Thursday, June 03, 2010

The Homegrown TV Scorecard

The major private Canadian TV networks announced their fall schedules this week, and here are the results as far as homegrown prime time scripted fare goes:


GLOBAL - 1 new series, SHATTERED, on Fridays at 9pm. Um...yeah. Oh yeah, and I think a reality show on Sunday evenings (ICE PILOTS is Canadian, right?). See and weep HERE. Read and weep HERE.

ROGERS/CITYtv - Um...0 new series? although there will be repeats of MURDOCH MYSTERIES on Sundays at 10pm with word of some new eps later in the year. Oh yeah, there are some Canadian animated and reality series on Friday and Saturday evenings. Read and weep HERE.

CTV/'A' - 1 new series, if you can call International co-pro THE BORGIAS homegrown (like the CBC's THE TUDORS it counts, barely). But at least CTV had some scripted series to renew and that they did: HICCUPS, DAN FOR MAYOR, THE LISTENER, THE BRIDGE, and FLASHPOINT all got picked up again, so good on them for that. Read the details HERE.

And then there is the CBC, who announced their new schedule last week, but half hour MEN WITH BROOMS on Mondays at 8:30 is the only new scripted series pickup airing in the fall (INSECURITY was also greenlit) as the pubcaster also primarily renewed existing series HEARTLAND, LITTLE MOSQUE, REPUBLIC OF DOYLE, THE TUDORS, and BEING ERICA. Get the deets HERE.


So there you go...a lot of 'nothing or a little or a stick with what we got already' and not a lot of 'new' - only 2.5 hours by my count. But nobody should be very surprised about that anymore...until the CRTC rules change regarding how much scripted Cancon has to be produced and aired in prime time, Canadian viewers will only ever get the bare minimum required.

5 comments:

Diane Kristine Wild said...

I don't want to make you cry, but Ice Pilots NWT, while indeed Canadian, is reruns imported from History TV. I mean, second window or repurposed content or whatever broadcaster speak is for that.

If you're including specialties, CTV also has Todd and the Book of Pure Evil for Space.

wcdixon said...

No more tears, Diane...the well is dry. Just looking at the major networks I was...specialties also include Lost Girl on Showcase or Showcase Diva or some net with the word Showcase in it.

But thanks for commenting and linking. Remember the old days when readers would flock and posts would get like 20-30 comments? I do. Sigh...good times.

Diane Kristine Wild said...

You gotta write something slamming Joss Whedon ;) Or interview Hart Hanson again and get him to say Booth and Brennan are NEVER getting together.

I don't think writing about Canadian shows ever got me 30 comments. Except for the post on Wild Roses getting cancelled. That's approaching 300.

Oh yeah and there's Haven too for yup-it's-Cancon shows on specialty. I figured you were going for network but then no points for Ice Pilots, in my opinion.

The Abominable N. Oremac said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Abominable N. Oremac said...

CityTV terms Out There with Melissa DeMarco a "dramedy." Having never seen the show, I can't confirm if it's scripted. I'm amazed it's found an enclave at CityTV.

I don't count Glenn Martin, DDS as Canadian. The show is expressly made for Nick@Nite. If I count every show serviced by Cuppa Coffee Studios as Canadian, Ugly Americans is CanCon.

I'm not sure when Corus has its upfronts. I believe Teletoon has Crash Canyon, The Dating Guy and its Pilot Project ready for fall. It's sad when Teletoon is more active in mounting prime-time fare than Rogers, CTV or Global.