From Amber Dowling of Variety:
Link: With ‘The Lake,’ ‘Hudson & Rex’ and ‘LOL,’ Canadian TV is having a moment, but it’s still tough going
From the outside, Canadian television is having a moment. Over the past 18 months, major streaming services — Netflix, Prime Video, Paramount+, Disney+ and Apple TV+ — have established Northern presences via offices, execs or PR teams. Continue reading.
From a media release:
Paramount+ today announced a Canadian content strategy in development, commissioned features and acquired programming. Announced at the BANFF World Media Festival, the slate includes an impressive roster of critically acclaimed Canadian series and features, including a Paramount+ Original documentary and four new development projects in partnership with some of the best and most diverse creators in the country.
Paramount+ Canadian Series in Development
HATE THE PLAYER: THE BEN JOHNSON STORY
A scripted comedy about the scandal behind the scandal that brought the “world’s fastest man” from hero to zero in 9.79 seconds. From writer Anthony Q Farrell (The Office U.S.) and award-winning producers New Metric Media (Letterkenny).
LEN & CUB
Based on a true story, this limited six-part series dramatizes the secret relationship of two young men in rural 20th-century New Brunswick whose story came to light when a box of photos was recently discovered in an estate sale. From writer Lynne Kamm and producers Muse Entertainment and Elliot Page’s Page Boy Productions.
CARPE DEMON
A one-hour genre series, based on the best-selling book series by Julie Kenner, about a frazzled suburban mom with a loving husband, two kids and one massive secret: she used to be a Demon Hunter. Out of practice and overwhelmed, she has no choice but to get back in the game when her supernatural past comes calling from award-winning showrunner Emily Andras (Wynonna Earp, Lost Girl) and producers December Films, Cineflix Studios, Gina Marcheschi and Jon Brown.
THEY DRIVE AT NIGHT
A dark comedy genre series about two best friends, a vampire and a werewolf, on a road trip across Canada. Written by Emmy Award winner Craig Wallace (Murdoch Mysteries, Todd & The Book of Pure Evil) and producers Black Birds Entertainment.
Paramount+ Original Documentary
500 DAYS IN THE WILD – Paramount+ Original
Fall 2023
Award-winning documentary filmmaker Dianne Whelan (This Land, 40 Days at Basecamp) recorded a solo self-recorded journey travelling across Canada in 2015. She began her trek feeling disillusioned with the state of the world, but six years and 28,000 km later she arrived back in Victoria, BC, feeling wiser, more hopeful, in love and with a passion to share her remarkable journey. Produced by Betsy Carson with Executive Producers Christine Haebler and Dianne Whelan for Rebel Sisters Productions and distributed in Canada by Elevation Pictures.
Produced in Association with Paramount+
THE BOY IN THE WOODS
The remarkable true-life survival story of a Jewish boy hiding and being hunted in the forests of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe. Based on the memoir The Boy In The Woods by Maxwell Smart. The film is produced by Lumanity Productions and JoBro Productions and distributed by Photon Films.
Paramount+ Canadian Acquisitions
Today’s announcement comes on the heels of Paramount+’s ongoing investments in best-in-class content and promotion for its Canadian catalogue. Recently, Paramount+ invested in marketing and publicity for acquired Canadian content such as the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) Documentary Anything For Fame and the CSA nominated NEVER SEEN AGAIN from Efran Films.
Paramount+ has also acquired Canadian feature films Midnight At The Paradise from LevelFILM currently slated for 2023, along with All The Lost Ones, Café Daughter, Orah and Who’s Yer Father? for 2024.
From Vortex, Paramount+ has acquired the romantic comedy feature The End Of Sex.
By the end of this year, Paramount+ will have acquired hundreds of hours of Canadian content from numerous partners including those noted above as well as Elevation Pictures, Mongrel Media, Sphere Films and Blue Ant Media. A selection of those titles currently streaming on the service include Paramount+ Original series NEVER SEEN AGAIN and FBI: TRUE as well as PAW PATROL and films Away from Her (available July 1), Aline, Kayak to Klemtu and PAW PATROL: THE MOVIE.
The Paramount-owned streamer’s expanded Canadian content offering complements the company’s existing expansive Canadian content lineup on its FAST service in the market, Pluto TV. Currently, Pluto TV offers 45 dedicated Canadian channels spanning different genres including Home + DIY, Food, Kids, Factual and News through its ad sales and content partnership with Corus Entertainment Inc., based in Toronto. In addition, in February Pluto TV in Canada had the Worldwide premiere of Canadian FAST Channel Out TV Proud and also launched the Blue Ant Media-owned channels HauntTV, Crimetime, HistoryTime and Homeful. In March the service debuted The Weather Network’s new FAST Channel.
On July 1, three additional channels will join the Pluto TV family. Truly Canadian, which will highlight Canadian-produced scripted series such as Little Mosque on the Prairie, Edgemont and Arctic Air and Pluto TV Documentaries which will include NFB documentaries and films that have been featured at Hot Docs such as Canadian-produced When Jews Were Funny by Alan Zweig and Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap: Every Song Tells a Story. On July 1, Pluto TV will also launch The Red Green Show Channel.
From a media release:
Announced today at Banff World Media Festival, international producer, distributor and channel operator, Blue Ant Media, announced its 2024 original slate for its Canadian specialty TV and global FAST offerings. The slate includes the brand new commission Holmes on Homes: Building a Legacy, featuring the original home renovation pioneer and TV personality, Mike Holmes, in a reboot of his original franchise, this time joined by his son Michael and daughter Sherry. The series will premiere on Cottage Life in Canada and also air on free streaming channel Homeful globally. Also starring on the slate is the new greenlight A Secret to Die For, commissioned for T+E and Total Crime, and Intervention Canada (Season 6), in partnership with A+E Networks, for Makeful. Rounding out the lineup are the two hit returning series, Haunted Hospitals and Mysteries from Above.
Blue Ant Media’s slate is overseen by Sam Linton, VP, Production and Development, Global Media. Blue Ant International will handle pre-sales and licensing opportunities worldwide for several of the original series in the slate.
“Our latest slate delivers on Blue Ant Media’s commitment to commission universally relevant and compelling original series for our Canadian speciality TV and global free streaming channels. Our new original series with Mike Holmes is a great example of home reno programming that will resonate with the extensive fanbase Mike has grown over the last 20 years,” says Carlyn Staudt, Head of Commissioning, Global Media, Blue Ant Media. “Banff is the perfect backdrop to announce these new projects, as we take great pride in working with our production partners to bring premium content to global audiences.”
Cottage Life/Homeful
Holmes on Homes: Building a Legacy (6×60’; HD)
Producer: The Holmes Group
World broadcast premiere scheduled for Cottage Life in spring 2024 during free preview. Series will also become available on Homeful in the US in 2024
After a lifetime of helping homeowners in need, Mike Holmes still has some unfinished business. Blue Ant’s new highly-anticipated original series will see Mike go back to his roots, alongside his son and daughter Michael and Sherry, to secure his legacy of ‘making it right’ in Holmes on Homes: Building a Legacy (6×60’; HD). From renovations gone wrong by crooked or incompetent contractors to worthy homeowners in need of a life changing renovation, each hour-long episode sees the Holmes trio roll up their sleeves and continue the work that cemented Mike as a household name across North America. Blue Ant International handles pre-sales and licensing opportunities worldwide.
Cottage Life
Mysteries from Above, Season 3 (8×60’; HD)
Producer: Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Media company
World broadcast premiere is scheduled for spring 2024 on Cottage Life in Canada during the channel’s nationwide free preview.
Renewed for a third installment is Cottage Life’s popular original series, Mysteries from Above. The series takes to the skies to unlock Earth’s greatest mysteries and dramatically change how we see the world. From the vantage points of drones, satellites, and aerial photography, the series explores unique buildings and structures — both natural and man-made, curious creatures and lost ancient civilizations, revealing fascinating insights and never-before-seen footage to the viewers. Mysteries from Above, Season 1 was one of spring 2022’s top 10 primetime series with total viewers, as well as Cottage Life’s core demographic of adults 25-54 and women 25-54. Season 2 is currently airing on Cottage Life. Blue Ant International handles pre-sales and licensing opportunities worldwide.
T+E/HauntTV
Haunted Hospitals, Season 5 (8×60’; HD)
Producer: Sphere Media
World broadcast premiere scheduled for spring 2024 on T+E in Canada during the channel’s nationwide free preview
Scheduled to air on HauntTV in the US, UK and Australia in 2024
Fan-favourite paranormal series Haunted Hospitals is back for a fifth season, recounting the chilling stories of paranormal activity inside hospitals and medical facilities. In each episode, nurses, health care workers and hospital support staff give first-hand accounts of the supernatural encounters. As these personal testimonies unfold, the mysteries behind the troubled souls and hauntings reveal a terrifying reckoning. Season 5 of Haunted Hospitals follows the success from Season 4, which ranked as one of fall 2022’s top 10 primetime series on T+E and outpaced the primetime average with total viewers. Blue Ant International handles pre-sales and licensing opportunities (for Season 5) worldwide.
T+E/Total Crime
A Secret to Die For (10×60’; HD)
Producer: Blue Ant Studios
World broadcast premiere scheduled for fall 2024 on T+E in Canada
Scheduled to rollout on Total Crime in the US at a later date
The series investigates how a person’s secret life can end up costing them their own. A Secret to Die For peels back the layers of the victim’s seemingly happy life to reveal new, dark secrets that family and friends would never have believed. As the missing pieces of the victim’s life come together, new interviewees offer an entirely fresh perspective, concluding with the dramatic revelation of a secret explaining why the victim was killed and identifying the murderer. Blue Ant International handles pre-sales and licensing opportunities worldwide.
Makeful
Intervention Canada, Season 6
Producers: Open Door Co./Insight Productions
Canadian broadcast premiere scheduled for winter 2024 on Makeful in Canada
Blue Ant Media has partnered with A+E Networks to greenlight the sixth season of Intervention Canada, a one-hour documentary series from Open Door Co. and Insight Productions. Based on the critically acclaimed A&E Network series, Intervention, the Canadian format provides an unflinching glimpse at addiction from all sides – including the addict as well as the dreadful toll the addiction takes on their families and friends. Each episode culminates in a dramatic intervention led by a prominent interventionist in which the addicts featured must decide whether or not to accept an offer for a clear path to recovery in one of Canada’s top addiction treatment facilities.
From a media release:
It’s Game time! As announced on Thursday by CBC as part of its programming slate announcement, CANADA’S ULTIMATE CHALLENGE, the reality competition series that transforms the country into an epic obstacle course, will return for a second season. The national public broadcaster has kicked off a nationwide search for energetic Canadians seeking the adventure of a lifetime. Aspiring competitors who love adventure and testing their limits are encouraged to apply online now at cbc.ca/canadasultimatechallenge for the chance to participate in the upcoming season. Casting will be open until July 23, 2023. Produced by Insight Productions and The Gurin Company, season two will shoot on location across Canada this fall.
The inaugural season of CANADA’S ULTIMATE CHALLENGE saw teams, coached by legendary Canadian athletes, compete in incredible challenges at awe-inspiring locations including: Whistler, BC; Squamish, BC; Hinton, AB; Whitehorse, YT; Kelowna, BC; Sudbury, ON; Thousand Islands, ON; Québec City, QC; and the Confederation Bridge between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. In the end, Team Black won the entire competition and claimed the ultimate prize – a trip to the Olympic Games Paris 2024 to cheer on Team Canada. Audiences can catch up on all the action from the first season on CBC Gem.
CANADA’S ULTIMATE CHALLENGE is a competition reality format that turns the entire country into a giant obstacle course. Superstar coaches guide and mentor teams of everyday Canadians at site-specific challenges in a unique competition structure. Each episode takes place at an iconic Canadian location where teams compete in spectacular Solo, Tandem or Team challenges that test them physically and mentally. Throughout the series, the coaches make strategic decisions and motivate their players to victory.
A CBC original series, CANADA’S ULTIMATE CHALLENGE is executive produced by John Brunton, Erin Brock, Mark Lysakowski, and Jeff Thrasher for Insight Productions (a Boat Rocker company) and Phil Gurin for The Gurin Company.
From a media release:
Super Channel is pleased to announce that season 10 of the beloved Super Channel original series, When Calls the Heart will premiere on Sunday, July 30 at 9 p.m. ET on Super Channel Heart & Home, day and date with its premiere on the Hallmark Channel in the U.S. Episodes will be available on Super Channel On Demand the day following their linear premiere. Hearties across the nation can also look forward to more from Elizabeth Thornton (Erin Krakow) and the residents of Hope Valley as the series has been renewed for season 11 by Hallmark and will also return to Super Channel Heart & Home.
“We know that Canadian Hearties have been anxiously awaiting the return of the series and we are thrilled to be able to confirm the 10th and 11th seasons on Heart & Home,” said Jackie Pardy, Chief Content Officer, Super Channel. “The series continues to be our most actively engaged series on social media and a pillar of our Heart & Home schedule with its uplifting themes and positive storytelling.”
There is no shortage of romance and new adventures in store for the residents of Hope Valley as 12 new episodes are set to roll out for season 10, including the series milestone 100th episode. Fans can look forward to seeing what’s next for Elizabeth and Lucas following their engagement, as well as Rosemary and Lee’s baby news.
Season 11, which begins filming in British Columbia this July, will bring an additional 12 episodes for Hearties to look forward to.
