Canadian Upfronts and Fall Schedules Fall 2017

[Sal]

The US networks have had their turn and now the Canadian networks and specialty channels get to present their new fall schedules during their upfronts in the next month. As usual, CBC got things started with their fully homegrown lineup and here are the highlights from their presentation:


CBC


CBC's biggest news will come next February when they will provide full coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics from South Korea. The Olympics is normally a huge ratings grabber for whatever networks happen to cover it but this one comes with some very bad news since the NHL announced earlier this spring that their players will not take part in the hockey events and the Olympic organizers will have to settle for lesser amateur teams to take part instead. The NHL will instead proceed with its full regular schedule which will again include Hockey Night In Canada on CBC Saturday nights.

For the rest of the week, the CBC announced that it will add 6 new drama series and 2 new comedies to the fall schedule. The new comedies are Little Dog about a Canadian boxer struggling in his quest to become a champion, and Crawford about a young man who moves back in with his family while trying to run a business based on his "natural ability to relate to raccoons".
(Yes, you read that right. They can't all be gems, folks!)

CBC will also have many returning series coming back that have remained popular on both sides of the border. These include the following: Dragon's Den (Season 12), Heartland (Season 11), Mr. D (Season 7), Kim's Convenience (Season 2), Schitt's Creek (with Eugene Levy) (Season 4), When Calls The Heart (Season 3), and perennial favourites The Rick Mercer Report and This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

Press Release



Tomorrow: IndieNet channels

[Sal]

This week, the Canadian upfronts get underway as the Canadian networks announce their full fall lineups filled with new original Canadian-made programming and some key strategic aquisitions of old and new US series for their primetime schedule. The first major unveilings will come tomorrow courtsey of Rogers Media, owner of CITY TV, followed by Bell TV (CTV) on Wed. and Corus Ent. (Global) on Thursday. I will have full details on this page whenever they come in.


Last week belonged to a group of small networks called IndieNET which act as sort of mini-superstations in that they serve a small regional viewing area but can be seen via satellite or cable across the country so anyone in Canada can enjoy their programming. For some reason, full official disclosure of the fall schedules has yet to be made public, but for now here's what I can tell you:


YES TV

The former CTS will retain their entire schedule almost virtually intact with only one small change. That is, Family Ties will replace Everyone Loves Raymond at 9:30 pm weeknights. Otherwise, everything is the same:

YES TV Ontario Schedule

YES TV Alberta Schedule

One show I enjoy watching is its late night BUZZR TV selection of classic game shows which can be seen between 1-4 AM. It begins with the original black-and-white episodes (plus commercials) of What's My Line, To Tell The Truth, and I've Got A Secret, followed by back to back colour episodes of 1970s/1980s shows Card Sharks (Mon/Fri), Double Dare (Tue), Beat The Clock (Wed.), and Sale Of The Century (Thurs.). This fall, that group may change somewhat but it's still a good selection.


CHCH

Even more interesting is the fall lineup coming from one of Canada's oldest regional channels, Hamilton's CHCH-TV. In primetime, CHCH has acquired Empire from FOX as well as To Tell The Truth and Fresh Off The Boat from ABC. They have also added reruns of Betty White's Off Their Rockers Tuesdays at 8, probably because they couldn't find anything else, and popular series from US cable stations Sleepy Hollow, The Strain, and House Of Cards. Even better is how they've improved the daytime hours. Once completely filled with news and sports, they have now wisely started going retro. Last fall, CHCH added Cheers at 5 and Happy Days at 5:30. That experiment proved to work well so this year they will expand on it. Both series will not likely be back, so they will be replaced with "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", "The Bob Newhart Show", "Newhart", and "Batman". I think I'll be staying home more this fall!

CHCH Fall 2017 Primetime Schedule

CHCH Fall Preview Video


Coming up: Rogers Cable and friends

[Sal]

CITY-TV/ROGERS MEDIA


Today marked the first of the major media upfronts in Canada. The first network to preview its new fall lineup was CITY TV, owned by Rogers Media, one of Canada's three largest cable companies. Rogers also owns Sportsnet, OMNI 1 and 2, FX and FXX Canada, and Viceland.

This fall, in primetime, CITY will premiere 5 new comedies, 4 new dramas and 3 new original Canadian series. The new comedies are: The Orville, Ghosted, LA To Vegas (produced by Will Ferrell), Speechless (which was not carried by a Canadian network last season), and new Canadian series Fubar. The new dramas are Versailles, The Resident, (both in mid-season), The Blacklist (moving to CITY in the fall), and Canadian original series Bad Blood. Also changing networks in Canada will be the hit reality series Dancing With The Stars.

Returning series will include the following: Family Guy, The Last Man On Earth, The Mick, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Modern Family, The Middle, Life In Pieces, Black-ish and Mom. Mom will also appear in syndicated reruns for the first time with back to back episodes weeknights at 10 and 10:30 pm.

Press Release

Fall Preview

Fall 2017 Primetime Schedule

[Sal]

CTV/CTV 2/Bell Media

Today, the second of Canada's 3 cable TV giants, Bell Media, stepped forward to reveal their fall 2017 schedule, highlighted by CTV, which has remained Canada's #1 network for an incredible 16 straight seasons:

Canada's Top 20 Programs - 2016-17 Season

CTV accounts for more than half of the top 20 most-watched shows in Canada, including "The Big Bang Theory", which is #1 across the board across all demographics and audience sizes, something which seems extremely rare in this multi-channel multimedia TV universe.

So it comes as no surprise that when CTV was looking to defend their title in a big way, one of the first major new acquisitions that was announced was the Big Bang sequel Young Sheldon which will follow The Big Bang Theory on Thursdays at 8:30 once CBS is done with NFL Football. That will also remain in the Bell Media family as Bell announced a partnership with the NFL that will see both Sunday Night and Thursday night games shown on its sister station CTV 2. Sunday afternoon 1 and 4 pm games will also continue to be seen on CTV, CTV2, and TSN.

CTV's other new series will include 2 sitcoms: The Mayor, starring Lea Michele of Glee Saturdays at 8:30 pm, and Me, Myself, and I, Mondays at 7:30 before the US version comes on. 5 new drama series will also join the CTV lineup this fall: "The Gifted", "The Good Doctor", "The Gospel Of Kevin", "Ten Days In The Valley", and "Marvel's Inhumans".

I would expect at least one of the new dramas to be a hit and Young Sheldon should do very well (The preview clip was outstanding! I was simply amazed!) so it looks like CTV's winning streak will continue for at least one more season.

Fall Preview

Fall Schedule

Press Release


Tomorrow: Global/Corus Ent.

[Sal]

GLOBAL TV/Corus Entertainment


Today marks the last of the three major Canadian network upfronts coming from Global TV. Global has had a rather shaky history in recent years going through many ownership changes in the last 6 years. From first being known as Global Canwest they were first bought by the Shaw cable company and became Shaw Media, and in 2016 they were sold to Corus Entertainment, which is known for its specialty channels geared toward kids and teens, like YTV, Disney Channel, Teletoon, and ABC Spark (which I happen to like!). Those and others are now part of the Global family, which includes channels like History, Dtour, Cottage Life TV and DejaView.

As for the main Global network, the new fall schedule will include 4 new comedies (Will & Grace, 9JKL, Great News, and Superior Donuts) and 6 new dramas (S.W.A.T., SEAL Team, Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders, The Brave, Wisdom of the Crowd, and Instinct.) Both Instinct and Superior Donuts (which did not have a Canadian carrier last season) will show up in mid-season. From the sitcoms, I would expect only "Will and Grace" to get half-decent ratings and they're only around for a limited time.

Full details can be found in the links below. So far, none of the 3 networks have released the fall schedules for their specialty channels. When they start coming in, I will post them here on this page.

Press Release

Fall Preview

[Sal]

Fall 2017 Specialty Update

I am back to give you news from Canada's dreaded specialty channels, which I had to find almost at the last minute from my online TV listings due to the fact that finding info about the new schedules is very difficult to track down and it shows in their finished product. What I learned was that our two main alleged retro channels are getting worse, while two other small basic channels are upping their game in a pleasantly surprising manner.

On the negative side, "The Odd Couple" has moved from Comedy Gold to Deja View, but neither channel has anything new to add that might be worth watching. Comedy Gold does have "I Love Lucy" and "Mary Tyler Moore" but they literally have nothing else. Deja View has "All In The Family" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" but also pure crap like "Suburgatory" and "Rules Of Engagement". The Comedy Network did make a few changes, adding "Seinfeld", "Friends", and "Mike and Molly" to go with their meal ticket "The Big Bang Theory", but still nothing special. Each of these shows can be seen at least 4 times a day, which makes things worse. But, unlike recent seasons, there is hope out there. Now for the good news.


I mentioned above that Yes TV has added "Family Ties" to their evening group, but I recently discovered that their daytime lineup has become much improved. Between 1:30 & 3:00 PM weekdays, they will show various classic sitcoms in public domain form, which I realize isn't for everyone but it still beats
the alternatives in the last paragraph. The lineup looks like this:


1:30/2:00 pm Andy Griffith (Tuesdays), Lucy Show (Wednesdays), Ozzie and Harriet (Thursday)

2:30 Beverly Hillbillies (Mon-Fri)

The big addition here is "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" which I will be able to watch from the beginning on television for the very first time. That is something to celebrate even if the pictures do look a little strange on the screen. Overall that is a good afternoon group. The mornings look like they will be in good shape too.

CHCH announced in the spring that they will drop Cheers and Happy Days in the fall and replace them with Batman, Mary Tyler Moore, and both Bob Newhart shows. What they didn't say was that they will come on in the mornings along with another big surprise addition that I did not see coming at all. Batman will debut on September 18 and possibly Mary will as well. Exactly one week earlier on the 11th, you will get this:

10:00 am The Bob Newhart Show
10:30 I Dream of Jeannie
11:00 Newhart

Can you believe it? Jeannie in the mornings, with more great shows to follow later this month. All I can say is "Yes, Master! "

[MA]

Interesting to see what Canadian TV is like.

[KatieAnn]

Sal,

Thanks for all the information.

CHCH and Yes TV have some nice surprises. I'm also glad to see that COMEDY is airing "Fresh Off The Boat."

I expected some changes on Vision TV but it seems like their lineup remains unchanged.

[Sal]

Originally Posted by KatieAnn

Sal,

Thanks for all the information.

CHCH and Yes TV have some nice surprises. I'm also glad to see that COMEDY is airing "Fresh Off The Boat."

I expected some changes on Vision TV but it seems like their lineup remains unchanged.

Not only will Comedy have "Fresh Off The Boat" but also "King of Queens" and for the first time "The Goldbergs" in prime time and reruns. But I still prefer the older stuff on the other channels.


Comedy - Fall 2017

[Dianne3]

About the Odd Couple

Comedy Gold still has the 70's Odd Couple, but only on weekends. I have seen it.

It's another version of the Odd Couple on Deja Vu , but I haven't seen it. I hate Deja Vu now, so I don't go there.

[KatieAnn]

I've just seen an update on CHCH schedule that looks great to me. Starting Monday September 18,

4:00pm - Batman
4:30pm - Bewitched
5:00pm - The Partridge Family
5:30pm - The Mary Tyler Moore Show

I hope it's accurate!

Maybe Sal can confirm.

[Sal]

Originally Posted by KatieAnn

I've just seen an update on CHCH schedule that looks great to me. Starting Monday September 18,

4:00pm - Batman
4:30pm - Bewitched
5:00pm - The Partridge Family
5:30pm - The Mary Tyler Moore Show

I hope it's accurate!

Maybe Sal can confirm.

I was just looking at it right now and you are very correct. Here's the official news:

CHCH Fall Premieres 2017

Don't forget that this is in addition to the morning lineup which looks like this:

10:00 am The Bob Newhart Show
10:30 I Dream of Jeannie
11:00 Newhart

That begins on Monday Sept. 11.


Now if everyone will excuse me, I have to go outside and do some serious celebrating!!

[KatieAnn]

Originally Posted by Sal

I was just looking at it right now and you are very correct. Here's the official news:

CHCH Fall Premieres 2017

Don't forget that this is in addition to the morning lineup which looks like this:

10:00 am The Bob Newhart Show
10:30 I Dream of Jeannie
11:00 Newhart

That begins on Monday Sept. 11.


Now if everyone will excuse me, I have to go outside and do some serious celebrating!!

Yay! Thanks for providing the link. I really thought it might be too good to be true!

[Sal]

A summary of all the changes and new additions that I have talked about in the past week:



Classic Sitcoms (1950s-1980s) on Canadian TV (all times on weekdays except where noted):

DejaView

The Odd Couple 4/4:30 pm; 10/10:30 pm; 3/3:30 am

All In The Family 3:30 pm; 9/9:30 pm; 2/2:30 am


Comedy Gold

The Odd Couple Weekends 11-11:30 am; 5-5:30 pm; 8-8:30 pm

I Love Lucy 10 am-12 pm; 6-8 pm; 10 pm-12 am

Mary Tyler Moore Show 12-2 pm; 8-10 pm; 12-2 am


Yes TV

Andy Griffith Tuesdays 1:30/2:00 pm

Lucy Show Wednesdays 1:30/2:00 pm

Ozzie and Harriet Thursdays 1:30/2:00 pm

Beverly Hillbillies 3:00 pm

Family Ties 9:30 pm


CHCH


Starting Monday Sept. 11

10:00 The Bob Newhart Show
10:30 I Dream Of Jeannie
11:00 Newhart

Starting Monday Sept. 18

4:00 Batman
4:30 Bewitched
5:00 The Partridge Family
5:30 The Mary Tyler Moore Show


You can add more if I have forgotten anything.

[Sal]

2017 Fall TV premiere dates: Where and when to see your favourite shows

The full rundown for premieres on Canadian stations courtesy of the Toronto Sun:

New series are marked with an asterisk.

Bojack Horseman — Sept. 8 (Netflix)

The Orville — Sept. 10, 8 p.m. (Fox, City) *

The Deuce — Sept. 10, 9 p.m. (HBO Canada) *

Fear the Walking Dead — Sept. 10, 9 p.m. (AMC)

Riviera – Sept. 14 (Sundance Now) *

Dancing With the Stars — Sept. 18, 8 p.m. (City)

Jerry Before Seinfeld – Sept. 19 (Netflix) *

Get Shorty — Sept. 20, 9 p.m. (Super Channel) *

Bad Blood – Sept. 21, 8 p.m. (City) *

Gaga: Five Foot Two – Sept. 22 (Netflix) *

Transparent – Sept. 22 (Amazon Prime Video)

Star Trek: Discovery — Sept. 24, 8:30 p.m. (CTV and Space) *

The Voice — Sept. 25, 8 p.m. (CTV)

Kevin Can Wait — Sept. 25, 8 p.m. (Global)

NCIS: New Orleans — Sept. 25, 9 p.m. (Global)

The Brave — Sept. 25, 10 p.m. (Global) *

Murdoch Mysteries — Sept. 25, 8 p.m. (CBC)

Alias Grace — Sept. 25, 9 p.m. (CBC) *

The Big Bang Theory — Sept. 25, 8 p.m. (CTV Two)

Young Sheldon — Sept. 25, 8:30 p.m. (CTV) *

Me, Myself and I — Sept. 25, 9:30 p.m. (CTV) *

The Good Doctor — Sept. 25, 10 p.m. (CTV) *

Scorpion – Sept. 25, 10 p.m. (City)

Lethal Weapon — Sept. 26, 8 p.m. (Fox, City)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine – Sept. 26, 9:30 p.m. (City)

NCIS — Sept. 26, 8 p.m. (Global)

Bull — Sept. 26, 9 p.m. (Global)

Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders — Sept. 26, 10 p.m. (Global) *

Kim’s Convenience — Sept. 26, 9 p.m. (CBC)

Mr. D — Sept. 26, 9:30 p.m. (CBC)

This is Us — Sept. 26, 9 p.m. (CTV)

Survivor, Season 35 — Sept. 27, 8 p.m. (Global)

SEAL Team — Sept. 27, 9 p.m. (Global) *

Chicago PD — Sept. 27, 10 p.m. (Global)

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — Sept. 27, 9 p.m. (CTV)

Designated Survivor — Sept. 27, 10 p.m. (CTV)

Criminal Minds — Sept. 27, 10 p.m. (CTV Two)

The Blacklist — Sept. 27, 8 p.m. (City)

Modern Family — Sept. 27, 9 p.m. (City)

Dragons’ Den — Sept. 28, 8 p.m. (CBC)

Superstore — Sept. 28, 8 p.m. (Global)

The Good Place — Sept. 28, 8:30 p.m. (Global)

Will & Grace — Sept. 28, 9 p.m. (Global) *

Great News — Sept. 28, 9:30 p.m. (Global)

Chicago Fire — Sept. 28, 10 p.m.(Global)

Grey’s Anatomy — Sept. 28, 7 p.m. (CTV)

Gotham — Sept. 28, 9 p.m. (CTV)

How to Get Away With Murder — Sept. 28, 10 p.m. (CTV)

The Exorcist — Sept. 29, 9 p.m. (Fox)

MacGyver — Sept. 29, 8 p.m. (Global)

Hawaii Five-0 — Sept. 29, 9 p.m. (Global)

Marvel’s Inhumans — Sept. 29, 8 p.m. (CTV) *

Blue Bloods — Sept. 29, 10 p.m. (CTV)

Hell’s Kitchen – Sept. 29, 8 p.m. (City)

Saturday Night Live — Sept. 30, 11:30 p.m. (Global)

Curb Your Enthusiasm — Oct. 1, 10 p.m. (HBO Canada)

The Simpsons — Oct. 1, 7:30 p.m. (Global)

Wisdom of the Crowd — Oct. 1, 8 p.m. (Global) *

NCIS: Los Angeles — Oct. 1, 9 p.m. (Global)

Ten Days in the Valley – Oct. 1, 10 p.m. (CTV) *

Ghosted – Oct. 1, 8:30 p.m. (City)*

9KJL — Oct. 2 8:30 p.m. (Global) *

The Gifted — Oct. 2 9 p.m. (CTV) *

Kevin (Probably) Saves the World — Oct. 3, 10 p.m. (CTV) *

black-ish – Oct. 4, 9:30 p.m. (City)

Scandal – Oct. 5, 9 p.m. (ABC)

Spielberg — Oct. 7 (HBO Canada) *

The Mayor – Oct. 7 (CTV) *

Hockey Night in Canada – Oct. 7, 7 p.m. (City)

Madam Secretary — Oct. 8 10 p.m. (Global)

The Flash — Oct. 10 8 p.m. (CTV)

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow — Oct. 10 9 p.m. (CV)

Mindhunter — Oct. 13 (Netflix) *

Lore – Oct. 13 (Amazon Prime Video) *

Arrow — Oct. 18, 9 p.m. (CTV)

The Walking Dead – Oct. 22, 9 p.m. (AMC)

Stranger Things — Oct. 27 (Netflix)

Blindspot — Oct. 27, 8 p.m. (CTV)

The Great Canadian Baking Show — Nov. 1, 8 p.m. (CBC) *

S.W.A.T. — Nov. 2, 10 p.m. (Global) *

Mom – Nov. 2, 9 p.m. (City)

Godless – Nov. 22 (Netflix) *

The Crown — Dec. 8 (Netflix)

A Christmas Story Live – Dec. 17, 7 p.m. (City) *

The Punisher – (Netflix) *