CTV’s Defying Gravity goes to ABC

From a media release:

CTV Drama Series DEFYING GRAVITY Picked Up By ABC for U.S. Broadcast

  • Vancouver-based series created by GREY’S ANATOMY’s James Parriott and executive produced by DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES’ Michael Edelstein
  • Featuring an international ensemble cast led by Ron Livingston and Canadian Laura Harris

DEFYING GRAVITY, a new CTV drama shot in Vancouver, will also air on ABC in the U.S., CTV and production partners, Fox Television Studios and Vancouver’s Omni Film Productions Limited announced today. Executive produced by series creator and award-winning writer/producer James Parriott (GREY’S ANATOMY, UGLY BETTY) and Michael Edelstein (DESPERATE HOUSWIVES), DEFYING GRAVITY follows the journey of eight astronauts, from five countries, who embark on a mysterious mission through the solar system. The series becomes the fourth Canadian dramatic series that CTV has been involved in to be picked up by a major U.S. network in primetime in the last two years, an unprecedented achievement. The U.S. pick up of co-venture DEFYING GRAVITY by ABC joins CTV Original Series FLASHPOINT (CBS), THE LISTENER (NBC) and THE BRIDGE (CBS).

DEFYING GRAVITY is a co-venture produced by Fox Television Studios and Vancouver’s Omni Film Productions Limited in association with CTV, the lead broadcaster. Starring a diverse, international ensemble cast led by Ron Livingston (Office Space) and Vancouver-native Laura Harris (24), the hour-long, 13-episode series will also air on SPACE in Canada, the BBC in the UK and on ProSieben in Germany.

“CTV is committed to being in business with the best creative talent. We have been looking to partner with Jim and Michael, and DEFYING GRAVITY offered the right opportunity,” said Susanne Boyce, President, Creative, Content and Channels, CTV Inc. “Out of the gate, we signed on as a production partner and lead broadcaster and the experience has been terrific.”

Executive Producer Michael Edelstein, said, “Working with CTV has been such a gratifying experience for Jim Parriott and me. Susanne Boyce championed the show from day one and without her vision and support, DEFYING GRAVITY may not have happened. We are so grateful for the collaboration and look forward to doing many more seasons together.”

Inspired by the fictional BBC docudrama Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets, and dubbed “GREY’S ANATOMY in space” by series creator James Parriott, DEFYING GRAVITY is a sexy, provocative space thriller. It’s set in the very near future against the background of our solar system, in which eight astronauts from five countries (four women and four men) undertake a mysterious six-year international space mission covering eight billion miles. Hurtling into the vast challenge of infinite space, the eight astronauts and the ground personnel that support them are on a mission, which has a powerful and awesome mystery at its core. The intimate relationships among the astronauts and the ground crew, as well as their actions, from the past and the present, on earth and in space, are all connected. Episodes are divided between the present, as the Antares travels towards Venus, and the past, with flashbacks to the earlier years when the astronauts were in the grueling selection and training process.

The series’ international ensemble cast is led by Ron Livingston (Office Space) as Antares flight engineer Maddux Donner, Laura Harris (24) as ship’s geologist Zoe Barnes, Malik Yoba (New York Undercover) as Antares commander Ted Shaw, Christina Cox (Blood Ties) as biologist Jen Crane, Florentine Lahme (IMPACT) as pilot Nadia Schilling, Paula Garces (THE SHIELD) as pilot, scientist and on-board documentary producer Paula Morales, Eyal Podell (24) as psychiatrist and medical officer Evram Mintz, and Dylan Taylor (House Party) as theoretical physicist Steve Wassenfelder. The cast on planet Earth is led by Andrew Airlie (REAPER) as Mission Control Commander Mike Goss, Karen LeBlanc (ReGenesis) as scientist Eve Shaw, Zahf Paroo (Battlestar Galactica) as grounded flight engineer Ajay Sharma, and Maxim Roy (MVP) as flight surgeon Claire Dereux. Episodic Director Peter Howitt also plays the role of BBC journalist Trevor Williams.

DEFYING GRAVITY was created by award-winning, Emmy-nominated writer/producer James Parriott (executive producer on GREY’S ANATOMY and UGLY BETTY). Parriott and Emmy-nominated producer Michael Edelstein (executive producer on DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES) are executive producers, along with Omni’s Brian Hamilton and Michael Chechik. Ron French (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) is the producer. DEFYING GRAVITY is produced by Fox Television Studios and Omni Film Productions (producers of CTV’s critically-acclaimed series ROBSON ARMS) in association with CTV and Germany’s ProSieben. Fraser Robinson is Director of Content for SPACE. Robert Hardy is Development Manager, Western Production for CTV. Brett Burlock is Director, Program Development for CTV. Susanne Boyce is President, Creative, Content and Channels, CTV Inc.

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One thought on “CTV’s Defying Gravity goes to ABC”

  1. I watched Christina Cox in Blood Ties and she was fantastic. I wish we would have had the opportunity to have seen much more of her work in Blood Ties but lifetime had no vision and refused to pick up any more episodes of the show. Bet they’re regretting that now.

    I wish Christina the best and hope that ABC has more vision that lifetime did. She’s a great actress.

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