TORONTO – The new year promises a wave of returning TV favourites and buzzy rookie series, with most of the big U.S. networks expected to roll out ambitious, star-packed fare that includes a comedy with Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell, a slick musical drama from Debra Messing and Anjelica Huston, a new thriller starring Kiefer Sutherland and the return of bad boy Charlie Sheen.
The big broadcasters typically unleash their hottest shows in the fall but they’ve saved a lot of sizzle for the colder months of the year, says Shaw Media executive Barbara Williams, who oversees programming for channels including Global, Showcase and History Television.
“Right across the board you’re seeing very big, powerful series coming in the midseason,” says Williams, Shaw’s senior vice president of content.
“You can’t expect viewers to just be there with you in the fall and then hang in through repeats and stuff and then be back with you again in the fall. Our viewers are more demanding that that.”
Big titles across the dial include the Cheadle-led ensemble comedy “House of Lies,” a Showtime series bound for Canada’s Movie Central/The Movie Network on Jan. 9.
“We’ve called it our ‘staff pick’ internally – we’re pretty excited about that one,” says Maria Hale, head of TV programming and production for Corus, which oversees Movie Central/HBO Canada.
“It has a great cast, first and foremost. And it’s looking at the business of management consulting from sort of a comedic reality perspective, I think that’s going to make it quite engaging.”
And speculation is high on whether “Lost” mastermind J.J. Abrams can strike TV gold again with his upcoming time-travelling mind-bender, “Alcatraz.”
Comparisons to his island-bound hit are inevitable, with “Lost” star Jorge Garcia and “Lost” writer Elizabeth Sarnoff also on board the new project. The sprawling Vancouver-shot mystery debuts Jan. 16 on Citytv and Fox with a two-hour premiere that sets up an eerie premise: an Alcatraz prisoner who died 30 years ago suddenly reappears, youthful as ever.
Meanwhile, Messing stars in NBC’s Broadway serial “Smash,” also airing on CTV, but this is no happy-go-lucky “Glee”-inspired crowd-pleaser.
The mature drama centres on a songwriting duo who attempt to mount a Marilyn Monroe musical while wrestling with marital woes. An A-list cast includes Huston, Broadway stars Brian d’Arcy James, Megan Hilty and Christian Borle and “American Idol” near-winner Katharine McPhee as a young ingenue.
It’s notable that “Smash” doesn’t debut until Feb. 6 even though it was ready to air back in the fall, says Mike Cosentino, CTV’s senior vice-president of programming.
“NBC held back, arguably, their biggest drama,” says Cosentino, noting the strategy is meant to keep viewers tuned in to NBC’s schedule year-round.
“A lot of the networks are stunting the launches of all of their new shows so you’ll see that ABC is holding back and stunting several of their big series every couple of weeks, or every three or four weeks all the way through. (The Kristin Chenoweth vehicle) ‘GCB’ is launching out of the Oscars, (Ashley Judd thriller) ‘Missing’ they’re launching a few weeks later. They launched ‘Once Upon A Time’ the third week in October. Whereas a few years ago you would have seen everybody launch everything at once in the fall.”
Global’s hot picks include the Sutherland comeback “Touch,” a Fox series from “Heroes” creator Tim Kring that revolves around a single father (Sutherland) whose mute 11-year-old son communicates through numbers. Global will air a sneak preview Jan. 25 before the series officially kicks off March 19.
Later in the year, Global is slated to air NBC’s mind-bending drama “Awake” – one of the best-reviewed pilots to come out of last spring’s TV previews. It centres on a car crash survivor who finds himself living two realities, one of which is actually a dream – in one, his wife survives the accident but his son is dead and in the other, his wife has died but his son survives.
Other big Global shows include the “Bones” spinoff “The Finder,” about a war vet with an extraordinary ability, debuting Jan. 12; and the Toronto-shot adaptation of John Grisham’s legal thriller, “The Firm,” debuting Jan. 8.
Meanwhile, Sheen returns to CTV with the FX show “Anger Management,” based on the hit film of the same name. No air date has been set in Canada but FX has said they expect to make a U.S. debut in the summer.
Even though “Anger Management” is bound for an edgy specialty channel south of the border, Cosentino says it’s been pitched as a broad comedy suitable for CTV.
“I have a lot of detail on the series bible and everything else, enough to get us comfortable from a creative and a concept point of view,” he says of the show, set to return Sheen to prime time after his sensational ousting from “Two and a Half Men,” also on CTV.
“It feels absolutely like a network show. It is not going to be any edgier than anything that you see right now in syndication.”
Other new series on the way include ABC’s paranormal thriller “The River,” starring Canadian Bruce Greenwood as a famous explorer and TV personality who goes missing deep in the Amazon. It’s slated for Feb. 7.
And on Jan. 3, Showcase starts airing Season 1 of TNT’s detective series “Rizzoli & Isles,” previously only available on Super Channel.
On the reality front, Williams promises that Slice’s “The Real Housewives of Vancouver” will rival the drama of its U.S. counterparts, which include trashy instalments based out of New Jersey, Atlanta, New York City, Miami and Orange County.
“A lot of people were kind of wondering if Canada has those kinds of housewives,” says Williams. “It lives up to the brand, I would say. Who knew?”
Over at HBO Canada, Hale has high hopes for a Canada-UK co-production called “The Crimson Petal and the White,” debuting Jan. 7. Based on the book of the same name, the psychological thriller is set in the 1870s and centres on a young prostitute who becomes mistress to a prominent businessman. Stars include Chris O’Dowd and Gillian Anderson.
“The joke internally is we’ve got Scully and Mulder back,” says Hale, referring to the ’90s sci-fi serial starring Anderson and David Duchovny, who stars in The Movie Network/Movie Central’s “Californication.”
Established favourites returning to the dial include Citytv’s meta-comedy “30 Rock” on Jan. 12; PBS’s award-winning period piece “Downton Abbey” on Jan. 8; while AMC’s “The Killing,” “Mad Men” and a fifth and final season of “Breaking Bad,” are expected later in the year.
Premium series resuming on Movie Central/The Movie Network include “Shameless” on Jan. 9; “Spartacus” on Jan. 29 and “Californication” on Jan. 9.
“Game of Thrones” returns to HBO Canada next year, and in April the network is also expected to roll out the new Julia Louis-Dreyfus show, “Veep.”
Williams says past notions that the midseason schedule is packed with second-tier material should be blown away by 2012’s crop.
“We’re seeing content spread out more throughout the year, which means a bigger midseason and means more original content in summer as well,” says Williams, who also expects to bring History Channel’s “The Hatfields and McCoys,” starring Bill Paxton and Kevin Costner, to Canada’s History Television later in the year.
“All the networks are realizing that in a world of so much content available, so many places, so much of the time you need to stay fresh on a more continuous basis and fall alone won’t do it.”
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