CBC original family drama HEARTLAND began filming the fourteenth season in Alberta this week. Produced by Dynamo Films and SEVEN24 Films, HEARTLAND Season 14 will premiere in Winter 2021 on CBC and the free CBC Gem streaming service. The ten-episode, one-hour drama follows life on the iconic Heartland ranch as Amy Fleming (Amber Marshall) and her family deal with the challenges of running a horse ranch which has been in their family for six generations.
HEARTLAND Season 14 cast and crew are returning to set under different circumstances from previous seasons, due to COVID-19.
Although there was a delay from originally scheduled production due to COVID-19, the HEARTLAND cast and crew remain committed to sharing Season 14 with fans. HEARTLAND is the longest-running one-hour drama in Canadian television history. It is a multi-generational family drama that is much loved by fans of all ages, not only in Canada, but all around the world. HEARTLAND has made its way into the hearts of families in more than 119 countries.
Filming locations for Season 14 include Calgary, High River, Millarville, and Longview in Alberta, Canada.
A CBC original series, HEARTLAND is based on the bestselling series of books by Lauren Brooke. The executive producers are Michael Weinberg, Tom Cox, Jordy Randall, and Heather Conkie who also serves as the showrunner. The series is produced by Dean Bennett. The series writers are Heather Conkie, Mark Haroun, Ken Craw, and Alexandra Clarke. For CBC, Sally Catto is General Manager, Entertainment, Factual & Sports; Trish Williams is Executive Director, Scripted Content; Helen Asimakis is Senior Director, Scripted Content; and Deborah Nathan is Executive in Charge of Production.
Heartland is produced by Dynamo Films and SEVEN24 Films in association with CBC with the financial participation of the Canada Media Fund, Government of Alberta, the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, and the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit.
Well, things are just a little bit different this time around. With COVID-19 wreaking havoc on television production around the world, the Canadian networks—like others—have been a little late in announcing their primetime schedules.
But they’re gradually doing that, so we’ve put together a handy list of what will air between the summer of 2020 and the end of spring in 2021.
Check back often to see if your favourites have been renewed; we’ll be updating this list as we get more information.
Renewed
APTN Tribal Tribal Police Files
The Other Side
Tribal
CBC Still Standing Murdoch Mysteries Frankie Drake Mysteries Workin’ Moms Baroness Von Sketch Show (final season) Heartland The Nature of Things Marketplace The Fifth Estate Battle of the Blades Family Feud Canada Just for Laughs: Galas Ha!ifax Comedy Fest You Can’t Ask That Coroner Kim’s Convenience Tallboyz Dragons’ Den 22 Minutes The Great Canadian Baking Show
Diggstown
Burden of Truth
Tallboyz
Citytv Hudson & Rex
CTV Corner Gas Animated JANN (renewed for Season 3) The Amazing Race Canada Transplant MasterChef Canada: Back to Win
Crave Letterkenny
Canada’s Drag Race
Discovery Heavy Rescue: 401 Disasters at Sea Highway Thru Hell
Nurses
Food Network Canada Big Food Bucket List Carnival Eats Wall of Chefs Great Chocolate Showdown Junior Chef Showdown Fire Masters The Big BakeÂ
Global Nurses Private Eyes
Big Brother Canada
Departure
Backyard Builds
HGTV Canada Backyard Builds Island of Bryan Property Brothers: Forever Home Scott’s Vacation House Rules  Save My RenoÂ
History Vikings (final season) Rust Valley Restorers  History Erased Salvage KingsÂ
[Editor’s Note: Fridge Wars, Diggstown and Burden of Truth are on hold at the moment given COVID-19 production delays. The Detectives has not been renewed.]
At CBC’s 2020 virtual upfront presentation today, Canada’s public broadcaster revealed its 2020-21 slate of original programming, led by a strong fall schedule featuring 1,300 new hours for television spanning 22 new and returning series across all genres.
FALL 2020
ENSLAVED (6×60 Documentary, Associated Producers/A CBC Gem and documentary channel co-production with Epix in the United States) is a blue-chip documentary series led by Samuel Jackson and directed by Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici (The Naked Archaeologist) that charts the history of slavery through underwater archaeology. The series coincides with the 400-year anniversary of the first African brought to the New World as a slave, and will retrace the harrowing sea voyage that brought millions to a life of slavery. ENSLAVED is produced by Felix Golubev and Ric Bienstock and executive produced by Samuel L. Jackson, LaTanya Jackson, Eli Selden, Rob Lee, Simcha Jacobovici and Yaron Niski. International distribution by Fremantle.
ORANGEVILLE PREP (6×30 Factual, Orangeville Hoops Inc.) is a character-driven factual series that offers an inside look at the competitive, high-pressure world of basketball’s most successful preparatory program. Tucked away on farmland in Orangeville, Ontario lies the sport’s best kept secret – The Athlete Institute (AI). This high school basketball program has produced more Division 1 College and NBA players in the last five years than any other program in the world.
The Sounds
THE SOUNDS (8×60 Drama, Canada/New Zealand co-production, Shaftesbury and South Pacific Pictures) is a striking take on the relationship-driven thriller. Welcome to Pelorus Sounds, New Zealand – the sleepy settlement where nothing, including the visiting Cabbotts, is quite what it seems. Grieving wives, cheating husbands, epic embezzlement and historic crime all collide to weave a complicated web stretching through the Sounds’ hidden valleys and deep waters. Created by New Zealand-based author Sarah-Kate Lynch and directed by Peter Stebbings (Frankie Drake Mysteries, The Disappearance), the series stars Rachelle Lefevre (Mary Kills People, Under the Dome) as Maggie Cabbott and Matt Whelan (Narcos, The Luminaries) as Tom Cabbott.
TRICKSTER (6×60 Drama, Streel Films and Sienna Films) is based on the best-selling novel Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson, with CBC confirming today that it has been renewed for a second season. Starring newcomer Joel Oulette, this unique series is created by award-winning filmmaker Michelle Latimer (RISE, Nuuca) and Tony Elliott (Orphan Black), and directed by Latimer. Oulette plays Jared, an Indigenous teen struggling to keep his dysfunctional family above water, holding down an after-school job and selling ecstasy to support his partying mom, Maggie (Crystle Lightning), who self-medicates an undiagnosed mental illness, and his unemployable dad, Phil (Craig Lauzon) and his new girlfriend. But when Jared starts seeing strange things — talking ravens, doppelgängers, skin monsters— his already chaotic life is turned upside down. Additional cast includes Kalani Queypo (Jamestown), Anna Lambe (The Grizzlies), Joel Thomas Hynes (Little Dog), Gail Maurice (Cardinal) and Georgina Lightning (Blackstone).
SERIES RETURNING THIS FALL
BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW (Season 5, Frantic Films) – Finale Season
BATTLE OF THE BLADES (Season 6, Insight Productions) Following its remergence on the ice last year that reached over 1.5 million Canadians each episode, the factual hit will return this fall.**
DRAGONS’ DEN (Season 15, CBC)
FAMILY FEUD CANADA (Season 2, Zone 3/Fremantle) Following its inaugural season that reached 2.6 million viewers each week with a nightly average audience of over half a million including 30 percent in the key 25-54 demo, the hit series hosted by Gerry Dee is confirmed to return four nights per week this fall with 104 new episodes as a nationwide virtual search for new Canadian families now begins.***
HA!IFAX COMEDY FEST (Season 24, Pilot Light Productions)
JUST FOR LAUGHS: GALAS (Just For Laughs TV)
MARKETPLACE (Season 48, CBC News)
THE NATIONAL (CBC News, ongoing)
THE NATURE OF THINGS (Season 60) The landmark 60th season of THE NATURE OF THINGS will kick off with STATE OF THE PLANET, a unique documentary featuring a one-on-one conversation between David Suzuki and Sir David Attenborough that takes the pulse of our planet and asks whether humans can change their ways in time.
PURE (Season 2, Two East Productions/Cineflix)
ROAD TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES (Season 6, CBC Sports)
STILL STANDING (Season 6, Frantic Films)
THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES (Season 28, Wildbrain)
YOU CAN’T ASK THAT (Season 2, Pixcom)
Trickster
WINTER NEW SERIES
LADY DICKS (10×60 Drama, Cameron Pictures) is a fun and honest portrayal of two radically different female detectives in their early 40s. The buddy cop drama series follows Guns and Gangs detective, Samantha (Meredith MacNeill, Baroness von Sketch Show) and Drug Squad detective, Kelly (Adrienne C. Moore, Orange is the New Black), who by day are true action heroes in their own particular way: skilled, tough, determined, and ruthless. But by night, they’re both grappling with loneliness, dysfunctional families, screwed-up love lives, and a sense that their professional ambitions may not be totally in line with their personal needs. Their friendship could help to balance each other out, if only they didn’t drive one another utterly insane. LADY DICKS is co-created by Tassie Cameron (Mary Kills People, Ten Days in the Valley, Rookie Blue, The Robber Bride) and Sherry White (Little Dog, Frontier, Ten Days in the Valley, Rookie Blue).
ARCTIC VETS (10×30 Factual, eOne) takes viewers up close with the remarkable wildlife that inhabits Canada’s frozen north and the team of veterinarians that works tirelessly to keep them safe. With around 40 patients per week, no two days are the same for the team at Assiniboine Park Arctic Animal Hospital in Manitoba. From muskox to seals, wolverines to reindeer, treating Arctic animals is often dangerous, but always rewarding. Whether they’re performing life-saving surgery on a polar bear, or tending to a snowy owl with a broken wing, the mission of the vet team is the same – save the lives of sick and injured Arctic species.
SERIES SET TO RETURN THIS WINTER
CORONER (Season 3, Muse Entertainment, Back Alley Films and Cineflix Studios)
FAMILY FEUD CANADA (Season 2 continues, Zone 3, Fremantle)
THE FIFTH ESTATE (Season 46)
FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES (Season 4, Shaftesbury)
THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW (Season 4, Proper Television)
HA!IFAX COMEDY FEST (Season 24 continues, Pilot Light Productions)
HEARTLAND (Season 14, Seven24 Films and Dynamo Films)
KIM’S CONVENIENCE (Season 5, Thunderbird Entertainment) – also renewed for Season 6
MARKETPLACE (Season 48 continues)
MURDOCH MYSTERIES (Season 14, Shaftesbury)
THE NATURE OF THINGS (Season 60 continues)
ROAD TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES (Season 6 continues)
TALLBOYZ (Season 2, Accent Entertainment)
THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES (Season 28 continues, Wildbrain)
WORKIN’ MOMS (Season 5, Wolf & Rabbit Entertainment)
KIDS PROGRAMMING
New original series for kids on CBC Kids and CBC Gem this upcoming year include:
REMY & BOO (Industrial Brothers/Boat Rocker, in association with Radio-Canada, 52×11 – Fall 2020), an animated preschool series about a unique friendship between an adventurous little girl and a squishy pink robot called Boo.
DINO RANCH (Industrial Brothers/Boat Rocker, 52×11 – 2021), an action-packed animated preschool series that follows the Cassidy family as they tackle life in a fantastical “pre-westoric†setting where dinosaurs still roam.
GARY’S MAGIC FORT (CBC Kids, 13×11 – Spring 2021), a welcoming enchanted pillow fort where CBC Kids’ host Gary the Unicorn plays with his friends.
Enslaved
CBC FALL SCHEDULE
CBC’s Fall 2020 broadcast and streaming schedule on CBC TV and CBC Gem is as follows:
(For Newfoundland and Labrador, please add one half-hour for all times)
MONDAYS
7:30 PM – FAMILY FEUD CANADA *Season 2*
8 PM – THE SOUNDS *New Drama Series*
9 PM – PURE *Season 2*
10 PM – THE NATIONAL
TUESDAYS
7:30 PM – FAMILY FEUD CANADA *Season 2*
8 PM – STILL STANDING *Season 6*/ JUST FOR LAUGHS
8:30 PM – THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES *Season 28*/ JUST FOR LAUGHS
9 PM – BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW *Season 5 – Finale Season*
9:30 PM – CATASTROPHE *Seasons 3 and 4*/ HA!IFAX COMEDY FEST
10 PM – THE NATIONAL
WEDNESDAYS
7:30 PM – FAMILY FEUD CANADA *Season 2*
8 PM – WAR OF THE WORLDS *Exclusive Canadian Premiere*
9 PM – TRICKSTER *New Drama Series*
10 PM – THE NATIONAL
THURSDAYS
7:30 PM – FAMILY FEUD CANADA *Season 2*
8 PM – BATTLE OF THE BLADES *Season 6*
9 PM – DRAGONS’ DEN *Season 15*
10 PM – THE NATIONAL
FRIDAYS
8 PM – MARKETPLACE *Season 48*
8:30 PM – YOU CAN’T ASK THAT *Season 2* / ORANGEVILLE PREP *New Factual Series*
9 PM – THE NATURE OF THINGS *Season 60*
10 PM – THE NATIONAL
SATURDAYS
Afternoon – ROAD TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES *Season 6*
SUNDAYS
Afternoon – ROAD TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES *Season 6*
8 PM – THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW *Season 10*
9 PM – ENSLAVED *New Documentary Series*
10 PM – THE NATIONAL
Link: Stars of Heartland, Canada’s ‘comfort food,’ glad to return
“Shame on me I didn’t know it was going to last this long and I didn’t really see why it could or would until again the penny dropped and it had nothing that was hot at the time … speed, explosions, cops, robbers, doctors, nurses, low-cut blouses, high-heeled shoes. Who’d a thunk that? Like, oh my gosh. We just seem to pick up steam. It’s nutty.” Continue reading.
Like the well-worn jeans, boots and hats they wear, Heartland is a comfortable Sunday night staple. Sure, you know there will be drama —remember Mongolia?—but at its centre, the series is about horses, family and togetherness.
Season 13 of Heartland returns this Sunday night with the episode “Snakes and Ladders.” Here’s the official synopsis from the CBC:
A disgruntled horse owner causes problems for Ty and Amy’s business, and they find themselves at odds about taking him on as a client.
And here are more details from us after watching a screener of the instalment, written by Heather Conkie and directed by Ken Filewych.
Ty and Amy’s house is being built
I’m not sure how much time has passed, but there is no snow on the ground and the foundation for the house has been poured. Lyndy is growing like crazy; when we catch up with the family, Luke is pushing her on the swing. Also? Ty got a haircut.
Amy and Ty’s business partnership is booming…
… but business comes with questionable clients and one of those, played by Joel Keller, shows up at Heartland.
Georgie is back
We catch up with her moments after Jack picked her up from the airport and discover the experiences she had and the countries she visited. Clearly, it has opened her eyes to a world outside of Heartland. And Phoenix has returned as well.
Tim is still grumpy
Even though Jack and Lisa showed him the courtesy of inviting him back onto the ranch, he doesn’t seem all that grateful.
