Canadian Crossing

Canadian TV notebook: What is coming to the private networks in the winter of 2025

We had some love for the upcoming Canadian TV on CBC before the new year. Let's look at the few Canadian television titles on the private networks this winter.

CTV has the other 8 episodes of Season 4 of Children Ruin Everything coming back on Wednesdays starting January 8 at 8:30 pm ET/PT. The first half of those episodes ran this fall on CTV and in blocks in December on The CW.

The Bell Media press release notes significant upcoming guest stars including David Cronenberg, Carolyn Taylor, Scott Thompson, and Jesse Rath. Bruce McCulloch, Thompson's Kids in the Hall buddy, plays a politician who is Astrid's boss.

Sight Unseen (Season 2) is back on CTV on Monday nights at 10 pm starting January 20. Sullivan's Crossing (Season 3) will be later this year (presumably) on CTV. All of these shows also air on The CW.

Extracted mentions the Canadian wilderness but is a reality show from Fox also airing on CTV.

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent comes back to Citytv on Thursday nights starting on February 20. We haven't heard anything of note as far as changes. We might even assume Season 2 has 10 episodes, same as last year.

The only live Citytv Canadian programming in the fall involved the NHL on Saturday nights. Hockey Night in Canada continues on Citytv through the regular season in April.

The western Citytv stations (Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver) carry a late game as well as an early game.

The Hudson & Rex repeats will give way to repeats (likely) as well as new episodes of the Newfoundland-set crime drama starting January 14. This will be Season 7 for Hudson & Rex.

The Citytv Canadian TV lineup should last as long in this story as the promo to the left. How does the CRTC allow this?

Global ran all 8 episodes of Murder in a Small Town with Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk. The season-ending episodes got a nice performance from Noah Reid.

The network will run Doc this winter that starts Canadian acting legend Molly Parker. Both shows run on Fox though Doc is not a Canadian TV show. Doc starts on January 7 in both countries.

Global has Season 3 of Family Law cued up to start January 5 on Sunday nights at 8 pm. The U.S. viewers are actually ahead of the curve, having seen that season on The CW.

Season 3 is better than Season 2. Season 4 will have to wait on both sides of the border.

Doc is distinct for an American TV show for a few reasons. This is an American adaptation of an Italian TV series. The show has a female protagonist instead of the male protagonist in the original Italian TV series Doc – Nelle tue mani (Doc – In your hands). A show on Fox has a female lead who is [whispers] over the age of 50.

While Nathan Fillion is the lead in The Rookie, a purely American production, having a Canadian lead in an American TV show is unusual. We have had a soft spot for Molly Parker since we saw her on Twitch City a couple of decades ago. Parker deserves this kind of an opportunity. Let's hope the scripts can be worthy of her talents.

As we have noted previously, Global TV only has 2 original Canadian TV programs on its schedule: one on Fox and the other on The CW (Family Law).

2025 CBC television winter preview

Reminding our American readers that The CW will carry Season 2 of Wild Cards on Wednesdays at 8 pm starting February 5. We are guessing that the U.S. network will wait until spring to show Season 4 of Son of a Critch along with the second half of the Children Ruin Everything episodes.

We found out that production on the 6th and final season of The Handmaid's Tale has been underway.

North of North will eventually be on Netflix globally (outside Canada) sometime in the spring. The CBC show starts January 7 and also runs on APTN, a great channel that would find a niche in the United States.

To our Phriends and Phamily in the 🇺🇸, season three of @runtheburbs is streaming now on @hulu! #runtheburbs pic.twitter.com/G3qSg1HTXY

— Andrew Phung (@andrewphung) December 12, 2024

One of the few joys I get these days is to enjoy the final season of Run the Burbs, thanks to Hulu. I love the characters on this show, especially the well-drawn supporting characters: energetic Hudson (Jonathan Langdon), intense Sebastian (Chris Locke), and love-shy Cathy (Samantha Wan). That would have extended to Candy (Candy Palmater), who was a part of Season 1 but passed away in real life.

Canadians can catch up on all 3 seasons on CBC Gem.

Goodbye, eh, to How I Met Your Mother

We have crossed the 10-year point of the end of How I Met Your Mother on CBS (and Citytv). Very easy to say that Robin Scherbatsky aka Robin Sparkles aka Robin Daggers was the best drawn Canadian character in U.S. television history. Cobie Smulders is Canadian and from Vancouver.

The task of whether a Canadian TV show has created a character so Canadian is perhaps unfair. After all, Canadian characters are Canadian and don't have to show that off within Canada. Robin defended her Canadian status to not lose that within New York City and her friends.

Sandra Bullock played a Canadian in The Proposal but didn't seem to act as if she was Canadian at key points in the film. Molly Parker and Nathan Fillion are Canadians as American TV leads playing American characters.

Rick Mercer felt Canadian in his rants in the alley but he wasn't a fictional character. Red Green sure summed up an element of Canadiana but are Canadians that talented with duct tape? Stevie Budd (Emily Hampshire) would get a few votes for being sarcastic and searching for her niche in her world. Older Canadians might vote for Nick Adonidas (Bruno Gerussi) from The Beachcombers.

I don't have a grand answer to this question or even nominees for who that might be. Just a thought to ponder. If you have a nominee, let us know in the comments section.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

U.S. fans of Transplant will have to wait until at least March to get Season 4, the final season, on NBC. We are coming up on the 1-year anniversary (January 19) of the final episode on CTV. I would almost subscribe to Peacock if I thought I could get the episodes sooner.

photo credits: Family Law/Global; Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent/Citytv; How I Met Your Mother/CBS
video credit: Doc/Fox
Twitter capture: @andrewphung

2024 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

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

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent has advantages to show Canadians the real Toronto

People who live in Toronto like to note when their city is being used as "Washington" or "New York City" in an American film. The old joke was that the crews had to deposit trash onto the streets so the scene would be more realistic.

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent debuted last Thursday on Citytv. Toronto didn't look like New York City yet some might think that wasn't the real Toronto.

The Filmores Hotel didn't seem believable yet is in the downtown area. The hotel (with a "gentleman's club" on ground level) rests right at George and Dundas with the Dundas streetcar going by the detectives.

The walk around with the crown attorney at Nathan Phillips Square was likely more memorable to people with casual knowledge of Toronto. The Toronto Islands and Billy Bishop Airport were around the boat in the open of the pilot episode.

We could cite a number of films such as Take This Waltz and the non-Canadian film Scott Pilgrim Versus the World as examples of showcasing Toronto. Twitch City, Baroness von Sketch Show, Orphan Black, Sensitive Skin, Private Eyes, Workin' Moms, Sort Of, and Kim's Convenience are some of the many Canadian TV shows showing Toronto in the spotlight.

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent has 2 advantages in showing off Toronto that most other Canadian TV shows and Canadian films do not have.

• Based on the pilot episode, the show looks very slick and professional. Compare the look of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent to Sullivan's Crossing, The Spencer Sisters, Wild Cards, and Hudson & Rex.
• The Law & Order reputation means Canadian audiences will pay more attention to the show, given its love affair with American TV shows.

Those other shows had the regular Toronto on display, not terribly exciting for those viewers who want to see the underbelly in motion.

Showrunner Tassie Cameron created Pretty Hard Cases, set and filmed in Toronto, and was the head writer and executive producer on Rookie Blue (Global/ABC) also set and filmed in Canada's largest city. The Canadians behind this show know locations to make Toronto seem more like New York City in an underbelly kind of way.

Take This Waltz showcases a real Toronto neighborhood

Twitch City is where my love for Canada started

Toronto sports cornucopia is a small portion of what makes Toronto a worthy destination

Toronto stories from a resilient city

Those in Canada and outside of Toronto can grumble about this obsession with the largest city in Canada. TSN is sometimes referred to as Toronto Sports Network. Frankly, Toronto is the gateway to Canada, English Canada, for most people outside Canada. We recently looked at how good Wild Cards and Family Law made Vancouver look on television.

Montréal is a more difficult city for English Canada to view. Transplant is shot in Montréal while pretending to be Toronto. Jacob Tierney's films (The Trotsky; Good Neighbours) showcase Montréal but mostly the anglophone neighbourhoods, such as Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

Canadian TV notebook: Saying goodbye to Sort Of

CanadianCrossing.com Citytv coverage

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

The absolute irony in all of this is Americans and those not in North America aren't the toughest audience when it comes to Toronto on Canadian TV. The toughest audience is English Canadians, people who would watch boring, mundane American television than adventurous, intriguing Canadian television.

As a Rogers executive explained about this show: "It's the most Rogers has ever spent on an original drama." It's "a hell of a lot of money" for a Canadian series.

Rogers used valuable Hockey Night in Canada time to promote Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. Citytv runs the fewest number of original Canadian television in prime time among the private networks in a sea where those networks work hard to show very few Canadian shows. Yet Rogers and Citytv have put a lot behind Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent.

Episode 2 of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent runs tonight, Thursdays at 8 pm Eastern on Citytv, Channel 57 in Toronto. We are still hoping at some point that the show will run in the States.

photo credit: Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent/Citytv

Canadian TV notebook: Saying goodbye to Sort Of

3 seasons. 18 episodes. The tales of Sabi Mehboob and the people in their lives has come to a close, at least in this form. Sort Of taught us about love in many forms. An overall safe space for everyone involved from 7ven (Amanda Cordner) all the way down to the Kaneko-Bauer children: Violet (Kaya Kanashiro) and Henry (Aden Bedard).

The star was Bilal Baig as Sabi Mehboob; Baig and Fab Filippo were the show's creators. They gave us some amazing characters in a wonderful world that was Toronto. Definitely Toronto.

The father character had mostly an invisible presence on his wife Raffo (Ellora Patnaik) and Aqsa (Supinder Wraich). They broke away for themselves and saw Sabi in very different ways from the paternal presence. Aqsa and Sabi had a strong sibling relationship. The show allowed Aqsa to have her own feelings separate from Sabi, something lesser shows struggle to feature. Aqsa was comfortable in her body, a strong female character who isn't part of the primary cast.

Raffo showed a lot of growth over the course of the show, especially in understanding Sabi, supporting Aqsa, and learning about herself in widowhood.

Your humble narrator can't come up with a word to describe the relationship between Sabi and Bessy Kaneko (Grace Lynn Kung). The biking accident impacted her existence through a lot of the show. A mother and a wife, yet not wanting the constraints of those "titles." They had a love of some kind that was glorious and should serve as an example for future TV and film projects.

Paul Bauer (Gray Powell) — husband to Bessy and father to Violet and Henry — anytime you thought you had Paul figured out, you learned more was below the surface.

A show that allowed a quiet character such as Henry to exist without ridicule or overt concern.

Sort Of gave us wonderful characters that we will think about for a long time. A gracious thank you to Baig and Filippo for showing us love in 18 episodes.

Canadians have only been able to watch on CBC Gem. There hasn't been an airing on CBC. Sort Of debuted on January 18 on Max in the United States. We have empathy for the Americans who watch CBC through cable over a long wait for Season 3.

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent finally comes to Citytv on Thursday (February 22) at 8 pm Eastern. How excited is Citytv about an actual Canadian show? Rogers, owner of Citytv, had Kyle Bukauskas interview Aden Young and Kathleen Munroe before the beginning of the 3rd period of the Toronto Maple Leafs game Saturday night.

The amusing part was that the interview ran on the CBC game while Citytv had the game from Montréal. Oh well: Citytv viewers are used to seeing CBC promos when the 2 networks carry the same Hockey Night in Canada game.

Your humble narrator figured Season 1 would have a take on the murders of Barry and Honey Sherman. However, showrunner Tassie Cameron (Pretty Hard Cases) said the episodes will have a mix of scenarios, so the obvious ones might have to wait for Season 2.

Unlike some of the Law & Order shows overseas, this show will feature original episodes drawn from Canadian stories.

Transplant has finished its 4-season run on CTV in Canada. The U.S. viewers watching NBC have finally seen the end of Season 3. Not the best season for the show, if we are being honest.

The core 4 of the series had a rocky time in Season 3. Dr. Bash Hamed (Hamza Haq) and Dr. Magalie "Mags" Leblanc (Laurence Leboeuf) finally got together romantically. The tension in the first 2 seasons was more fun than the actual relationship in Season 3. Mags also had physical struggles with her pacemaker and the life decisions she has to make.

Mags and Dr. June Curtis (Ayisha Issa) made odd roommates yet they fit together well. June's struggles with her stepsister added to a full plate of problems at work with surgery and professional relationships.

Dr. Theo Hunter (Jim Watson) had the worst of Season 3. Yes, he was emotionally recovering from the helicopter crash. Dr. Hunter grew a beard and had his life collapse. Your humble narrator kept saying to the screen that if he only shaved his beard, his life would get better. If Dr. Hunter is clean shaven in Season 4, his life will improve. Dr, Hunter's Season 3 beard woes did remind us of this classic Kids in the Hall sketch.

We were overjoyed to see one of our favourite Quebecois actors in Pascale Bussières, who played a doctor in the camp where Bash goes to help out near where he is from. We have seen a large number of films featuring Bussières, including August 32nd on Earth | Un 32 août sur terre (1998) from Denis Villeneuve and When Night is Falling (1995) from Patricia Rozema. Bussières appears mostly in Episodes 10-12 and briefly in the season finale.

To no one's surprise, NBC has not issued a start date for Season 4. There are only 10 episodes in Season 4.

Canadian film review: August 32nd on Earth

Canadian film review: When Night Is Falling

The CW putting Wild Cards and Family Law back-to-back on Wednesday nights is serving as a tourist campaign to come to Vancouver. Both series are shot there, filled with wonderful scenery in and around downtown Vancouver. The city is that beautiful even in the rain, which somehow never gets on the shows. I think Vancouver is that beautiful even in the rain.

Wild Cards is pretty good. 2 steps above The Spencer Sisters and still below Pretty Hard Cases. Chemistry is surprisingly good. Never hurts to have shots from the boat where Cole Ellis (Giacomo Gianniotti) lives. The recap scenes with Max Mitchell (Vanessa Morgan) and Cole's cat on the boat are often the highlight of the episode.

If there is a criticism, the supporting characters need to be more human. Chief Li (Terry Chen) tends to be stuck on the "play it by the book" note. Perhaps that will come out in time but better sooner than later.

Each show has 10 episodes in its current season. Though Global will air Season 3 at a later undetermined date, there will be a Season 4 of Family Law.

Peter Keleghan did an episode of Family Law in Season 3. For those used to Keleghan in comedic roles, he does a wonderful job in a dramatic role.

For those who don't know Vancouver, Stanley Park is at the bottom of the photo, looking southeast into the rest of the downtown area.

Speaking of the Vancouver metro area, Allegiance launched on CBC television on February 7. The police drama focuses on Sabrina Sohal (Supinder Wraich) as a rookie police officer in Surrey, British Columbia also dealing with the arrest of her father Ajeet for political corruption. Vince Brambilla (Enrico Colantoni) serves as Sabrina's supervising officer.

Canadian TV notebook: 2024 CW premiere dates

2024 CBC television winter preview

The CTV drama Sight Unseen will debut on the CW Wednesdays at 9 pm Eastern on April 3. This is also a CW co-production, along with Wild Cards.

CTV has been running Sight Unseen on Monday nights at 10 pm Eastern since January 22.

The CW tinkered slightly with the Thursday schedule, moving Son of a Critch up to 9 pm ET on Thursdays leading into Children Ruin Everything. The Connors reruns are still the lead-in to the Canadian comedies. SMH. Run the Burbs is on Hulu in the United States and CBC Gem in Canada.

By my count, the CW will run out of new Children Ruin Everything episodes in mid-March. Interesting, Canadian filmmaker Kelly Fyffe-Marshall directed a couple of Season 3 episodes: (7) Spontaneity and the season finale (10) Careers.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

Watched the pilot episode of One More Time, the new comedy on CBC this winter. Sometimes, Canadian comedy is a lot softer and this show definitely qualifies. Have to love the cast. Is is better than Strays? Both are softer comedies. I can imagine a Season 2 for One More Time, even if it isn't on the cutting edge.

Talk that American streaming service Tubi is bringing back Wynonna Earp as a 90-minute special. The core cast members Melanie Scrofano, Tim Rozon, Dom Provost-Chalkley, and Katherine Barrell are on board.

Speaking of Rozon, we got through Season 2 of Surrealestate on Syfy and CTV Sci-Fi Channel. Loved Season 1 but having Rozon's character lose his powers and Sarah Levy mostly gone for a few episodes didn't make for interesting TV. Rare to say a show should have stopped after a single season. Great characters stuck in less than honourable episodes.

photo credits: Sort Of; Rogers Sportsnet; Transplant; Family Law

Canadian TV notebook: CBC Gem only place to watch Sort Of in 2023

The news that Sort Of will be over after this upcoming Season 3 also brought information on how this show will be delivered in Canada and the United States.

We were puzzled by many CBC decisions about the fall schedule, such as not announcing an actual fall lineup. There was shame in having a new Fox show in a key CBC timeslot but not enough shame to cancel running the program.

Sort Of has aired on CBC in the fall and Max shortly afterward in the States. CBC Gem gets exclusivity for Season 3 of Sort Of for awhile at least. 2 episodes are available each week starting November 17 with the series finale set for Friday, December 8.

CBC (Canada) and Max (United States) will air the 8 episodes from Season 3 in winter 2024.

We will have more thoughts on the whole amazing series from Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo once we see Season 3. We want to note that Canadian films have risen up to cover these communities in recent years. Soft was a little intense but delightful in many ways.

There are a lot of poorly written films that involve straight people doing lame things, so other audiences should have that right. That said, those audiences deserve more content such as Sort Of and the Canadian film Soft and less of Canadian films such as Something You Said Last Night and Solo.

If you are new to Sort Of or didn't think this was "my kind of show," start with Season 1 and you will be pleasantly surprised. You can catch Seasons 1-2 now on CBC Gem in Canada and Max in the United States.

Canadian film review: Soft

Canadian film review: Something You Said Last Night

You can watch the final season of Letterkenny on @CraveCanada December 25th and on @hulu December 26th if you want to.

From @newmetricmedia. pic.twitter.com/a1dJ44bI3i

— Letterkenny Problems (@LetterkennyProb) November 2, 2023

Letterkenny will bow out after Season 12, coming up on Christmas Day on Crave in Canada and Hulu in the United States. The show gave us a viewfinder to see multiple elements of Canadian society. An English Canadian show that celebrated French speaking Canadians and Indigenous people. Rare indeed.

Having 12 seasons is noteworthy and Jared Keeso, Jacob Tierney, and the whole cast and crew should be understandably proud. Bonnie McMurray could have a spinoff. Just thinking out loud.

Shoresy gets a Season 3 though that will not air until 2024.  

We have an all-Canadian starting lineup for Citytv's new show Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent.

• Detectives: Aden Young and Kathleen Munroe
• Supervisor: Karen Robinson
• Deputy Crown attorney: K.C. Collins
• Forensic pathologist: Nicola Correia-Damude
• Tech expert: Araya Mengesha

The consensus is that the Canadian cast has considerable Canadian and American content on their CVs. Karen Robinson, who is best known to us, might have the fewest non-Canadian credits.

Robinson played a similar role in Pretty Hard Cases. Munroe played a detective in Birdland but will play a more conventional detective on this show.

Tassie Cameron is the showrunner. Cameron co-created (with Sherry White) Pretty Hard Cases (CBC/Freevee) and was the head writer and executive producer on Rookie Blue (Global/ABC).

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent has 10 episodes airing on Citytv in winter 2024. We have no word on a U.S. home at some point. NBC/Peacock is a logical pick given the Law & Order shows on NBC. The CW is always an option.

Speaking of Cameron's old show, you can watch Season 3 (the final season) of Pretty Hard Cases on CBC Gem and Netflix in Canada. Freevee in the United States will finally show Season 3 — all 10 episodes — on November 29.

Canadian film review: Birdland

Canadian TV notebook: Fall 2023 premiere dates on both sides of the border

Speaking of the CW and Canadian TV shows, Wild Cards will be a part of the CBC lineup in winter 2024 and air sometime next year on The CW. The "crime-solving procedural with a comedic twist" features Vanessa Morgan and Giacomo Gianniotti, Canadian actors with plenty of cred south of the 49th parallel.

We weighed in a bit on the Canadian comedies running on the CW. Son of a Critch is a very good show. Run the Burbs and Children Ruin Everything are very similar and air back-to-back in the States yet on rivals (CBC vs. CTV) in Canada. Both shows are good; we have a preference with Run the Burbs because the children are better defined as characters and people than the kids on Children Ruin Everything.

Both shows are good at giving love to secondary characters featuring Ali Hassan and Samantha Wan (Run the Burbs) and Ennis Esmer and Nazneen Contractor (Children Ruin Everything).

The comedy block switched over from Monday to Thursday nights in late October on the CW.

Your humble narrator didn't have much hope for the CTV dramas running this fall on the CW. The Spencer Sisters is sufficiently campy for a low-key watch. Stacy Farber is underappreciated and Lea Thompson is surprisingly good. Their chemistry together helps.

Sullivan's Crossing has a few problems. Getting Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan) out of Boston and back to Nova Scotia should have been so much simpler. The first 15-20 minutes of the pilot episode (the Boston part) was such horrendous television that a weaker person would have given up completely. As a parallel example, Lidia Bennett (Jennifer Finnigan) is in a similar path that was handled much smoother and more realistic on Moonshine (CBC/CW).

The fake drama conversations between Maggie and her lawyer are so terrible that you can fast forward past them. Maggie's boyfriend Andrew (Allan Hawco) is another problem, and not just because he is on CTV (ha ha). We love Hawco but he seems creepy here, which isn't necessarily bad. We know television is full of long gaps in age with a much older man and a young woman. Lynda Boyd, who plays Maggie's mother, was Hawco's stepmother on Republic of Doyle but that was a lot less creepy.

Also, feel free to mute the theme song. The lyrics are bad like poetry you would write if you were really stoned and not talented.

When the show is in Nova Scotia, the program isn't that bad. We were concerned about the American actors Chad Michael Murray (Cal Jones) and Scott Patterson (Harry 'Sully' Sullivan) and they have been fine. Our new favourite couple is the Cranebears: Frank (Tom Jackson) and Edna (Andrea Menard). TV rarely shows a really good couple and they are that couple (pictured above).

The Nova Scotia shots are gorgeous. We love that the U.S. has 2 over-the-air dramas filmed and set in Nova Scotia (Diggstown should have been the third). We think Moonshine is the much better Nova Scotia import to the CW but Sullivan's Crossing is pretty good, as long as the story stays in Nova Scotia.

2023 CBC television upfront preview

CBC will have a Season 2 of Plan B but with a different cast. Season 1 featured Karine Vanasse and Patrick J. Adams while Season 2 will have Vinessa Antoine, Vincent Leclerc, and Sarah Booth.

The Radio-Canada version, the original, is in Season 4 with the same story. Antoine became a big deal when she was the first Black female to be the star in a Canadian TV drama (Diggstown). We know Leclerc more from the Denys Arcand Canadian film La chute de l'empire américain | The Fall of the American Empire. Leclerc did appear in both the English and French language versions of 19-2. We know Booth from Three Pines, where she did well with a small part.

The release does not list a debut timeframe for Season 2 on CBC.

We saw the Season 1 pilot on CBC Gem during our time on Canadian soil. Strong potential there.

Jessye Romeo as Robyn Loxley on Robyn Hood also qualifies as a Black female in a starring role on a Canadian over-the-air drama. Robyn Hood aired on Global TV this fall.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

CBC Gem has a separate area within its umbrella called CBC Comedy. We saw a lot of CBC promos for CBC Comedy during Hockey Night in Canada games.

There are few outlets on the U.S. side to pick up a Citytv feed. The Toronto and Montréal signals might have a small audience in different parts of New York state. CKVU-DT-2 out of Victoria, Channel 27, might get to Port Angeles, WA.

You can find your local CW station in your area for our American readers.

Let us know about a cool Canadian TV show we may not know.

photo credits: Sort Of/CBC; Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent/Citytv; Sullivan's Crossing/CTV
Twitter capture: @LetterkennyProb

2023 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

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 2023-2024 TV schedule.

CTV/Bell Media

Sight Unseen is a new show coming to CTV about a former homicide detective who loses her vision. She meets a professional seeing-eye guide and they tackle the unsolved cases the detective left behind.

Here are the scripted shows returning to CTV: Transplant (Season 4), Children Ruin Everything (Season 3), and Sullivan's Crossing (Season 2).

Returning reality shows include Farming For Love (Season 2) and The Amazing Race Canada (Season 9).

Battle of the Generations is a summer show where generations are pitted against each other for how much they know about their generation and the other generations. Gen X will do well.

The Traitors: Canada (CTV) and Les Traîtres (Noovo) don't sound that interesting as a psychological reality competition series. The notable in the announcement is that Karine Vanasse will host both the English and French-language versions of the series. Odd to see Vanasse go from Plan B on CBC to hosting a reality show.

Love Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall and his determination to bring sketch comedy to Canadians. The Dessert is his latest venture into the realm with Isabella Campbell, Shane Cunningham (co-creator), and Jillian Smart. Music provided by executive producer Max Kerman of the Arkells. The Dessert is actually on Crave, not CTV.

For those on the U.S. side who watch Mary Berg on the Food Network, CTV Life Channel is bringing back Mary Makes It Easy for Season 3. Berg is also hosting a daytime show on CTV called The Good Stuff with Mary Berg.

We saw nothing in the release about a possible Season 2 for Shelved, a Season 2 allegedly coming for SurrealEstate (CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada and SyFy in the United States), a potential Season 2 for The Spencer Sisters. No news might be just that, no news. 

2023 CBC television upfront preview

2022 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

2021 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

Global/Corus

Robyn Hood, the revitalization of the Robin Hood legend from Director X, hits the upcoming Global fall lineup. There will be 8 episodes in the fall with Jessye Romeo, Nykeem Provo, Idrissa Sanogo, Daniela Kharlamova, Jonathan Langdon, Sydney Kuhne, Ian Matthews, Kira Guloien, Manuel Rodriguez-Saenz, and Lisa Michelle Cornelius.

Robyn Loxley (Romeo) is "a young woman whose masked hip-hop band, The Hood, is known for their inventive videos and anti-authoritarian message."

The other Canadian TV shows on Global are running this summer, as we have noted. Season 2 of Family Law debuted May 22 on Global (also available on StackTV). Season 3 of Departure airs on Global on August 7.

Good to have a third Canadian show in Global but that will be the only one on the fall or winter schedule (unless a show moves up). Don't get how that is allowed.

Canadian TV notebook: A much longer wait for Season 3 of Transplant on NBC

Canadian TV notebook: Workin' Moms final season is on Netflix

Citytv/Rogers

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent will have 10 episodes in spring 2024 on Citytv. The Rogers-owned network said the series "will showcase original Canadian stories written and produced by, and starring, Canadians."

“It's the most Rogers has ever spent on an original drama,” Hayden Mindell, senior vice president of Rogers television, said to the Canadian Press of the per-episode cost. It's "a hell of a lot of money" for a Canadian series.

We are curious if the U.S. audience would get to see this show. Maybe on Peacock?

Hudson & Rex returns to Fridays this fall for Season 6.

Citytv decided that Wong & Winchester is one and done. Mindell said the show failed to reach a ratings benchmark.

We don't get how Citytv gets away with only having 1-2 true Canadian shows on its schedule. Wong & Winchester deserved another shot, especially with a writers strike in the United States, the country that supplies the vast majority of its programming.

Then again, Canada's Got Talent qualifies as a Canadian show.

Omni Television has new seasons of summer shows starting June 11: comedy Our Big Punjabi Family, the 5-part documentary series Katiba Banat: Sisters in Arms, and Filipino sketch comedy Abroad.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

The U.S. writers strike may mean more Canadian TV programming will cross over to the United States (Shelved, anyone?). Stay tuned may not apply as much to how television is consumed these days but we will stick with that phrase. We already ran the news from the CBC 2023-2024 upfront.

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: Children Ruin Everything/CTV; Robyn Hood/Global; Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent/Citytv

Canadian TV notebook: Workin' Moms final season is on Netflix

Netflix gave its U.S. viewers a very pleasant surprise: Season 7 of Workin' Moms, the final season. No spoilers but "emotional final season" is not a surprise. There are 13 episodes in Season 7. Canadians can catch up on the show on CBC Gem.

For those not familiar with the show, the early episodes involved the friendship of several mothers in a mommy support group. The friendship between Kate (Catherine Reitman, creator and star) and Anne (Dani Kind) showcase one of the incredible relationships ever captured on Canadian television. The frustration of later seasons is watching that slip away in many ways.

The diversity of female characters has been a joy about the show. Frankie (Juno Rinaldi) was a valuable part of the show and her departure was more meaningful than anticipated.

Smaller roles get overlooked but those characters were crucial: Jenny Matthews (Jessalyn Wanlim), who showed so many sides of her; Valerie "Val" Szalinsky (Sarah McVie), who was like an utility player, adapting to the needs of the show; Rosie Phillips (Nikki Duval) scoring comic points as Catherine's secretary without being obvious; Alice Carlson (Sadie Munroe), the troubled and misunderstood daughter of Anne. Let there be a film in 5 years when Alice reaches 19.

Alicia Rutherford (Katherine Barrell), who deserved more on-screen time but Barrell was distracted by her work on Wynonna Earp. Sloane Mitchell (Enuka Okuma) who brought some less desirable tendencies, proving how complex women are.

The men deserve their nods as well: Lionel Carlson (Ryan Belleville) trying to make it all work yet running second fiddle to Anne; Nathan Foster (Philip Sternberg) a good guy but not a perfect guy; and Richard Greenwood (Peter Keleghan), who was a guiding force in helping Catherine figure out what she wanted to do professionally.

Michelle McLeod, who played Mejal in Women Talking, makes a brief appearance in Episode 2 in Season 7. McLeod was the lead in Don't Talk to Irene.

Workin' Moms is a rare Canadian television show to get a Season 7

Citytv has very few original Canadian TV shows as compared to CTV and Global. So when Wong & Winchester debuted, I was curious about how this show would fare. You could easily make the joke that Citytv can only run Canadian TV shows with an ampersand in the title (Hudson & Rex).

The premise of the show from creator Hollis Ludlow-Carroll is the mismatch of Marissa Wong (Grace Lynn Kung), an ex-cop turned private investigator, with her driver Sarah Winchester (Sofia Banzhaf), who helps solve the crimes.

There are only 6 episodes that aired this winter and your humble narrator watched one of them. The premise behind the series and the chemistry with the leads is surprisingly good. The writing isn't much better than what we get out of Hudson & Rex. Pretty Hard Cases is similar and better than Wong & Winchester right now.

Joe Cobden and Anthony Lemke are also in the cast. The focus is on the main female characters.

The writing is part of why those who criticise Canadian TV might not like shows such as Hudson & Rex and Wong & Winchester. Then again, Hudson & Rex did win the Audience Choice Award at the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards.

Grace Lynn Kung has been an asset in supporting roles: Mary Kills People, Sort Of, Frankie Drake Mysteries, Being Erica. Kung deserves a crack at being a lead. She also was in the role of Janet in the play Kim's Convenience. This show definitely deserves a Season 2 to see where the characters go.

The show also makes good use of Montréal. Good to see an English language Canadian TV show make good use of Montréal. Transplant is shot in Montréal but pretends to be in Toronto.

2023 CBC television winter preview

While Wong & Winchester is very light, we know is very good at producing dark television. Was very excited about the prospect of Essex County from Jeff Lemire's graphic novel Essex County Trilogy coming to a 5-part series on CBC. Strong cast, well-filmed, and a lot going on.

Lester (Finlay Wojtak-Hissong) is 11, loves to draw, gets picked on a lot, and just lost his mother to cancer. He lives with his closeted uncle Ken (Brian J. Smith) and wants to establish a relationship with his father Jimmy (Kevin Durand).

Jimmy's sister Anne (Molly Parker) just got her daughter off to university and is dealing with her estranged uncle Lou (Stephen McHattie), whose dementia is getting worse.

The supporting cast includes Tamara Podemski, Rossif Sutherland, and Daniel Maslany.

Saw the first episode of Essex County. Definitely up for more.

When we see lame British dramas filling holes on the CBC lineup, Essex County is more of what we need on Canada's public broadcaster. Molly Parker may not have been on CBC since Twitch City. Stephen McHattie is a legend. Good actors are drawn to good projects. Be proud Canadians of programs such as this one.

Three Pines on Amazon Prime Video is another good dark Canadian TV show. The 8-episode, 4-part mystery miniseries is based on the novel series by Louise Penny.

The series set in Three Pines, a quaint village in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, has the 4 mysteries and an ongoing storyline about the disappearance of a young Indigenous woman Blue Two-Rivers (Anna Lambe).

English actor Alfred Molina is the lead as Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Plenty of Canadians on the callsheet, including Rossif Sutherland, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, and Sarah Booth on the investigation team. The cast also includes Tantoo Cardinal, Georgina Lightning, and Crystle Lightning.

Tailfeathers' character is an Indigenous person who doesn't know her roots. CC de Poitiers, the murder victim in the first mystery, lived in a large house she converted from a former residential school.

Unfortunately, the program only has the 8 episodes since Prime Video didn't renew the show for a second season.

Must watch Canadian TV shows in 2023 (tv-eh.com)

We are big fans of the tv-eh.com site for information on Canadian television. Greg David wrote a cool piece on the must watch Canadian TV shows.

David mentions Wong & Winchester (Citytv) as well as CBC shows Run the Burbs and Plan B.

Sullivan's Crossing is a new series currently running this spring on CTV. Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan) is a neurosurgeon from Boston who has to relocate and goes back home to Nova Scotia. American actors Chad Michael Murray and Scott Patterson are at the top of the callsheet.

Canadian actors further down the callsheet are Tom Jackson, Andrea Menard, Republic of Doyle alums Lynda Boyd and Allan Hawco, and Peter Outerbridge.

American viewers will get a chance to see the show this fall on the CW.

The Red Ketchup series is based off a graphic novel. Martin Villeneuve (Mars et Avril) is the series director so that is a good sign. The animated program is not on the air yet but will come to Télétoon la nuit (en Francaise) and in English on Adult Swim Canada.

David mentions a show named Casino but we can't track which show. Perhaps this is the show but we aren't sure. Je ne sais pas.

Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays is available on Netflix in the U.S.

Top 10 best Canadian TV shows in the 2010s

Love television but not always fond of the sequel. We voted Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays to the #7 slot in Canadian TV shows of the 2010s based on the 12 episodes from 2011.

Got a chance recently to watch the 6-episode follow-up Michael: Every Day from 2017.

Fans of the 2011 version will appreciate what went into the 2017 edition. We find out some odd things along the way that perhaps we didn't want to know. The 2017 version is a lot more sad and pathetic, especially on the therapist side.

If you haven't watched the show, please don't start with the 2017 version. Start with the 2011 version. Netflix in the United States has the 2011 version.

There is often the disclaimer that you shouldn't pay attention to TV because television is not realistic. I can tell you I found useful therapeutic information within the voice recordings that David makes in the 2011 version. The show is based from Matt Watts (Michael) therapy and anxiety experiences. Still consult a professional but you can get a good start from watching the show.

There is a Twitter feed @NBCTransplant but that hasn't been updated in awhile. Tweeting to @NBC or @Peacock might make you feel better about wondering where the hell Season 3 of Transplant is on the U.S. side. Season 3 aired this winter on CTV in Canada. Season 4 is on deck for next year for CTV.

Hamza Haq won Best Leading Performance in a Drama Series; Laurence Leboeuf was also nominated in this category in the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards. The show was nominated for Best Dramatic Series and the Audience Choice award.

We figure NBC has decided to run off episodes this summer. Will that be on NBC and Peacock? Just Peacock? The U.S. network handled Season 2 in a very poor fashion. The show is still good so the quality isn't the issue. NBC has a production element in Transplant so this isn't like when they didn't carry Season 2 of Nurses. Notice we didn't complain when NBC stopped after Season 1.

.@NBC @peacock. We've tried tweeting at @NBCTransplant to find out about Season 3. That isn't working well. @TransplantCTV has already aired in #Canada. Let's find out when one of your outlets will show Season 3 of this really great #cdntv show.

— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) April 28, 2023

Son of a Critch has been renewed for Season 3 by CBC. Lionsgate Television made a deal for distribution outside Canada. So far, at least in the United States, Lionsgate is sitting on its hands. Figured that was a obvious deal to pitch but something is clogging the path for U.S. viewers who can't get CBC to watch the show.

Netflix had Republic of Doyle so that service isn't allergic to Newfoundland. This is why Canadian content needs a Britbox type service. I would gladly volunteer (for money) to run such a service.

Season finale of @shelved_tv tonight! We didn't expect an ACTUAL Toronto election to be happening when this aired, but here we are! A lot is gonna go down in 21 minutes...

108 "Brave New World SF HUX"
📝 Jay Vaidya
🎥 @joycewongjoyce #Shelved #TOelection #JamesonPublicLibrary pic.twitter.com/XOzZe0bs3g

— Anthony Q. Farrell (@aqfarrell) April 24, 2023

I've heard quite a bit about Shelved, running on CTV. Maybe this sitcom can make a jump to Hulu or Netflix in the States.

Anthony Q. Farrell wrote for The Office, worked as an executive story editor for Little Mosque on the Prairie, wrote for The Thundermans on Nickleodeon, and co-created the CBC show Overlord and the Underwoods.

Having spent a few hours in Toronto libraries, a comedy about a library in Toronto sounds promising.

Shelved will show up on Crave on May 5. Canadians can catch up on CTV shows through its Web site.

Speaking of Crave, the extra Letterkenny episode May 2-4 hits Crave on May 19. The Hulu premiere should be around that time.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

Xavier Dolan gets mentioned a lot in our film coverage but not usually on the television side. Dolan adapted and directed a 5-part series The Night Logan Woke Up. The Canal+ project is adapted from a 2019 stage production from French-Canadian playwright Michel Marc Bouchard. Most of the actors from the play are in the TV adaptation.

Dolan is in the cast. Anne Dorval, used in most of his films, is in the series as well as Julie Le Breton, Patrick Hivon, Magalie Lépine-Blondeau, and Éric Bruneau.

The story revolves around a family haunted by a dark secret decades after a traumatic event occurs in a small Quebec town.

The adaptation played at the Sundance Film Festival. No Canadian or American screening dates have been set.

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

Bill C-11 has reached royal assent and is now law. What does this mean for Canadian television? Damned if I know. The CRTC will go a long way toward determining this. Wish everyone involved much luck sorting this out.

The Hollywood film and TV writers may go out on strike this week. While a long strike may help get more Canadian television into U.S. homes, the most important consideration is getting economic justice for the writers.

photo credits: Netflix; Citytv; CTV
video credit: Amazon Prime Video
Twitter capture: @canadian_xing; @aqfarrell

2023 Canadian Screen Awards nominations: Television

The television landscape looks very different for the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards nominations for Canadian television. Lots of old favourites are gone, opening up new opportunities for rising Canadian TV shows.

The Porter got 19 nominations, best among Canadian TV shows. Sort Of received 15 nominations and Pretty Hard Cases had 11 nominations.

The CTV show Children Ruin Everything has a few major nominations on the comedy side as does Run the Burbs on CBC. Son of a Critch is surprisingly absent in these categories, especially Best Comedy Series. Strays is not on the list but Fakes somehow is.

Meredith MacNeill (Pretty Hard Cases) and Dani Kind (Workin' Moms) are 2 of the few repeat nominees for the same show. Andrew Phung received an acting nomination for his new show. Somehow Hudson & Rex has 2 of the lead role nominees on the drama side.

The gender-neutral acting awards mean that Bilal Baig got a very justifiable nomination for Best Lead Performer, Comedy. While the film roles are split in half by primary gender, only 4 of the 16 comedy acting nominations are for identifiable males. as a contrast, 10 of the 16 supporting acting nominations went to identifiable males.

One of those identifiable males is the late Christopher Plummer, up for Departure.

Jonathan Torrens wins our versatile Canadian actor award for guest performance nominations in comedy (Letterkenny) and drama (Moonshine).

Usually, foreign actors tend to have more of a force on the film side. Malcolm McDowell (Son of a Critch) and Alfre Woodward (The Porter) are up for Canadian Screen Awards. Absolute acting legends, even if they are not from Canada.

Comedy

Best Comedy Series
Astrid & Lilly Save the World (CTV Sci-Fi Channel)
Children Ruin Everything (CTV)
Fakes (CBC Gem)
Letterkenny (Crave)
Sort Of (CBC)

Best Lead Performer, Comedy
Meaghan Rath Children Ruin Everything
Meredith MacNeill Pretty Hard Cases
Adrienne C. Moore Pretty Hard Cases
Rakhee Morzaria Run The Burbs
Andrew Phung Run The Burbs
Bilal Baig Sort Of
Dani Kind Workin' Moms
Catherine Reitman Workin' Moms

Best Supporting Performer, Comedy
Ennis Esmer Children Ruin Everything
Tricia Black Pretty Hard Cases
Al Mukadam Pretty Hard Cases
Karen Robinson Pretty Hard Cases
Malcolm McDowell Son Of A Critch
Amanda Cordner Sort Of
Sarah McVie Workin' Moms
Enuka Okuma Workin' Moms

Best Guest Performance, Comedy
Anna Hopkins Letterkenny
Jonathan Torrens Letterkenny
Kardinal Offishall Run The Burbs
Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll Son Of A Critch
Amanda Brugel Sort Of

Amanda Brugel, who is a Canadian acting gem, is a repeat nominee for this last category switching from Pretty Hard Cases to Sort Of. Brugel, as 7ven's mother, was amazing in that role. Another fun nod in this category to Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll for Son Of A Critch. You might remember him as a frequent customer on Kim's Convenience. Making the audience love you and sometimes cringe is a difficult task for an actor and he pulled that off well.

Drama

Best Drama Series
Departure (Global)
Moonshine (CBC)
The Porter (CBC)
SkyMed (CBC)
Transplant (CTV)

Best Lead Performer, Drama Series
Mayko Nguyen Hudson & Rex
John Reardon Hudson & Rex
Jennifer Finnigan Moonshine
Aml Ameen The Porter
Ronnie Rowe Jr. The Porter
Mouna Traoré The Porter
Hamza Haq Transplant
Laurence Leboeuf Transplant

Best Supporting Performer, Drama
Thom Allison Coroner
Andy McQueen Coroner
Wendy Crewson Departure
Karen LeBlanc Departure
Christopher Plummer Departure
Dwain Murphy Diggstown
Kevin Hanchard Hudson & Rex
Daniel Maslany Murdoch Mysteries

Best Guest Performance, Drama Series
Jo Vannicola Diggstown
Natalie Brown Hudson & Rex
Allan Hawco Moonshine
Jonathan Torrens Moonshine
Alfre Woodard The Porter

Between Coroner, The Porter, and Departure, there will be a lot of upheaval for the 2024 version. Wendy Crewson was up for guest performance last year for Frankie Drake Mysteries and is up for a supporting role in Departure.

Hamza Haq and Laurence Leboeuf from Transplant won the lead drama awards last year but only one of them, or someone else, can win this year.

Interesting to see a summer show such as SkyMed make the cut for best drama series.

Somehow not a single Podemski sister was up for an acting award.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

CBC will carry the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards on April 16 at the Meridian Hall in Toronto. The telecast concludes a week of awards presentations.

Overview Canadian television Canadian film

photo credits: The Porter; Run the Burbs

Canadian TV notebook: Sort Of makes Season 2 debut on CBC and CBC Gem

SORT OF returns this Tuesday on @CBC TV & @cbcgem! 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 Spread the word and plan your watch parties now! pic.twitter.com/eH6ufMRqqp

— CBC Comedy (@CBCComedy) November 10, 2022

Sort Of had such an outstanding debut last fall on CBC and HBO Max. There is some new energy for Season 2 where Amanda Brugel will come in to play 7ven’s (Amanda Cordner) mother. That should be a lot of fun.

Scott Thompson (Kids in the Hall) will appear as Bryce, a wealthy investor and potential business partner. Raymond Cham Jr. will play Wolf, Deenzie’s (Becca Blackwell) offspring.

The family unit returns: children Violet (Kaya Kanshiro) and Henry (Aden Bedard) and their parents Paul (Gray Powell) and Bessy (Grace Lynn Kung). Bessy spent most of Season 1 in a coma but that will change in Season 2.

Sort Of is airing in back-to-back episodes Tuesday nights, starting tonight at 9 pm local time on CBC. CBC Gem is streaming the show as of today. Those who watch Sort Of on HBO Max in the United States will have to wait until December 1.

Bilal Baig has a much better shot at getting nominated for an acting award now that the Canadian Screen Awards will have awards for lead and supporting performances in the drama and comedy categories that are not split off by gender. Though the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television made a terrible mistake in reducing the number of nominees from 10 to 8 in each category.

Canadian Screen Awards shift to gender neutral performance awards

Transplant, Sort Of win top TV honours at 2022 Canadian Screen Awards

Loved this interview with @cleaduvall and @cbcradioq (the best)! So excited High School is streaming in Canada now! Hope everyone is enjoying it! Watch this weekend! All 8 episodes are on @PrimeVideoCA !!! https://t.co/TreqJeEyDv

— Tegan and Sara (@teganandsara) November 4, 2022

High School is the TV adaptation of the memoir from the Canadian indie pop duo Tegan and Sara. Clea DuVall, along with Tegan and Sara, created the show.

The memoir of the same name came out in 2019.

This show isn't considered Canadian even though this is literally a Canadian story. Tegan and Sara, besides being amazing singers and songwriters, have a really intriguing story.

There is a lot of relevant music from that time as part of the unofficial soundtrack.

There are a few Canadians in the cast. Amanda Fix, who was marvelous in North of Normal, is in the primary cast. Cobie Smulders plays the mother of Tegan and Sara. Recurring Canadian cast members include Jayne Eastwood and Nikki Rae Hallow.

We included a link to the Clea DuVall interview on Q with Tom Power in the Twitter capture.

The program airs on Freevee in the United States and Amazon Prime Video in Canada.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

We try to write about Canadian television even with shows that aren't as accessible. Hudson & Rex on Citytv has been particularly non-accessible.

The program is the major Canadian TV show for Citytv in a sea of Canadian knock-offs from American shows, such as Canada's Got Talent.

If you are visiting the United States from Canada, you can log into the Web sites (ABC, Fox, etc.) and watch over-the-air television. Same thing if you are visiting Canada, you can watch shows on CTV and Global, since they are over-the-air networks. So your humble narrator figured to watch Citytv by being on Canadian soil.

Uh, no.

The Citytv site, at first, would only let me watch the last episode. Didn't care. Then, the site required a cable or satellite authentication — for an over-the-air network. Also, my Airbnb had a Roku setup with apps for CTV and Global, but not Citytv. Of course, you can watch CBC shows in Canada on CBC Gem.

Part of the curiosity behind this program is that Hudson & Rex is all the way up to Season 5, unlike a lot of Canadian television shows. I got a friend who got me a Hudson & Rex episode from Season 5.

The obvious comparison is Republic of Doyle, since both shows shoot in St. John's in Newfoundland. Put that out of your mind since there is little comparison other than similar space.

Charlie Hudson (John Reardon), the Hudson & Rex human partner, is milquetoast at best. Rex (Diesel vom Burgimwald) has slightly more charisma than Hudson.

Chief of Forensics Sarah Truong (Mayko Nguyen) deserves a better show as does Superintendent Joseph Donovan (Kevin Hanchard). When Donovan tells the sister of the victim to have faith in Hudson, you almost want to laugh instead of the seriousness the show is going for in the moment.

IT Specialist Jesse Mills (Justin Kelly) feels like he belongs on this show.

You could tell us that a single episode from Season 5 isn't a good indicator. Fair point but this is what we have to go with for now. Feel free to defend the show in the comments.

We are much more excited about a new Citytv Canadian TV show debuting this TV season.

Wong & Winchester features Marissa Wong (Grace Lynn Kung) and Sarah Winchester (Sofia Banzhaf), an ex-cop and a naive former university student who partner as detectives.

We talk about reasons to come to Canada: legal marijuana, poutine, abortion, a different sensibility. Watching Season 3 of Mary Kills People, the lone season that hasn't made it to the United States, or Season 3 of Jann, also not available in the States: not a huge reason to cross the border but that could be further down the list. A way to pass a winter weekend in Canada.

One year after Fox acquires Diggstown rights, unknown when episodes will air

A fond farewell to Diggstown, ending its run on CBC after 4 seasons. The series finale airs tomorrow night on CBC at 8 pm local time.

A show has been notable with a Black female lead (Vinessa Antoine) with Black producers (Floyd Kane, creator and executive producer) and Black directors (including Cory Bowles). The show also was a rare legal drama where lawyers fought for those who really needed help.

Maybe Fox was waiting until all the episodes had aired in Canada to then run the show in the United States. The U.S. network announced almost 2 years ago that the program would be picked up. For those who think we are a little obsessed, don't announce on my birthday you did something great and then not do it.

U.S. viewers can catch up on Diggstown through BET+, though Season 4 isn't yet available on the U.S. streaming service. Canadians can watch all 4 seasons on CBC Gem.

CanadianCrossing.com CBC coverage

David Suzuki has been hosting The Nature of Things since October 24, 1979. Suzuki is stepping away from the show in the spring to focus on activism and calling out BS, in his words. 

Suzuki has made an amazing impact on the show. The show itself has been around for 62 seasons.

"I have been fortunate to have been endowed with good health which has enabled me to remain the host of the series long after my 'best before date'," said Suzuki.

Matt Galloway with The Current has an extensive interview with Suzuki on CBC Radio One.

We will be curious as to the new direction for the show.

2022 CBC television fall preview

Fakes is not the strongest Canadian TV show on U.S. television but you might be in the young person demo. Zoe (Emilija Banarac) and Becca (Jennifer Tong) start and end up losing a fake ID empire. That might seem like a spoiler but that info comes up in the first 5 minutes of the opening episode. Zoe is the good and smart one while Becca is the party animal.

More about the ride than the result. Any previous CW comparison based on really pretty people: well, the show is smarter and has a lot more swearing than the CW would allow (as we saw with Trickster).

Banarac and Tong, both Canadian, have a nice chemistry. Wish their characters were more realistic instead of the simplistic shy versus over the top aspects of their personalities.

Vancouver is a beautiful co-star in the show.

Fakes is available on CBC Gem in Canada and Netflix in the United States.

Twitter captures: @CBCComedy; @teganandsara
photo credits: Sort Of/CBC; Hudson & Rex/Citytv

2022 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

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 2022-2023 TV schedule.

CTV/Bell Media

Sullivan’s Crossing is coming to CTV. Morgan Kohan is the lead along with American actors Chad Michael Murray and Scott Patterson. The cast features Canadian actors Tom Jackson, Andrea Menard, Amalia Williamson, Lynda Boyd, and Allan Hawco. The latter two actors worked together in Republic of Doyle. The series will shoot in Nova Scotia.

Shelved is a single-camera, workplace comedy set in the Jameson Public Library in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood. Think 1300 block of Queen Street West (west of BMO Field). I did spend some time at a a different Toronto library in 2016. That was a really nice location. Also, waiting for the headline once this show ends that says, "Shelved is shelved."

Sight Unseen is about a former homicide detective who has lost her vision. She meets a professional seeing-eye guide through a visual assistance app. They try to solve crimes.

The Spencer Sisters is about Darby Spencer, who quits her job as a police officer, and her mystery novelist mother Joan teaming up to solve crimes.

Little Bird is on Crave, not CTV, but sounds fascinating. Bezhig Little Bird is removed from her home in Long Pine Reserve in Saskatchewan and adopted into a Montréal Jewish family at the age of 5, becoming Esther Rosenblum. She goes back to her roots to discover who she is. Jennifer Podemski is the showrunner.

We don't normally talk about unscripted shows but a couple of notable shows are worth mentioning. Battle of the Generations is a game show featuring different generations (Baby Boomer, Gen X, Millennial, and Gen Z) for how much they know about all the generations. This is notable given Family Feud Canada and watching old Talk About episodes and why there aren't more Canadian game shows.

Farming For Love features 5 Canadians "searching for their soulmates open up their farms – and their hearts – to a select group of urban singles." We love farmers and they deserve love. Like most unscripted shows, this feels like more about humiliation than love.

Bell Media renewals of note include Children Ruin Everything (Season 2), Transplant (Season 3), SurrealEstate (Season 2 CTV Sci-Fi Channel), Letterkenny (Season 12 though Season 11 hasn't aired), and Mary Makes It Easy (Season 2) with Mary Berg, which might end up on the Food Network in the United States.

The press release notes an 1-hour Jann holiday special. Season 3 aired in Canada but is still not on Hulu in the United States.

2022 CBC television upfront preview

2021 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

Global/Corus

We already know about Family Law with Jewel Staite and Victor Garber. Season 2 will air this fall on Global while Season 1 airs in the U.S. on the CW this fall. The show is shooting Season 3 in Vancouver.

Global will also have Season 3 of the Canada/Ireland co-production Departure. The show featured the late Christopher Plummer. The show runs in the United States on Peacock.

Robyn Hood, a modern adaptation of the classic Robin Hood story, comes from filmmaker Director X and Boat Rocker. The show will shoot this summer in the Toronto and Hamilton areas.

The Global release didn't mention a Season 3 for Nurses. The show ran 2 seasons on Global. NBC carried Season 1 in the United States.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

Citytv/Rogers

Citytv is known for Hudson & Rex, its only scripted Canadian TV show on the network.

Season 5 arrives this fall with a 2-episode arc in Northern Ontario. The show normally shoots in St. John's, Newfoundland. The drama runs Sunday nights at 8 pm ET/PT.

Citytv has a new drama called Wong & Winchester, a female-driven buddy detective procedural, debuting in the winter. The partnership is unlikely (Pretty Hard Cases?) with Marissa Wong (Grace Lynn Kung) and Sarah Winchester (Sofia Banzhaf).

The cast also includes Joe Cobden and Anthony Lemke.

We have a soft spot for Grace Lynn Kung. Kung has been in so many Canadian TV shows: Mary Kills People, Sort Of, Transplant, Frankie Drake Mysteries.

Are show titles required to have an ampersand to be on Citytv?

CanadianCrossing.com CBC coverage

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 credit: Children Ruin Everything/CTV