From Simon Houpt of The Globe and Mail:
TV industry’s turmoil leaves big show production on the sidelines
It’s been an unusual upfront this year, with two of the three commercial Canadian broadcasters opting not to produce a big show, but rather host a series of meetings, fireside chats and dinners with separate constituencies in order to deliver tailored messages about the effectiveness of their offerings. Continue reading.
From Bill Harris of Postmedia Network:
Degrassi coming back on Family Channel?
Degrassi may get adopted by a new Family.
In this odd era of TV where it seems no show ever really is dead, there are rumblings that long-running Degrassi – which just got cancelled by Bell Media – will re-emerge in some form on another Canadian broadcaster. Continue reading.
The Canadian network upfront dust has settled and 2015-16 schedules have been revealed. How does their Cancon stack up in terms of quantity, before we’re able to judge much on quality? Let’s take a closer look based on their recently announced lineups for fall and winter:
The public broadcaster’s lifeblood is original programming, making it unique among the major networks. Budget woes mean more creativity, if you can call reduced seasons an example of creativity, but also new arts and factual programming as well as international acquisitions. CBC gets a half point for airing City’s original production Young Drunk Punk; I admire the cooperative spirit that allows both networks to spread out their Cancon spending without the benefit of appropriate specialty channels of their own, like the biggest private networks who can air one show across multiple channels. With additional factual and news programming, including new shows this summer, CBC is the home of hope for a homegrown television lover.
I’m grading on a curve for this smallest of the networks, and hoping they have more originals up their sleeve despite their minimalist fall announcement. Seed, Package Deal and Meet the Family are dead, but they recently ordered more episodes of sketch comedy show Sunnyside for fall. While Young Drunk Punk will benefit from CBC’s bigger reach, Mr. D may get some new eyeballs but a larger audience than its CBC run is highly unlikely. A second season of Young Drunk Punk hasn’t been announced yet, and City didn’t take the upfronts as an opportunity to do so.
They recently cancelled homegrown medical drama Remedy while picking up the requisite American medical drama, and Rookie Blue may or may not be ending this summer. Unless Global rushes their greenlit The Code and Houdini and Doyle into production and finds a cancellation in its simsub schedule during the regular television season, they’re unlikely to have any scripted original shows until at least spring 2016 — on par with their 2014/15 schedule.
Original productions on CTV are positively abundant compared to their rival Global — though some credit goes to their increased Cancon spending requirements after Bell’s purchase of Astral. Even then, they have one scripted show each starting in fall and winter, with Saving Hope out of the gate first in a plum timeslot. They still have a produced season of the sadly tainted Spun Out waiting in the wings. Will they schedule it when gaps appear in their simulcast schedule due to U.S. cancellations, or burn it off quietly some Saturday evening, or kill it entirely? Would they be able to kill it entirely without issues with the funding agencies? Will we hear soon about more new original series for CTV? So many questions, and we can only wait for answers.
From Robin Levinson King of the Toronto Star:
8 Degrassi stars who made it big
Shed a tear for the final season of Degrassi, which is set to begin July 20. MTV announced Thursday that the show would not be renewed for another season. But the classic teen soap opera will live on in the hearts and minds of fans, as through the Instagram profiles of the show’s famous alumni. Continue reading.
From a media release:
– Cobie Smulders & Paul Campbell partner on Beyond Repair –
– Stand-up comedian Darcy Michael pens series based on his life in Darcy –
Project 10 has inked development deals for two comedies at Bell Media, Andrew Barnsley (Schitt’s Creek) announced today. Creators Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother; Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.; Results; The Avengers) and Paul Campbell (Spun Out; Battlestar Galactica) are developing Beyond Repair while stand-up comedian Darcy Michael (Spun Out) and Carl Johann are collaborating on the family sitcom Darcy. Project 10 is currently looking for U.S. and international partners for both series.
Beyond Repair, a single camera comedy, tells the heartwarming and hilarious story of Nick Barrett, a charming and handsome but out-of-work actor, and Kevin, the son Nick never knew he had. When Kevin shows up on Nick’s doorstep in need of a place to live, perpetual man-child Nick must accept a position as the superintendent of the apartment building his father owns to make ends meet. Faced with “parenting†his nerdy, virgin son, Nick finally starts to grow up. In addition to co-writing the series, Paul Campbell is attached to play the role of Nick.
Darcy is a multi-cam family sitcom that follows two working class dads as they struggle with marriage, children, and money problems. Based on the sidesplitting stand up comedy and real life of comedian Darcy Michael, the series centres on the Mason Family – husbands Darcy and Jeremy, their 15 year-old daughter Grace, six year-old son Bruno, and their extended (sometimes uninvited) family Jane and Carl. Michael is attached to play the lead.
