving into the show’s popularity and impact. “I believe the answers lie in the nine episodes of this survival drama, and I will mentor my students to discover them, aiming at using ‘Squid Game’ as a lens to understand contemporary society,” Granata said, adding that he would look to incorporate games into the course.

Read the story on blogTO

Why you should check out Cardinal, the new TV series based on thrillers by Giles Blunt

lanthierj — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 15:39:07 +0000

Why you should check out Cardinal, the new TV series based on thrillers by Giles Blunt

lanthierj Tue, 01/24/2017 - 10:39

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(photo of Giles Blunt by Meridian Artists)

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When Cardinal, the mini-series based on one of alumnus Giles Blunt’s acclaimed crime novels premieres January 25 on CTV, he’ll be seeing it for the first time along with everybody else.

“I plan to watch it with my wife and a bowl of popcorn,” says Blunt of the widely publicized six-part drama. The producers offered to let him view the series in advance, but he declined, just as he politely refused their invitation to be on location for filming last winter.

“That part of the process isn’t all that interesting to me,” says Blunt, who graduated from the University of Toronto Mississauga with a Bachelor of Arts in 1975.

“Also, it was in North Bay in the winter.”

The setting for his six John Cardinal crime novels is modelled on North Bay, where he grew up. Cardinal is based on the first book, Forty Words for Sorrow, published in 2000, where readers meet Detective John Cardinal and his partner Lisa Delorme as they search for the killer of a 13-year-old girl. Cardinal believes they’re hunting for a serial killer and time is running out for the next victim, while Delorme is secretly investigating Cardinal’s dark past.

It’s been more than six years since CTV first approached Blunt about buying the rights to his books. The network has options on all six Cardinal novels, with plans to produce a mini-series for each one if the first is successful.

Orphan Black screenwriter wrote the scripts

While he provided feedback on the first draft of every script, written by award-winning screenwriter Aubrey Nealon of Orphan Black fame, Blunt had no say on any of the final creative decisions.

“It’s nerve-wracking, because the books tell the stories as I think they should be told,” he says. “But television is a different medium, and sometimes things need to be de-emphasized or occur in a different order for reasons that are extraneous to pure storytelling.”

While he has some pre-show nerves about how the story might have changed in its translation to the screen, Blunt is unreserved in his approval of the cast. American actor Billy Campbell, best known for his role on The Killing, plays Cardinal, while Canadian actor Karine Vanasse of Revenge and Pan Am plays Delorme.

“Karine was actually my first choice for Delorme,” he says, “and the moment I saw Billy I thought, ‘Yeah, of course.’”

Forty Words for Sorrow launched Blunt’s career as a novelist, with The Walrus calling it “the best Canadian crime thriller ever written” and the British Crime Writers’ Association giving it their prestigious Silver Dagger award. Blunt hopes the TV series will introduce a whole new audience to his books.

“I know there’ll be developments in the storyline that I wouldn’t have made, but I just can’t get crazy about that at this point,” he says. “They’ve done them for whatever reasons the TV world has demanded, and let’s just hope they work out for the best.”

Cardinal premieres on CTV at 10 p.m. EST on January 25.

TV

U of T grad draws on real-life experience to play patient on ‘The Good Doctor’: CTV

Read more at CTV News Atlantic

Watch a video of Elspeth Arbow’s U of T convocation

U of T prof to teach course about Netflix’s dystopian Squid Game drama: blogTO

Read the story on blogTO

Why you should check out Cardinal, the new TV series based on thrillers by Giles Blunt

Orphan Black screenwriter wrote the scripts

Read more about TV and film in Canada