CTV rallied behind its specialty channels as it unveiled a raft of new fall series this week.

The network’s sibling, the Discovery Channel, acquired the eco-themed reality series Junk Raiders from Proper TV – where builders and designers renovate apartments with landfill garbage – while Space has been refreshed with Stargate Universe, a spin-off from the Stargate franchise, and Caprica, a prequel to Battlestar Galactica.

Elsewhere, The Comedy Network added five laughers: the HBO sitcom Lucky Louie, the Chris Lilley-starring mockumentary We Can Be Heroes, and two U.S. Comedy Central series: Michael and Michael Have Issues, a narrative/sketch comedy hybrid, and Secret Girlfriend, a scripted half-hour based on a web series.

The NBC cast-off sitcom My Name Is Earl has also landed on Comedy, alongside returning hits The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report.

Meanwhile, Bravo! ordered two celeb-driven series for the fall, the Louise Pitre-hosted Star Portraits, and Great Canadian Bio-Series, which offers capsule portraits of memorable Canadian talent like Glenn Gould, Yousuf Karsh, Ian Tyson and Gordon Pinsent.

Celebritydom will also feature on Star! in a new two-hour programming block that includes Extra, eTalk, TMZ and Access Hollywood.

New fall series at CTV’s music-driven niche channels include two P. Diddy series for MuchMusic, Making His Band and Starmaker, while MC Hammer brings MuchMoreMusic his Hammertime series. And MTV gets in seven new fall shows, which include Over the Bolts, one of many to come from the CTV stable with a thematic tie to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Other Olympics-inspired programming on MTV includes Peak Season, a portrait of twenty-somethings in Whistler, B.C. The Winter Games will also ring in the fall on top-rated sports service TSN, which will feature coverage of the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship.

From Playback Daily