Expect the unexpected in the third and final season of The Hardy Boys (8×60) premiering July 31 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on YTV. New episodes will roll out every Monday and will be available to stream live and on demand on STACKTV. The Daytime Emmy® nominated and four-time Canadian Screen Awards winning hit mystery series is based on the beloved books by Franklin W. Dixon, and is developed and produced in Canada by Nelvana, a world-leading international producer, distributor, and licensor of children’s animated and live-action content, and Lambur Productions, in association with Corus Entertainment.
The third and final season picks up right from the last scene of Season 2, building off the layers of mystery, strengthened friendships and major cliffhanger. In Season 3, Frank (Rohan Campbell) and Joe Hardy (Alexander Elliot) receive mysterious posthumous instructions from their grandmother, and they find themselves on the hunt for a third powerful relic — the same one their Great Grandfather was after. However, they aren’t the only ones looking for it…so the race is on to stop the relic’s power from being unleashed on the world! Nothing is what it seems, as The Hardy Boys and their friends face their most dangerous and unpredictable case yet.
Filmed in Toronto and Southern Ontario, the series features an all-Canadian cast and crew. Alongside Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends) as ‘Frank Hardy,’ Alexander Elliot (Locke and Key) as ‘Joe Hardy’, Keana Lyn (The Yard) as ‘Callie Shaw’, Adam Swain (A Million Little Things) as ‘Chet Morton’, Cristian Perri (A Simple Favor) as ‘Phil Cohen’, Riley O’Donnell (Big Top Academy) as ‘Biff Hooper’, and Krista Nazaire (Before We Crash) as ‘Belinda Conrad’, Season 3 welcomes guest star Bailee Madison (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, Just Go with It), as ‘Drew Darrow.’
Season 3 of The Hardy Boys is executive produced by Lambur Production’s Joan Lambur, Suzanne Wilson and Madeleine Lambur, Corus and Nelvana’s Doug Murphy, Pam Westman and Athena Georgaklis, co-showrunner and head writer Chris Pozzebon (Blindspot, Schitt’s Creek), and co-showrunner and head director Jason Stone (Riverdale, The Hardy Boys). Susan Alexander serves as production executive for Corus.
The Hardy Boys has received notable industry attention with a Daytime Emmy® Award nomination in 2021 for Outstanding Young Adult Series, as well as four Canadian Screen Award wins including in the categories for Best Children’s or Youth Fiction Program or Series (2022) and Best Writing in a Children’s or Youth Program or Series (2023).
Today, Corus Entertainment announces its upcoming lineup of new and returning premium original content for 2023/2024. This includes a total of 25 new and returning series, with 11 titles from Corus Studios and eight from Nelvana.
With programming sold to more than 150 countries around the globe, Corus Studios has proven itself a leader in original Canadian lifestyle and unscripted content, extending its catalogue with 11 new and returning titles across Top 10 specialty stations*, Food Network Canada, HGTV Canada, and The HISTORY® Channel. Nelvana maintains its position as a world-renowned international producer and distributor of children’s animated and live-action content, with programming seen in over 180 countries around the world. This year is no exception, with eight new and returning series coming soon to Corus’ leading kids’ networks, Treehouse and YTV.
LIFESTYLE
Food Network Canada A Top 10 specialty network* and the ultimate culinary destination, Food Network Canada’s esteemed culinary competition series Top Chef Canada, a Top 10 specialty entertainment series last year*, makes its epic return for Season 11 (8×60) expected to premiere in late 2024. A new roster of revered chefs will put it all on the line during this fierce and fiery culinary face-off, competing to take home the title of Canada’s Top Chef. During this season’s fast-paced challenges, the chefs must impress Top Chef Canada’s acclaimed judging panel, as well as notable names from the culinary world who will join each week as guest judges and tasters. Top Chef Canada is the homegrown version of the hit Emmy® Award-winning NBCUniversal Series Top Chef.
Corus Studios’ The Big Bake will tantalize taste buds and hype up the holidays this fall with Season 4 (7×60 Halloween and 7×60 Holiday) of the larger-than-life themed baking series. Each episode of this fun-filled baking competition series gives three professional baking teams only five hours to design, bake and decorate a grand-scale cake creation based on a particular theme. In the end, the most ambitious, eye-popping and delicious cake will go home with a $10,000 prize.
HGTV Canada HGTV Canada holds its position as the nation’s destination for all things home. The Top 5 specialty network* has inspiring and heart-warming programming that fits any style. Viewers can look forward to a two-episode tease of the new Corus Studios series, Bryan’s All In (10×60) this fall, with the rest of the season airing in spring 2024. The series sees HGTV Canada star Bryan Baeumler travels off-the-beaten path to help struggling entrepreneurs renovate their businesses. These are ambitious dreamers who are risking it all for their passion projects, making major life changes to become their own boss – just like Bryan did. In each episode, Bryan hits the open road in his RV, spending a week helping a budding business owner through a make-or-break point in their reno. He acts as their coach and mentor, helping them overcome major hurdles, while tackling key builds in a race to open or revive their business.
The network’s #2 program last summer, Corus Studios’ Scott’s Vacation House Rules also returns with new episodes this fall (7×60), with Scott McGillivray using his five rules to turn problem properties into profit. Along with designer Debra Salmoni, Scott unlocks the hidden rental potential of even the most neglected properties, updating and reviving them into unique and buzz-worthy places of paradise. As previously announced, this series has also been greenlit for Season 5, as part of HGTV Canada and Scott McGillivray’s four-year production commitment and exclusivity deal, and will air in the spring of 2024.
The network’s late 2024 schedule is expected to feature a diverse round-up of new and returning Corus Studios series. Hollywood icon Pamela Anderson returns for Season 2 of Pamela’s Garden of Eden (8×60), which ranked within the Top 10 of Canadian original series across specialty television last fall. Also returning for a Season 2 is Gut Job (8×60) following seasoned builder Sebastian Clovis tackling down-to-the-studs renovations; and Hoarder House Flippers (8×60), a Top 10 program on the network last summer, featuring three sets of flippers transforming dilapidated houses. Fan-favourite Rock Solid Builds (8×60), a Top 20 specialty entertainment series last spring**, kicks off Season 3, showcasing even more unique and challenging builds by Randy Spracklin and his crew in Newfoundland. Joining the HGTV Canada lineup in late 2024 is the new series House of Ali (8×60), following no-nonsense luxury home designer Ali Budd and her all-female firm, responsible for designing some of the most bespoke and upscale homes in North America.
The HISTORY® Channel A Top 10 specialty network, The HISTORY® Channel spotlights true stories, big adventures, and a diversity of underrepresented voices with its slate of six new and returning factual and documentary titles. In honour of Canada’s National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, picking up where Part 1 left off, True Story Part 2 (1×120), examines the painful legacy of the Indian Act and Residential School system on Indigenous peoples, the Sixties Scoop, the rise of Indigenous political movements and the role of Indigenous veterans in Canada’s military. This Remembrance Day, Our War Part 2 (2×60), will shine a light on extraordinary Canadians who made heroic contributions to WWI and WWII. From the descendant of a World War I nurse killed in a war crime to a Japanese Canadian survivor of World War II internment camp, the docu-series follow descendants as they investigate the harrowing secrets their ancestors took to the grave.
Then in winter, the premium limited documentary series Sounds Black (4×60) examines the origins and impact of Black Music in Canada. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Cazhhmere, with contributions from legends including Kardinal Offishall, Jully Black, Fefe Dobson, Maestro Fresh Wes, Deborah Cox, Keisha Chante and more, the series explores Black Canadian music from its tangled diasporic roots to its international dominance. A Top 10 program on the network last fall, Deadman’s Curse returns for Season 2 (8×60), with more adventures following the diverse team of explorers on their epic search for legendary lost gold in B.C. Ahead of the second season premiering next spring, the Corus Studios series has already been greenlit for a third season. The series is complemented by a previously announced companion podcast from Curiouscast, Deadman’s Curse: Slumach’s Gold. Hosted by series star Kru Williams, the podcast takes listeners deeper into the history of Slumach’s legacy.
Rounding out the spring lineup of Corus Studios series, Rust Valley Restorers (8×60), a Top 5 program on the network last spring***, returns for Season 5, offering classic car fanatics some fresh adventures from Mike, Avery and Connor; as well as Season 2 of Backroad Truckers (8×60) following the wildest band of road runners as they crisscross the unforgiving terrain of Western Canada with bigger jobs, bigger machines, and even bigger feuds.
Hosted Segments Following the success of the short-form content series W Network’s Movie Date, hosted by Sarah Keenleyside, Brittnee Blair, and Noah Cappe, and Showcase’s Watch Party, hosted by Fred Kennedy, HGTV Canada and Food Network Canada will introduce their own branded models this fall. HGTV Canada’s DIY Studio will be hosted by Sebastian Clovis, Sarah Keenleyside and Kenny Brain and is designed to grab viewers’ attention with quick tips and fixes for their home renovation projects throughout the network’s linear broadcast. Food Network Canada’s hosted segments will be helmed by Chef Anna Olson who will be serving up all things delicious in snackable broadcast & digital content pieces that help audiences discover their next great recipe.
NELVANA & KIDS
YTV This summer, the mystery continues with The Hardy Boys’ third and final season (8×60) premiering on YTV. Based on the beloved books by Franklin W. Dixon and nominated for a Daytime Emmy® Award and seven Canadian Screen Awards, things pick up where the shocking events of Season 2 left off. The Hardy boys and their friends dig up even more secrets, conspiracies, and threats as they piece together their great-grandfather’s long-lost map and race against time to uncover a powerful ancient relic before it falls into the wrong hands.
Best & Bester (6×30) also returns with the pair of hilariously individual twins continuing their adventures living in a weird and wonderful alternate reality where your neighbour could be a pair of disgruntled trousers or your best friend a floating cloud of bottom burp. Up next, based on the best-selling book series and produced by Corus Entertainment’s Aircraft Pictures and WexWorks Media, Popularity Papers (26×30) continues to follow middle-school besties Julie and Lydia on their quest to demystify one of life’s greatest questions: what makes someone popular? Every social experiment they test comes with unexpected lessons about the value of friendship, kindness, and confidence, helping guide our characters through the struggles of middle school with humour and heart.
Treehouse Treehouse original series Builder Brothers Dream Factory gets ready to GEAR UP and GET IT DONE with new episodes (10×11) beginning this fall. Distributed by Nelvana and co-produced by Sinking Ship Entertainment and Scott Brothers Entertainment, twin brothers Drew and Jonathan continue to use their extraordinary imagination, creativity, grit, and heart – coupled with a big dose of TWINSPIRATION to help friends and solve problems in the neighbourhood by dreaming big. Fans of Thomas & Friends franchise can look forward to a new special with the beloved engines in Thomas & Friends: The Great Bubbly Build (1×30) airing this fall. The special sees Sandy and Carly set out to make an art project together, but when their ideas clash and the project fails, they learn that it needs the right mix of both ideas to succeed.
Agent Binky: Pets of the Universe, Season 3 continues (10×30) with more fur-raising adventures on Treehouse this summer and fall. Produced by redknot, a joint venture between Nelvana and Warner Bros. Discovery, P.U.R.S.T. agents Binky, Gracie, Gordon, Loo and Nola are ready to soar into new adventures and protect their human families and the entire world from even more aliens, robots, and the WURST villains. Packed with action, humour, and heart, the third season features fun-themed episodes and missions that are literally out-of-this-world. This fall also sees the premiere of Nelvana short film Jelly (1×13), an inspirational modern fairy tale. The film follows Molly, a fiercely talented artist, debating whether to pursue her creative passion or work a soul-sucking factory job. She can’t decide until she meets a mysterious liquid spirit who takes her on an exhilarating journey of self-discovery and helps make the choice easy.
Next summer, the Nelvana-produced series Millie Magnificent (52×11) premieres, inspired by Canadian author-illustrator Ashley Spires’ popular children’s book, The Most Magnificent Thing, published by Kids Can Press. With a spark of imagination and endless determination, Millie and her Creato-crew friends, Maya and Ben, together with her adorable canine assistant, Wallace, strive to find the most magnificent solutions to their neighbourhood’s challenges.
The DGC is delighted to announce the winners of the 2022 DGC Awards. The Guild received over 450 submissions this year for both film and television categories.
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN FEATURE FILM David Cronenberg – Crimes of the Future
ALLAN KING AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN DOCUMENTARY Madison Thomas – Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On
DGC JEAN-MARC VALLÉE DISCOVERY AWARD Anthony Shim – Riceboy Sleeps
BEST SHORT FILM Hayley Gray – Send the Rain
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE FILM Tamara Deverell – Nightmare Alley
BEST PICTURE EDITING – FEATURE FILM Cam McLauchlin – Nightmare Alley
BEST PICTURE EDITING – DOCUMENTARY Sarah Peddie – Unloved: Huronia’s Forgotten Children
BEST SOUND EDITING – FEATURE FILM Nathan Robitaille, Jill Purdy, Dashen Naidoo, Josh Brown, Nelson Ferreira, Kayla Stewart, Craig MacLellan, Kevin Banks – Nightmare Alley
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMATIC SERIES Charles Officer – The Porter, Episode 101, Episode 1
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY SERIES Fabrizio Filippo – Sort Of, Episode 101, Sort of Gone
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN FAMILY SERIES Melanie Orr – The Hardy Boys, Episode 207, The Doctor’s Orders
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND MINI-SERIES Helen Shaver – Station Eleven, Episode 108, Who’s There?
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – DRAMATIC SERIES Elisabeth Williams – The Handmaid’s Tale, Episode 405, Chicago
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND MINI-SERIES Elisa Sauvé – Sneakerella
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – COMEDY OR FAMILY SERIES Zoë Sakellaropoulo – Ghosts, Episode 109, Alberta’s Fan Zoë Sakellaropoulo – The Bold Type, Episode 505, Don’t Turn Away
BEST PICTURE EDITING – DRAMATIC SERIES Ana Yavari – The Handmaid’s Tale, Episode 407, Home
BEST PICTURE EDITING – MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND MINI-SERIES Maureen Grant – Stolen by Their Father
BEST PICTURE EDITING – COMEDY OR FAMILY SERIES Lee Walker – Astrid and Lilly Save the World, Episode 105, A-Borg
BEST SOUND EDITING – DRAMATIC SERIES David McCallum, Ed Douglas, Marvyn Dennis, Peter Thillaye, Kayla Stewart, Jean Bot – The Porter, Episode 108, Episode 8
BEST SOUND EDITING – MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND MINI-SERIES Jane Tattersall, Brennan Mercer, Martin Gwynn Jones, David Caporale – The North Water, Episode 103, Homo Homini Lupus
BEST SOUND EDITING – COMEDY OR FAMILY SERIES John Douglas Smith, Kayla Stewart, Paul Talbott, Kelly McGahey, Taylor Brockelsby, Kevin Banks – Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, Episode 112, Into the Trash
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The Directors Guild of Canada(DGC) is a national labour organization that represents over 6,000 key creative and logistical personnel in the screen-based industry covering all areas of direction, design, production and editing. The DGC negotiates and administers collective agreements and lobbies extensively on issues of concern for Members including Canadian content conditions, CRTC regulations and ensuring that funding is maintained for Canadian film & television programming.
Corus Entertainment’s Emmy® Award-winning studio Nelvana, a world-leading international producer, distributor and licensor of children’s animated and live-action content, together with Lambur Productions, have started production on the third and final season of their popular live-action series The Hardy Boys (8x60min). Based on the books by Franklin W. Dixon, the Daytime Emmy® nominated mystery drama is produced by Lambur Productions and Nelvana, in association with Corus Entertainment, and started production in September in Toronto and Southern Ontario.
The third season picks up where the shocking events of Season 2 left off. The Hardy boys and their friends dig up even more secrets, conspiracies and threats as they piece together their great-grandfather’s long-lost map and race against time to uncover a powerful ancient relic before it falls into the wrong hands.
Bailee Madison (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, Just Go with It) guest stars on the final season as ‘Drew Darrow’, a fun but often frustrating new ally with a brilliant mind and appetite for magic and mysteries. Returning cast members of the beloved Hardy gang include Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends) as ‘Frank Hardy,’ Alexander Elliot (Locke and Key) as ‘Joe Hardy’, Keana Lyn (The Yard) as ‘Callie Shaw’, Adam Swain (A Million Little Things) as ‘Chet Morton’, Cristian Perri (A Simple Favor) as ‘Phil Cohen’, Riley O’Donnell (Big Top Academy) as ‘Biff Hooper’, and Krista Nazaire (Before We Crash) as ‘Belinda Conrad’.
The first two seasons received strong ratings and reviews, winning two Canadian Screen Awards in 2022 for ‘Best Children’s or Youth Fiction Program or Series’ and ‘Best Direction, Children’s or Youth’, winning a Directors Guild of Canada Award for ‘Outstanding Directorial Achievement for Family Series’ in 2021 and earning a Daytime Emmy® Award nomination for ‘Outstanding Young Adult Series’ in 2021. The first season received additional nominations for CAFTCAD’s ‘Best Costume Design in TV Period’ in 2021, DGC’s Craft Award for ‘Best Picture Editing – Comedy or Family Series’ in 2021, Canadian Society of Cinematographer’s Award for ‘Best Cinematography in TV Drama – Non-commercial’ in 2021, and a Canadian Screen Award for ‘Best Photography, Drama’ in 2022. The series also gained a loyal fan following, with Season 2 securing the number one program ranking on YTV this past Spring* and currently the number one YTV show streamed on STACKTV**.
Seasons 1 and 2 of The Hardy Boys are currently available to stream on Hulu (U.S.), STACKTV in Canada and Disney+ internationally ( Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Latin America, and coming soon to Europe, Middle East and Africa). The final season will premiere on Hulu in the U.S. and YTV and STACKTV in Canada in 2023, with more international networks to be announced.
Season 3 of The Hardy Boys is executive produced by Lambur Production’s Joan Lambur, Suzanne Wilson and Madeleine Lambur, Corus and Nelvana’s Doug Murphy, Pam Westman and Athena Georgaklis, co-showrunner and head writer Chris Pozzebon ( Blindspot, Schitt’s Creek), and co-showrunner and head director Jason Stone (Riverdale, The Hardy Boys). Amanda Vaughan will serve as production executive for Corus.
*Source: Numeris PPM Data. SP’22 (Jan 3/22 – May 29/22) – confirmed data, 3+ airings. Total Canada, Mo-Su 2a-2a. Ind.2+ AMA(000). YTV.
Link: Melanie Scrofano steps into a new challenge with The Hardy Boys While she may have been recently nominated for a Best Actress Canadian Screen Award for her work on Wynonna Earp, Melanie Scrofano is headed behind the camera to direct once again. Scrofano directed two episodes of Season 2 of Hulu and YTV’s The Hardy Boys. Continue reading.
