CBC Television today announced its fall 2007 television schedule, featuring new home-grown drama, a riveting historical epic, a strengthened sports offer, great new reality shows, as well as the return of the best shows from last year.
Among the many new shows that Canadian viewers can look forward to: the much-anticipated, sweeping and sexy historical miniseries The Tudors, which documents the life of a young Henry VIII and stars Jonathan Rhys-Myers and Henry Czerny; veteran TV personality Phil Keoghan of The Amazing Race gives Canadians the chance to ditch the excuses, face their fears and seize a life-changing experience in No Opportunity Wasted (NOW); Heartland, a gripping family drama set in the Alberta Rockies; Mordecai Richler’s St. Urbain’s Horseman, the first television miniseries of a Richler book, starring David Julian Hirsh, Elliott Gould and Andrea Martin; Triple Sensation, a nation-wide search for Canada’s next stars – the most promising young performers from 16 to 26 who can act, sing and dance; and a groundbreaking documentary series on the geology of Canada from The Nature of Things – Geologic Journey.
Following last season’s smash success, international sensation Little Mosque on the Prairie returns for a second season and 20 episodes, with the residents of Mercy in a whole new set of hilarious situations. Chris Haddock’s critically acclaimed and gripping drama series Intelligence also returns with stars Ian Tracey and Klea Scott. After a successful 2006 fall-season debut, Dragons’ Den returns with 10 new one-hour episodes, giving aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their ideas to a panel of wealthy business people – the Dragons. A feisty new Dragon, Arlene Dickinson, President and CEO of Calgary-based Venture Communications, joins the panel this season. The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos also returns for a new season of guest interviews, musical performances and news served straight up.
“We’ve built a schedule that delivers something for everyone,” said Kirstine Layfield, executive director of network programming, CBC Television. “From Little Mosque on the Prairie to Test the Nation, from our all-new reality show No Opportunity Wasted to long-standing favourites like Rick Mercer Report, we’re really excited about what’s coming this Fall.”
Also featured in CBC Television’s 2007 season are:
– Test the Nation: Watch Your Language, an interactive show about how
we use – and abuse – the English language, with a unique Canadian
twist. It comes hot on the heels of Test The Nation: National IQ
Test, which garnered 1.5 million viewers last season.
– Torchwood, a new drama that follows the covert investigators of the
Torchwood Institute, a renegade criminal investigation group in Wales
set up to battle hostile extraterrestrial and supernatural threats.
– Incredible new programs from the documentary unit: Who Do You Think
You Are?, a genealogy series in which 13 well-known Canadians (such
as Don Cherry, Shaun Majumder and Chantal Kreviazuk) set out to
discover their family roots; Darfur, hosted by actress and activist
Mia Farrow, who sets out to educate the world about a massive
humanitarian crisis; and several new specials from The Nature of
Things – Climate Change I: Impact and Adaptation and Climate Change
II: Hot Times in the City examining the disturbing reality of global
warming and its effect on our way of life.
– The most trusted and comprehensive news and current affairs on
Canadian television: CBC News: The National, with Peter Mansbridge –
available in high-definition in the Fall; the much-honoured CBC News:
the fifth estate; CBC News: Marketplace and CBC News: Sunday Night
– Side-splitting comedy: The Rick Mercer Report returns; as well as the
Winnipeg Comedy Festival; Just For Laughs; a new Ron James special,
Ron James: Welcome Home; Royal Canadian Air Farce; This Hour Has 22
Minutes; and the 2007 Ha!ifax Comedy Fest
– The finest in children’s programs, including new show Bo on the Go!
and the returning Curious George and The Doodlebops for pre-
schoolers, as well as The Secret World of Og and Magi-Nation for
school-aged children.
– The best in sports, both amateur and professional, with exclusive
coverage of the FIFA U-20 World Cup and the FIFA Women’s World Cup
beginning this summer. Returning to the CBC Sports lineup this season
are the CFL ON CBC, including the 95th Grey Cup from Toronto,
Championship Curling, Championship Show Jumping, CBC Sports Weekend
and, of course, CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.
>>
Stay tuned to falltvpreview.com for the upcoming schedule grid as well as more information about the new shows.
