Shaw Media is aiming to maintain its dominance in the specialty arena with a slew of new unscripted shows unveiled Wednesday at a media event preceding the company’s upfront presentation in Toronto.
Ratings juggernaut Big Brother Canada will be returning, along with Top Chef Canada and new several new reality series, including a Canadian edition of the Chopped cooking franchise and In the Thicke of It, an unscripted series starring Canadian actor and former Growing Pains star Alan Thicke and his wife Tanya Callau – Canada’s answer to Bruce Jenner and Kris Kardashian (who are, not coincidentally, real-life friends of the couple).
In total, the lineup includes more than 600 hours of original Canadian specialty content, 60 new series and more than 90 returning series.
However, the Vancouver version of the American Real Housewives reality franchise, which debuted to big buzz in 2012, will not be returning for a third season. While Barbara Williams, senior vice-president of content at Shaw, called The Real Housewives of Vancouver “a success,” she said it has been put “on hold” while Shaw focuses on other big shows.
At its pre-upfront presentation for media, the company also unveiled a new specialty channel called DTour that is slated for an Aug. 26 launch. The channel, which will be home to more male-skewing content than much of Shaw’s existing specialty portfolio, will air shows like Rock My RV, starring former Poison singer Bret Michaels, and Burger Land, a docu-style series about America’s best hamburgers.
On Shaw’s Global network, home to 11 new dramas and 7 new comedies, the media company is hoping for a breakout hit from The Blacklist, an NBC-produced drama about a reformed fugitive (James Spader) that Williams called the most “coveted” and “buzzed about” show of the 2013-14 season.
The Blacklist is one of several big American dramas on Global’s fall lineup, which also includes Bones, Chicago Fire and NCIS. Williams said Shaw’s strategy for Global is to anchor the schedule with big U.S. shows it can then use to promote its mid-season and Canadian productions.
At mid-season, Global plans to launch two original scripted series: the hospital drama Remedy and Working the Engels, the network’s first comedy since 2007’s Da Kink in My Hair, which lasted two seasons.
Williams said she also has high hopes for The Millers, a family comedy starring Will Arnett, as a potential break-out hit. The Millers, along with Sean Saves the World, a comedy that stars former Will & Grace actor Sean Hayes as a divorced gay father, are part of a comedic shift towards comedies about families rather than groups of friends, according to Williams.
