The 2018 CBC Winter Schedule focuses on dramas, some of which will air from South Korea (2018 Winter Olympics) and all but a single TV drama from Canada.
Newfoundland (and Labrador) are the focus of a pair of awaited CBC shows. Caught from Allan Hawco (Republic of Doyle) is adapted from the Lisa Moore novel about a drug dealer in a prison break. Hawco and Paul Gross are among the stars. The 5-part series runs in the post Murdoch Mysteries timeslot after the Olympics on February 26.
Little Dog is a dark comedy from the mind of 2017 Governor General’s Literary Award-winner, musician, and actor Joel Thomas Hynes. The show is about a boxer who quit in the middle of a fight years ago and his attempts to get back into the ring. Little Dog hits the CBC lineup in the post Dragons' Den slot after the Olympics on March 1.
Wednesday night will have all new dramas starting with Burden of Truth with Kristin Kreuk as a big city lawyer returning to her hometown. Reminds us a bit of Bellevue from last season, but the new show is probably different. The Detectives is a true crime series about real investigations from Canadian detectives.
The only non-Canadian new drama is a brief 4-part series The Secret based on a true story on a dentist and teacher in Northern Ireland in the post Dragons' Den slot until the Olympics.
Schitt’s Creek (Season 4) and Workin’ Moms (Season 2) from Catherine Reitman are back in their Tuesday timeslots in the 9 pm hour.
Elsewhere on the comedy front, Crawford, the offbeat family show featuring Canada's own Jill Hennessy, will run this summer. However, Canadians can stream the series beginning February 2.
This Hour Has 22 Minutes welcomes the return of Meredith MacNeill as a correspondent. MacNeill, a Nova Scotia native, worked on the show before launching the Baroness von Sketch Show. MacNeill is not quitting her day job.
Hello Goodbye returns for Season 3 after Marketplace on Fridays.
CBC gets a new Sunday morning news show thanks to The Weekly with Wendy Mesley focusing on media, technology, and politics. Mesley transitioned to the new show on CBC and CBC News Network from her role as Friday and Sunday anchor of The National. The show will broadcast live from CBC in Toronto. We will be curious to see if the program will be available via the CBC Web site from non-Canadians. The Weekly with Wendy Mesley debuts January 14 at 11 am.
New 2018 episodes start January 7. CBC Sports will have the 2018 Winter Olympics from Pyeongchang, South Korea from February 9-25.
Monday
Murdoch Mysteries 8p
Frankie Drake Mysteries/Caught 9p
Tuesday
Rick Mercer Report 8p
This Hour Has 22 Minutes 8:30p
Schitt's Creek 9p
Workin' Moms 9:30p
Wednesday
Burden of Truth 8p
The Detectives 9p
Thursday
Dragons' Den 8p
The Secret/Little Dog 9p
Friday
Marketplace 8p
Hello Goodbye 8:30p
The Fifth Estate 9p
Saturday
Hockey Night in Canada 7p
Sunday
Heartland 7p
The Nature of Things 8p
CBC Docs POV 9p
bold indicates new series; ital indicates new timeslot
Murdoch Mysteries, Rick Mercer Report, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Dragons' Den, Marketplace, The Fifth Estate, Hockey Night in Canada, Heartland, The Nature of Things, and CBC Docs POV stay in their timeslots.
The beauty of importing already made TV is that you don't have to produce the programming. CBC has thankfully been doing less of that lately. But Canadian dramas have an appeal south of the border. WGN America is taking that approach and adding 3 new dramas, well, new to the American audience.
Bellevue starring Anna Paquin makes its U.S. debut on January 23. Shoot The Messenger will air starting February 26. Pure will be in the WGN America lineup sometime in 2018.
All 3 CBC dramas ran in the 2016-2017 TV season. Bellevue has 8 episodes that ran in the winter of 2017. Pure, now available on Hulu, had 6 episodes in that same time frame as the programs shared the Monday 9 pm timeslot last winter. Shoot The Messenger has 8 episodes and ran in the fall of 2016.
The channel has not traditionally run in Chicago but thanks to becoming more of a distinct channel, WGN America is now available in its hometown. You might recall the channel ran Corner Gas episodes back in 2006.
To find WGN America in your area, click here.
CanadianCrossing.com CBC coverage
Pop TV will only run a little bit behind the CBC run for Season 4 of Schitt's Creek. The U.S. outlet will start Season 4 on January 24 at its traditional time of 8 pm Eastern. We will have an extensive preview later this month.
CanadianCrossing.com television coverage
CBC has a new option for its app to allow consumers to skip past ad and allow users to live stream CBC TV, watch episodes on demand on the same day they’re released, see ad-free children’s programming, and view series not aired on the network. The cost for the premium version is $4.99/month.
The new app allows for all 14 regional linear channels to be live-streamed.
If we were in Canada, we might be interested but still not clear of the significant advantages over the current setup in Canada.
photos credit: CBC
video credit: YouTube/WGN America
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