amid rumors about more impending government cuts to tvontario, the Ontario broadcaster has put together a fall lineup that is largely unchanged from last year’s slate, except in the children’s programming department.

Josh Morris, executive producer of children’s and youth programming, reports about a half-dozen programs that are new to tvo including the Nelvana children series Scholastic’s The Magic Schoolbus, which had not previously snagged a Canadian broadcaster. Also on the schedule is Wildside, an Atlantis nature magazine series for which tvo has second window. The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon is back as are Polka Dot Shorts, Pumped! and reruns of Today’s Special (for the first time in three years).

Morris says his department is operating with less money than last year but he is hoping to deliver ‘a stronger block than before.’ New international acquisitions include the popular Aussie series Bananas in Pajamas.

The documentary strands – The View From Here and Human Edge – return, with added airtime for repeats of The View.

Documentary commissioning editor Rudy Buttignol says his department has not felt the brunt of government cuts to date, ‘because Canadian documentaries are a priority for the network.’

Titles lined up for the fall season of The View From Here include The Champagne Safari, Summer in the Cherry Orchard, If Only I Were an Indian and A Brush With Life. 10-7 for Life will launch the series.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the network, a one-hour special will be aired in late September followed by a one-hour phone-in with tvo chairman Peter Hernndorf in the hot seat.

After eight years, programming on Sundays will no longer be switched between the English- and French-language networks. Also, La Chaine francaise has changed its name to tfo.

Imprint, the literary talk show, will not air until January. When it does, it will have a new production team and new hosts, John Cruikshank (managing editor of the Globe and Mail) and writer Marni Jackson.