Canadian Crossing

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

CBC should grab Shelved if CTV cancelled that show

Editor's note: This is no longer a matter of "if" since CTV has cancelled Shelved. This would still be a great pickup by CBC.

American TV has a lot of shows that have aired on more than one network. Brooklyn Nine-Nine ran 5 seasons on Fox and 3 on NBC. Taxi had most of its run on ABC but finished on NBC.

Murdoch Mysteries started out on Citytv and ran for 5 seasons. CBC picked up the program and has aired it since January 2013.

CBC and Citytv had a production deal in 2015 where the CBC ran Young Drunk Punk reruns while Citytv ran Mr. D reruns. The shows originally appeared on the other network.

Ann Pornel wrote a recent column in the Toronto Star on how Canadian TV is falling short of diversity with the Run the Burbs cancellation. Pornel noted in the article that One More Time (CBC) and Shelved (CTV) were cancelled after a single season. This was news to a lot of people, including your humble narrator.

CBC has had a dearth of comedies of late. The home of Schitt's Creek, Kim's Convenience, and Workin' Moms hasn't replenished that comedy supply. Having to resort to mediocre American comedies (Animal Control) in key time slots. We know CBC is down one comedy with the cancellation of Run the Burbs and likely another if One More Time isn't returning.

We agree with Pornel about having more comedies that reflect underappreciated segments of Canadian society. We also love Shelved and that show deserves more of a life.

Loss of 'Run the Burbs' a death knell for Canadian TV (Toronto Star)

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

We first wrote about Shelved about a year ago after its first season run on CTV. We watched a few episodes while on Canadian soil in November. Loved this show. One of those shows Americans would love if they knew this existed.

Anthony Q. Farrell created this series. 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 Gem show Overlord and the Underwoods.

Shelved takes place at Jameson Branch, a not-so-great branch in the Parkdale neighbourhood in the Toronto public library system. Lyndie Greenwood, Paul Braunstein, Dakota Ray Hebert, and Chris Sandiford are the leads in the show.

Robin Duke plays an unhoused recurring character. The drag queen storytime episode felt ripped from the headlines in Canada and the United States.

Comparison points would be shows such as Abbott Elementary and Parks and Recreation.

If CTV and Bell Media let go of the show, CBC would still be a winner in showing Season 1 of Shelved before producing and airing new episodes in the near future.

We thought the Young Drunk Punk and Mr. D relationship was a bit odd and that Young Drunk Punk deserved a second season. If that is what works for Canadian television, better than ditching good shows too soon. CTV could even run repeats of One More Time or even pick up more seasons of Run the Burbs. Even if CTV does renew Shelved, the network could make a financial deal with CBC to show Season 1 reruns this fall instead of more Animal Control. 

And yes, this is an open letter to the CW to pick up Shelved if that money helps out more seasons of this Canadian show.

Ann Pornel in @TorontoStar on “Run the Burbs” cancellation and the sorry state of current Canadian tv. Didn’t realize that “Shelved” and “One More Time” were also axed. Sucks all round. https://t.co/2nELfB3BNe

— Glenn Sumi (@glennsumi) May 8, 2024

Canadians have proven for decades that comedy runs through its veins. Canadians are funny, especially when given a proper chance to show off their talents. Dramas are easier to produce and get noticed in the TV landscape of late. The CBC Tuesday night comedy lineup was a dynamite collection of comedy. These days, the holes in that lineup are large enough to fit mice.

Canadian television can't afford to randomly throw away comedy gold in shows such as Shelved. Would be like throwing away steak or truffles for a starving person. There is a lot of potential in that show. CTV has every right to be foolish and throw out Shelved and CBC has every right to bring that show to the public broadcaster.

Canadians can watch Season 1 (for now) of Shelved on CTV.ca.

Canadian TV notebook: Run the Burbs done after 3 seasons

Four in the Morning would benefit Canadian television with a Netflix boost

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

We noted at the beginning of the month that the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) overwhelmingly (96.5%) voted for an authorizing strike action against the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA). Good news. The sides have reached a new agreement.

video and photo credit: Shelved/Bell Media
Twitter capture: @glennsumi

Bell Media making deep cuts to W5, CTV local newscasts

Update from changes to local news at Bell Media pic.twitter.com/tCrK7O6uwt

— jonah (@yyzsportsmedia) February 8, 2024

We wrote back in June about Bell Media wanting the CRTC to reduce (even more) local newscasts. Well, Bell Media decided on its own to reduce those local newscasts.

• Weekday noon newscasts at all CTV stations will end, except for Toronto.
• 6 pm and 11 pm newscasts on weekends will end at all CTV and CTV2 stations, except for Toronto, Montréal, and Ottawa.

W5, the CTV News crowning glory, is being cancelled as a standalone documentary series and reduced to a "multi-platform investigative reporting unit" for the various CTV News properties.

Bell Media will implement "multi-skilled journalists" to replace news correspondents and technician teams reporting to CTV National News in Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada. The translation into English is that journalists will run their own cameras instead of having a team go on assignments. They will also make correspondent changes in Ottawa.

The company is making other dramatic changes to CTV News Channel, including the cancellation of evening programs The Debate, This Hour, and Top 3 Tonight. The channel will run a 4-hour news broadcast weeknights at 6 pm. The company determines local newscasts are too expensive yet newscasts are cheaper than programs that give depth to the day's news.

Bell Media wants CRTC to allow reducing local news

CanadianCrossing.com journalism coverage

Weekday daytime programming at BNN Bloomberg is "being streamlined," reducing the number of separate broadcasts.

On top of all those changes, Bell Media is selling 45 of its 103 regional radio stations in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada.

This comes on the heels on cutbacks at CBC and Radio-Canada to their news departments, among other cuts.

Local news counts as "Canadian content" for CRTC requirements. Given the olé and/or laissez-faire approach the CRTC uses in its regulation, somehow Bell Media will get away with the local news cuts.

The CTV stations generally run a local newscast following the CTV National News at 11:30 pm. That would comprise 2.5 hours for the entire week, since the local weekend newscasts would be cut. Bell Media petitioned the CRTC last summer to allow its stations in major markets to no longer have to broadcast at least 6 hours of weekly locally reflective news. Bell Media petitioned to broadcast fewer than 3 hours of locally reflective news each week for its non-metropolitan stations.

The company also announced that it would pay a quarterly dividend of 99.75 cents per common share, up from 96.75 cents per share. So this isn't about money, despite their cries.

W5 as a stand alone program is eliminated by Bell. More than 50 years of fine current affairs journalism on CTV at an end. A tremendous legacy. A sad day for Canadian television. https://t.co/OvNqtTzrKT

— Tom Harrington (@cbctom) February 8, 2024

W5 is older than the Super Bowl and 60 Minutes. The program debuted on CTV on September 11, 1966. The idea that W5 would be part of the budget cuts is a gut punch even among cynics. The program's loss also reduces the Canadian content in CTV's prime-time schedule, likely not to be replaced with other Canadian content.

W5 ran on Friday nights at 10 pm on CTV and the program was also run on other Bell Media properties, including CTV2, CTV News Channel, and Investigation Discovery.

Bell Media insists the content will be on CTV News platforms yet not even close to the same level as we've seen on television. The potential ratings of running crappy American content in a terrible timeslot is going to make that much money for Bell Media? Especially given the ability to run the episodes multiple times on its properties.

Omar Sachedina, the current CTV National News anchor, contributed to W5 and was a long-time reporter. Bell Media has cut back on its reporters at home and abroad. Having those correspondents is how you build news talent. The Bell Media news bench has been weak and will now be weaker with these latest cuts.

Bell Media benefits greatly from the profits made running American TV shows that dominate the prime time lineup. They have cut back on Canadian content and will likely get away with those moves.

CanadianCrossing.com CTV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

Broadcast media in Canada, of which Bell Media is the dominant force financially in this category, will get $30 million from Google as part of the $100 million every year. Even if somehow the money is divided evenly among CTV, Global, and Citytv, that is $10 million that could go to news coverage. A reminder that the companies will get huge amounts of money, even though they aren't required to spend the money on news.

The idea is that these companies are in debt, which isn't true. The company's news division is reportedly losing more than $40 million a year on its own. They want the news to succeed on its own financially instead of taking profits from running the American shows to pay for news. That isn't viable, leading to these cuts.

Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge weighed in on the cuts in a news conference. "I am extremely disappointed in Bell Canada's decision for many reasons."

"In the past decade, when acquisitions were allowed for those big companies to acquire television stations or radio stations, it came with the promise that they would deliver on news content. And today, they are backing [away] from that promise," said St-Onge.

The minister pointed out that Bell Media received more than $40 million in annual regulatory relief. That amount would cover the alleged debt of the news department.

No offence to the heritage minister but Bell Media (CTV), Corus (Global), and Rogers (Citytv) aren't scared of the Trudeau Government. Things will get worse for Canadian journalism until the private companies are scared to make such cuts.

Twitter captures: @yyzsportsmedia; @cbctom
photo credits: Bell Media (x2)

Hoping the CW brings back the rest of Season 2 of Run the Burbs

Son of a Critch, Run the Burbs, and Children Ruin Everything have been peas in a pod as Canadian comedies on the CW this summer and fall. They were supposed to be on Tuesdays in the fall, started on Mondays, and switched to Thursdays in October.

Unfortunately, the CW made a change this week, benching Run the Burbs and moving Children Ruin Everything into that 8:30 pm Eastern timeslot on Thursdays this past week.

The CW ran 15 episodes of Run the Burbs, all 12 episodes from Season 1 and 3 episodes from Season 2. There are still 10 more episodes from Season 2. The network is running reruns in the 9-10 pm Eastern block on Thursdays.

The U.S. network has run 17 of the 26 episodes for Son of a Critch and 17 of the 24 episodes for Children Ruin Everything covering the first 2 seasons.

The 10 remaining episodes could return to the CW later in the year, such as during a non-sweeps month. Funny how we leaned toward Run the Burbs over Children Ruin Everything while the CW audience went in the other direction.

We would fight for all of these shows, maybe not Sullivan's Crossing.

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

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

CW announces summer schedule filled with Canadian television

Several U.S. reports have used the word "cancelled" or "ax" to reflect the CW change on Run the Burbs. We can agree to disagree about not carrying further seasons but the U.S. network should air the remaining episodes in the near future or allow fans to stream them through the CW Web site. The ratings could not have been that bad for that specific show.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

We realize that divorce from a U.S. network can come quickly. Private Eyes and Mary Kills People have seasons unseen in the United States but the U.S. outlets finished the seasons they aired.

We figured that the CW running shows with strikes all around would gamble to stick with shows rather than running reruns over original programming. Apparently, we were mistaken. Sigh.

Canadians can catch up with Run the Burbs on CBC Gem. Season 3 airs this winter on CBC and CBC Gem.

photo credit: Run the Burbs
video credit: CBC Comedy

Bell Media wants CRTC to allow reducing local news

The concept of Canadian content as applied to television counts local news as part of that Canadian content. Now Bell Media, the largest of the private broadcasters, wants the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to make severe cuts in local news requirements for its CTV, CTV2, and Noovo stations.

The first application asks for the following:

• Requested the elimination of a requirement for English-language television stations in metropolitan markets to broadcast at least 14 hours of local programming per week. In Quebec, Bell also asked the regulator to do away with its obligations to broadcast at least 5 hours of local programming per week at its Montréal and Quebec City stations (2.5 hours in smaller markets).
• Allow for its stations in major markets to no longer have to broadcast at least 6 hours of weekly locally reflective news. For its non-metropolitan stations, Bell wants to be able to broadcast fewer than 3 hours of locally reflective news each week. In Quebec, the requirement for 5 hours of locally reflective news each week on its Noovo Montréal station.
• Waive the requirement for the company to devote 11% of the previous year's gross revenues to the acquisition of or investment in locally reflective news.

In a second application before the CRTC, Bell Media made these requests:

• Reduce its obligation for Canadian content spending on English-language television stations from 30% of the previous year's revenues to 20%.
• Reduce the amount its English-language television stations must spend per year on programs of national interest from 7.5% of the previous year's revenues to 5%.

Steve Faguy reported that the 30% to 20% change could save the company up to $60 million a year. Faguy also noted other applications to the CRTC include one from TVA to eliminate weekend newscasts in Quebec City and Rogers allowing the company to spend less on drama and more on Canada's Got Talent.

The applications by the media companies doesn't mean the CRTC will grant their acceptance. The CRTC would set lower standards if they granted relief, not just to Bell Media.

Bell Media asks #CRTC to eliminate all local news requirements for CTV, CTV2 and Noovo stations https://t.co/Q43NaWmNNp

— Steve Faguy (@fagstein) June 23, 2023

Let's look at CFTO, the CTV station in Toronto. The station runs a 1-hour local newscast at Noon weekdays, a 1-hour newscast at 6 pm, and a 35-minute newscast at 11:30 pm. The station simulcasts the news from CP24 from 5-6 pm. CFTO shows a lot more than 6 hours a week of "locally reflective news."

CIVT Vancouver runs a similar schedule where CIVT produces that hour of news from 5-6 pm.

Citytv is mostly programming produced at the Toronto station with few local programs for individual markets. Citytv in Ottawa, the nation's capital, runs the same regular programming as the Toronto station.

Global has fewer Canadian TV offerings than Bell Media and more than Rogers' Citytv.

Bell Media said they would run local news programming, less than required to do now and more than zero.

The American programming that allows Bell Media, Global, and Citytv to make so much money is supposed to fund what little Canadian programming, news and otherwise, the networks broadcast to Canadians.

"Paramount has taken a number of properties including new Star Trek series and popular older services like South Park from Crave and CTV Sci-Fi and moved them on to its own streamer, Paramount+," said Faguy in his reporting. Presumably, this cuts into Bell Media profits, which are still really high.

The latest round of Bell Media layoffs, including the loss of several radio stations, is not inspiring that the company would make smart decisions about reduced local news coverage. Their late local newscasts get the lead-in of the most watched nightly national telecast at 11 pm Eastern/Pacific.

How to save news media from our tech overlords (Canadaland)

Canadian journalism notebook: Canadian cities losing Monday newspaper editions

CanadianCrossing.com journalism coverage

Bill C-18 is designed to give relief to Canadian news outlets, especially large outlets such as Bell Media, with help from tech giants such as Google and Meta (Facebook). The hope is that the financial relief would be applied to providing useful and relevant Canadian content. This move by Bell Media implies they have no interest in spending that financial relief on improving local news.

Bell Media, Corus, and Rogers run over-the-air networks in Canada as well as cable channels. There are obligations, reasonable obligations with the responsibility of over-the-air networks. Local news is one of those services. Bell Media provided figures on how much they are losing on local news. The overall picture is a very robust company, making plenty of money, especially on insanely expensive smartphone services.

2023 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

Bell Media, Corus, and Rogers should be carrying more Canadian dramas and comedies, fewer ripoff shows (Canada's Got Talent) to sort of balance the tons of American programming on CTV, Global, Citytv, and their cable outlets. The CRTC should have sharper teeth in making sure that happens.

Rogers has 2 Canadian TV dramas on Citytv and they want to spend less on dramas??

Canadian TV creators complain that there aren't a whole lot of options. These 3 companies need to open up space for more Canadian scripted content. If they won't do it on their own accord, the CRTC should step in with strong requirements.

Editor's note: As if Canadian newspapers aren't already monopolized, there is talk of a possible merger between Postmedia and the Toronto Star's parent company. The claim is that the Toronto Star would maintain "editorial independence." This is a potentially backwards move for Canadian journalism.

photo credit: Bell Media
Twitter capture: @fagstein

CW announces summer schedule filled with Canadian television

We knew the CW network would have a lot of Canadian television this summer. Now we know when those shows will debut.

Season 2 of Family Law starts July 7 at 8 pm on the CW followed by the U.S. premiere of Moonshine at 9 pm (all times Eastern).

The CW runs back-to-back episodes of Son of a Critch (8 pm) and Children Ruin Everything (9 pm) on July 24. Run the Burbs debuts the following Monday at 8:30 pm in between the other Canadian TV comedies.

Those comedies will run in those time slots on Tuesdays for the CW fall schedule.

The CW summer schedule also includes reality shows from north of the border. Season 4 of the Great Chocolate Showdown (8 pm) debuts August 5 followed by the U.S. premiere of Recipe for Disaster (9 pm).

Makes us miss Fridge Wars which the CW and CBC carried in 2020. Emma Hunter, who is in Moonshine, hosted Fridge Wars.

Moonshine has 16 episodes over 2 seasons, 8 for each season. We don't know when the CW will run Season 2.

As we have noted, the CW will have Sullivan's Crossing and The Spencer Sisters on Wednesday nights this fall.

The CW has acquired 4 new shows for this summer#Bump S2 (Australia)#FamilyLaw S2 (Canada)#Moonshine S1 (Canada)#RunTheBurbs S1 (Canada) pic.twitter.com/0AQDllmfeZ

— The CW news (@CWshows) May 10, 2023

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

2023 Canadian TV upfronts highlights

2023 CBC television upfront preview

2021 CBC television upfront preview

Your humble narrator has seen the opening episode for Moonshine, Son of a Critch, Children Ruin Everything, and Run the Burbs. All of them offer promise and interest to see where they go in terms of character development. 

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

You can find your local CW station in your area for our American readers. We are not sure how this works for those in Canada who can access a CW affiliate from the States, given the territorial rights in Canada.

photo credits: Moonshine/CBC; Run the Burbs/CBC
Twitter capture: @CWshows

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

2023 Canadian Screen Award nominations

Samantha Bee will host the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards conclusion program on April 16 on CBC. The CBC show will not be live as in pre-pandemic times.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television announced the Canadian film and Canadian television nominations earlier today. We have the prominent nominees in separate articles for Canadian film and Canadian television.

Canadian Screen Week will run April 11-14 at Toronto’s Meridian Hall.

2022 Canadian Screen Award nominations

2022 Canadian Screen Awards nominations: Film

2022 Canadian Screen Awards nominations: Television

Besides the typical awards, there are also special Canadian Screen Awards:

Board of Directors Tribute — Paul Pope, Jennifer Podemski
Academy Icon — Catherine O'Hara
Changemaker Award — Tracy Moore
Earle Grey Award — Peter MacNeill
Gordon Sinclair Award — Lisa LaFlamme
Humanitarian Award — Ryan Reynolds
Lifetime Achievement Award — Pierre Bruneau
Radius Award — Simu Liu

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

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 credit: Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television

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

2022 FIFA World Cup preview for Team Canada

Group F 🇧🇪🇨🇦🇲🇦🇭🇷#CANMNT #WeCAN #FinalDraw pic.twitter.com/cypz9cTTx0

— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) April 1, 2022

For the first time since 1986, Canada is relevant in a men's World Cup of football (soccer). Canada is in Group F in Qatar, site of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Canada's opponents in order of appearance are Belgium, Croatia, and Morocco. Canada went 0-3 in games and 0-5 in goals in 1986, the only other World Cup appearance for the men's team.

Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich) and Jonathan David (Lille) led the Canada squad.

Midfield stars include Stephen Eustaquio (FC Porto) and Atiba Huchinson. Hutchinson would be the oldest player ever to play at a World Cup at 39 years, 9 months, and 3 days.

Canada will not be at full strength. Goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau fractured his leg while playing for LAFC in the MLS Cup. His team had a better day, pulling off the comeback. Centre back Scott Kennedy suffered a shoulder injury with German club SSV Jahn. Toronto FC centre back Doneil Henry was injured during warmups before a friendly match with Bahrain.

The goalkeepers will be Milan Borjan (Red Star Belgrade) and Dayne St. Clair (Minnesota United) along with CF Montréal goalkeeper James Pantemis, who replaces Crepeau.

John Herdman will lead the way as head coach of the Canadian men's national soccer team.

YOUR #CANMNT WORLD CUP SQUAD. 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/Kzq0auPgJw

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 13, 2022

Here is the Canadian schedule:

Date	Opponent	Time	Stadium	City	U.S. TV
November 23	Belgium	2p	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium	Al Rayyan	Fox
November 27	Croatia	11a	Khalifa International Stadium	Al Rayyan	FS1
December 1	Morocco	10a	Al Thumama Stadium	Doha	FS1

Times listed are Eastern time. Qatar time is 8 hours ahead of EST.

CTV and TSN have the coverage in Canada with both outlets carrying the Canadian matches. The Bell Media outlets have extensive pregames for the Canada games and coverage starting 15 minutes before the times listed in the above table.

Fox Sports has the coverage of games in the United States. JP Dellacamera, Cobi Jones, and Geoff Shreeves will have the first Canada match on Fox. Dellacamera and Jones call the other Canada matches on Fox Sports 1. 

The tournament starts tomorrow though Canada won't play until Wednesday.

Toronto, Vancouver in; Edmonton out for FIFA 2026 World Cup host cities

Canada played Morocco in 2016, a friendly game that Morocco won 4–0. The countries played 2 other matches against each other. The only time Canada played Belgium was a friendly game in 1989. Belgium won 2–0. Canada has never played Croatia.

Canada, ranked at 41, is the lowest seed based on October 2022 FIFA rankings in Group F. Belgium is ranked at 2, Croatia is at 12, and Morocco ranks at 22.

Toronto Life has a bandwagon guide for those catching up on football (aka soccer). 

Canada draws Group F for the 2022 World Cup

CanadianCrossing.com soccer coverage

The Canadian women's team in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup learned its opponents: Australia (co-host), Ireland, and Nigeria in Group B.

The women's team has made 8 World Cup appearances since its debut in 1995. The team's best result was 4th in 2003. The women's team is the defending gold medal champions from the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Twitter captures: @CanadaSoccerEN; @Sportsnet
photo credit: FIFA