While CBC carries more Canadian TV shows than the 3 Canadian private networks combined, we are curious what CTV, Global, and Citytv have for the upcoming 2024-2025 TV schedule.
CTV/Bell Media
The new show of note on CTV comes from Kids in the Hall alum Mark McKinney on a search mission to uncover Canada's hobby enthusiasts on Mark McKinney Needs a Hobby. We've been surprised that no one has tried to do a take on what Jonny Harris does with Still Standing on CBC. Hoping this show has a similar feel.
Children Ruin Everything is coming back with 16 new episodes that look to be divided between a Season 4 and yes kids, a Season 5. We are curious as to which season that Morris (aka Andrew) will start talking. The program airs on The CW in the United States.
Sullivan's Crossing (Season 3) and Sight Unseen (Season 2) will have new episodes on CTV and also The CW. The latter show is a co-production with the 2 networks. CTV aired Season 2 of Sullivan's Crossing with the CW airing coming this fall. The season finale airs Sunday on CTV. Sight Unseen just finished its 10-episode Season 1 on Wednesday on The CW.
SurrealEstate (CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada and SyFy in the United States) will have a Season 3. This is a surprise to those who suffered through a miserable Season 2. Season 1 was cool and Season 2 was not.
Transplant is done after 4 seasons on CTV though NBC is taking its sweet [bleep] time getting to Season 4. The Spencer Sisters is an one-and-done series for CTV and the CW.
Unfortunately, there is no Season 2 for Shelved. Season 1 was worth a few years of this show. But, cutbacks.
Bell Media making deep cuts to W5, CTV local newscasts
While we don't normally count Canadian news as "Canadian programming" in terms of the CRTC, we made a grand exception for W5, which Bell Media cancelled suddenly in February. W5 was older than the Super Bowl and 60 Minutes, dating back to September 11, 1966 on CTV.
Canadians lost a Canadian TV classic and a necessary part of Canadian TV journalism.
CBC should grab Shelved if CTV cancelled that show
Loss of 'Run the Burbs' a death knell for Canadian TV (Toronto Star)
Canadian TV notebook: Run the Burbs done after 3 seasons
CTV has new seasons of The Traitors Canada (Season 2), Battle of the Generations (Season 2), and The Amazing Race Canada (Season 10). Karine Vanasse returns to host The Traitors: Canada et Les traîtres on Noovo. While we want Vanasse to have success. she is very much needed as an actor on film and television.
While this is on the sports end, CTV will have Saturday afternoon CFL football starting September 7. The CBC had the last CFL game over the air with the 2007 Grey Cup and CTV hasn't aired a CFL game since 1986. CTV regularly simsubs NFL games from the United States.
CTV Comedy greenlit Season 3 for Acting Good, starring Paul Rabliauskas. There was mention of another season of The Good Stuff with Mary Berg (daytime on CTV) but no note on a Season 4 of Mary Makes It Easy on CTV Life Channel in Canada and the Food Network in the United States.
On the Crave side of things, Shoresy is renewed for Season 4. Season 3 airs later this month on Hulu in the United States. There will be a Season 2 for Late Bloomer and The Trades. The latter show is a bit of Trailer Park Boys and Moonshine, very Nova Scotia.
Super Team Canada is an animated series coming to Crave next year featuring Will Arnett, Cobie Smulders, Kevin McDonald, Charles Demers, Brian Drummond, Ceara Morgana, and Veena Sood about the exploits of 6 little-known Canadian superheroes.
Don't Even (Crave and APTN) is an urban Indigenous coming-of-age story in the late 1990s in Winnipeg. Leenah Robinson and Victoria Turko are the leads with Joel Oulette (Trickster), Gail Maurice, and Jennifer Podemski.
There is a feel of Montréal with a docuseries The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens about the Habs' previous season. As someone who writes about hockey, the team has been rebuilding for awhile. There are short series based on previous Canadian films Bon Cop, Bad Cop and So Long, Marianne (think Leonard Cohen).
Sasha Leigh Henry is back with a drug-related drama called Bad Trips. Henry created Bria Mack Gets A Life, which just won Best Comedy Series at the Canadian Screen Awards last week. A Season 2 of Bria Mack Gets A Life is not mentioned in the Bell Media release. Then again, no one at Bell Media said Shelved got cancelled.
Update: Turns out Bria Mack Gets a Life got cancelled. There was U.S. interest in the show if there was a second season.
2024 CBC television upfront preview
Global/Corus
Canadian TV fans might recognize this shot of Gibsons, BC. Molly's Reach was the restaurant on The Beachcombers, a Canadian TV series that ran on the CBC from 1972-1990. I've seen a few episodes on the Internet and I can see the charm in the program.
This is contained within the trailer for Murder in a Small Town, starring Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk. Fox will debut the program during the 2024-25 TV season. Global has the show on its fall schedule, Wednesdays at 10 pm Eastern.
Sutherland plays the chief of police while Kreuk plays a local librarian. Somehow, they solve crimes. Watching the trailer made me think back to Three Pines, a series where Sutherland starred. Sutherland and Kreuk are Canadian and well known to American audiences.
Molly's Reach is a reference point that 99.99999% of Americans and a lot of Canadians would not know. Nice Easter egg.
Global will show Season 3 of Family Law sometime in 2025. The U.S. viewers are actually ahead of the curve, having seen that season on The CW. Not a spoiler, but Season 3 is better than Season 2.
Though Doc, starring Canadian actor Molly Parker, is not a Canadian show, we note that Global will carry the Fox series in Canada. We mentioned Murder in a Small Town and Doc in our Victoria Day notebook.
2024 Victoria Day notebook: Vancouver, Edmonton meet tonight for Game 7
Corus cut ties to Robyn Hood after a single season and 8 episodes. The show was a take by Director X on the Robin Hood legend, starring Jessye Romeo as Robyn Loxley, "a young woman whose masked hip-hop band, The Hood, is known for their inventive videos and anti-authoritarian message."
I thought the idea was interesting. I heard next to nothing about how this show was. The trailer seemed really dark. Sorry this didn't get more of a chance.
Global ran Season 3 of Departure last summer. Season 3 did not run on Peacock in the States. No news likely means the show won't return.
2023 Canadian TV upfronts highlights
2022 Canadian TV upfronts highlights
2021 Canadian TV upfronts highlights
Citytv/Rogers
The focus on the Citytv upfront was on the fall schedule. So what does Citytv count as Canadian television in the fall? Hudson & Rex repeats and Hockey Night in Canada.
The fall lineup features Hudson & Rex repeats on Saturday nights at 10 pm as well as Sunday nights at 7 pm Eastern AND 10 pm Pacific. Hopefully, those are distinct reruns.
Most Saturdays, Citytv is simulcasting a game from a Rogers Sportsnet cable feed. Occasionally, that game is a simulcast of CBC. The Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver affiliates usually carry a second game at 7 pm Pacific.
Rogers has a picture of the Citytv fall schedule. The most Canadian part of this is a picture of Connor McDavid.
We’re wagging our tails with excitement! Our favourite cop-and-canine duo is BACK for an all-new season of #HudsonAndRex returning in 2025 on Citytv. It’s season 7 – that’s season 49 in dog years! 🐶 pic.twitter.com/LuRxL20qyi
— Citytv (@City_tv) June 10, 2024
Update: We only had to wait 3 days after our story to find out Hudson & Rex is coming back in the winter of 2025 on Citytv. We have the release for the "Canadian content" including Season 4 of Canada's Got Talent. This comes 6 days after the Citytv upfront for the American shows.
Hudson & Rex will be back in the winter on Citytv for Season 7: 6 seasons and 100 episodes so far. Whatever we might think of the quality of the program, 100 episodes in Canadian TV is a rare honour.
Those in the States can catch Hudson & Rex episodes on UPtv, a "wholesome" family type channel you might have on cable.
Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent has advantages to show Canadians the real Toronto
Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent is renewed for Season 2, also in the winter. Canada's Got Talent ran this spring. I didn't think Wong & Winchester was that great but I miss its presence.
"Fox also has come in as a partner on The Donut (working title), a single-camera family business comedy in development at Canada's CBC from Catherine Reitman and Philip Sternberg, stars of CBC/Netflix's popular comedy Workin’ Moms, which Reitman created."
We see a lot of films that are co-produced by Canada and the United States. Canadian TV seems to be taking on this trend on some level. Interestingly, Fox is involved in this — odd since this is the network that bought the rights to Diggstown and never showed the Canadian TV show.
2024 Canadian Screen Awards: Little Bird leads the way with 13 CSAs
CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage
CanadianCrossing.com television coverage
The U.S. writers strike did not produce an influx of Canadian TV. We still have slight hope that a U.S. outlet can save Shelved, so ironically, more episodes can air in Canada.
The TV-eh.com Web site is a great resource on Canadian TV. We like promoting them because they are such a valuable resource on this topic. There is no relationship of any kind; we are just generous.
Please let us know any corrections or updates to this list.
photo credits: Sight Unseen/CTV/The CW; Super Team Canada/Crave; Murder in a Small Town/FOX/Global; Robyn Hood/Global; Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent/Citytv
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