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HGTV seeks extraordinary Canadian small town to star in Hometown Takeover Canada

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From a media release:

Today, HGTV announced a nationwide call for Canadians to show their small-town pride and nominate their community to be featured in the new Canadian original series Home Town Takeover Canada, set to premiere on HGTV and stream on Citytv+ in fall 2026/winter 2027.

Beginning today, Canadians can visit hometowntakeovercanada.ca to share why their town is deserving of this life-changing makeover.

Previously announced as part of Rogers Sports & Media’s slate of new Canadian original unscripted series for HGTV, Home Town Takeover Canada is the first expansion of the popular U.S. “Home Town Takeover” franchise.

Home Town Takeover Canada is on a mission to spark a nationwide small town revitalization movement, starting with one special town. Inspired by the success of three seasons in the U.S., the new Canadian series will shine a light on a Canadian small town facing real challenges and give it the boost it needs to get back on its feet.

“We’re excited to celebrate and showcase the resilience, heart and deep sense of community rooted in small towns across our country,” said Kale Stockwell, Head of Original Programming, Rogers Sports & Media. “Home Town Takeover Canada will not only revitalize one special town but also share the stories of the people who make the selected town so unique.”

Home Town Takeover Canada will see support from HGTV stars Ben and Erin Napier (Home Town, Home Town Takeover) along with fellow Canadian designers and builders all contributing to make a big impact.

HGTV is looking for a Canadian small town that has a population of 20,000 or fewer and is asking for submissions to include photos and videos of the areas in the community that need the most love, whether it be public parks, main streets, gathering places or changemakers’ homes.

Home Town Takeover Canada is produced by RTR Media and will begin production in 2026. Selected location, host and broadcast details to be announced in the coming months.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Top Chef Canada is back for Season 12 on Flavour Network

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From a media release:

Top Chef Canada is back for a milestone 12th season featuring 10 of the country’s best up-and-coming professional chefs, each with their own culinary origin story, and each fighting for the prestigious title of Canada’s Top Chef. With the esteemed panel of returning judges joined by buzz-worthy guests, this season’s never before-seen challenges will task the chefs with showcasing their skills while celebrating the rich cultural diversity of our country. Season 12 of Top Chef Canada, a #1 specialty entertainment program*, premieres Tuesday, October 14 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Flavour Network and streaming exclusively on STACKTV.

Top Chef Canada welcomes back chef, cookbook author, and longtime series host, Eden Grinshpan, along with a revered panel of returning judges: chef, fermenter and author David Zilber, powerhouse restaurateurJanet Zuccarini, chef and owner of The McEwan Group, Mark McEwan, and content creator and global food expert Mijune Pak.

For 11 seasons, Top Chef Canada has given fans a front-row seat to the country’s ever-evolving food scene and propelled its winners into Canadian culinary stars. This season will explore the essence of each competitor’s identity, tracing their unique culinary origin stories. In each episode, the chefs must elevate their skills and creativity to new heights with dishes that captivate the judges and take audiences on a culinary journey across the globe. There will be many Top Chef Canada firsts including a Bocuse d’Or-inspired elimination challenge, special events supporting Pride, an Indigenous film festival, and Restaurant Wars like you’ve never see it before. Featuring some of the best competitors in the history of the series, in the end only one chef will emerge victorious and be named Canada’s Top Chef.

The 10 chefs – Canada’s culinary crème de la crème – ready to compete for the glory and title of Canada’s Top Chef include:

  • Coulson Armstrong (He/Him) – 41, Toronto, Ont. (Our House Hospitality Company)
  • Katy Cheung (She/Her) – 33, Vancouver, B.C. (Burdock & Co.)
  • Holly Holt (She/Her) – 35, Edmonton, Alta. (Yellowhead Tribal Council & She Cooks Catering)
  • Alex Kim (He/Him) – 34, Vancouver, B.C. (Five Sails & Glowbal Restaurant Group)
  • Charlotte Langley (She/Her) – 41, Prince Edward County, Ont. (Nice Cans & Langley Foods)
  • Tracy Little (She/Her) – 39, Canmore, Alta. (Sauvage)
  • Nick Maharaj (He/Him) – 35, Victoria, B.C. (Part and Parcel)
  • Chris Pyne (He/Him) – 32, Windsor, N.S. (Lightfoot & Wolfville Vineyards)
  • Shai-Ann Tyson (She/Her) – 26, Toronto, Ont. (Balmy Beach Club & S.A.L.T Pop-up Restaurant Co.)
  • Anthony Vien (He/Him) – 28, Québec City, Que. (Tanière³)

During this season’s fast-paced challenges, Michelin Star chefs, culinary icons and notable personalities join the Top Chef Canada judging panel as guest judges and tasters. This includes Daniel Boulud (One Star Michelin restaurant DANIEL, and Cafe Boulud), Tawnya Brant (Top Chef Canada, Season 10 competitor), Shane Chartrand (Top Chef Canada, Season 11 competitor), Charlotte Cardin (Juno Award-winning singer), Susur Lee (Lee Restaurant, Lee Kitchen and TungLok Heen), Mei Lin (Top Chef, Season 12 winner, Chef/Owner, 88 Club & Daybird), Charlie Mitchell (executive chef/co-owner, One Star Michelin restaurant Clover Hill), Andrew Phung (actor, comedian, host of Big Burger Battle), Massimo Piedimonte (Top Chefalumni & owner of Cabaret l’Enfer), David Schwartz (culinary director, Big Hug Hospitality: Linny’s, Sunny’s Chinese, Mimi Chinese), Nara Smith (model and content creator), Chanthy Yen (Top Chef Canada, Season 11 winner), and many more.


Top Chef Canada is the homegrown version of the hit Emmy® Award-winning NBCUniversal Series Top Chef and is produced by Insight Productions (A Blue Ant Studios Company) in association with Flavour Network. Eric Abboud is Executive Producer and Showrunner along with Insight’s CEO & Executive Producer John Brunton and Executive Producer Mark Lysakowski. Co-Executive Producers for Insight Productions are Jessica Brunton and Daniel Klimitz.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Ice Road Truckers returns for a 12th season on History Channel

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From a media release:

The HISTORY® Channel’s hit original series Ice Road Truckers is back for an epic Season 12 return on Thursday, October 30 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. From its original series premiere in 2007, the fearless truckers return like never before to the treacherous terrain of icy roads and frozen lakes in Northern Canada delivering crucial supplies and necessities to isolated communities. With a winter window shorter than ever and no time to waste, these drivers risk everything to haul in a lifeline of goods while chasing big paydays before the opportunity melts away under their chained tires.

At the world’s northern edge, people and cultures cut off from civilization are briefly connected by a lifeline of roads paved with ice. Each year, a group of skilled, highly trained, and thrill-seeking truckers put their lives on the line to beat nature’s clock – battling dangerous roads, deadly frostbite, and brutal conditions to deliver life-saving supplies such as food and building materials to remote communities. This season, veterans like Todd Dewey and Lisa Kelly return with no hesitation – and no practice runs – while rookies emerge, determined to prove they have what it takes to reign supreme on the ice. With higher stakes, greater risks, and bigger rewards than ever before, it’s them vs. nature.

Ice Road Truckers is produced for The HISTORY Channel and Corus Entertainment by Original Productions and Eagle Vision. Kyle Irving, Lisa Meeches, and Rebecca Gibson are executive producers for Eagle Vision. Jeff Hasler, Brian Lovett, Meredith Prunkard, and Patrick Costello are executive producers for Original Productions.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

AMI-tv announces new and returning series to its 2025 fall broadcast schedule

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From a media release:

The weather may be cooling off, but the AMI-tv schedule is heating up! Today, AMI-tv unveils new and returning original series to entertain and inform Canadians of all abilities in the coming months.

It all begins with the Season 10 return of Our Community; followed by the debut of Desert Racers, starring Bruce Cook (By Hook or By Cook); the Season 2 return of Game Changers, hosted by Dave Brown; and Season 2 of Got Game.

Highlights of AMI-tv’s upcoming fall programming include:

September

Our Community returns Thursday, September 4, at 9:30 p.m. Eastern to AMI-tv and AMI+
Celebrating its 10th season on AMI-tv, the Golden Sheaf Award-nominated Our Community highlights the people, places and organizations that have made life more enjoyable for Canadians with a disability. Organizations featured in the 12-episode 10th season include Vancouver’s All Bodies Dance Project, Ontario’s WindReach Farm and Saskatchewan’s Prairie Branches.

Desert Racers debuts Friday, September 19, at 9 p.m. Eastern on AMI-tv
Bruce Cook, the star of AMI’s IndieFEST award-winning By Hook or By Cook, is back with the brand-new six-episode series Desert Racers, exclusively on AMI-tv! Jimmy Diaz, a small-town Baja dreamer, teams up with Bruce Cook, a daredevil who is paraplegic, to take on the most grueling off-road race in the world: The Baja 1000. Desert Racers is produced by Render Digital Media.

October

Game Changers returns Thursday, October 2, at 9 p.m. Eastern to AMI-tv and AMI+
Dave Brownis back for Season 2!Each episode of Game Changers finds Dave Brown in his element, visiting stunning locales while spending the day chatting with notable Canadians. Upcoming guests in the 20-episode season include Mary Walsh (This Hour Has 22 Minutes), Olympic gold medal-winning hockey goaltender Sami Jo Small, comedian Courtney Gilmour, Barenaked Ladies’ Kevin Hearn, hockey analyst and Internet personality Steve Dangle, Gavin Crawford (Because News) and professional race car driver Marie-Soleil Labelle. Game Changers is produced by FRANK Digital.

November

Got Game returns Wednesday, November 26, at 9 p.m. Eastern to AMI-tv and AMI+
Hosted by Joshua Ang (pictured with the cast above), the six-episode second season of Got Game explores coming-of-age in a board game café as six youths with disabilities share their stories in a round table discussion while playing inclusive tabletop games. Got Game provides an outlet for youth with disabilities to share their feelings, frustrations, triumphs, ambitions and general outlook on life with a disability. But it’s not about defining these individuals by their disability; it’s about recognizing the individualism of these youth aside from their disability. Got Game is produced by Mountain Road Productions.

All AMI-tv originals are available post-broadcast on demand at AMI+.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Tiny Adventures, Big Lessons: Old Enough! returns to TVO for Season 2

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From a media release:

 TVO today revealed that Old Enough! (6 x 30) is back for a second season. The series, which follows Canadian kids, ages 3-6, as they take on real-world adventures, will premiere in Canada on TVO on Sunday, September 28.

Following the smash success of the series’ first season, Canadian comic and improv legend, Colin Mochrie (Whose Line is it Anyway?) will return as the series narrator for season 2. Mochrie’s voice once again will guide viewers through heartwarming adventures, as a new group of kids take on even more exciting challenges.

From smoothie runs to clothing shopping, everyday tasks become extraordinary adventures when tackled by newly empowered kids who have just experienced their first taste of independence. Each episode offers a glimpse into how families nurture independence, while a dedicated safety team ensures the kids are supported every step of the way.

“The response to Old Enough! has been heartening,” says Natasha Negrea, Head of Programming at TVO. “This is a truly special show and we are excited to bring viewers even more stories showing how everyday experiences can build confidence, resilience, and life skills in young children. Old Enough! is a wonderful example of how the power of storytelling can support learning at every age.”

“We’re thrilled that TVO has brought Old Enough! back for its second season,” says Matthew Hornburg, Co-President, Blue Ant Studios. “The success of this series in Canada is a testament to how well the hit Japanese format travels, and we can’t wait to bring even more heartwarming content to Canadian homes.”

Old Enough! is based on Nippon TV’s hit Japanese format of the same name. The TVO Original series, Old Enough! is a Blue Ant Studios production and the first North American format of the show. Executive Producers for Blue Ant Studios are Matthew Hornburg, Mark Bishop and Donna Luke. Mitch Burman serves as Series Producer and Eva Filomena serves as Senior Producer. 

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