Canadian Fall 2009 TV schedules

[Sal]

Here are the official September 2009 lineups for Canada's major networks, with specialty and digital channels to follow whenever they become available:




CBC

Nothing special as usual. Hockey's back on Saturdays so all is right with the world again. Note that CBC has picked up reruns of "Ghost Whisperer" for the daytime hours. That would be at 4:00 pm for those of you who can't follow the 24 hour clock. (Sucks, doesn't it? That's CBC for you!) Another pleasant surprise for me is the return of "Being Erica" on Tuesdays at 9:00 pm. For a Canadian sitcom, it's not bad and is worth watching if you're only looking to kill a few minutes. It was close to being cancelled last summer but I'm glad it's back for a 2nd season.

CTV

Canada's most popular and most-watched network and you can see why when you see the schedule. Note that there's not one sitcom anywhere in the primetime lineup, which is something to consider for those of you who think the sitcom is dying. Take note of the fact that CTV also has the NFL on Sunday afternoons and Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on late nights. The lineup will also get a huge boost when American Idol returns in January.

Global TV

Another strong lineup from the Global/Canwest family. Highlights include FOX's entire Sunday night cartoon lineup, the return of Survivor, and Brothers and Sisters on Monday nights, in case you missed it the night before on ABC.

CITY TV

Consider CITY and A to be like the CW and MY Network TV of Canadian networks since they don't reach as wide an audience as CTV, CBC, and Global, but CITY does possess one item that the majors don't have and that is the new Jay Leno show which NBC is banking heavily on this season. Other highlights include another option for NFL fans plus new sitcoms "Community", "Accidentally On Purpose", "Cougar Town", and "Modern Family".

A

Call this channel A for awful, since they seem to have ended up with everyone else's leftovers. The one bright spot might be that they will show the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien when he takes over later in the fall. But still I'd rather be watching Leno. New sitcoms to watch---before they're gone---will be "Hank" and "The Middle".

[Sal]

Hello again everyone..

Yesterday, I posted the fall TV lineups for Canada's 5 major networks. Today will be the first in a series looking at the many specialty and digital channels that are available in Canada in basic and digital cable and what they'll be offering for viewers this fall. To save a little time and make things easier for you, for many of the stations, I won't give you the full schedule since some programs tend to get repeated during the day (the Global group is notorious for this) and others aren't that important and aren't worth watching anyway so I just won't bother.

The first channels that I will focus on are the OMNI group. These are a group of stations that are based across Ontario and Western Canada that specialize in multicultural programming in various languages. English-language programming is represented by syndicated shows such as talk shows and current sitcoms like "The Simpsons", "Family Guy" and "Two and a Half Men". Late nights are anchored by David Letterman but it goes downhill from there. Each OMNI schedule is a little bit different but it still contains many of the same shows. Here's how they will look this fall:

(All times local)

OMNI 1 (Ontario)

Weekdays

6:00 - 9:00 am Various multicultural programs
9:00 QUINCY
10:00 MAURY POVICH
11:00 JUDGE JUDY
11:30 JUDGE JOE BROWN
12:00 PM BERNIE MAC
12:30 - 5:00 Various multicultural programs
5:00 KING OF QUEENS
5:30 KING OF QUEENS
6:00 THE OFFICE
6:30 FRIENDS
7:00 TWO AND A HALF MEN
7:30 SIMPSONS
8:00 - 10:00 Various multicultural programs
10:00 SIMPSONS
10:30 KING OF THE HILL
11:00 METROPIA (Canadian soap opera)
11:30 DAVID LETTERMAN
12:30 AM BLIND DATE
1:00 - 6:00 Paid programming

Weekends

Saturdays --- 12:00 and 12:30 AM --- HOME IMPROVEMENT

Sundays

5:00/5:30 pm - HOME IMPROVEMENT
6:00/6:30 - FRIENDS
7:00 to 9:00 - WITHOUT A TRACE

OMNI 2 (Ontario)

Weekdays

5:00 to 11:00 AM Various multicultural programs
11:00 AM THE PRICE IS RIGHT
12:00 PM JUDGE JUDY
12:30 EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND
1:00 THE O.C.
2:00 to 5:30 Various multicultural programs
5:30 NIGHT COURT
6:00 LAW AND ORDER:CI
7:00 FAMILY GUY
7:30 THE OFFICE
8:00 to 10:00 Various multicultural programs
10:00 TWO AND A HALF MEN
10:30 KING OF QUEENS
11:00 COLD CASE
12:00 am BLIND DATE (also seen at 12:00 and 12:30 am on Saturdays)
12:30 to 5:00 am Paid Programming

OMNI British Columbia

Weekdays

5:00 AM 20/20 (Mon, Wed, Thu, Sun)
6:00 to 10:00 AM Various multicultural programs
10:00 THE PRICE IS RIGHT
11:00 JUDGE JOE BROWN
11:30 KING OF THE HILL
12:00 to 2:00 PM Various multicultural programs
2:00 MAURY POVICH
3:00 to 4:00 Various multicultural programs
4:00 LAW AND ORDER: CI (Mon-Thu, Without a Trace airs on Fridays)
5:00 LAW AND ORDER:SVU
6:00 SIMPSONS
6:30 FRIENDS
7:00 TWO AND A HALF MEN
7:30 TWO AND A HALF MEN
8:00 to 11:00 Various multicultural programs
11:00 SIMPSONS
11:30 DAVID LETTERMAN
12:30 to 5:00 AM Paid Programming

Weekends

Saturdays

6:00 to 8:00 pm TWO AND A HALF MEN (4 straight episodes!)
12:00 and 12:30 am HOME IMPROVEMENT

Sundays

6:00 and 6:30 pm TWO AND A HALF MEN
7:00 pm WITHOUT A TRACE
12:00 and 12:30 am HOME IMPROVEMENT

OMNI Alberta

Weekdays

5:00 AM 20/20 (Mon-Thu)
6:00 to 10:00 AM Various multicultural programs
10:00 MAURY POVICH
11:00 THE PRICE IS RIGHT
12:00 PM EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND
12:30 EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND
1:00 to 4:00 Various multicultural programs
4:00 THE O.C.
5:00 OMNI News (Mandarin Chinese edition)
5:30 JUDGE JUDY
6:00 THE SIMPSONS
6:30 THE OFFICE
7:00 TWO AND A HALF MEN
7:30 THE SIMPSONS
8:00 to 10:00 Various multicultural programs
10:00 KING OF THE HILL
10:30 ACCORDING TO JIM
11:00 METROPIA
11:30 Omni News (Mandarin)
12:00 AM COLD CASE
1:00 to 5:00 AM Paid programming

Weekends

Saturdays --- 12:00 and 12:30 am HOME IMPROVEMENT

Sundays

5:00 PM EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND
5:30 FRASIER
6:00 TWO AND A HALF MEN
6:30 TWO AND A HALF MEN
7:00 WITHOUT A TRACE
8:00 WITHOUT A TRACE


Tomorrow: SUN TV

And with that, we are nicely underway heading towards the fall. I promise you these schedules will get better as we go along. For example, wait 'till you see Teletoon Retro! I hope other channels will take the hint but I'm not holding out much hope if the above list is any indication. See you tomorrow...

[Sal]

Today's spotlight schedule:


SUN TV (Toronto and surrounding areas)

SUN TV is one of the few local, independent stations still operating in North America and is owned by the Toronto Sun newspaper but my instincts tell me it won't be around much longer so watch it while you can. Like many stations, it did offer some good shows at one time but that is no longer the case. For example, in the afternoons, they used to have a nice group of classic sitcoms that ran for a couple of hours each day, like "Leave It To Beaver", "Family Affair", "Here's Lucy", and "Chico and The Man", but now the schedule is highlighted by new retro offerings "Caroline In The City" (3:30 pm), "Dear John" (4:00 pm), "Taxi" (4:30 pm) and "Dave's World" (5:00 pm).

Hmmm...I don't know. When the high point of the day is back-to-back Judd Hirsch comedies something is seriously, horribly wrong.

Also of note: Jimmy Kimmel late nights (like that will help!) and the 80s classic "Fame", the TV show, not the movie, on Saturdays at 4 and 5 pm.

Oh well, SUN TV, it was nice knowing you. Next year, SUNTropolis??

Note: New schedule takes effect Aug. 31.



To be continued.....

[TripperFan]

I don't mind Dear John and Taxi being on back to back! I haven't seen Dear John since it was first run so that's actually cool imo.

I also like the idea of seeing Dave's World again. Another one I haven't seen since it's original run.

I don't mind the SUN's lineup one bit since Tropolis has been getting pretty lousy lately (I mean, how many Seinfeld's can one watch in a day?)

[clj2]

Do you get TV Land Canada? That is always interesting to see. They are 100000x better than the US TV Land these days!

[Sal]

To answer both your questions:

1. TV Land Canada has not come out with their fall lineup yet but when they do I will post it right here so keep watching for details. I agree, it should be better than the US TV Land no matter what they decide to put on.

2. About the SUN TV schedule. I like Taxi and I don't mind the other shows that they've added in the afternoon but I think that they could have made a bigger effort to add to them by placing other great shows to air alongside them like they have in past years (like from noon to 4 for example). I'm just glad, very, very glad that Seinfeld wasn't included. How many times can you watch it in one day? Well, for me, once is more than enough. I'll take Taxi instead---even with Tony Danza in it!

[DSfan]

It's nice to see Taxi on again. I don't think it's aired on a Canadian station since 2002 or 2003 when it was on Dejaview.

[BewitchingGirl]

I would love to see some old shows come back. I don't understand why TVTropolis for example, thinks that airing the same 15-20 episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens, That 70s Show etc. is going to attract any viewers. How many times have they shown those same episodes over and over again over the last 10 months?

I'd love to see Bewitched start airing again, or I Love Lucy (Comedy Channel airs the same ten or so episodes over and over again too), or The Golden Girls. Or those hour long dramas from the 70s like Starsky and Hutch or The Rockford Files or The Streets of San Francisco. I don't think TSOSF has ever aired in my viewing area in my lifetime, but I've heard that it's a great show - and Michael Douglas was in it before he became a big movie star.

There doesn't seem to be any real variety out there anymore.

[TripperFan]

Originally Posted by Sal

To answer both your questions:

1. TV Land Canada has not come out with their fall lineup yet but when they do I will post it right here so keep watching for details. I agree, it should be better than the US TV Land no matter what they decide to put on.

2. About the SUN TV schedule. I like Taxi and I don't mind the other shows that they've added in the afternoon but I think that they could have made a bigger effort to add to them by placing other great shows to air alongside them like they have in past years (like from noon to 4 for example). I'm just glad, very, very glad that Seinfeld wasn't included. How many times can you watch it in one day? Well, for me, once is more than enough. I'll take Taxi instead---even with Tony Danza in it!

I'm with ya all the way on that one Sal! I'm into one of those "tired" periods with Seinfeld - that, and Two And A Half Men seem to be on non-stop on Canadian t.v. and what's more irritating is that they don't even air all of TAAHM - I forget which station it is, but they do the same with Everybody Loves Raymond. It was only by accident one night I actually saw two eps I had never seen before on one of the OMNI stations.

And funny you'd mention Tony Danza (you sound like John Derringer and Ryan - they're always cutting him up along with Tim Allen). I used to like the guy when I was younger, but now I TRY to watch Who's The Boss and can't stand him now! At least with Taxi, there are enough other good characters that it makes it watchable.

[Sal]

Originally Posted by BewitchingGirl

I would love to see some old shows come back. I don't understand why TVTropolis for example, thinks that airing the same 15-20 episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens, That 70s Show etc. is going to attract any viewers. How many times have they shown those same episodes over and over again over the last 10 months?

I'd love to see Bewitched start airing again, or I Love Lucy (Comedy Channel airs the same ten or so episodes over and over again too), or The Golden Girls. Or those hour long dramas from the 70s like Starsky and Hutch or The Rockford Files or The Streets of San Francisco. I don't think TSOSF has ever aired in my viewing area in my lifetime, but I've heard that it's a great show - and Michael Douglas was in it before he became a big movie star.

There doesn't seem to be any real variety out there anymore.

I agree with what you're saying but guess what? I just saw the new TVTropolis schedule which came out today and they're about to offer exactly what you've been talking about: more Raymond, more Family Guy, more Seinfeld, etc. etc. But before we all get worked up about it, I do have a little good news to relieve your pain. Ready? Take note:

Three's Company is coming back!!

That's right, John Ritter and the girls will make their way to TVTropolis starting Mon. Aug. 31, returning to specialty cable TV after being a fixture on DejaView for the last few years. It will air weekdays at 5 and 5:30 pm with 'encores' to air later that night. Before that time, the schedule gets a little hard to follow so I'll try to explain it as best and as simply as I can. Weekday mornings from 6 am to 1 pm and certain evening times are filled with various "CanCon" programs which are Canadian made series that are required to fill in air time in specific time slots otherwise you lose your licence. That's the way it is up here. At 1 pm, Dawson's Creek makes its TVTropolis debut and then for the majority of the afternoon the schedule follows a normal pattern. It's in the 4 pm hour where the alarm bells go off and where I have to warn you of something that can be downright upsetting and might make you scream in fits of agony and torture. At 4 pm, a different series will air back to back each day and then it will appear again no fewer than 5 more times before midnight, and that's on top of its regular afternoon time slot. That means you could be watching the same show 9 times between noon and midnight, which makes up a little over one third of the schedule. No wonder the parent company CanWest has been losing a lot of money this past year. They don't know how to properly program their channels. It's just awful! To make things easier, I'll call these series "Spotlight Shows" (my expression, not theirs). Watch for them often as I now attempt, as best as I can, to put all of this insanity into chart form. Here goes:

TVTROPOLIS FALL 2009 --- Starting Monday August 31


Weekdays

6:00 AM to 1:00 PM Various Programs
1:00 PM Dawson's Creek
2:00 Everybody Loves Raymond
2:30 Everybody Loves Raymond
3:00 Seinfeld
3:30 Seinfeld

4:00 and 4:30 "Spotlight" Series:

Monday: Everybody Loves Raymond
Tuesday: That 70s Show
Wednesday: King Of Queens
Thursday: Seinfeld
Friday: Frasier

5:00 Three's Company
5:30 Three's Company

6:00 Various Programs
6:30 Various Programs
7:00 'Spotlights' (see above)
7:30 'Spotlights'
8:00 to 10:00 Various Programs
10:00 Family Guy
10:30 to 12:00 AM 'Spotlights'
12:00AM Family Guy
12:30 Seinfeld
1:00AM Family Guy
1:30AM Married with Children
2:00AM Three's Company
2:30AM Three's Company
3:00AM Seinfeld
3:30AM Seinfeld
4:00AM Married with Children
4:30AM Everybody Loves Raymond
5:00AM Dawson's Creek

Did you get all that? Good, I hope so. The weekends aren't much better, following the same pattern of chaos and unpredicatibilty. It looks like this time, its "Friends" that appears to get the spotlight treatment, despite the fact that it doesn't show up at all during the rest of the week, but comes on a brain-numbing 20 times on Saturdays and Sundays, 10 times each day. I'm not kidding. See for yourself:

Saturdays

6:00 AM to 8:00 AM: Various programs
8:00 to 10:00 Paid programming
10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond
10:30 Everybody Loves Raymond
11:00 Seinfeld
11:30 Seinfeld
12:00 PM King of Queens
12:30 King of Queens
1:00 Family Guy
1:30 Family Guy
2:00 The Cleveland Show (The new Family Guy sequel)
2:30 Frasier
3:00 Friends
3:30 Friends
4:00 That '70s Show
4:30 That '70s Show
5:00 Seinfeld
5:30 Seinfeld
6:00 Friends
6:30 Friends
7:00 Family Guy
7:30 Family Guy
8:00 Friends
8:30 Friends
9:00 Seinfeld
9:30 The Cleveland Show
10:00 Family Guy
10:30 Family Guy
11:00 PM to 12:00 AM Various programs
12:00 AM The Cleveland Show
12:30 Friends
1:00 Friends
1:30 Friends
2:00 Friends
2:30 That '70s Show
3:00 Paid Programming
3:30 That '70s Show
4:00 Seinfeld
4:30 Seinfeld
5:00 King of Queens
5:30 King of Queens


Sundays

6:00 AM to 8:00 AM: Various programs
8:00 to 10:00 Paid programming
10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond
10:30 Everybody Loves Raymond
11:00 Seinfeld
11:30 Seinfeld
12:00 PM King of Queens
12:30 King of Queens
1:00 That '70s Show
1:30 That '70s Show
2:00 Everybody Loves Raymond
2:30 Everybody Loves Raymond
3:00 Friends
3:30 Friends
4:00 That '70s Show
4:30 That '70s Show
5:00 Seinfeld
5:30 Seinfeld
6:00 Friends
6:30 Friends
7:00 Project Runway Canada (Canadian reality show)
8:00 Friends
8:30 Friends
9:00 PM to 12:00 AM Various programs
12:00 AM Seinfeld
12:30 Friends
1:00 Friends
1:30 Friends
2:00 Friends
2:30 That '70s Show
3:00 That '70s Show
3:30 Seinfeld
4:00 Seinfeld
4:30 Everybody Loves Raymond
5:00 King of Queens
5:30 King of Queens

I hope I didn't hit you with too much all at once. It is quite overwhelming once you stop and examine it. For me, I prefer to look at it in a simple fashion. In planning my own viewing schedule, the one series from here that I plan to watch is "Three's Company", which is the one sitcom that doesn't suffer from blatant over-exposure on their lineup. Looks like there's a lesson to be learned here. As I mentioned earlier, the programming department at the Global/Canwest department clearly do not know what they are doing. A little variety would be very nice, but not likely to happen any time soon.

[DSfan]

Yeah, I saw the schedule this morning. They always have very hard to follow schedules. I don't see how Three's Company fits at all. They are airing shows from the mid 90s and 2000s and also airing it weekdays at 5-6 for them is so strange. The oddest acquisition gets arguably one of the biggest timeslots and everday on a normally ridiculous schedule.

I'm assuming Three's Company is no longer on Dejaview. Have you got their schedule? I know they are adding Coach weekdays and Saved by the Bell to weekends but I have yet to see a grid with the full lineup. Anything yet from TV Land Canada?

[Corizzle]

Sorry to kind of take over your thread Sal but I just saw the CTS fall schedule and had to vent.

All sitcoms are gone! With the small exception of Family Matters airing on CTS Alberta only. CTS Ontario has none whatsoever. This will be the first time Happy Days will not air on CTS and everything else (Amen, Laverne & Shirley, Fresh Prince, Family Ties) is gone. The only non-religious shows left on the network are:

3:00 - 3:30 - Family Matters (CTS Alberta Only)
3:30 - 4:30 - Promised Land (new acquisition)
7:00 - 8:00 - Little House on the Prairie
8:00 - 9:00 - Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (new acquisition)

CTS Ontario's schedule

CTS Alberta

As happy as I am to see Promised Land back on the air, I am very saddened by the death of the CTS comedy block.

[Sal]

Originally Posted by Corizzle

Sorry to kind of take over your thread Sal but I just saw the CTS fall schedule and had to vent.

All sitcoms are gone! With the small exception of Family Matters airing on CTS Alberta only. CTS Ontario has none whatsoever. This will be the first time Happy Days will not air on CTS and everything else (Amen, Laverne & Shirley, Fresh Prince, Family Ties) is gone. The only non-religious shows left on the network are:

3:00 - 3:30 - Family Matters (CTS Alberta Only)
3:30 - 4:30 - Promised Land (new acquisition)
7:00 - 8:00 - Little House on the Prairie
8:00 - 9:00 - Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (new acquisition)

CTS Ontario's schedule

CTS Alberta

As happy as I am to see Promised Land back on the air, I am very saddened by the death of the CTS comedy block.

No problem, you can jump in anytime!

I am also very saddened by this. Out of all the lineups that have been announced so far (with DejaView and TV Land still to come, I would say on Tuesday at the earliest) CTS has disappointed me the most. I was looking forward to see what they would pair up with "Happy Days" this time around. I did not expect this at all. I guess the best thing to do if you want these shows back is to avoid watching CTS all together for at least the rest of 2009 so that way they would be forced to change their lineup instead of sending angry letters and e-mails that you know they won't listen to anyway. This idea would be easier if there were some better alternatives out there in the Canadian cable and digital TV universe. So far, I haven't seen any, but I'll keep trying.

[DSfan]

With regard to Teletoon Retro's Fall schedule, I have found their new acquisitions.

http://corp.teletoon.com/en/wp-conte...etro-fall2.pdf

Does anybody know what their entire lineup looks like though?

[Sal]

Originally Posted by DSfan

With regard to Teletoon Retro's Fall schedule, I have found their new acquisitions.

http://corp.teletoon.com/en/wp-conte...etro-fall2.pdf

Does anybody know what their entire lineup looks like though?

I found this on their website today. It's their schedule for the month of August. If you click on the arrow to the right of where it says "Print Our Schedule" you will see the schedule for September. The new aquisitions you talked about will debut on Monday, Sept. 7. I will have full details, descriptions, and highlights later today. At first glance, it looks great!!


Teletoon Retro Fall 2009 Schedule --- Starting Mon. Sept. 7



Finally, something to look forward to this fall.....