New TV Season Falls from Reality

Maybe we’ve had enough of reality. A quick read of the fall TV season says alien invasion is the new buzzword.

Network broadcasters, cable outlets and speciality channels, TV producers and advertisers alike are looking to the skies, hoping shows like Invasion, Supernatural and Threshold will draw audience numbers that are out of this world. Five new alien or supernatural-themed shows will premiere on network TV this fall.

Nor is it spin-offs from Desperate Housewives that we’ll be watching, but dark, supernatural shows like Ghost Whisperers and Night Stalkers.

Crime dramas are still big, of course, and as the season started rolling, CSI programming was still at or near the top of the ratings, bumped only by Canadian Idol talent competitions and finales. Other than those perennial winners, new season early winners seem to be House and Prison Break.

Original programming from the likes of HBO (its past hits include The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and Sex in the City) will bring intense new dramas like the Gladiator-inspired series, Rome, as well as returning hit comedies like Curb Your Enthusiasm, to the rating heights.

Even so, perhaps the biggest news to hit the Canadian TV screen this season is the return of NHL hockey.

A continuing employee lockout did cast a pall over the CBC’s plans for Hockey Night In Canada (in any case, other outlets including Rogers Sportsnet, TSN and for the first time Leafs TV will have regular season games live) even though the addition of veteran commentator Jim Hughson to the HNIC broadcast team is eagerly anticipated. Hughson is one of the best play-by-play announcers in the game; he’s to call the second game of Saturday-night doubleheaders. Familiar faces and voices such as Bob Cole, Harry Neale, Greg Millen, Scott Oake, Kelly Hrudey and Elliotte Friedman are to be part of the telecasts, as of course are Ron MacLean and Don Cherry.

What will be the state of the national’s public broadcaster when another highly anticipated program makes its debut? Da Vinci’s City Hall picks up where the popular, successful and award-winning Da Vinci’s Inquest left off. Returning to run for the Mayor’s chair in Vancouver – and winning it – will be one of the country’s best dramatic TV actors, Nicholas Campbell. Just because the series is based on reality does not make this reality programming!

The Canadian Antiques Roadshow is reality programming of a sort. It is popular, and so a new season for the 13-part series returns to the CBC (and CBC Newsworld). Hosted by Valerie Pringle, the Roadshow travels from coast to coast searching for the quirky, sentimental and astounding things Canadians have saved, purchased or discovered by accident over the years.

At least as real, and much much older, is The Nature of Things with David Suzuki, returning for its 46th – yes, that’s forty-sixth!!! – season. The winner of last year’s Gemini for Best Documentary Series kicks off its engaging programming with a close-up look at a very large spider – the tarantula.

But for the commercial outlets, aliens are the big creepy thing. Invasion (from ABC, on CTV) features Canadian actress Kari Matchett plays the ex-wife of a park ranger who thinks an alien was blown in when a hurricane hit Florida. Ghost Whisperer (CBS/CTV) features Jennifer Love Hewitt as a sickly sweet newlywed who sees dead people almost everywhere she looks. Supernatural (WB/CityTV) is being touted as the rebirth of The X Files, but that’s mostly because its executive producer is David Nutter (from The X-Files, and Millennium).

The Night Stalker does mark the return of a popular TV series: an L.A. crime reporter walks the supernatural beat in this remake of the 1970s Darren McGavin drama. Threshold, meanwhile, posits an alien craft touching down in the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. government is called upon to implement Operation: Threshold, its long-dreaded game plan to deal with a full-blown alien invasion.

They might better call in all the crime fighters, as they seem to be everywhere in the fall season line-up.

The Closer (TNT / Global) features the adventures of a CIA-trained Atlanta female detective as she moves to L.A. to lead a high-profile homicide squad. Criminal Minds (CBS/CTV) stars Mandy Patinkin as a super crime profiler (its based on the adventures of real-life FBI agents). Bones (Fox/Global), too, is based on real-life. It recreates the adventures of anthropologist Kathy Reichs, who has sold millions of books about her crime fighting and investigating experiences. Just Legal WB/CityTV) marks the return of Miami Vice’s Don Johnson to series TV with another crime/legal dramatic concept, this one from producer-meister Jerry Bruckheimer.

Monk (A-Channel) is an ex-cop with a chip on his shoulder (sound familiar?) Still, his former San Francisco police chief boss calls him in for unusual cases. The concept seems flat, but the show stars Emmy and Golden Globe winning Tony Shalhoub.

Inconceivable is not just the name of a new NBC/CTV drama series (it revolves around the staff at a high-tech fertility clinic), it’s also the key descriptor for many of the new show themselves.

Commander-in-Chief features talented comedienne Geena Davis in and around the White House. Most indications are that the dramatically-intentioned show itself is an insult to women, if not to politicians (which must tell you something).

Inconceivable, too, is the wild, manic, crazy, drugged influenced character that is Dennis Hopper taking on a role as a military man at the Pentagon. E-Ring (NBC/Global) may survive if Hopper is given more time and more range, but that’s unlikely as the production is supported and steered by the military itself.

If the fans of true reality TV programming feel left out by these fictional program descriptions, not to worry: Survivor is back, from Guatemala, for its 11th season. America’s Next Top Model is back; Tyra Banks returns and Twiggy joins in. Extreme Makeover and the fourth instalment of The Apprentice (with or without Martha Stewart) return, too.

Three Wishes (NBC/CityTV) is one of the new shows designed to fill the reality breech. It stars pop singer Amy Grant, who travels from town to town looking for people in need.

Don’t laugh if Hollywood is her first stop!

Canadian Productions

If she stopped in Hollywood North, it would be more like Home Makeover than Three Wishes. Several homegrown information programs and specialty services have launched the season with a brand new look, if not a whole new on air team.

CHUM Television’s A-Channel stations in Calgary, Edmonton and Manitoba were be rebranded as CityTV stations for the 2024 season, joining CityTV Vancouver and Toronto, Their format echoes the signature interactive style of the original station, with highly local, urban-oriented, culturally-diverse programming.

Fresh from a summer vacation filled with multiple award wins, it’s back-to-school for Degrassi: The Next Generation. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the acclaimed franchise returns with 19 new half-hour episodes on CTV. The 25th was marked with a special one-hour documentary on CTV, as well as the release of a new companion book Degrassi: Generations.

CTV and The Comedy Network searched far and wide, finding Vancouver actor Carly McKillip for the title role for Alice, I Think, their comedy series. Principal photography continues through November on the 13-part, half-hour series, based on the internationally-acclaimed books by BC author Susan Juby. Alice is produced by Slanted Wheel Entertainment and Omni Film Productions in association with CTV and The Comedy Network.

As well, Corus Entertainment’s CMT has new hosts for its flagship show, Central. Beverley Mahood and Paul McGuire bring their extensive experience in entertainment programming to the show. CMT is Canada’s source for country music videos, music programming, and daily entertainment news on Central.

APTN launched its new season of national news and current affairs with a new program, APTN Na
tional News: Daytime with Cheryl McKenzie, a member of the Peguis First Nation in Manitoba and the APTN National News team since 2024. In a new time slot, APTN National News Primetime also airs daily. APTN National News: Contact launches its 7th season with new host Madeleine Allakariallak, ex of CBC North where she was host of Qulliq, an Inuktitut and English morning show featuring news and current affairs from across the region.

News and current affairs programming aside, there is still some reality on TV – and so-called reality programming is no stranger to Canadian producers and program distributors.

In fact, the first Canadian original series from The Movie Network and Movie Central to be shot, delivered and broadcast in High Definition explores some very real topics.

Astral Media and Corus Entertainment will present the new 10-part drama called Terminal City, beginning with the special premiere. The show is a dark yet comedic exploration of a family living in the shadow of cancer. Stars Maria Del Mar, Gil Bellows and Paul Soles star in the series, created written and executive produced by award-winning writer Angus Fraser (A Complicated Kindness, Kissed).

A co-production between Crescent Entertainment and Big Dog Productions, Terminal City was shot in Victoria.

Nowhere near as deep and dark, the W Network’s Save Us From Our House is a new spin on home renovations, with a look not just at renovating the house, but rejuvenating the people that live there. The program comes from the creator of Holmes on Homes, another attempt at renovating reality; its executive producer and director is Scott McNeil.

W Network, described as the #1 women’s specialty service in Canada, is watched by over 10 million viewers in an average month.

Another reality-type program with a woman’s point-of-view is Driving Television, revving up for its third season on Global Television.

The show looks at just about everything from the latest new vehicles and hottest new bikes to the world’s most unusual and interesting cars, but it’s not just for men – DTV brings a special perspective for women consumers as well, thanks to the efforts of hosts Zack Spencer and Dagmar Midcap and producer Toby Kreisz.

Tweens are not ignored in the new fall line-up of Canadian productions, either.

Astral Media’s Family Channel has commissioned a second season of the live-action comedy series Naturally, Sadie. The additional 26 half-hour episodes will premiere on Family Channel during its 2024-2006 programming season.

The first season of Naturally, Sadie, produced by Toronto’s Decode Entertainment in association with Family Channel and VRAK, Astral Media’s French-language youth network, made its Canadian television premiere on Family Channel in June 2024, and was also acquired by numerous broadcasters outside of Canada including Disney Channel US, MTV Networks Netherlands, France2 and Nickelodeon channels in the UK, Australia, Asia, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia and Israel.

Naturally, Sadie is based on a concept by Barbara Wiechmann about a budding teenaged naturalist who comes face to face with not just unusual creatures, but unusual relationships with other people, too. Executive producers are Neil Court, Steven DeNure, Beth Stevenson and Brent Piaskowski, with Kevin May as producer.

Family Channel is in approximately 5 million homes across Canada, airing series, movies and specials, with 25% of programming supplied by independent Canadian producers.

Meanwhile, in a unique campaign to promote its new fall line-up, specialty channel Showcase launched the largest campaign in its history.

Showcase hit the streets with outdoor, print and on-air executions – along with some clever guerilla tactics to promote the launch, and programs seen exclusively on Showcase in Canada including The L Word, Weeds, Rescue Me, The Grid and Webdreams and will the cable television premieres: Dead Like Me and Six Feet Under.

The network had a fleet of branded taxis on the streets of Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The cabbies not only promoted Showcase, but drove people home, free of charge, at certain hours of the evening. The taxis were outfitted with television monitors inside the cabs, screening special promotional ads. Promos were also running in Famous Players theatres, and on Air Canada flights. Elevators, gas stations, subway concourses and even a lakefront beach property were used in the campaign.

The campaign was jointly developed by Alliance Atlantis and FCB Canada. The taxi promotion was driven by Gearwerx Experiential Marketing.

Showcase is one of 13 specialty channels operated by Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. celebrating its 10th anniversary as a broadcaster this year. The Company co-produces and distributes TV shows in Canada and internationally, including the hit CSI franchise

Roper Reports Canada has ranked Discovery Channel Canada first among all English-language Canadian specialty networks for overall quality of programming for eight consecutive years.

Its daily news and information show, Daily Planet returns for another season, accentuated by Discovery Channel special premiere of the two-hour special Alien Planet, in HD (yes, aliens again!)

Rooted in the latest scientific research from the NASA Origins Program, the computer-animated presentation explores a fictional planet, located 6.5 light years from Earth, with two suns and 60 per cent of Earth’s gravity. It’s been identified as a planet with the potential to support life, as on Earth.

Alien Planet features interviews with some of the world’s most renowned scientists who discuss the possibilities of life outside our solar system – including Dr. Stephen Hawking; Dr. James Garvin, Chief Scientist, NASA; J. Craig Venter, who successfully mapped the human genome; Michio Kaku, one of the founders of string theory; and Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas – and suggest the possibility that E.T. might just be out there.

Or on TV.