City‘s new programming lineup for fall is kind of a laughing matter.
That’s one of the main messages Rogers Media president Keith Pelley shared during a small breakfast gathering with journalists in Toronto on Tuesday morning ahead of the broadcaster’s afternoon upfront.
“We want to be known as the place people come to laugh,” said Pelley. With eight new comedies in City’s primetime schedule for the 2013-14 season (including seven new acquired situational series and one City original) joining several returning comedies, he isn’t kidding. Rogers was “very aggressive in Hollywood with comedies,” said Pelley, referencing the recent upfront season in the U.S.
He pointed to City’s success in the genre, and stated that five of the top 10 comedies in Canada are on City. This success marks the large strides the broadcaster has taken in that programming category relatively recently. “Who would’ve thought that, even two or three years ago?” he said.
New comedies starring Robin Williams, Rebel Wilson, Andy Samberg and Anna Faris are included in this fall’s schedule.
The 2013-2014 lineup also includes fresh shows from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, The Big Bang Theory creator Chuck Lorre and Parks and Recreation creator/producers Dan Goor and Michael Schur.
The fall slate includes Faris’ single parent sitcom Mom, MacFarlane’s multi-generational series Dads, Samberg’s cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Wilson’s single-camera Super Fun Night and Williams’ father-daughter series The Crazy Ones, co-starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as his daughter.
Returning fall comedy series include How I Met Your Mother, 2 Broke Girls, Modern Family, New Girl, The Mindy Project, Parks and Recreation, Raising Hope and The Middle.
New mid-season comedies include the Alexis Bledel vehicle Us & Them and the original animated adult comedy Mother Up! featuring the voice of Eva Longoria. They join returning series Mike & Molly, Suburgatory, Community and the homegrown Seed.
The Rogers executives at the Tuesday morning gathering also pointed out that the brand is putting a lot of effort into providing consumers with multiplatform content. Jack Tomik, chief sales officer for Rogers Media, said consumers no longer want content curated on their behalf. Rather, “they want it all and they want it now” on multiple devices.
Rogers Media’s goal is to serve the ads on whichever media platforms consumers move between. Tomik referenced the sales restructuring the company implemented last month. A small handful of sales leads are now dedicated to a selection of agencies and clients (rather than tethered to selling one specific platform). This more integrated approach saves clients time since they interact with a more streamlined sales force that provides more integrated solutions. “It works better for the advertiser,” said Tomik.
But back to the new shows, which include the army-set Enlisted, the baseball-themed Back in the Game and the Canuck romantic comedy Package Deal.
Six new fall dramas include Lucky 7, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and Betrayal. The music series Nashville, meanwhile, moves over to City after airing season one on CTV Two. “I really wanted to buy [that show] last year,” noted Malcolm Dunlop, Rogers Media’s executive vice-president of programming and operations, who praised it for its cinematography and the acting chops of its star Connie Britton.
Overall, City’s 2013-14 fall and mid-season primetime schedule features 16 imports: eight comedies, six dramas and two reality series.
New contest series The Million Second Quiz will include two weeks of live competition broadcast in September, and will also be available for Canadians to interact with on a customized Canadian website and app. Dubbed a “24-hour series,” Pelley calls this type of programming a game changer in the industry. He said it was one of the most strategic acquisitions for the fall, and unique in that it was “one of the first times that the actual linear product wasn’t the driving force behind it—it was the digital platforms.” While he said it’s great that the show will air for an hour in primetime, “it’s all that’s surrounding it that allows people to become not only engrossed in the show, but develop an affinity with our brand of City.”
The network also boasts five new and two returning homegrown series, including fresh reality shows Storage Wars Canada, Meet the Family and The Project: Guatemala.
Scott Moore, Rogers Media’s president of broadcast, described the latter project: “Imagine the cast of Jersey Shore trying to build an orphanage in Guatemala.”
Returning fall dramas include Revolution, Scandal, Revenge and The Carrie Diaries.
