From a media release:
Viewers No Longer Need to Hold Their Breath: CTV Original Series Hiccups Premieres March 1
- Featuring Brent Butt, HICCUPS stars CORNER GAS alumnus Nancy Robertson
- Original series leads Monday Comedy block on CTV at 8 p.m. ET
- A second bout of HICCUPS can be caught on The Comedy Network, Saturdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT
- New episodes available post-broadcast on The CTV Video Player at CTV.ca and on popular internet download stores
Prolonged laughter is often the cause of HICCUPS. This isn’t news for HICCUPS creator and writer Brent Butt: his latest brainchild, and CTV’s newest original series, premieres Monday, March 1 at 8 p.m. ET (visit CTV.ca to confirm local broadcast times). The 13-part, half-hour comedy series stars Nancy Robertson as Millie Upton, a successful children’s author who’s prone to flying off the handle, and features Brent Butt as Stan Dirko, Millie’s less-than-qualified life-coach. Together, they work through Millie’s…err…unpredictable spasms, and lead the laughs on CTV’s two-hour Monday night comedy block.
HICCUPS is followed by CTV Original Comedy series DAN FOR MAYOR at 8:30 p.m. and the blockbuster Top 10 hits TWO AND A HALF MEN and THE BIG BANG THEORY at 9 and 9:30 p.m. Following the television broadcasts of HICCUPS, new episodes are available on demand on The CTV Video Player at CTV.ca, thecomedynetwork.ca and on the go at popular internet download stores. Viewers can also enjoy encore broadcasts of HICCUPS on Saturdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The Comedy Network.
“I am thrilled return to Canadian television in the role of Millie Upton,” said Robertson. “It’s a blast playing her. I hope the audience has just as much fun watching her and the rest of this talented ensemble.”
“I’m so excited to get HICCUPS on the air,” said Butt. “I may be a smidge biased, but it truly is my new favourite show. Nancy as Millie just kills me …she’s nuts! And the rest of the cast is fantastic. Every day in every scene, someone would bust me up.”
In HICCUPS, it’s a case of the lost leading the lost, with the best of intentions and very little chance of success. Millie’s motley crew of colleagues and supporters includes Laura Soltis (THE GUARD) as Joyce, David Ingram (SMALLVILLE) as Taylor Rymes, Emily Perkins (Ginger Snaps) as Crystal, and Paula Rivera (FLASHPOINT) as Anna.
Though wildly successful in her career, Millie is socially unpredictable. She is prone to sudden outbursts of laughter, sadness and rage. All traits that life coach Stan tries to subdue, her publisher Joyce (Soltis) fails to keep under wraps and her slick but useless agent (Ingram) is too self-centred to notice. Meanwhile Crystal (Perkins), a highly opinionated young slacker receptionist at Millie’s publishing company, Haddison House, doesn’t do much for the company’s image. Stan finds life-support in his wide-eyed and slightly bewildered wife, Anna (Rivera), who does her best to support his impractical dream of becoming a life coach.
In the premiere episode, “Millie, Meet Stan†(Monday, March 1 at 8 p.m. ET), Millie seeks help from Stan after causing a public disturbance at a coffee shop. In spite of his ineptitude Stan manages to gain Millie’s trust as a client. Meanwhile Joyce threatens to cancel an important event unless Millie finds the help she needs.
Filmed in Vancouver, HICCUPS is produced by Sparrow Media in association with CTV and The Comedy Network. Brent Butt is creator, writer, show runner and executive producer. Executive producers are Laura Lightbown (DAVINCI’S INQUEST, INTELLIGENCE) and David Storey (CORNER GAS), who also directs numerous episodes. Producers are Nancy Robertson and Arvi Liimatainen (INTELLIGENCE). The Director of Photography is Ken Krawczyk (CORNER GAS) and the Production Designer is Matthew Budgeon (MEN IN TREES). Michelle Daly is the Director of Content, The Comedy Network and Susanne Boyce is President, Creative, Content and Channels, CTV Inc. World-wide distribution rights are held by Thunderbird Films in association with Group M Entertainment.
Well the thought of Brett Butt as a life coach already has me laughing. I am a life coach and I am happy to see that it is being chatted about so much! Thanks. I can just imagine, well not completely, what’s going to evolve out of this. Sounds like fun. I’ll be watching for sure.
Living la vida fearless, Janet Auty-Carlisle