Everything about Shoot the Messenger, eh?

CBC announces fall broadcast dates for new and returning series

From a media release:

CBC today announced premiere dates for its fall 2016 television season, featuring a diverse and uniquely Canadian slate of six new and 18 returning series including premium drama and comedy, cutting-edge news and investigative content, original documentaries and engaging factual, arts, kids, daytime and sports programming.

New primetime series include THIS IS HIGH SCHOOL (6×60), premiering Sun. Oct 2, which will offer unprecedented and unfiltered access to real life at a Canadian high school; comedy KIM’S CONVENIENCE (13×30), the funny, heartfelt story of a Korean-Canadian family running a convenience store in Toronto, premiering Tues. Oct. 4; and political thriller SHOOT THE MESSENGER (8×60), premiering Mon. Oct. 10, which centres on the complex relationships between crime reporters and the police.

CBC’s daytime programming welcomes the highly anticipated one-hour weekday program THE GOODS on Mon. Oct 3, hosted by Steven Sabados, Jessi Cruickshank, Shahir Massoud and Andrea Bain, who will offer playful inspiration and information on home, style, food and wellness; while new Kids’ CBC original series include the Tues. Sept 6 world premiere of animated adventure DOT. (52×11), based on the children’s book by entrepreneur Randi Zuckerberg, and photography competition series SNAPSHOTS (6×30), premiering Sat. Sept. 10.

Returning for new seasons are CANADA’S SMARTEST PERSON (season 3); DRAGONS’ DEN (season 11); EXHIBITIONISTS (season 2); HEARTLAND (season 10); HELLO GOODBYE (season 2); MR. D (season 6); MURDOCH MYSTERIES (season 10); RICK MERCER REPORT (season 14); THE ROMEO SECTION (season 2); THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES (season 24); and THIS LIFE (season 2). Also returning are acclaimed news and investigative programs MARKETPLACE (season 44) and the fifth estate (season 42); thought-provoking documentary series FIRSTHAND (season 2); David Suzuki’s THE NATURE OF THINGS (season 56); and weekly CBC Sports series ROAD TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES.  THE MOBLEES (season 2) and BIG BLOCK SINGSONG (season 3) return for new seasons on Kids’ CBC.

The complete CBC fall premiere schedule is as follows:

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6
7:45 a.m. (8:15 NT) — The Moblees

8 a.m. (8:30 NT) — Dot. *NEW SERIES*

8:23 a.m. (8:53 NT) — Big Block Singsong

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
9 a.m. (9:30 NT) — Snapshots *NEW SERIES*

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2
4:30 p.m. (5:00 NT) – Exhibitionists

7 p.m. (7:30 NT) — Heartland

8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — This is High School *NEW SERIES*

9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — This Life

MONDAY, OCTOBER 3
2 p.m. (2:30 NT) — The Goods *NEW SERIES*

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — Rick Mercer Report

8:30 p.m. (9 NT) — This Hour Has 22 Minutes

9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — Kim’s Convenience *NEW SERIES*

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — Dragons’ Den

9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — The Romeo Section

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — The Nature of Things: “Pompeii’s People”

9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — Firsthand: “Road to Mercy”

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — Murdoch Mysteries

9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — Shoot the Messenger *NEW SERIES*

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11
9:30 p.m. (10 NT) — Mr. D

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — Marketplace

8:30 p.m. (9 NT) — Hello Goodbye

9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — the fifth estate

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22
4 p.m. ET (1 pm PT) — Road to the Olympic Games

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — Canada’s Smartest Person

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

CBC announces 2016-17 season

From a media release:

CBC ANNOUNCES 2016–17 SEASON ANCHORED BY DISTINCTLY CANADIAN CONTENT

  • New daytime series to feature a team of hosts including Steven Sabados and Jessi Cruickshank
  • Television slate includes nine new original series and 25 returning titles
  • Largest investment ever in CBC digital original content including nine new series

GemCBCCBC today announced its 2016–17 fall and winter season, featuring a uniquely Canadian slate of new and returning original drama, comedy, factual, news, documentary, sports, arts and digital content from diverse voices and perspectives.

The 2016–17 television slate includes an all-new one-hour weekday daytime lifestyle series (title to be announced) launching on October 3. Hosted by a team including beloved personalities Steven Sabados and Jessi Cruickshank, the program will bring a fresh approach to daytime, offering playful inspiration and information on food, home, fashion and health. Additional hosts will be announced in the coming weeks.

New primetime series include crime-thriller SHOOT THE MESSENGER (8×60), focused on the complicated relationships between crime reporters and the police, and PURE (6×60), a dramatic miniseries about Mennonites who control one of the most efficient drug-trafficking operations in North America. CBC continues to increase its investment in smart, premium comedy with KIM’S CONVENIENCE (13×30), the funny, heartfelt story of a Korean-Canadian family running a convenience store in Toronto, based on the award-winning play by Ins Choi; WORKIN’ MOMS (13×30), a brash comedy from Catherine Reitman that tests the modern ideal that women really can have it all; and the return of the acclaimed MICHAEL: TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS (6×30). Taking on contemporary issues that are important to Canadians through authentic storytelling, new factual series include THIS IS HIGH SCHOOL (6×60), offering unprecedented and unfiltered access to real life at a British Columbia high school, and docu-series TRUE NORTH CALLING (7×30), which follows a group of young Canadians as they carve out lives at the edge of the Arctic.

With an extensive digital reach that includes 52 percent of all online millennials across Canada every month**, CBC is also investing in its largest slate of digital original programming to date, including new comedies COMING IN, from the creators of Shit Girls Say, MY 90-YEAR-OLD ROOMMATE, THE AMAZING GAYL PILE, THE WHOLE TRUTHS, THIS IS THAT and THAT’S WHAT SHEENA SAID! at CBC Comedy; a wide-ranging slate of short-form digital documentaries at cbc.ca/shortdocs; and arts titles DISRUPTING DESIGN with Matt Galloway, and JET AGE and MEET YOUR MAKER for CBC Arts, expanding CBC’s multiplatform arts strategy announced last fall.

New Kids’ CBC original series include the world premiere of DOT. (52×11), an animated series from entrepreneur Randi Zuckerberg, and photography competition series SNAPSHOTS (6×30).

Building on the success of last season’s acclaimed and award-winning programming lineup, returning drama, comedy, factual and arts series include CANADA’S SMARTEST PERSON (season 3); CORONATION STREET (season 18); CRASH GALLERY (season 2); DRAGONS’ DEN (season 11); EXHIBITIONISTS (season 2); HA!IFAX COMEDY FEST (season 21); HEARTLAND (season 10); HELLO GOODBYE (season 2); INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM (season 2); JUST FOR LAUGHS: GALAS; MR. D (season 6); MURDOCH MYSTERIES (season 10); RICK MERCER REPORT (season 14); THE ROMEO SECTION (season 2); SCHITT’S CREEK (season 3); THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES (season 24); THIS LIFE (season 2); THE WINNIPEG COMEDY FESTIVAL (season 15); and X COMPANY (season 3).

CBC will bolster its slate of award-winning news, investigative and documentary programming with the launch of a new investigative program hosted by Diana Swain, which will take Canadians behind the scenes for a closer look at the process of investigative journalism. CBC journalist Peter Armstrong will host a reimagined business show. Returning flagship titles include news and investigative programs THE NATIONAL, MARKETPLACE (season 44) and the fifth estate (season 42), thought-provoking documentary series FIRSTHAND (season 2) and David Suzuki’s THE NATURE OF THINGS (season 56).

Following the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer, CBC Sports will build on its commitment to promote and elevate high-performance sport and athletes in Canada with expanded coverage leading into the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. In addition to events such as FIS ski and snowboard and IBSF bobsleigh and skeleton, CBC Sports has signed a new three-year agreement for exclusive Canadian coverage of ISU figure skating and speed skating.

The CBC-TV 2016 primetime fall programming schedule is as follows:

MONDAY
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — Murdoch Mysteries *NEW SEASON*
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) —Shoot the Messenger *NEW SERIES*

TUESDAY
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — Rick Mercer Report *NEW SEASON*
8:30 p.m. (9 NT) — This Hour Has 22 Minutes *NEW SEASON*
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — Kim’s Convenience *NEW SERIES*
9:30 p.m. (10 NT) — Mr. D *NEW SEASON*

WEDNESDAY
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — Dragons’ Den *NEW SEASON*
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — The Romeo Section *NEW SEASON*

THURSDAY
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — The Nature of Things *NEW SEASON*
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — Firsthand *NEW SEASON*

FRIDAY
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — Marketplace *NEW SEASON*
8:30 p.m. (9 NT) — Hello Goodbye *NEW SEASON*
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — the fifth estate *NEW SEASON*

SATURDAY
6:30 p.m. ET — Hockey Night in Canada

SUNDAY
7 p.m. (7:30 NT) — Heartland *NEW SEASON*
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — This is High School *NEW SERIES* (October)
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) — Canada’s Smartest Person *NEW SEASON* (November)
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) — This Life *NEW SEASON*

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Shoot The Messenger in production for CBC

From a media release:

SHOOT THE MESSENGER

  • Created by award-winning Hungry Eyes creative team Jennifer Holness and Sudz Sutherland
  • Principal photography now underway in Toronto

As production gets underway in Toronto on the new hour-long drama SHOOT THE MESSENGER, Hungry Eyes Film and Television in association with CBC Television and ITV are thrilled to announce the show’s topline cast – Elyse Levesque (“CEDAR COVE”, “SGU: STARGATE UNIVERSE”), Lucas Bryant (THE GIRL KING, “HAVEN”), Lyriq Bent (“BOOK OF NEGROES”, “ROOKIE BLUE”, PAY THE GHOST), and Alex Kingston (BUKOWSKI, “DOCTOR WHO”, “ER”).

The eight-episode, hour-long dramatic series from the multi-award winning creative team of Jennifer Holness and Sudz Sutherland (HOME AGAIN, “GUNS”) will shoot in and around the Toronto area through the end of November.

A gritty political thriller that centres on the complex relationships between crime reporters and the police, SHOOT THE MESSENGER follows Daisy Channing (Levesque), a sharp and ambitious j-school grad trying to balance a messy personal life while working at a big city newspaper. Things begin to go sideways for Daisy when she witnesses a murder she thinks is gang related, only to find herself slowly drawn into an interconnected web of criminal activity that reaches into the corridors of corporate and political power.

As Daisy, her editor Mary Fowler (Kingston), co-worker Simon Olendski (Bryant), and lead homicide detective Frank Lutz (Bent) pull at the threads of a cover up that gets more complicated the more they unravel, SHOOT THE MESSENGER also explores the ambiguous line between the private and the personal in the digital age.

The dynamic cast also includes Hannah Anderson (LIZZIE BORDEN TOOK AN AXE) Ari Cohen (Ricky Gervais’ SPECIAL CORRSPONDENTS), Edie Inksetter (“HEMLOCK GROVE”, “REIGN”), Al Sapienza (“PERSON OF INTEREST”, “HOUSE OF CARDS”), Nicholas Campbell (“HAVEN”, “DAVINCI’S INQUEST”), and features special appearances by The Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson, The Raptor’s Jamaal Magloire, and ex-NBA television star Rick Fox (“SIN CITY SAINTS”, “OZ”).

The series is scheduled to air in the summer of 2016 on CBC Television.

“We’re extremely excited to be working with the CBC and ITV on SHOOT THE MESSENGER and deeply appreciate the support the CBC has shown us over the years,” said Hungry Eyes principal Jennifer Holness who also co-created, produces, and writes on the show. “SHOOT THE MESSENGER is an ambitious show that deals with challenging issues and we couldn’t do it without the staunch support of our partners. It is going to be a fast paced, atmospheric drama that is driven by contemporary urban issues in media, policing, and politics.”

Sutherland added, “We’re thrilled with the young, exciting cast that have boarded the show. Elyse Levesque has demonstrated incredible charisma in her past projects – she’s like a magnet on camera. SHOOT THE MESSENGER audiences are going to be introduced to her impressive dramatic range and vulnerability that really connects to the viewer – she also brings a sharp intelligence which was absolutely required for this material.”

Previously for the CBC, Holness and Sutherland created, wrote, produced and directed GUNS, a two-part mini-series which won Best Direction, Best Writing, Best Performance by an actor in a featured supporting role, Best Performance by an actress in a featured supporting role, and Best Editing at the Canadian screen awards. Their most recent feature film HOME AGAIN won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Festival Choice Award at the Pan African Film & Arts Festival, as well as garnering multiple nominations at the Canadian Screen and Director’s Guild Awards.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail