CBC and distributor Banijay International announce the commission of an original Canadian format as a result of the Format Incubator, an initiative launched at the 2015 Banff World Media Festival. Format Incubator is a collaborative venture between CBC, Banijay International and the independent production community in Canada aimed at boosting the creation of original exportable television formats.

Anything But Average (working title) is an original factual concept from Frantic Films and was selected jointly by CBC’s Unscripted Content team and Banijay International. The hour-long pilot is currently in production and will air in March 2016. The series is the ultimate nation-defining format for the nosy neighbour inside all of us. By exploring the lives of statistically average Canadians — who are the same on paper, but very different in reality — this entertaining, engaging and fact-filled format poses the question, what does it mean to be an “average” Canadian family in 2016?

Responding to Canadians’ love for comparisons, surveys and revealing statistics, Anything but Average uses data visualization to bring facts and figures about Canadian identity to life, layered over fly-on-the-wall footage of real families. The pilot episode, Modern Love, explores the nature of love, relationships, marriage and family dynamics and provides a surprising snapshot of modern Canadian life. Other potential episodes will focus on themes including money, diet, religion, leisure time and housing across the nation.