CSAs ’17: Orphan Black, Schitt’s Creek lead TV noms

The clone series topped the list with 14 nominations, while there were also strong showings for Kim's Convenience, 19-2, Vikings and Letterkenny.

Orphan Black netted the most nominations for the 2017 Canadian Screen Awards, picking up 14 nominations ahead of CBC comedies Schitt’s Creek (Not A Real Company Productions) and Kim’s Convenience (Thunderbird), which received 13 and 11 nods, respectively.

The Temple Street-produced clone drama is up for awards including Best Dramatic Series, Best Direction in a Dramatic Series (John Fawcett) and Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role (Tatiana Maslany). In addition, the drama, which is currently in production on its fifth and final season, dominated the Best Writing in a Dramatic Series category, picking up three out of five nominations for its season-three episodes “Transgressive Border Crossing,” “The Collapse of Nature” and “The Stigmata of Progress.”

The nominees were announced Tuesday at a press event held at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

In the best drama category, Orphan Black will compete against Sphere Media Plus’ 19-2 and Take 5 Production’s Vikings, which received nine nominations apiece. Also up for the best drama prize are This Life, also produced by Sphere Media, and Breakthrough Entertainment’s Blood & Water.

For best comedy series, Schitt’s Creek and Kim’s Convenience are nominated alongside CraveTV original Letterkenny (New Metric Media), which received eight nominations, Mr. D (Topsail Productions and Gerard ADHD Entertainment), which took six, and APTN’s Rezolution Pictures-produced comedy Mohawk Girls, which received three.

Also among the most-nominated series were Bell Media’s Frontier (Take The Shot Productions) and The Amazing Race Canada (Insight Productions), with seven nominations each.

Vying for the Best TV Movie or Limited Series category are Murdoch Mysteries – A Merry Murdoch Christmas (Shaftesbury), Odd Squad: The Movie (Sinking Ship), Super Channel’s Slasher (Shaftesbury) and CBC’s Unclaimed (Full Flood Productions). Meanwhile, Baroness Von Sketch Show (Frantic Films), The Beaverton (Pier 21), Canada’s Walk of Fame 2015 (Insight Productions) and This Hour Has 22 Minutes (DHX-Hour Productions) are nominated for the Best Variety or Sketch Comedy Program or Series.

Elsewhere, the nominations for best animation went to Beat Bugs (Thunderbird), The Curse of Clara: A Holiday Tale (Smiley Guy Studios), The Deep (DHX Media & A Stark Production) and Fangbone! (Radical Sheep), while the best kids series nominations went to Backstage (Fresh TV), Degrassi: Next Class (DHX), Make It Pop (DHX), Odd Squad (Sinking Ship) and Wild Kratts (9 Story Media).

In the digital media categories, Ride Along With Nick & Ben, Wynonna Earp Interactive and X-Company: Animated were nominated in the Best Cross-Platform Project – Fiction category, while Bugs on the Menu, Canada’s Smartest Person, CBC News: British Columbia – Finding Refuge, Home to Win Integrated Digital Strategy and My Millennial Life will compete for the Best Cross-Platform Project – Non-Fiction prize.

The nominations for best digital web series or program went to The Amazing Gayl Pile (LaRue Entertainment), Inhuman Condition (Smokebomb), Newborn Moms (Don Ferguson Productions), Petrol (N5 Pictures) and YidLife Crisis (eMerge Enterprises).

Click here for a full list of the nominees.