From a CHUM media release:
Highlights from CHUM’s slate of Canadian programming include the highly anticipated police drama The Bridge (working title), the quirky drama Less Than Kind, outerspace saga Grand Star, and Murdoch Mysteries, (based on the hugely-successful Detective Murdoch Mysteries MOWs) starring Yannick Bisson. Also premiering this year is the edgy drama Terminal City starring Maria del Mar and Gil Bellows, along with Blood Ties based on the Tanya Huff novels and Across the River to Motor City, a six-episode mystery series spanning two eras, two countries and two unforgettable characters. These programs are produced in association with CHUM Television.
NEW CANADIAN PROGRAMMING:
BLOOD TIES – Citytv/SPACE
Blood Ties follows the misadventures of Vicki Nelson, a feisty, attractive, 29-year old ex-cop turned private investigator with a degenerative eye disorder, who seems destined to sit on the sidelines until fate intervenes, turning her life upside down. After witnessing a terrifying murder, she finds herself on a collision course with a stranger who is also investigating the murder. He is Henry Fitzroy, a 450-year old vampire who just happens to be the bastard son of King Henry VIII. After solving the murder, Vicki finds her forays into supernatural crime are anything but over. Week after week, Vicki’s relationship with Henry draws her into baffling cases involving a terrifying pantheon of occult adversaries. Forget fraud investigations and cheating spouses – she’s squaring off against ghosts, goblins and ghouls. Vicki and Henry’s unlikely alliance soon progresses beyond a purely professional arrangement, complicating her relationship with her long-suffering ex-partner in policing and love, Detective Mike Celluci and pretty well everything else in her life. Starring Christina Cox as Vicki Nelson, Dylan Neal (Dawson’s Creek) as Mike Celluci and Kyle Schmid (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) as Henry Fitzroy.
TERMINAL CITY – Citytv
This Gemini-nominated 10-part series looks at the modern family through twin lenses of cancer and reality television. The series seeks to uncover the truth about ourselves, emotionally and sexually, as we confront fear with comedy, adulation with loss, and life with death. Stars Maria del Mar, Gil Bellows, Katie Boland, Adam Butcher and Paul Soles who received a 2006 Gemini Award for his role. Produced by Crescent Entertainment. Executive Producers are Harold Tichenor and Jayme Pfahl.
ACROSS THE RIVER TO MOTOR CITY – Citytv
Across the River to Motor City is a mystery series spanning two eras, two countries and two unforgettable characters. As an insurance investigator in 1960s Windsor and Detroit, Ben Ford weathered the storms of those tumultuous years. Four decades later, a long-buried tragedy leads his daughter Kathleen to unravel the secrets and lies at the heart of her troubled relationship with her father – secrets Ben will risk everything to keep. Stars Sasha Roiz, David Fox, Anne Openshaw, Joe Pingue, Howard Jerome, Matthew Deslippe and Raven Dauda. Executive Producers are Robert Wertheimer, Richard Mozer and David Devine and is a joint production by Devine Entertainment Inc. and Jonsworth Productions Inc.
MURDOCH MYSTERIES – Citytv/Bravo!
Murdoch Mysteries builds on the success of the highly-rated Detective Murdoch Mysteries made-for-television movies adapted from Maureen Jennings’ best-selling mystery novels. The series, set in 1895 Toronto, combines compelling Victorian tales of murder with the fast-paced, visually-intriguing styles of today’s leading crime series. Stars Yannick Bisson and Helene Joy. Produced by Shaftesbury Films Inc. Executive Producer is Christina Jennings.
GRAND STAR – SPACE/A-Channel
What if the universe’s grandest star didn’t exist? Towards the end of the 21st century, nuclear waste stored on the moon explodes and the Earth falls into a new Ice Age and the name, the function and the very existence of the Sun has been forgotten. The few hundred people that survived the disaster succeed in preserving the species, but quickly destroy democracy, civilization and liberty. Those with dictatorial control over all the other inhabitants know about the past and that the sun still exists – but they keep it a secret because that fact would bring their downfall. Grand Star is based on the saga by French novelist Georges J. Arnaud and produced in association with CHUM Television.
THE BRIDGE (WORKING TITLE)
This one hour dramatic cop series in the vein of The Wire and Rescue Me, is set in Toronto and exceeds the speed limit while following politics, law and gang enforcement. Set in a fictious police division, The Bridge spans two disparate worlds, one of affluence and one and one of abject poverty, a combination of high stakes theft and murder to muggings in a world where the victim’s rap sheets run longer than the perps. Produced by Barna-Alper Productions (Da Vinci’s Inquest, Blue Murder) 990 Productions and Jonsworth Productions.
LESS THAN KIND
A delayed Bar Mitzvah epiphany reveals to Sheldon that his life sucks. He’s overweight, with a self-destructive driving instructor father, a pyromaniac mother, and a failed egotistical actor brother. The family driving school business is on its way down the toilet AND he lives in Winnipeg. Less than Kind is a dysfunctional family half hour comedy that follows Sheldon as he tries to maneuver through the maze of teenage angst and unrequited love all the while being too awkward and too smart to possibly be related to his family. As Sheldon struggles with his family, and his family struggles to keep the business running, cars crash, hearts break, blood pressure boils, buildings burn down and corned beef is eaten. Less Than Kind is produced by Breakthrough Entertainment and Buffalo Gal Pictures.
