The hunt is on to find the next Corner Gas, and the Canadian networks have made their picks for the 2005-2006 season. While CTV has ordered 70 hours of Canadian content including three new scripted series, CBC has increased it domestic load by more than 30% to over 125 hours. Global has two new series debuting in 2005 and is set to add their recently acquired TMN series to the sked in the fall. It’s too early to know for sure what will hit and what will miss, but here’s the gist of what’s on tap for next season.
In addition to five original movies (Shades Of Black: The Conrad Black Story, The Terry Fox Story, War Correspondent – The Clark Todd Story, Last Exit and Doomstown), CTV is adding one 60-minute dramatic series along with two half-hour comedies all set on Canada’s west coast. Whistler, the new dramatic series, is set on the slopes of Whistler, BC and centers around the personal relationships inside the high-end resort town following the death of the town’s most talented racer. Jeff@Work stars Jeff Seymour as a megalomaniac marketer with a Midas touch who can’t seem to translate his business success into success with women. The last title, Alice, I Think, follows a 15 year-old living in a geodesic dome in rural B.C. CTV is also bringing back Canadian-made series Corner Gas, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Instant Star, Comedy Now!, and Comedy Inc.
CBC, which got great reviews from critics and sponsors with their mid-season addition of The Tournament, is looking to build on the show’s success by adding seven new comedy series to its roster. CBC has also ordered a slew of new dramas and miniseries as well as six homegrown movies. Highlights of the comedy add-ons include Colin Mocherie’s Getting Along Famously, which beat out two other CBC pilots in fan voting last month for a fall slot, and Mary Walsh’s new off-the-wall comedy Hatching, Matching & Dispatching about a Newfoundland family operating an ambulance service and funeral parlour under the same roof. October 1970, an eight-parter detailing the height of the FLQ crisis, leads the list of mini-series for the network, which also has a Conrad Black series of their own in the works. The Tournament, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, This Is Wonderland, and The Red Green Show (which enters its 15th and final season) will all be returning.
Global also plans to air two new series this fall. Following the success of its two-hour movie-turned-pilot on Jan. 29, Global will expand Falcon Beach into a series of 13 one-hour episodes. It’s The O.C. meets MB as the series will follow the young adults through the summer as the cottagers collide with the locals at the fictional resort of Falcon Beach in Manitoba. The Jane Show, Global’s newest sitcom, also debuted its pilot episode this season, starring Teresa Pavlinek as a single woman working as a copy writer at a Toronto advertising agency. Jane will be developed into a 22-episode series. Global also recently purchased rights to the first season of Regenesis from TMN, which will also join the fall line-up.
