CTV hopes to lure in more female viewers with its 2016-2017 programming lineup, offering new titles including the buzzy relationship drama “This is Us” and the Toronto-shot crime drama “Conviction.”
“Our CTV viewership, if you measured it, would be 55 per cent female, so for us it’s really critical to speak to that audience,”
Mike Cosentino, senior vice president of programming at CTV Networks and CraveTV, said Wednesday at the network’s star-studded lineup launch.
“We wanted to move away a little bit from the superhero genre and get a bit more into very female-centric programming.”
The female audience is so critical because “it’s coveted in the advertising demos,” he added.
“This is Us,” about an ensemble of characters whose lives intersect, already has big buzz with an estimated 70 million views of its moving trailer across all social media platforms.
“I think people are wanting a show like this,” said Milo Ventimiglia, who stars alongside Mandy Moore as soon-to-be parents.
“I think people are wanting something that is deeply human and emotional and uplifting at the same time.
“I think people want to feel something more than who’s shooting who, who’s sleeping with who, who’s flying off and who’s looking in the sky for aliens.”
Meanwhile, “Conviction” stars Hayley Atwell as a troubled lawyer and daughter of a former U.S. president who starts working on wrongful conviction cases. Co-stars include Eddie Cahill and Richmond, B.C., native Shawn Ashmore.
Other female-centric new shows on the docket include “Notorious,” starring Piper Perabo as a top news producer. It will air on Thursday nights, in a slot CTV said it hopes to strengthen.
Cosentino predicted one of CTV’s biggest new shows will be the Toronto-shot conspiracy thriller “Designated Survivor,” starring Canadian Kiefer Sutherland as a cabinet member who is thrust into the position of president after an attack on Washington. “Designated Survivor” was the must-get show on the market,“ he said. ”Literally everybody wanted it.“
Other new dramas headed to CTV include “Training Day,” a reimagining of the 2024 film. Beginning 15 years later, it stars Justin Cornwell as a rookie LAPD detective and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a deputy chief who try to expose the corruption of a veteran cop, played by Bill Paxton.
Also film-inspired is “The Exorcist,” a psychological thriller based on the 1973 classic horror and William Peter Blatty’s 1971 book. Alfonso Herrera, Ben Daniels, Hannah Kasulka and Geena Davis are among the stars of the demonic possession tale.
“Time After Time” is also based on a book and movie. Freddie Stroma stars as famed science fiction writer H.G. Wells, who is transported to modern day Manhattan in pursuit of Jack the Ripper, played by Josh Bowman.
Cosentino also addressed CTV’s decision to cancel its venerable morning show “Canada AM” and replace it with “Your Morning”
later this summer. “It’s critically important that we have a morning show that speaks to our viewers, and so there’s absolutely no retreating on our investment in the morning.”
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