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Ottawa Citizen 8/30/06: Tom McCamus

Cancelled show could be Gemini winner
This Is Wonderland nets 12 nominations
Published: Wednesday, August 30, 2006

A cancelled drama series about the eccentric partners of a Toronto law firm and a science-fiction series about a rogue molecular biologist led nominations for for the 21st Annual Gemini Awards, announced yesterday.

This Is Wonderland, CBC's cancelled courtroom drama starring Cara Pifko and Michael Riley as quick-witted but unorthodox lawyers, led with 12 nominations. ReGenesis, The Movie Network/Movie Central and Global Television's high-tech thriller featuring Peter Outerbridge as a headstrong scientist, earned 10 nods.

They will compete head-to-head for the Gemini for best drama series when the winners are unveiled at a ceremony in Richmond, B.C. on Nov. 4. It's the first time the Gemini ceremony will be held outside Toronto.

Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, CBC's controversial historical miniseries about the Prairie icon, led all miniseries and made-for-TV movie nominees with nine nominations. Prairie Giant will compete for the award with CBC's Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making and the Lifetime Network and Citytv miniseries Human Trafficking.

Slings & Arrows, Movie Network/Movie Central's ensemble drama about the eccentric players of a Stratford-like theatre troupe, earned seven nods.

At the Hotel, Ken Finkleman's inscrutable short series about the denizens of a stately Toronto hotel, and One Dead Indian, CTV's searing movie treatment of the Ipperwash crisis and the murder of Dudley George, also earned seven nominations.

Slings & Arrows was nominated for best drama alongside Terminal City, Movie Network/

Movie Central and Citytv's darkly comedic drama about a well-adjusted wife and mother of three (Maria Del Mar) who discovers she has cancer and stars in a reality-TV show about her battle for survival; and Moccasin Flats, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network's ensemble drama about First Nations youths dealing with day-to-day life in a hardscrabble Regina neighbourhood.

Corner Gas, last year's Gemini winner for best comedy, is nominated again. Corner Gas stars Brent Butt, Lorne Cardinal, Fred Ewanuick, Gabrielle Miller, Eric Peterson, Nancy Robertson, Tara Spencer-Nairn and Janet Wright are nominated for ensemble performance, but were overlooked once again for individual performances. Butt was nominated as the host of a variety program, however, for his one-off special Corner Gas: Comic Genius.

Corner Gas itself managed just three nominations, despite being the most-watched Canadian program on television.

Also missing was Trailer Park Boys, Showcase's cult hit about the addled denizens of a Nova Scotia trailer park. Yet Trailer Park stars Mike Smith, John Paul Tremblay and Robb Wells were nominated for host of a variety program, for hosting the East Coast Music Awards. The Trailer Park stars will compete with Corner Gas's Butt in that category.

The comedy series nominees include Corner Gas, History Television's History Bites, CTV's Jeff Ltd., Showcase's Kenny vs. Spenny, Movie Network/Movie Central's Naked Josh and CBC's The Rick Mercer Report.

Mark McKinney was nominated for a pair of acting awards, for both drama and comedy. McKinney earned a drama nod for Slings & Arrows and a comedy nod for Robson Arms.

McKinney's nomination for Robson Arms was that series' only nomination, despite its being one of the most critically acclaimed programs to air on Canadian television in the past year.

McKinney will face Da Vinci's City Hall's Nicholas Campbell, ReGenesis's Peter Outerbridge, Terminal City's Gil Bellows and At the Hotel's Nigel Bennett for the drama award.

Outerbridge was also nominated for a pair of acting awards, for ReGenesis and for lead actor in a movie or miniseries, for Under the Dragon's Tail. Also nominated in the category were Prairie Giant's Michael Therriault, Terry's Shawn Ashmore, Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story's Tom McCamus, Il Duce Canadese's Tony Nardi and Intelligence's Ian Tracey.

Intelligence, a made-for-TV movie that is about to spawn a CBC drama series, was nominated for five Geminis overall, including best TV movie.

Miniseries actress nominees include Wendy Crewson, for The Man Who Lost Himself; Joanne Kelly, for Playing House; Michele-Barbara Pelletier, for Trudeau: Making of a Maverick; Klea Scott, for Intelligence; and Victoria Snow, for Waking Up Wally.

Unlike the drama acting categories, which are divided into lead and supporting actor and actress, the comedy acting categories are divided by ensemble and individual performance.

Individual comedy acting nominees include McKinney, G-Spot's Brigitte Bako, Just for Laughs' Danny Bhoy, Halifax Comedy Fest's Derek Edwards, Just for Laughs' Jeremy Hotz and Richard Waugh of Jimmy MacDonald's Canada.

Pifko, last year's winner, is again nominated for best lead actress in a drama. She will compete with Slings & Arrows' Martha Burns, At the Hotel's Martha Henry, Moccasin Flats' Andrea Menard and first-time nominee Erin Karpluk, from Godiva's.

Kevin Newman, last year's winner for best news anchor, is nominated again, for Global National. He will face perennial nominee and frequent past winner Peter Mansbridge, from CBC News: The National, and first-time nominee Norma Lee MacLeod, of CBC News at Six: Halifax.

The Fifth Estate once again led all news program nominees, with nine nods.

The Geminis are chosen each year by the 4,000 members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.

This year's awards will be handed out over four nights, from Oct. 16-18 in Toronto, and Nov. 4 in Richmond, B.C.

© The Ottawa Citizen

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