Boasting a strong fall season with top shows for the A18-49 in the Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary markets, Global Television is heading into the New Year with several new shows on the mid-season slate, and a list of returning titles.
As news media reported progress being made in negotiations between Hollywood writers and producers south of the border yesterday, Global put time slots to several (but not all) of its imported US titles returning in January.
The new Canadian original series on Global’s mid-season slate is The Guard, a Canadian original series set to hit the sked on Tuesday, Jan. 22 in the 10 pm ET/PT time slot – leading out of the big ratings winner House. The first on-air promo for the series will appear during the season finale of Survivor on Dec. 16. The $20-million show shot in BC stars David James Elliot (Jag). It was formerly called Search and Rescue and follows the heroes of the Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue team in the Pacific Northwest. While a total of 13 eps of that show were ordered, production went on winter hiatus at the end of November until March, when the other five are expected to be shot.
Global’s also got a four-hour documentary series called The Limelighters, about artists of the Performing Arts Lodge in downtown Toronto, set to premiere on January 3 in the 10 pm ET/PT time slot. On January 5, the net will premiere the true crime docu-series True Pulp Murder in the 10:30 pm ET/PT time slot. Global’s also planning to unveil New Amsterdam, Canterbury’s Law and Swingtown (titles familiar to media buyers from the upfronts earlier this year) in the mid-season, although specific dates and time slots haven’t been decided.
The net’s returning prime-time fare will include new seasons of Survivor (Thurs., February 7 – 8pm ET/PT), Prison Break (time slot TBA), Big Brother (Tuesdays – 9pm, Wednesdays & Sundays – 8pm ET/PT, starting Feb. 12) and NBC’s Donald Trump-a-thon follow-up series Celebrity Apprentice (Thurs., Jan. 3 – 9pm ET/PT) – for which producer Mark Burnett recently signed eight sponsors for product integration: Kodak, Dial Corp., Vera Wang by Serta, Quiznos, OVC, Crocs, Nederlander and Pedigree. Celebs set to compete on the show include Gene Simmons, Vincent Pastore and Stephen Baldwin, to name a few.
Global is also heading into the New Year relying on new eps of established shows, including Back to You, Bones, ‘da Kink in my Hair, Las Vegas, My Name is Earl, Shark, The Simpsons and the net’s prized possession, House, which it says is averaging 2.8 million viewers per ep and may just hold up against CTV’s returning juggernaut, American Idol.
The net’s main special event – heading into the New Year without the SuperBowl this time around – is the 50th Grammy Awards, which will air at 8 pm ET/PT on Sunday, Feb. 10.
Click here for MiC‘s coverage of CTV’s mid-season programs.
