Everything about Dramas and Comedies, eh?

Dramas and Comedies

Citytv orders 2 new Canadian comedies

From a media release:

Citytv Greenlights Two New Original Comedy Series, Package Deal and Seed

  • Two 13-episode comedy series slated to debut mid-season on Citytv
  • Homegrown series to be produced by Vancouver-based Thunderbird Films and Force Four Entertainment

In its continuing support of Canadian productions, Citytv announced today it has greenlit two new original comedy series – Package Deal and Seed. Commissioned by Citytv’s original content team and produced by Thunderbird Films and Force Four Entertainment, respectively, the two series are slated to launch exclusively on Citytv in mid-season.

The announcement was made today as part of Citytv’s annual Upfront presentation. Additional production and broadcast details will be announced at a later date.

Package Deal:
Created by Andrew Orenstein (Malcolm in the Middle, 3rd Rock from the Sun) and produced by Thunderbird Films, Package Deal is a 13-episode, half-hour, multi-camera original comedy about three overly close brothers and the woman who comes between them. When Kim starts dating Danny, he seems too good to be true – a successful lawyer, charming, and single. Then she discovers he’s already committed – to his two older brothers, Sheldon and Ryan. Will Danny ever grow up and be his own man? Or will Kim have to accept that his brothers are part of the ‘package deal’?

Seed:
From Force Four Entertainment, the producers of the upcoming Citytv original reality series The Bachelor Canada, and creator Joseph Raso, Seed is a 13-episode, half-hour series that offers a fresh take on the family comedy. Ill-equipped bachelor Harry finds his foray into the world of sperm donation has resulted in kids (lots of them) and becomes entangled in the lives of his new-found children and their less-than-thrilled families – whether they want him to or not.

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Dramas and Comedies

My Babysitter’s a Vampire takes a bite out of youth TV

From Cheryl Binning in Canadian Screenwriter:

  • Anatomy of My Babysitter’s a Vampire
    My Babysitter’s a Vampire! showrunner Tim Burns describes the show this way” “The comedic tone is twisted, quirky, weird and stupid, and true to the worldview of a 12-year-old self-confessed geek.” This combination has proved winning for the show, helping it take a bite out of the crowded youth demonic film and TV market dominated by the likes of the Twilight movie franchise and The Vampire Diaries. It’s undead youth programming, set in the world of geeks and nerds. Read more.
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Dramas and Comedies

New tonight: King season finale

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King, Showcase – “Wendy Stetler”
In the wake of Scott Spivak’s suicide-by-cop, Jess King is working hard to pin the Lake Road murders that were impossible for Scott to have committed, on his Uncle Tim. When a sex trade advocate threatens to put the case back on the front page, the pressure is on Jess and her team to wrap up the investigation and give the families of the victims some closure. Meanwhile, Danny is spiraling out of control, and both his career and his marriage are in serious jeopardy. Can Jess take the necessary steps to save their marriage – and does she want to?

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Dramas and Comedies, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

New tonight: Canada’s Got Talent, Good God

Canada’s Got Talent, Citytv – Season Finale
After 11 weeks of performances, sweat and tears – who will be named the most talented act in the country? Down from 39 acts in the semifinals, the Top 12 finalists put their dreams on the line in hopes of earning the most votes from viewers and becoming Canada’s Most Talented Act. The live finals results show features performances by Canadian chart-toppers Hedley, 12-year-old classical soprano prodigy and America’s Got Talent finalist, Jackie Evancho, and special guest appearance by famed celebrity interviewer Jiminy Glick (Martin Short).

Good God, The Movie Network/Movie Central – “The Naked Truth”
Overwhelmed by stress, George takes Virginia’s anti-anxiety meds, which push him over the edge.

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Dramas and Comedies, Featured

Not an Industry Update – Of Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, and Picnicface

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It’s upfront season now, both in the United States and Canada. Attention turns to which Canadian dramas and comedies survive into 2012-13. There are already surprising cancellations, such as SPACE dropping Todd and the Book of Pure Evil after its second season, though TBPE‘s producers wish to keep the show alive. The Comedy Network’s Picnicface is also among the cancelled, and Picnicface troupe members won’t take this cancellation lying down.

Todd and the Book of Pure Evil creator/showrunner Craig David Wallace recently admitted that the show’s SPACE ratings weren’t high enough for the channel to approve a third season. Its runs on MuchMusic and The Comedy Network, a run on American horror cable channel FEARnet, plus its DVD releases on both sides of the border, suggest that it still has a healthy audience. When Todd and the Book of Pure Evil‘s first season was rerun on The Comedy Network last summer, TBPE was that network’s top Canadian show.

Picnicface, another Bell Media cull, earned soft ratings in first run…but that might be due to The Comedy Network’s practice of reairing the same episode multiple times a week, as CanCon filler. On YouTube, videos from Picnicface‘s first season regularly earn 20,000 or more views. A couple have more than 100,000 views. Stupidly, those videos are geoblocked for non-Canadians.

The Canada Media Fund alloted Picnic Pictures Inc. $624,000 for Picnicface‘s thirteen-episode first season. (PDF) Even if the CMF money is a fraction of Picnicface‘s budget, it’s still a low-budget show. By comparison, the Canada Media Fund alloted $5,415,000 to Todd and the Book of Pure Evil‘s second season. (PDF) TBPE is the bigger risk, and is harder to defend on a purely financial level.

On the flip side, I can’t think of any current shows in TBPE‘s genre, adult-oriented horror-comedy set in a high school. TBPE arguably takes Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s lead, yet TBPE is more rooted in horror conventions, metal, and being the anti-Degrassi. There’s almost nothing else like it in Canada. Bite’s The Cutting Room is a horror-comedy series, but comparing it to TBPE is like comparing apples and a lawnmower.

I think Bell Media underestimates the interest in Picnicface and Todd and the Book of Pure Evil. Canadian shows do fall through the cracks sometimes. One only needs to look at Combat Hospital‘s cancellation to figure that out – 1.5 million viewers in Canada, yet the show was done in by high costs, and a weak American showing on ABC. Luckily, some Canadian shows find life after death – Shaw Media/Showcase’s Endgame underperformed on that channel last year, and has since found a more receptive home on Hulu – enough that Hulu might commission its second season.

A sub-billion-dollar PBIT, on $3.7 billion in 2011 revenues, suggests that Canadian broadcasters are in decent shape. At the same time, killing shows like Todd and the Book of Pure Evil and Picnicface after one or two seasons does nothing for the Canadian television industry. It might not be obvious now, but these shows could be to the 2010s what Trailer Park Boys and Corner Gas are to the 2000s.

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