Friend of the pod Praneet Akilla returns to reflect on his recent on- and off-screen adventures – including SkyMed, currently airing its third season on CBC Television and CBC Gem. Praneet is back as Chopper, who is still coming to terms with the death of his astronaut dreams in season two while exploring what it means to be a leader and also the possibility of a new entanglement with recently arrived chief nurse from the big city, Marianne (portrayed by Nicola Correia-Damude). It’s fun to watch Praneet in the role of Chopper; we get to see him be funny and charming and also deal with the big dramatic beats and heart-pounding moments that make SkyMed must-see-TV. In this funny and fascinating episode, Praneet discusses the emotional beats and blockbuster fun of SkyMed’s third season, Chopper’s “dark” era, his guest role as a badass gang leader on the brilliant locally shot crime drama Allegiance, and why he’ll always make time for theatre.

Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA

Actress Natalie Moon is fully bidialectal, meaning she’s equally proficient in using two or more dialects of the same language. In fact, she’s so proficient at being bidialectal that she’s an in-demand accent coach, and has coached big bold names like Jon Voight and Kristin Chenoweth. She also produced How To Make it in Hollywood (When You’re Foreign AF), Alessandro Miro’s hilarious web series that skewered stereotypes around accents in the film biz. In addition to her work in the accent realm, Natalie is also a talented actor who has performed in an array of fan favourite productions, including The Flash, Motherland: Fort Salem, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Death Note, and a recent episode of Superman & Lois in which she portrayed Lex Luthor’s ex-wife, Erica Alexandra del Portenza Luthor.

In this fascinating conversation, Natalie talks about what it takes to be bidialectal, the creative ways she builds backgrounds for her characters, that time Sir Patrick Stewart read Moby Dick to her class at the Oxford School of Drama, and how she prepared to play Erica, Lex Luthor’s ex-wife, on Superman & Lois (also: Sabrina shares her unpopular opinion on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine).

Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA

Chris Haddock’s impact on the Vancouver and Canadian television landscapes is undeniable. He’s a showrunner, writer, producer, and all-round storyteller whose filmography includes Da Vinci’s Inquest, Da Vinci’s City Hall, Intelligence, Boardwalk Empire, and The Romeo Section. He’s been instrumental in launching the careers of some of our local industry’s shining stars, and centred Vancouver in the majority of his shows. All of this is to say that, if anyone knows the television landscape in this country, it’s Chris Haddock – and with this landscape in the midst of profound change, we invited Chris onto the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to talk about about the lessons he’s learned over the course of his storied career, how artists can change with the times or resist, and the joys and challenges of both. Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment

Late last month, Kandyse McClure won a 2024 UBCP/ACTRA Award for her work as fearless firefighter Kaia Bryant on Netflix’s wildly popular dramatic serial Virgin River. Audiences first met Kaia early on in season five, when she delivers a baby on the side of a mountain with Mel and Cameron consulting over FaceTime. From the jump, it’s clear that Kaia is an alpha woman: she’s confident, shoots back sipping tequila, and goes after what she wants, which by the end of that first episode is Preacher, played by Colin Lawrence – and the fact that she has a douche-canoe of an estranged husband and a high-octane career aren’t going to hold her back from getting what she wants. As season five ends, Kaia is Virgin River’s new fire chief, and Kaia and Preacher are building something new together. Things would be perfect if it weren’t for the fact that the body of an abusive asshole that Preacher buried seasons before in order to help Paige has just been unearthed. What does this blast from the past mean for Kaia and Preacher? We’ll get closer to some answers to this and many other questions when Virgin River returns for its highly anticipated sixth season on December 19. In this fascinating interview, Kandyse dishes on what she learned about fighting fires from the pros, where Kaia ends and Kandyse begins, her Virgin River scene partner Colin Lawrence, and that fan-favourite leap over the bar. Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA

Powerhouse actress Sharon Taylor swings by the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to talk about her role on Cross, the number one Amazon Prime series in the world. Cross stars Aldis Hodge as the famous detective from James Patterson’s books and, later, films starring Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry – but this is not your grandparents’ Alex Cross. Yes, this Alex Cross, like the Alex Crosses of yore, uses forensic psychology to identify murderers and bring them to justice. But the Alex Cross of 2024 is more of a fully fleshed human being. We see the fullness of his life as a Black man, father, widower, friend, lover, and detective in a white supremacist world upended by the murders of George Floyd and Sandra Bland. Cross on Prime is sexy, dark, addictive, and made even more delicious by the presence of the aforementioned Sharon Taylor. Sharon plays Oracene Massey, Cross’s immediate boss, which is a tough position to be in, because it’s hard to be Cross’ boss sometimes, especially when you’re very pregnant, and there’s a serial killer terrorising your city and your team. In this funny and fascinating conversation between long-time friends, Sharon and Sabrina delve into the joys and beautiful challenges of Sharon’s juicy role in this critically acclaimed thriller. NOTE: Crucial spoiler talk re: Cross occurs between 34:34 and 44:28. If you don’t want to be spoiled, skip ahead! Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA

If you live in Canada, you’re probably familiar with Heritage Minutes. Produced by Historica Canada, these sixty-second short films educate viewers on fascinating or little-known stories from Canada’s history. Dozens of Heritage Minutes have been released since 1991, and many of them are iconic, like “Doctor Penfield, I can smell burnt toast!” and “You never know, it might be worth something someday” and especially “Both of you know I canna read a word.” The latest short film to join the pantheon of iconic Heritage Minutes tells the story of Mary Riter Hamilton, a brave Canadian painter who ventured into No Man’s Land in the aftermath of World War One. She bore witness to the destruction and devastation, painted what she saw, and suffered mentally and physically as a result. The haunting Heritage Minute – which stars Megan Follows (AKA Anne Shirley) as Mary – was written and directed by a Vancouver-based dynamic duo, Hayley Gray and Elad Tzadok, whose previous Heritage Minute told the story of Paldi, one of the most successful multicultural communities in our history. In this fascinating episode, get to know this trailblazing but little-known artist from the first half of the 20th century, as well as the dynamic duo who stepped up to tell her story. Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment

“If the Ghostbusters and the Scooby-Doo gang got stoned together in Stanley Park and Frankensteined a high-larious single-camera sitcom, it would probably look something like Paranormal Solutions Inc.” That’s how our valiant host Sabrina Rani Furminger opened an article she wrote in 2016 for the Westender newspaper about the first season of Paranormal Solutions Inc., a fabulous series from the funniest people in Vancouver. Eight years later – and nearly 10 years after visiting their set in Gastown where they filmed much of season one – the Paranormal Solutions Inc. gang is back, with season two. This time around, the PSI gang is even funnier, more of a collective hot mess, and getting themselves into even zanier and grosser paranormal situations than in season one, even serving up a delightful smorgasbord of homages to some of our favourite horror properties, from The Blair Witch Project to Halloween to The Shining to Cujo – and, for some reason, there’s also a lot of kale. Paranormal Solutions Inc. stars David Milchard, Julia Benson, Nicholas Carella, Daniel Bacon, Diana Bang, Christina Sicoli, and Matt Clarke, with cameos from local favourites like Sara Canning and Jordan Connor. It’s produced by Tilt 9 Entertainment and executive produced by another long list of our favourites: Milchard, Carella, Clarke, Michelle Ouellet, and Dylan Collingwood. In this rambunctious episode, Sabrina is joined by Nicholas Carella and Matthew Clarke to talk about the how’s and why’s and WTF’s (including the joys and challenges of acting opposite a taxidermied rodent) of this side-splitting horror comedy series. Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA

One of the most deliciously terrifying shows on the planet recently returned for its third season. From – an MGM series that airs on Paramount Plus in Canada – takes place in a town in the middle of America that imprisons everyone who enters. As the residents struggle to maintain a sense of normality and seek a way out, they must also survive the threats of the surrounding forest. There’s a lot to love about From: how it’s at once a scary show about monsters AND a show about how humans can thrive and crumble under extreme pressure; how it forces us to consider how we would fare in similar circumstances; how it features Vancouver actress Angela Moore in a critical role.

Angela is Bakta, a bus driver who arrives in the cursed town at the helm of a bus of passengers who have no idea the hell they’re about to encounter. Bakta is a wonderful character – a woman who was only working this job to pay off her student loans, and stuck around a bit longer for some extra money – but she’s got nothing on Angela, who is a phenomenal actress and remarkable activist who has worked on behalf of her community for many years. In this compelling interview (which begins with surprise cameo by a crow!), Angela discusses her experiences filming From, her “Actor Origin Story," her own relationship to spooky film and television, and how the industry has (and has not) changed since 2020. Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA