Everything about Industry News, eh?

Cue the hits in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… City unveils its 2017/18 prime-time schedule

From a media release:

Proven, powerful, and pedigreed. Today Rogers Media unveils City’s 2017/18 programming schedule, building on last season’s proven hits with bold new additions backed by some of the most creative minds in television today. Rogers Media president, Rick Brace, and senior vice president of television & broadcast operations, Colette Watson, together with the executive team will present the new schedule to advertisers and media this afternoon at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Comedies
This broadcast year, City had three of the Top 10 and eight of the Top 20 comedy hits4, and City will continue to bring the laughs with five new comedy series for the 2017/18 season. Joining the fall lineup, The Orville, from Emmy Award-winning executive producer and creator Seth MacFarlane and director Jon Favreau, is an irreverent workplace sci-fi adventure comedy set 400 years in the future that follows the adventures of the U.S.S. Orville, an exploratory spaceship, and the familiar and funny everyday challenges of its human and alien crew. The weird and wonderful out-of-this-world theme continues with Ghosted, when a cynical skeptic (Craig Robinson, The Office) and a genius “true believer” (Adam Scott, Parks and Recreation, Big Little Lies) are recruited to investigate unexplained phenomena in Los Angeles – all the while uncovering a larger mystery that could threaten the existence of the human race. Canadian cult classic Fubar moves to the small screen, propelling beloved characters Terry and Dean into the modern age. New-to-City, Speechless starring Minnie Driver joins the schedule in mid-season, along with new Will Ferrell-produced commuter comedy LA to Vegas.

Dramas
Power and political games drive City’s scripted drama slate for the 2017/18 season with four new series joining the lineup.  A City original, Bad Blood follows the true-crime saga of one of Canada’s most notorious mob families, a revenge story of Godfather-like proportions. New-to-City this fall, hit series The Blacklist joins the schedule with prime-time’s favourite fugitive-turned F.B.I informant, “Red” Reddington (James Spader), as he teams up with his hand-picked profiler to work through his own “most wanted” list of criminals. Coming in 2018, Versailles is a lush Canadian drama about Louis XIV, and the darkness, ambition, and manipulation that simmers just beneath the gilded surface of the Sun King’s court. Also, a young doctor’s ethics are tested when The Resident, starring Canadians Emily VanCamp and Bruce Greenwood, joins City’s schedule in mid-season.

Returning Favourites
Proven hits and fan favourites return as City confirms the renewal of 16 prime-time series, delivering more laugh-out-loud moments, dramatic plot twists, and thrilling competition through the 2017/18 season. Returning series include The Bachelor franchise, Black-ish, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Family Guy, Hell’s Kitchen, Hockey Night in Canada, Last Man on Earth, Lethal Weapon, Life in Pieces, The Mick, The Middle, Modern Family, Mom, New Girl, Nirvanna The Band The Show,and Scorpion.

New Series:

BAD BLOOD
60-minute Canadian scripted drama series
Thursdays at 8 p.m.
National broadcast

Inspired by reputed mobster Vito Rizzuto, and based on the best-selling book, Business or Blood: Mafia Boss Vito Rizzuto’s Last War by Antonio Nicaso and Peter Edwards, Bad Blood: The Vito Rizzuto Story is a six-part limited event series. While imprisoned in Colorado’s Supermax Prison for the murders of three Bonanno family members, Rizzuto watches helplessly as the thriving empire he built is dismantled, and his closest friends and family members are mysteriously murdered one by one. When Rizzuto is finally released from prison, a Shakespearean-level revenge tale plays out – leading to the brutal murders of his closest companions, and ultimately the death of Rizzuto himself.

PRODUCTION COMPANY: New Metric Media, Sphere Media, and DHX Media
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Michael Konyves, Simon Barry
CAST: Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace), Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy), Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas), Enrico Colantoni (Flashpoint)

FUBAR: THE AGE OF THE COMPUTER
30-minute Canadian scripted comedy series
Sundays at 10:30 p.m.
National broadcast

Based on the beloved film franchise and hurdling it into the modern age, Fubar: The Age of the Computer finds Terry and Dean fleeing from the wildfires of Fort McMurray in a desperate retreat to Calgary, with nothing but emergency government debit cards to their names. Discovering high-speed Internet for the first time, Terry is exposed to a world of commerce and social media and attempts to harness the web to make a profit. Meanwhile, Dean embarks on a journey to record a triple-concept album using his burnt bass guitar and extreme falsetto voice.

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Busted Tranny Productions Ltd Cardinal Film Inc., Vice Studio Canada
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Michael Dowse
CAST: David Lawrence (Freezer Burn), Paul Spence (It’s All Gone, Pete Tong)

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Rogers Media expands CityNews across Canada

From a media release:

Building on its commitment to deliver more local news to even more Canadians, Rogers Media will expand its award-winning news program, CityNewsâ„¢, across Canada, beginning September 4. Currently seen in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, the expansion ofCityNews will now include local versions of CityNews produced locally and airing daily on City, in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Montreal.

The one-hour newscasts will broadcast seven days a week with CityNews at Six at 6 p.m., and CityNews Tonight at 11 p.m. local time. Newscasts in Edmonton and Winnipeg will debut Monday, Sept. 4 at 6 p.m. local time. CityNews will expand into the Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary markets in Winter 2018.

Debuting in Toronto in 1975, the multi-award winning CityNews has been globally recognized as a trailblazer for news innovation, earning accolades for its local coverage including the esteemed RTDNA National Bert Cannings Award for Best TV Newscast in a Large Market in 2016. Late last month, CityNews reporter Cynthia Mulligan won the national RTDNA Adrienne Clarkson Award for Diversity in Reporting for her in-depth series on Danica Rain – a transgender Ontario woman who underwent gender reassignment surgery at a clinic in Bangkok.

Adding regional and national perspectives, complementary stories from Rogers Media’s sister brands such as Maclean’s, Breakfast Television, and Sportsnet will also be featured in the broadcasts. Viewers will also see news content delivered across all platforms, with each CityNews team engaging with audiences through their respective local websites and social media channels.

Additional programming details and on-air news talent will be announced in the coming months.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Cameras roll on Carmilla the Movie based on groundbreaking digital series

From a media release:

Shaftesbury’s international runaway hit web series Carmilla has begun principal photography on feature-length film Carmilla The Movie (working title). Series stars Elise Bauman and 2017 Canadian Screen Awards Fan’s Choice Award-winner Natasha Negovanlis return for the supernatural spin-off film, and are joined by Dominique Provost-Chalkley (Wynonna Earp, Murdoch Mysteries), Grace Lynn Kung (Mary Kills People, The Strain), and Cara Gee (The Expanse, Inhuman Condition) as well as returning Carmilla cast Annie Briggs (Luvvie, Murdoch Mysteries), Kaitlyn Alexander (Couple-ish, Full Out), Nicole Stamp (The Handmaid’s Tale, First Round Down), and Matt O’Connor (Murdoch Mysteries, Ozion). Carmilla The Movie is currently filming on location in Toronto and is slated for a Fall 2017 release.

It has been five years since Laura (Bauman) and Carmilla (Negovanlis) vanquished the apocalypse and Carmilla became a bonafide mortal human. They have settled in to a cozy apartment in downtown Toronto; Laura continues to hone her journalism skills while Carmilla adjusts to a non-vampire lifestyle. Their domestic bliss is suddenly ruptured when Carmilla begins to show signs of “re-vamping” – from a fondness for bloody treats to accidental biting – while Laura has started having bizarre, ghostly dreams. The couple must now enlist their old friends from Silas University to uncover the unknown supernatural threat and save humanity – including Carmilla’s.

Produced by Shaftesbury’s digital studio Smokebomb Entertainment and its branded entertainment agency shift2, in partnership with executive producer U by Kotex®, the Carmilla digital series (108 x 5 minutes) is a scripted transmedia series that puts a modern spin on the cult classic gothic vampire novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Meshing the vlog format aesthetic with scripted storytelling, Carmilla follows the adventures of university student Laura Hollis (Bauman) whose world is turned upside down after a vampire, Carmilla Karnstein (Negovanlis), moves into her dorm room. Carmilla has engaged and inspired fans around the world – the series has been viewed in 193 countries and translated in over 20 languages by fans. Available on YouTube channel KindaTV, the largest scripted YouTube channel for millennials in Canada, and subscription video service Fullscreen, the series has generated over 69 million views and 233 million minutes of watch time across all three seasons since its launch in 2014.Carmilla has been recognized with numerous national and international honours and awards including the Streamy Awards, the Webby Awards, the Shorty Awards, and the Canadian Screen Awards, including a 2017 Fan’s Choice Awards for Negovanlis.

Carmilla The Movie is produced by Shaftesbury with the financial participation of Telefilm Canada, the Canada Media Fund, Fullscreen, and Hollywood Suite. Carmilla The Movie is directed by Spencer Maybee (Carmilla, Letterkenny ORIDG DIDG); story by Alejandro Alcoba (Degrassi: The Next Generation, The Next Step), screenplay by Alcoba and Jordan Hall (Carmilla, Run Dry). The movie is based on Carmilla the digital series, written by Hall, and co-created by Hall, Jay Bennett, and Steph Ouaknine. Carmilla The Movie is executive produced by Christina Jennings and Scott Garvie, produced by Bennett, Ouaknine, and Melanie Windle.

Image courtesy of Amy Wilson.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Corus Entertainment bolsters its 2017/18 programming slate with new and returning Canadian original productions

From a media release:

Corus Entertainment announced today its vast and versatile slate of new and returning Canadian content, showcasing exceptional storytelling, an amazing roster of homegrown talent, and original, high-quality productions. New season orders of outstanding established hits underscore Corus’ commitment to investing in Canadian content across its portfolio of brands, championing original series, and fostering Canadian talent, both in front of and behind the camera.

Additionally, with strategically curated programs featuring globally appealing themes and formats, Corus Entertainment’s Corus Studios and Nelvana have grown their slates of premium original content which are now available in more than 160 countries and territories around the world, supporting Corus’ goal of becoming Canada’s leading media and content company.

Global welcomes a new season of one of the most buzzed-about series on both sides of the border, its critically-acclaimed drama Mary Kills People – officially greenlit for six episodes with production beginning this summer in and around Toronto. Produced by Entertainment One (eOne) and Cameron Pictures, and starring Caroline Dhavernas as Dr. Mary Harris, an overworked single mother and ER doctor, the series follows Mary’s exploits as she balances the needs of her family and her day job with helping terminal patients end their lives on their terms – all while eluding the police, who are determined to bring her down. In summer 2018, Canada’s favourite detective duo Matt Shade (Jason Priestley) and Angie Everett(Cindy Sampson) return to the schedule with nine new episodes of Private Eyes. The dynamic duo have found their rhythm on and off the case, and the entire Everett Investigations team tackle new challenges while also facing old ones that have come back to test them. Then, original series Home to Win moves to Global, bringing the hit multiplatform series to a bigger platform and extending its reach to even more Canadians across the country. Produced by Architect Films, the roof-raising series returns for an epic, star-studded third season, featuring the best-known builders, designers, and real estate experts who transform an average house into a dream property for one lucky Canadian.

Showcase‘s original time-travelling series and #1 new fall Specialty series* Travelers returns for a second season this fall. Produced by Peacock Alley Entertainment, the sci-fi drama features an all-Canadian cast led by Eric McCormack and created by Brad Wright. Plus, new this season, Canadian gem Enrico Colantoni joins as Vincent, a mysterious individual who may or may not be a friend of the travelers. Currently shooting in Vancouver, Season 2 picks up on the group’s haunting realization that their missions may have altered the future in ways they did not predict.

The #1 Specialty Entertainment program** and Canadian Screen Award-winner Vikings returns for Season 5 later this year on HISTORY. Produced by Take 5 Productions, this riveting season features Golden Globe® winner Jonathan Rhys Meyers as a warrior bishop. Also debuting this fall are HISTORY’s two new original series: Screen Siren Pictures’ docu-series Bud Dynasty, which follows the lucrative pot industry in British Columbia, providing an all-access look into the legalized marijuana business, its big players, and the obstacles they face; and from Saloon Media, investigative series Hunting Nazi Treasure follows a team of experts around the world in search of objects and artwork worth billions stolen by the Nazis.

On W Network this fall, a handsome gent puts it all on the line for love in the hit franchise produced by Good Human Productions, The Bachelor Canada. W Network is also the home of enchanting scripted series including: Good Witch, featuring Noah Cappe (host of The Bachelor Canada) and returning with Season 4 this spring; family drama series Chesapeake Shores, filmed in British Columbia and starring Canadian Megan Ory; and new comedic series Date My Dad, shot in B.C. and starring Canadian Zenia Marshall.

Following the successful All-Stars edition, Canada’s most notable culinary competition Top Chef Canada returns in spring 2018 for a sixth season to Food Network Canada. Produced by Insight Productions, a new batch of the country’s most talented chefs compete in cutthroat culinary challenges and receive bold critiques from the esteemed judging panel. This fall, the network also serves up sweet new original dishes sure to satisfy audiences: from Alibi Entertainment, The Baker Sisters takes viewers on a guilt-free road trip to sample mouth-watering sweets from some of the best bakeries in North America; and from eOne, the one-hour special Bake It Possible! crowns the champion of Pillsbury and Betty Crocker’s epic baking contest. CSA-nominated celebrity chef Anna Olson showcases her baking mastery in new seasons of Bake with Anna Olson this fall and Inspired by Anna Olson in 2018, both produced by Peace Point Entertainment.

HGTV Canada welcomes two brand new Canadian original series and one Canadian co-production to its schedule this fall and spring, respectively: from Alibi Entertainment, Sarah Off the Grid follows notable interior designer Sarah Richardson as she builds a dream home for her family on a remote property; produced by Great Pacific Media, Worst to First features cutting-edge contractors Mickey Fabbiano and Sebastian Sevallo who transform drab dwellings in coveted neighbourhoods into magnificent sought-after homes; and in partnership with Scripps Networks Interactive, Buyers Bootcamp features Scott McGillivray as he offers real-life opportunities for aspiring real estate investors to partner with him. Fan-favourites Drew and Jonathan Scott of the Cineflix-produced series Property Brothers debut new episodes from Season 6 this fall, followed in early 2018 by a new season of CSA-nominated Masters of Flip from Rhino Content featuring dynamic super couple Dave and Kortney Wilson, and a brand new season of Bryan Inc. from Si Entertainment starring renovation expert Bryan Baeumler.

Since 2016, Corus Studios has been producing and distributing original lifestyle content globally. With multiple content deals completed worldwide this spring, breakout hit Masters of Flip is now available in 147 territories, Buying the View(HGTV Canada) in 65 territories, Home to Win in 44 territories, and Cheer Squad(ABC Spark) in eight territories. The Baker Sisters, $ave My Reno and Backyard Builds (both HGTV Canada) were also recently introduced to the international market at MIPTV 2017.

With offices in Toronto and Paris, Nelvana Enterprises, the global licensing and merchandising arm of Nelvana (Canada’s premier animation company and world-class producer and distributor of children’s content), continues to expand and strengthen its portfolio on an international scale, securing numerous global licensing deals including Nickelodeon (U.S.) for Mysticons, Disney Channel (U.S.) for Hotel Transylvania: The Series, Discovery Kids (Latin America) and Disney Channel (U.S.) deals for The ZhuZhus, and broadcast deals in France, Germany, Finland, and Australia for Ranger Rob.

The momentum across Corus’ Kids Networks is fuelled by the longstanding success, accomplished artists, and creative vision of Nelvana. With nearly 300talented artists and animators working in its Toronto studio, Nelvana has 14 series in full production and more than 20 shows in development for 2017/18. Nelvana’s stellar original animated content joining Corus’ leading kids’ networks this year include the genre-defining action series Mysticons. Slated for YTV this fall, the contemporary series follows four girls who transform into legendary warriors and undertake a quest to find a magic tome. Produced in association with Sony Pictures Animation, and based on the blockbuster film franchise, Hotel Transylvania: The Series focuses on the teenage years of Dracula’s daughter, Mavis, and her three closest friends who put her brilliant ideas of how to run the Hotel into motion, and is set to premiere on TELETOON this fall. Produced by Nelvana in association with Kids Can Press, the charming short film The Most Magnificent Thing joins preschool network Treehouse this fall. Based on Canadian author Ashley Spires’sbestselling picture book of the same name, the short film animates the tale of an unnamed girl, her furry best friend and their quest to make the most magnificent thing – even though creating it might not be that easy. Nelvana’s preschool adventure series Ranger Rob has been greenlit for a second season, and new episodes of the dynamic duo Max & Ruby return this fall on Treehouse.

The action continues as YTV also introduces new Canadian original series to its lineup, ReBoot: The Guardian Code. Reimagining the 1994 animated cult classic show ReBoot, the live-action/CG-animated hybrid series is set to debut in spring 2018. Produced by WOW! Unlimited Media’s Mainframe Studios, the series follows four teenagers selected to become the Next-Generation Guardians of cyberspace.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Link: Analog TV users will soon see fewer stations

From Rob Drinkwater of the Canadian Press:

Link: Analog TV users will soon see fewer stations
Years after TV stations in Canada’s larger cities were required to switch from analog to digital transmission, many broadcast towers that serve smaller areas continue to pump out signals that black-and-white sets made in the 1950s can still pick up.

But the number of those stations appears set to shrink following a federal government decision to clear a large portion of the ultra high frequency (UHF) band for wireless users, and, because of cost, some of those towers will be going dark. Continue reading. 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail