It's that time of year again when TV networks on both sides of the border gear up for their annual fall blitz of new programs and re-tooled schedules in hopes of attracting viewers with a new and improved overall product. Unfortunately, here in the Great White North from where I sit, that doesn't appear to be the case. We're still getting a boatload of garbage and it's bothering me so much that now I'm watching most of my favourite series online (for free, naturally). But, at least in September, you get to wipe the slate clean and start over and hope that something good can emerge from the overall mess that's been created. Here's what the Canadian networks are hoping you'll be watching this fall:


PART 1 - THE MAJOR NETWORKS

CBC (http://www.cbc.ca/television/)

The "Mother Corp.", as we Canadians like to call it, will return this fall without too many changes to its lineup, but there are a few items to take note of. One is that one of my favourite series "Battle Of The Blades" won't be back and neither will "Little Mosque On The Prairie" which received a nice, classy sendoff during its finale last spring. What is coming back, and all CBC executives are nervously crossing their fingers for this praying there will not be another NHL lockout as there was in 2005, is "Hockey Night In Canada", which during 2012-13 will be celebrating its 60th season on TV, a North American record for a sports program and a fairly impressive record for any program. Also returning are old mainstays like "The Rick Mercer Report", "Heartland", "The Nature Of Things", "This Hour Has 22 Minutes", and "Dragon's Den", which this season will pull off a rare feat for a TV reality series. Two of its stars will participate in a spinoff series called "The Big Decision", where they will use their skills to turn around struggling Canadian businesses. Other new series to watch for are: "Over The Rainbow", which will attempt to find a starring cast for a new stage production of "The Wizard Of Oz"; a Canadian version of the ex-NBC series "Who Do You Think You Are?"; "Titanic: Blood & Steel", an 8 part miniseries attempting to retell the real story behind the epic disaster; and a new season of "Murdoch Mysteries" which aired last season on CITY-TV. All things considered, I'll be watching hockey!


Fall 2012 Schedule (http://falltvpreview.com/images/schedules/cbc.pdf)

Full Episodes and Videos (http://www.cbc.ca/player/)


CTV (http://www.ctv.ca/)

CTV remains Canada's #1 TV network with a powerful prime-time lineup whose ratings will get a huge boost even before the fall season starts since it has been chosen to be the official Canadian network of the 2012 London Olympics. Once the Games end, the new fall lineup won't look much different and you can understand why when you see the shows that it owns: "American Idol"; "Dancing With The Stars"; "The Amazing Race"; "The X Factor"; "Hot In Cleveland", "Two and a Half Men"; plus "The Big Bang Theory", Canada's most-watched sitcom, and "Once Upon A Time", Canada's most-watched new drama. As if that wasn't enough, CTV also landed the Canadian rights to one of the most buzzed about new series of the fall, Charlie Sheen's "Anger Management". It's enough to make CBC and Global throw up the white flags and surrender but both have decided to move forward in a brave fashion. The only other new series that will be seen on CTV this fall will be "The New Normal", "The Neighbors", and "The Mob Doctor". I don't expect either of them to last very long but, when you're faced with such a heavyweight lineup, I think you can afford a couple of clinkers.


Fall 2012 Schedule (http://falltvpreview.com/images/schedules/CTV.pdf)

Full Episodes and Videos (http://watch.ctv.ca/#clip727223)

Olympics Coverage (http://www.ctvolympics.ca/index.html)

Anger Management (http://www.ctv.ca/AngerManagement.aspx)


CTV Two (http://falltvpreview.com/channel.php?id=120)

CTV's sister station, CTV Two won't have as impressive a lineup as the main network (I doubt that any of the US networks do either) but it won't be lacking for hit series. Returning this fall will be hits like "The X Factor", "The Voice", "The Vampire Diaries", "Saving Hope", and "Mike and Molly". New series will be "Arrow", "Nashville", and "Emily Owens MD".


Global (http://www.globaltv.com/)

Last but not least on today's menu is Global, a network that has always puzzled me. Its main network has always had a strong primetime schedule but their various specialty channels are mainly awful and annoyingly repetitive. (More on that later this week.) Global has taken a big gamble and has added at least 7 new series for the fall and 5 more in mid-season. The September group is headlined by Matthew Perry's latest hope for a comeback "Go On" and also features "Guys With Kids", "Last Resort", "Made In Jersey", "Vegas", "Chicago Fire", and "Elementary", which is where their programming director must have graduated from. On the positive side, they will bring back "Glee", "Bones", "Survivor", "Parenthood", "Hawaii 5-0", "The Simpsons", and "Family Guy", among others.


Fall 2012 Schedule (http://http://www.globaltv.com/fallschedule/default.aspx)

Full Episodes and Videos (http://www.globaltv.com/video/#video)

(Includes TV Classics section featuring episodes of "Good Times", "Facts Of Life", "Barney Miller", "One Day At A Time", "Maude", and others.)



[Tomorrow: Minor networks and regional channels --- CTS hits a new low]

Part 2 - Other Networks and Regional Channels

CITY TV (http://www.citytv.com/toronto)

Canada's fourth largest network, former media powerhouse CITV-TV, will have plenty of new shows to offer this fall in primetime, including 4 new US import sitcoms: "Partners", "Ben and Kate", "The Mindy Project", and "Malibu County". CITY will also serve as the host for "The Bachelor Canada", a Canadian edition of the popular reality series. Its biggest strength lies in the impressive number of returning hit sitcoms which I would rank as 2nd to only CTV. The group includes: "New Girl", "2 Broke Girls", "How I Met Your Mother", "The Middle", "Community", "Suburgatory", "30 Rock", "Parks and Recreation", "Happy Endings", and mega-hit "Modern Family". That's a big haul for a small network!

Fall 2012 Prime Time Schedule (http://falltvpreview.com/channel.php?id=27)

Fall Preview of new series (http://http://www.citytv.com/toronto/static/207637)

Videos from CITY and OMNI shows (http://video.citytv.com/video/home/0/) (OMNI will be previewed next week.)





CTS (http://www.ctstv.com/)

CTS has always been one of my favourite channels because every fall I could count on it to come up with some great classic and recent sitcoms that I can watch from time to time and even a few pleasant surprises which I don't see very often, like last fall when "ALF" returned to Canadian TV after a very long absence. That won't be the case this year. When I saw the new fall lineup for 2012, I was very sad, angry, and extremely disappointed. I would even go so far to say that this might be the worst lineup that they've ever had. After the morning and early afternoon hours are dominated by religious programming, which is the channel's main focus, at 3:30 CTS will debut a new homegrown series called "Pop Corn TV" which will be a children's show patterned on the popular "Just For Laughs" program where a hidden camera will record a series of practical jokes on unsuspecting victims. That would be a good way to describe the rest of the CTS lineup. The rest of the afternoon is devoted to regular CTS mainstays "The Cosby Show", "Full House", and "Fresh Prince", with new entries "Mad About You" and (yuck!) "The Nanny" sandwiched in between. After that, it's another helping of "Pop Corn TV" to start off the dinner hour followed by two more newcomers which they hope will do well for them, "Gilmore Girls" at 7 pm and "The West Wing" at 8. I'm not exactly sure how "The West Wing" will fit into their policy of showing 'family friendly' programming, but I'm sure at least Martin Sheen's family will enjoy it because I will certainly not be watching, not until they bring back the kind of shows they used to have, even during last season, like "Andy Griffith", "Beverly Hillbillies", "Ozzie and Harriet" and more of the same. The present group just doesn't do it for me at all.

CTS Ontario Fall Schedule (http://ctstv.com/pdf/schedule_ont_fall.pdf)

CTS Calgary (http://www.ctstv.com/pdf/schedule_cal_fall.pdf)

CTS Edmonton (http://www.ctstv.com/pdf/schedule_edm_fall.pdf)

Stay tuned. There's more to come.

I'm back with another update. I'm still waiting for a couple of the regional networks to finalize their schedules, and it's taking longer than I thought, so in the meantime, let's forge ahead to look at some of the more popular specialty and digital channels whose main specialty is old and current sitcoms.


PART 3 - SPECIALTY AND DIGITAL CHANNELS

Comedy (http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/)

The Comedy Network, now simply called Comedy, used to place a strong emphasis on stand-up comedy and sketch comedy shows, but in the past couple of years, they've also started to add more sitcoms to their schedule, in the form of syndicated reruns and first run shows. The reruns are highlighted by "The Simpsons", "NewsRadio", "The Big Bang Theory", "Seinfeld", "Corner Gas", and now, first-timer "Community". In first-run mode will be new sitcoms "Men At Work" and "Sullivan & Son". The most notable new addition to the schedule will be a new game show, an all-Canadian version of the classic "Match Game" from the 1970s, which was hosted by Gene Rayburn and featured the late Richard Dawson. I doubt this updated edition will be that great but I'll watch the first few episodes anyway just to check it out.

Comedy - Fall 2012 Schedule (http://www.falltvpreview.com/images/schedules/comedy.pdf)

Full Episodes and Videos (http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/#clip733343)

Match Game 2012 coming to Comedy in Sept. (http://www.channelcanada.com/canadian-channels/specialty-channels/comedy-network/holy-blank-canadas-the-comedy-network-orders-english-language-revival-of-classic-game-show-match-game)


TVTropolis (http://www.tvtropolis.com/)

The most horribly named specialty channel in North America will once again try hard to live up to its name this fall. You can tell by looking at its schedule how poorly planned and poorly conceived it really is. Unfortunately many of the specialty channels that are owned by the Shaw Media group, including DejaView which we'll see next, have this same problem. Their lineup consists of bad reality shows, forgettable Canadian products, and a few familiar sitcoms where you'll need a GPS to figure out when they're on. These would be the following: "Friends", "Married With Children", "3rd Rock From The Sun", "King Of Queens", "That 70s Show", and "My Wife and Kids". They're not hard to find since they're literally scattered all over the schedule along with "Law and Order". There's not much else to recommend.

TVTropolis Fall 2012 Schedule (http://shawmedia.ca/advertising/broadcast/television/specialty/tvtropolis/schedule.asp?schedule=1747)


DejaView (http://www.dejaviewtv.ca/)

DejaView is another Shaw Media owned channel which is a little more organized than TVTropolis. It does have better sitcoms overall but it still suffers from a serious lack of imagination and originality, which is evident in the schedule. The sitcoms that will be shown this fall, many of which will be on as often as three times a day, even on weekends, will be: "Three's Company", "Married With Children", "All In The Family", "MASH", and (sadly) "Charles In Charge". On weekends only, you can watch "Who's The Boss?" and "Roseanne". Both TvTropolis and DejaView will get a head start on the fall by debuting their new lineups on August 27, not that it will help much.

DejaView Fall 2012 Schedule (http://shawmedia.ca/advertising/broadcast/television/specialty/dejaview/schedule.asp)


TELETOON RETRO (http://www.teletoon.com/teletoon3/retro.php?language=en)

Lastly today is one of my favourite channels which lately hasn't appealed to me as much as it used to because, like all Canadian "retro" channels, it has begun to focus more on programs from the 80s and 90s which for me have little nostalgic value. A quick look at the Teletoon Retro fall schedule will confirm that, since it is filled with junk like "He-Man", "She-Ra", "Inspector Gadget", "Transformers", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", and "Care Bears". New this fall will be more of the same with Howie Mandel in "Bobby's World", and "My Little Pony" replacing the horrid "My Pet Monster" in October. The one true retro addition to the group is nothing special, but it might appeal to those Canadians who sat through endless reruns of it into the late 70s and early 80s, particularly on Global. That would be "The Mighty Hercules", the cartoon adventures of the legendary Greek god Hercules and his cute, charming but extremely annoying pal Newton ("That's me! That's me!"). Fortunately, for real retro fans like myself, there will still be more of Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo, and The Flintstones to keep us coming back and hoping for better days ahead. Some more Hanna-Barbera and Classic Media stuff would be nice for starters.



Teletoon Retro Fall 2012 Schedule --- Effective Mon. Sept. 3, 2012 (http://www.teletoonmedia.com/en/images/pdf/teletoon_retro_schedule_en.pdf)

Full Episodes and Videos (http://www.teletoon.com/teletoon3/retro.php?language=En&func=php|templates/video.php|0&xVar=0)

The Mighty Hercules (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwwIhEgT-28&feature=relmfu)

Later this week --- The late entries

When the digital and specialty channels first appeared back in 2001, channels like TVLand Canada, DejaView, Lonestar, Mystery, Scream, etc. had schedules loaded with classic TV. Lonestar was so popular that a similar channel called Stampede came close to being launched. Now some of those channels are gone and the remaining ones have dropped the classics. I don't find the new schedules nearly as attractive as they used to be.

Not impressed with TVtropolis, Dejaview, but Teletoon Retro is okayyyy but they got rid of stuff like Top Cat, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Huckleberry Hound, etc.

When will we know Comedy Gold's schedule?

DS + JMas,

You are both right! I'm not impressed with the schedules either. That includes Comedy Gold whose fall schedule just happened to come out today, so I'll focus on that first before I look at the bigger picture.


Comedy Gold (http://www.comedygold.ca/)

Believe it or not, Comedy Gold might have the best overall schedule of all the "classic TV/retro" channels. It has a greater variety of shows and many of them are still worth watching today. The problem is that they still could have done a lot more. Bringing "I Love Lucy" back last month was a great first step but they shouldn't have stopped there. Adding stuff like "Andy Griffith" and more shows like it would have made for a great improvement but instead Comedy Gold decided to leave their lineup almost exactly the way it is now which is the worst thing they could have done. The only change it made was to dump "Designing Women" and replace it with the new "Match Game" game show which I talked about yesterday in the Comedy section. All in all, nothing to get excited about, as usual.


Fall 2012 Schedule (http://adsales.bellmedia.ca/Network/Comedy-Gold/Schedule)


So that's the way things look now and they don't look very promising at the moment. Things could change at any time and I'll let you know about it if it does, but then I started to think about how things used to be and I realize that not so long ago we were blessed with a variety of choices on many different channels and I didn't want to miss any of it. Right now, for those of us who like the older shows, you can pretty much count them on one hand. Officially, as of Sept. 3, it breaks down this way:


1950s sitcoms: I Love Lucy (Comedy Gold) That's it!!!

1960s sitcoms: Batman (Teletoon Retro) That's it!!!

1970s: (8 in total)

Comedy Gold - Mary Tyler Moore, Rhoda, One Day At A Time, Bob Newhart, Soap

DejaView - Three's Company, All In The Family, MASH

1980s: (also 8 in total)

Comedy Gold - Who's The Boss?, Full House, Night Court, Murphy Brown, Newhart

Other channels - Cosby Show, Roseanne, Golden Girls


Now do you see why I keep insisting that we should have Antenna TV and ME-TV in Canada? Or, at the very least, a Canadian equivalent of both of them.

If you're feeling a little brave and nostalgic, check out these links and they'll give you an idea of what these channels used to offer and what I'd like to see in the future. Then we'll all get to find out if history really can repeat itself. I can only hope and pray.

PRIME Fall 2002 (http://web.archive.org/web/20030117213034/http://www.channelcanada.com/tvzone/fall2002/Prime.html)

DejaView Fall 2002 (http://web.archive.org/web/20030512090105/http://www.channelcanada.com/tvzone/fall2002/DejaView.html)

TV Land Canada Fall 2003 (http://web.archive.org/web/20030820214718/http://www.channelcanada.com/tvzone/fall2003/TVLand.html)


Where To Find Classic Sitcoms --- December 2002 (http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showpost.php?p=462463&postcount=1)

Wow, Comedy Gold got worse. Newhart isn't even on during the week anymore. There's no hope for these channels.

I couldn't open those links to the 2002 schedules, could you please re-link perhaps?

But no doubt, we had a lot of good sitcoms on the Canadian networks then.

I remember TV Land Canada had Family Ties, Happy Days, Brady Bunch, Andy Griffith, aside from that not sure.

Dejaview had Gilligan's Island, Taxi I think (or maybe that was on PRIME?).

Comedy had WKRP in Cincinnati.

Family had Boy Meets World and ALF.

What's also underrated is that now we don't have the national TBS or WGN anymore. That used to be amazing, I remember Family Matters, Fresh Prince, and other shows like that were always on (those were great schedules from TBS and WGN back then).

Dejaview also used to have Wonder Years. That needs to come back!

Wow, Comedy Gold got worse. Newhart isn't even on during the week anymore. There's no hope for these channels.

I couldn't open those links to the 2002 schedules, could you please re-link perhaps?

But no doubt, we had a lot of good sitcoms on the Canadian networks then.

I remember TV Land Canada had Family Ties, Happy Days, Brady Bunch, Andy Griffith, aside from that not sure.

Dejaview had Gilligan's Island, Taxi I think (or maybe that was on PRIME?).

Comedy had WKRP in Cincinnati.

Family had Boy Meets World and ALF.

What's also underrated is that now we don't have the national TBS or WGN anymore. That used to be amazing, I remember Family Matters, Fresh Prince, and other shows like that were always on (those were great schedules from TBS and WGN back then).

Dejaview also used to have Wonder Years. That needs to come back!


I used the Internet Archive to make those links but it doesn't always work so I'll try a different method. You were very close with some of your listings. You must have a good memory. As for me, I like to use a little memory tool called 'cut and paste'. It works like this:




PRIME --- Fall 2002

Weekdays

12pm Who's The Boss
12:30 Who's The Boss
1pm All in the Family
1:30 All in the Family
2pm Roseanne
2:30 Roseanne
3pm Golden Girls
3:30 Petticoat Junction
4pm M*A*S*H
4:30 M*A*S*H
5pm Who's The Boss
5:30 Who's The Boss

8pm Golden Girls
8:30 Golden Girls
9pm All in the Family
9:30 Roseanne
10pm M*A*S*H
10:30 M*A*S*H

Saturdays

12pm Beverly Hillbillies
12:30 Beverly Hillbillies
1pm Petticoat Juntion
1:30 Petticoat Juntion
2pm Hogan's Heroes
2:30 Hogan's Heroes
3pm McHale's Navy
3:30 McHale's Navy
4pm Taxi
4:30 Taxi
5pm Beverly Hillbillies
5:30 Beverly Hillbillies

Sundays

12pm Who's The Boss
12:30 Who's The Boss
1pm All in the Family
1:30 All in the Family
2pm Golden Girls
2:30 Golden Girls
3pm Cheers
3:30 Cheers
4pm All in the Family
4:30 All in the Family
5pm Roseanne
5:30 Roseanne
9pm Golden Girls
9:30 Golden Girls
10pm Who's The Boss
10:30 Who's The Boss
11pm All in the Family
11:30 All in the Family


DEJA VIEW FALL 2002


6am Bewitched
8am Hogan's Heroes
8:30 Three's Company
9am Bewitched
9:30 I Dream of Jeannie
10am The A-Team
11am Adam 12
11:30 Taxi
12pm Gilligan's Island
12:30 Dragnet
1pm The Saint (With Roger Moore)

2pm Bewitched
4pm Hogan's Heroes
4:30 Three's Company
5pm Bewitched
5:30 I Dream of Jeannie
6pm The A-Team
7pm Adam 12
7:30 Taxi
8pm Gilligan's Island
8:30 Dragnet
9pm The Saint

10pm Bewitched

Weekends

7:30 Bewitched
8am Three's Company
8:30 Three's Company
9am McHale's Navy
9:30 Hogan's Heroes
10am Petticoat Junction
10:30 Taxi
11am Barney Miller
11:30 Dragnet
12pm The A-Team

3:30 Bewitched
4pm Three's Company
4:30 Three's Company
5pm McHale's Navy
5:30 Hogan's Heroes
6pm Petticoat Junction
6:30 Taxi
7pm Barney Miller
7:30 Dragnet
8pm The A-Team
9pm The Saint

11:30 Bewitched



TV Land Canada Fall 2003


6am FOREST RANGERS
6:30 KING OF KENSINGTON
7am CHECK IT OUT
7:30 FOREST RANGERS
8am KING OF KENSINGTON
8:30 BEACHCOMBERS
9am MARY TYLER MOORE
9:30 ANDY GRIFFITH
10am BURKE'S LAW
11am I LOVE LUCY
11:30 PHIL SILVERS / THE MILLIONAIRE
12pm THE ODD COUPLE / MY THREE SONS
12:30 CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU?
1pm MACGYVER
2pm RHODA
2:30 FAMILY TIES
3pm BRADY BUNCH
3:30 GOMER PYLE / ADDAMS FAMILY
4pm HAPPY DAYS
4:30 SANFORD & SON
5pm LAVERNE & SHIRLEY / GET SMART
5:30 MARY TYLER MOORE
6pm KING OF KENSINGTON
6:30 CHECK IT OUT
7pm BEACHCOMBERS
7:30 ANDY GRIFFITH
8pm BRADY BUNCH
8:30 HAPPY DAYS
9pm FAMILY TIES
9:30 THE ODD COUPLE / MY THREE SONS
10pm GOMER PYLE / ADDAMS FAMILY
10:30 LAVERNE & SHIRLEY / GET SMART
11pm I LOVE LUCY
11:30 FOREST RANGERS

Weekends

6am FOREST RANGERS
6:30 KING OF KENSINGTON
7am CHECK IT OUT
7:30 FOREST RANGERS
8am KING OF KENSINGTON
8:30 BEACHCOMBERS
9am LAVERNE & SHIRLEY
9:30 RHODA
10am MARY TYLER MOORE
10:30 I LOVE LUCY
11am HAPPY DAYS
11:30 ANDY GRIFFITH
12pm BURKE'S LAW
1pm SANFORD & SON
1:30 MARY TYLER MOORE
2pm FAMILY TIES
2:30 GOMER PYLE / ADDAMS FAMILY
3pm MACGYVER
4pm PHIL SILVERS / THE MILLIONAIRE
4:30 BRADY BUNCH
5pm RHODA
5:30 FAMILY TIES
6pm KING OF KENSINGTON
6:30 CHECK IT OUT
7pm BEACHCOMBERS
7:30 ODD COUPLE / MY THREE SONS
8pm GOMER PYLE / ADDAMS FAMILY
8:30 CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU?
9pm MACGYVER
10pm PHIL SILVERS / THE MILLIONAIRE
10:30 SANFORD & SON /KING OF KENSINGTON
11pm RHODA /CHECK IT OUT
11:30 FOREST RANGERS


I didn't include CTS in that group because I couldn't find a good link for it so, in order to accurately look back at its first few years (roughly from 1999-2003), I went to Wikipedia and looked up the CTS page where I found these sitcoms listed under 'Former Programming' :

Amen (1998-1999, 2008-2009)
Eight Is Enough (2002-2003)
Family Affair (2001-2002)
Family Ties (2000-2002, 2007-2009, 2010-2011)
Growing Pains (2000-2002)
Happy Days (1998-2009, 2010-2011)
Leave It to Beaver (2001-2002)
My Three Sons (1999-2000)
The Andy Griffith Show (2000-2002, 2011-)
The Brady Bunch (2000-2001, 2010-2011)
The Cosby Show (1999-2000, 2010-2012)
The Courtship of Eddie's Father (2000-2001)
The Flying Nun (2001-2003)
The Hogan Family (2000-2002, 2008-2009, 2010-2011)
The Lucy Show (2001-2002)
The Wonder Years (2002-2003, 2005, 2010-2011)
Webster (2002-2003)

And finally...a link that works!

Where To Find Classic Sitcoms --- December 2002 (http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showpost.php?p=462463&postcount=1)

Wow! Imagine having great lineups like these and only using them for a year or two, which is what happened here. This is what Canadian TV channels were giving us exactly 10 years ago and look at them now. I rest my case!

Thanks, Sal!

Yeah, I did remember a bunch of those and I guess my confusion over Taxi made sense since it was on both PRIME and Dejaview. I really remember these schedules now that you've copy/pasted them.

By the way, Vision TV randomly had sitcoms too. I remember in 2000 the Cosby Show would air at 530 and maybe in 2002 Family Ties aired at 530 as well.

Man!!

what a disappointment the Canadian Networks have become.

For me, the only good thing is that One Day At A TIme stayed in the Comedy Gold rotation .... other than that, zippo!


Thanks for your efforts Sal!