Simon Cowell’s new singing competition, a Broadway-themed drama produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Debra Messing, a talk show from Anderson Cooper and a ’60s-era flight attendant drama with Christina Ricci are headed to CTV as its new executive team put on its first fall season upfront presentation yesterday.
The top-rated broadcaster says it’s adding 16 new shows to the fall lineups of CTV and CTV Two, previously known as A Channel.
At the network’s 2011 upfront presentation in Toronto yesterday, Bell Media president Kevin Crull said he realized it had been a busy week for the media and advertising professionals in attendance, but added “I promise you, the very best has been saved for last.”
CTV’s fall roster boasts nine new titles, including Cowell’s long-awaited return to TV with X Factor; Ricci’s period drama Pan Am also starring Quebec’s Karine Vanasse (Polytechnique); the Whitney Cummings comedy Whitney; the crime/mystery-themed Unforgettable; a reboot of Charlie’s Angels; the fairy-tale inspired crime drama Grimm; and the fantasy drama Once Upon A Time.
Cooper joins the weekday daytime lineup with his talk show Anderson, as does The Ellen Degeneres Show.
Three new dramas – Messing’s Smash, the gossipy dramedy G.C.B. with Kristen Chenoweth, and Ashley Judd’s Missing – are slated for mid-season.
Returning series on CTV include The Big Bang Theory, Grey’s Anatomy, American Idol, Flashpoint, The Amazing Race, The Mentalist, Dancing With the Stars, and Castle.
CTV Two will feature the results episodes of The X Factor, Lorne Michaels’ new parental comedy Up All Night with Christina Applegate and Will Arnett; the Hank Azaria comedy Free Agents; the comedy Man Up; and the L.A.-set detective series The Protector. Ashton Kutcher also joins the cast of a revamped Two And A Half Men.
CTV series Criminal Minds, CSI: Miami, and Law & Order: SVU also move over to CTV Two.
It was also announced that CTV has secured the digital rights to all of its new scripted programs, as well as a sizable part of its current lineup. The programs will be made available on all four screens for catch-up viewing.
The fresh lineups and viewing options follow a year of industry consolidation and a new management regime that saw CTV taken over by phone giant BCE.
Five of CTV’s top executives left the company under the shakeup, including Ivan Fecan and Susanne Boyce, who had overseen the broadcaster’s programming for more than a decade.
During his opening remarks yesterday, Crull said he had received a “letter of encouragement” from Fecan soon after starting in his post. Crull quoted from Fecan’s letter: “I left you with the number 1 network… don’t f**k it up. P.S. Susanne has asked that you forward this to Phil.”
“Phil” is new CTV president, programming and sports, Phil King. When he took the stage at the upfront presentation, he spoke of how he’s often asked for his technique for building a winning schedule. Using a sports analogy, he said a network’s lineup needs a mix of veteran shows, sophomore players and rookies. It also needs “great bench strength” – shows that are waiting to come out midseason.
In one of the more humorous on-stage moments of yesterday’s Upfront, Rick Brace, president, specialty channels and CTV Production, welcomed Kendra Wilkinson, the star of Kendra, of one of E!’s most popular shows. When Brace asked Wilkinson, one of Hugh Hefner’s ex-girlfriends, what viewers can expect in the fourth season of the reality show, she said it hasn’t started shooting yet, but it will definitely feature more about her being a mom and wife. “And lots more booty shaking,” she said, turning and giving a booty shake to prove her point. “This has been the best upfront I’ve ever been to,” said Brace to big laughs from the crowd.
When Anderson Cooper took the stage later to talk about Anderson, his new daytime show about a mix of social issues and celebrity coverage that will air weekdays at 5 p.m., he said “I’d prepared a talk about the show, but Kendra stole all my lines because if there’s [a way] to describe Anderson, it’s ‘booty shaking.’” He went on to explain that his show is about “meeting people behind the headlines… It will tell stories you wouldn’t normally see on the news.”
A fellow famous news anchor and journalist from this side of the border was also in attendance yesterday. Lloyd Robertson, the longtime host of CTV National News, received a standing ovation as he took the stage. Robertson’s last newscast will be Sept. 1, 2011, with Lisa LaFlamme taking over as anchor.
Addressing other changes moving forward, Crull said he is optimistic about the future of technology, such PVRs (he noted that PVR playback only accounts for 3.7% of all viewing). He also spoke of how multiplatform delivery is creating more fans – and more devoted ones at that.
CTV’s fall-preview presentation was the third of the big four Canadians this week; Citytv announced a lineup Monday that includes Spielberg’s dinosaur drama Terra Nova, while Global detailed its slate Tuesday, including a North American adaptation of the U.K. crime series Prime Suspect.
CBC is set to unveil its shows June 8.
