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Welcome to Week Two of the Canadian fall television schedule. Last Wednesday, VanRamblings presented the CBC fall TV schedule.
This week, it’s CTV’s turn.
Promising fewer ‘repeats’ for the coming 2004-2005 television schedule, Bell Globemedia’s CTV network says – just like Fox TV in the U.S. – it will offer new, original programming 52 weeks of the year, not just this fall.
“More titles, less repeats,” pledges Susanne Boyce, CTV programming president. “Canadians have long demonstrated to us that if we build it, they will come.” CTV also laid claim to being No. 1 in Canadian prime time and vowed to further widen the gap between itself and its main competitors, Global (by far the worst website for any Canadian TV network), CHUM (Vancouver’s Citytv website, cuz the parent site is godawful) and the CBC.
Among the programme choices this autumn and winter are new additions to the import crime drama franchises, CSI and Law & Order; Rob Lowe’s new series, Dr. Vegas; and the much-praised sex-and-the-suburbs prime-time soap, Desperate Housewives. In the reality department there’s the British import Wife Swap; as well as The Benefactor, a $1 million giveaway programme, based on the 1950s anthology series, The Millionaire.
CTV also announced its fall daytime lineup, including the Vancouver produced Vicky Gabereau, long thought to be on the chopping block.
Recurring dramas and sitcoms include The Eleventh Hour, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Corner Gas, as well the HBO import The Sopranos, CSI and CSI Miami (plus the new CSI: New York with Gary Sinise), The O.C., According to Jim, The West Wing, ER, Third Watch, Cold Case,Joan of Arcadia and American Idol (and Canadian Idol, of course).
New For Fall Prime-Time
Some of the new prime-time series that CTV’s unveiled:
- CSI: NY: Gary Sinise and Melina Kanakaredes star in this second spinoff of the ‘crime scene investigation’ franchise.
- Dr. Vegas: Rob Lowe is the in-house doc at a high-end Vegas casino. Co-stars Joe Pantoliano.
- Desperate Housewives: Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Teri Hatcher star in this take on modern marriage.
- The Benefactor: Billionaire businessman and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wants to give away US$1 million to a complete stranger.
- Wife Swap: Two families get a chance to witness what it’s like to live someone else’s life as their matriarchs trade places for 10 days.
- Instant Star: Can contest winner and feisty SK8RGRL Jude Harrison, 15, cope in this new glam world?
- Robson Arms: This anthology series about the denizens of a Vancouver apartment building is finally in production.
- Athens: O.C. creator Josh Schwarz turns his attentionto the intertwined lives and loves of the fictional New England community of Athens.
- Commando Nanny: Likely to be one of the first series to be cancelled this fall, this comedy, based on Mark Burnett’s experiences as an ex-army commando who gets a job as a nanny in Beverly Hills, stars Gerald McRaney.
- Law and Order: Trial By Jury: Mid-season replacement. Another entry in producer Dick Wolf’s Law and Order crime drama franchise, this time focusing on the courtroom, à la Perry Mason.
- Kevin Hill: Taye Diggs stars in drama about a bachelor entertainment lawyer in New York City.
- Medium: Mid-season replacement. Allison (Patricia Arquette) sees dead people and hears them constantly, too. She soon finds her ‘gift’ can change destinies and provide justice for those who no longer have a voice. Executive-produced by Glenn Gordon Caron (Moonlighting) and Frasier’s Kelsey Grammar.
Here’s a list of all CTV shows, A-Z.
For the major U.S. networks fall television schedules, click on the following direct VanRamblings’ links: ABC, NBC, the WB, Fox, and CBS.
