With JANN Taking Charge of Her Own Life and Career in Season 3, What Could Go Wrong? Well …

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede As the new season of JANN begins, the Jann character and her mom have been taking some time off from … well … everything. With the two of them lying in bed, surrounded by food and debris, bills unpaid, and skunks freely roaming the premises, the Jann character explains, “Mom and I just thought we’d take a little break from responsibilities for a couple of months … and it turns out it’s SUPER EASY!” So, during an interview Jann Arden was asked, is that actually true? Is it really super easy to just shut down and live off the grid for a while? “You have to follow in my footsteps,” Arden urged. “I think it’s time to just say screw it, and just order stuff online, and eat pizza in bed. What else can you do? I guess that scene was kind of an homage to COVID, without saying that COVID had taken over the world.” But every lazy vacation eventually has to come to an end, and fairly quickly in Season 3 of JANN, which debuts Monday, Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app (and then moves to Mondays at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app, beginning Oct. 4), the Jann character realizes that she has to get up – literally and figuratively – and get her music career back on track. JANN, of course, is a CTV Original comedy series that stars Arden, a Canadian music legend, as a fictionalized version of herself. While the Jann character tries to navigate day-to-day life through the prism of her own delusions of grandeur, she is joined by her mom Nora (played by Deborah Grover), sister Max (Zoie Palmer), brother-in-law Dave (Patrick Gilmore), nieces Charley, Sam, and Frankie (Alexa Rose Steele, Ceilidh MacDonald, and Keaira Pliva), ex-girlfriend Cynthia (Sharon Taylor), and not one, but two ex-managers, Cale and Todd (Elena Juatco and Jason Blicker). With two seasons under its belt, JANN has reached the stage with its ensemble cast that shortcuts to comic situations are possible, now that viewers are familiar with the characters. For example, Cale displayed an intimidating type-A personality in the first two seasons, but getting fired by Jann has put Cale on a different path in Season 3, and the juxtaposition is instantly funny. “Oh, for sure – you know, the hardest part about getting these shows established is having the opportunity to make three or four or five seasons, where you do have the audience in on the gag from the get-go, and you don’t need this huge back-story to sell a joke,” Arden agreed. “So we find ourselves in this third season being able to take liberties that you could never do in a first year, or even a second season. Whether it’s scripted comedy or GREY’S ANATOMY, it’s great when you don’t have to stop and explain every time you have a sub-story going on. So yeah, it’s fun to see Cale have all the wheels fall off the bus.” Joining the cast for Season 3 are Tenaj Williams as Jann’s new personal assistant Trey, and Charlie Kerr as Nate, a potential new love interest for Jann. Canadian music stars Michael Bublé, Tegan and Sara, and Bif Naked are among those making guest appearances in the new campaign. Speaking of music, as Season 3 of JANN progresses, the observations made about the current state of the music industry are bitingly on-the-nose. The Jann character hasn’t exactly adjusted her expectations to the realities of how it all works in 2021 (there’s one particularly memorable sequence where she physically visits the office of her record company – or what’s left of it). “Yeah, she just thinks it’s the same as it was in 1992,” Arden said. “It’s meant to be funny, but I really try to portray the music industry very authentically. I didn’t create this world, which is a complete kind of cartoon of what the music industry used to be. I mean, it’s no secret. I’m not giving anything away. But you know, the Jann character is forced to go into the world of crowdfunding, and it’s really hilarious.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv