CTV Reveals Summer Schedule

From a media release:

  • Summer’s No.1 Series Canadian Idol Returns for Sixth Season June 3
  • New Canadian Drama Series Flashpoint Premieres July 11 on CTV & CBS along with new seasons of Canadian series Instant Star, Comedy Now! and Comedy Inc.

Sundays: Instant Star
Mondays: Canadian Idol
Tuesdays: Canadian Idol
Fridays: Flashpoint
Saturdays: Comedy Now!, Comedy Inc.

Canadian Idol (Season Premiere)

  • Premieres Tuesday, June 3 with first Audition Episode
  • Continues Monday, June 9 and Tuesday, June 10 with additional Audition Episodes
  • Top 200 episodes air Monday, June 16 and Tuesday, June 17
  • Top 22 episodes air Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays beginning June 23
  • Top 10 episodes air Mondays and Tuesdays beginning July 14

Canada’s most-watched original series returns for its sixth season, kicking off with two weeks of audition shows featuring some of the thousands of competitors who auditioned in 10 cities across Canada. For the first time in North America and only the second time in the world, Canadian Idol Online Auditions were held, casting the net even wider and resulting in an 11th virtual city stop. In Week 3, two back-to-back “Top 200” episodes lead to the reveal of the Top 22, followed by the start of live performance and results episodes in Week 4. Back for Season 6 is host Ben Mulroney who, along with judges Farley Flex, Jake Gold, Sass Jordan and Zack Werner, welcome a fresh new voice to the Canadian Idol cast, JUNO Award-winner Jully Black.

Instant Star (Season Premiere)

  • Sundays at 7 p.m. beginning June 8 leading into The Hills
  • Episodes also available on demand on the CTV Video Player at CTV.ca
  • 13 x :30

In the fourth season of CTV’s original drama series Instant Star, Jude’s on her way to being an adult and will be facing adult-sized problems. Fortunately for her, Jude has Tommy Q by her side, but being in a serious relationship with your record producer sure comes with its own set of pitfalls. This year Jude has earned the freedom to be her own girl – woman that is. Jude’s biggest challenge will be discovering who she is, and what her real music is, while the rock and roll world takes her on a wild ride.

Comedy Now! (Season Premiere)

  • Saturdays at 10 p.m. beginning June 14 on CTV
  • Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT beginning June 15 on The Comedy Network
  • 13 x :30

Set to kick-off its eleventh season, Comedy Now! has featured more than 100 comics over the years and won numerous accolades, including several international awards and multiple Geminis. The all-Canadian, uncensored stand-up series has helped pave the way for numerous Canadian writer/comedians including Brent Butt, Jeremy Hotz, Roman Danylo, Nikki Payne, Shaun Majumder, Sean Cullen, Gavin Crawford, Brigitte Gall and Elvira Kurt. This season’s line-up of all-Canadian laughs features comics Big Daddy Tazz, Johnny Gardhouse, Terry McGurrin, Peter Anthony, Rob Pue, Ron Sparks, Jon Steinberg, Phil Hanley, Kevin Foxx, Casey Corbin, Jenn Grant, Sean Proudlove, Paul Myrehaug, Dean Jenkinson and Sean Lecomber.

Comedy Inc. (Season Premiere)

  • Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. (Premier date TBA)
  • Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT (Premiere date TBA) on The Comedy Network
  • 13 x :30

CTV’s original comedy series Comedy Inc. returns for a fifth season of edgy sketch, social/political satire and uninhibited physical comedy. The ensemble cast stars “comic’s comic” Roman Danylo (Comedy Now!) and co-stars Second City alumni Jen Goodhue (Comedy Now!), comedians Terry McGurrin (Gutter
Ball Alley), Jenn Robertson (To Die For), Winston Spear (Comedy Now!), Gavin Stephens (Comedy Now!), Albert Howell (Improv Heaven and Hell) and Ian Sirota (Gutter Ball Alley).

Flashpoint (Series Premiere)

  • Fridays at 10 p.m. beginning July 11
  • 13 x :60

Starring Enrico Colantoni (Veronica Mars), Hugh Dillon (Durham County), Amy Jo Johnson (Felicity) and Whistler’s David Paetkau, Flashpoint is an emotional journey into the tough, risk-filled lives of a group of cops in the Strategic Response Unit (inspired by Toronto’s Emergency Task Force). They’re
unique cops that can do what ordinary police officers can’t: rescue hostages, bust gangs, defuse bombs, climb the sides of buildings and talk down suicidal teens. Members of a highly-skilled tactical team, they’re also trained in negotiating, profiling and getting inside the suspect’s head at the very emotional breaking point (the “flashpoint”) that triggered the crisis. They’ll do whatever it takes to diffuse the situation to try to save lives – all in a day’s work. Flashpoint is by Pink Sky Entertainment and Avamar Entertainment in association with CTV and CBS Paramount Network Television.

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7 thoughts on “CTV Reveals Summer Schedule”

  1. Surprise surprise. CTV’s scheduling sucks. Weekend ratings are bad enough during the regular season but during the summer they’re horrendous. Flashpoint doesn’t stand a chance and the prospects for Instant Star look gloomy–teens don’t watch too much TV during Sundays in the summer.

    I know that CTV is going the simulcast route with Flashpoint (since the AmNet scheduled it for Fridays) but come on–Fridays in the summer? Who is CTV trying to kid. It’s bad enough CTV killed Whistler by airing it all over the schedule one summer and then on dismal Saturdays during the regular series.

  2. Instant Star’s in its last season, so the prospects aren’t rosy anyway ;)I’m not sure Sundays are any worse than any other day, really, as long as it gets a consistent timeslot. That’s where it aired last year, so at least they’re not bouncing it around. Yet.

    I wonder how much their hands were tied on Flashpoint based on any agreements with CBS. I think it would be worse to let it run in the US first – that would have completely cannibalized their audience – but I wonder if they even had the option to air it earlier in the week. It would seem like a stupid thing to give up control over, but I have no idea how agreements with a big US net might work.

  3. I can’t tell you how they work exactly, but I’m pretty sure it involves a lot of lube.

    Sorry.

    Uh, actually what I wanted to say was that Sundays, whether during the summer or any other season, is actually the biggest viewing night of TV all week. The potential audience is much, much bigger on Sundays. One of the reasons why the highest rated newsmagazine of all time (60 Minutes) and many of the highest rated dramas (Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, X-Files) have all aired there. Also why NBC worked to establish the Sunday night football brand, and why there’s always a World Series Game on a Sunday night during the playoffs.

  4. Really looking forward to Fashpoint, hope that airing on a Friday night isn’t a killer for the show. I also would have liked to see an update for the return of Blood Ties.

  5. Sundays in the summer is good for the 35 and older demo. The under 35 demo doesn’t do so well in the summer on Sundays.

  6. Given that CTV has often scheduled US series a day or more ahead (Criminal Minds and Studio 60 last year, several episodes of Medium this year, I’d be surprised if they weren’t able to air Flashpoint ahead of CBS if they really wanted to.

    But don’t worry. Friday timeslots generally suck in the US, too. CBS will probably kill the show after the first few weeks, and CTV will be able to schedule it whenever they want.

  7. The difference is that in those cases, CTV paid the American networks for the broadcast rights whereas in this case, it’s a co-production with the American network. I have no idea if it makes any difference, but it’s possible it’s more like The Tudors, which CBC couldn’t air until after the US run even though they co-produced it. Unless you’ve seen the contract, I’ll continue to wonder.

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