For a look at where the competition for viewers will play out this season, Playback went to the some of the specialty channels, new and old, and asked them to put their best individual programs forward in three key target markets.

The criteria was wide open; any series, new or returning, Canadian or foreign, acquired, commissioned or co-produced, with the caveat that the chosen ones must reflect the program mandate of the service.

TELETOON and YTV square off in pursuit of the fickle youth demographic. Bravo!, Discovery Channel and History Television tackle the ‘up-market’ audience. Seeking the lucrative 25-54 demographic with entertainment programming in prime time are Bravo!, Showcase, TELETOON and The Comedy Network. Let the proverbial games begin.

– Entertainment: Bravo!

The Seven Streams of the River Ota

Bravo!’s entertainment gambit this season includes The Seven Streams of the River Ota, an hour-long film based on a six-hour-long original play, adapted for tv by Robert Lepage and Francis Leclerc, who is also the film’s director.

Seven Streams, from Montreal’s In Extremis Images, is set against the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima and tells the stories of people rebuilding their lives and the ways the event changed people in many parts of the world. The film was originally set to air in the fall but will now air Aug. 8 to coincide with the anniversary of the atomic bombing.

The project came about through a Cannes meeting of Bravo!’s Paul Gratton and Bruno Jobin, producer of Lepage’s feature film Le Confessionnal. Jobin mentioned that Lepage was pursuing his career both as a theatrical and a film director and was also playing with the idea of a tv adaptation of Seven Streams.

Gratton had seen the play in Toronto and loved it, although given its six-hour duration wondered how it could be translated to tv without blocking out entire days worth of airtime.

Lepage, who was originally pitched as the director, envisioned a one-hour version which would maintain the integrity of the story. Gratton says he and Jobin shook hands on the deal straight away. ‘I wanted in,’ says Gratton.

Gratton says he had unflagging confidence in Lepage’s skill as a director, particularly his gift for ‘bringing cinematic techniques to theater and theatrical conceits to film.’ In the end, Leclerc was signed on as director, with Lepage adapting the material and overseeing production.

In terms of financing finesse, Gratton says some of the biggest constraints come not from the broadcaster’s finite resources but from trying to accommodate the particulars of the other funding sources – ctcpf, Telefilm Canada, the tax credit and the like. ‘A lot of that has to do with timing and panic shopping,’ says Gratton. ‘The timing of funds isn’t necessarily always in line with your own fiscal planning.’

Gratton says in terms of financing, creative planning of programming while still respecting one’s business plan is key. He gives the example of a ‘short bulge’ in the cable fund about a year ago, when suddenly there was a wad of money to be spent immediately and enormous pressure on the broadcaster to back reams of new projects.

‘We had 100 proposals in one month,’ says Gratton. ‘But it would have been foolish to say ‘I don’t have any needs for programming in the next six months’ when the money was sitting there to be spent.

‘We sifted through the material and put out offers on the best stuff but we had to spread out start dates over a significant period of time, otherwise my budget for two years would have been all on the air in one month. We managed to spread out opening windows and payments in a way that accommodated our needs and the incredible demand.’

Bravo! ends up turning down nine out of 10 proposals, which means many good proposals get rejected for any number of reasons, says Gratton, and the risk of a prebuy must be balanced by a serious quality stamp on a project.

‘The demand on prebuy money is so critical I have to concentrate on bull’s eyes only – slam dunks; that means we’ve never seen anything like it, it’s high quality, it’s affordable and the best personnel imaginable are associated with it. So when Robert Lepage comes along with a critically acclaimed play to be adapted in a cinematic fashion for tv, that’s a slam dunk.’

With the high level of risk in a prebuy, Gratton says there are always disappointments in the final product, but there are also pleasant surprises.

When a made-for-Bravo! special on Paul McCartney was released just as the artist released a top-selling cd, the good timing due to a fortuitous but totally unplanned delay in the delivery of the program, made programmers look like geniuses and the risk paid off.

– Entertainment: TELETOON

Pond Life

Teletoon has a lovely score in hand with Pond Life, primo cel animation from the u.k.’s Pond Life Productions and Eva Entertainment.

Pond Life is the grown-up version of a naughty little girl character in a children’s comic book of the same name. Dolly Pond is the wry, befuddled heroine of the ’90s, a Caroline in the City-like protagonist with more of an edge who deals with a single woman’s modern-day angst. Dolly is a woman of extremes, alternating between ‘nervous jelly legs and a bad-tempered devil woman.’ Who isn’t?

She’s lived in the same cul-de-sac since birth and is surrounded by her ‘crap’ family and friends who hold her back. Dolly half wants to escape The Pond, getting into some lovely, hilarious situations as she struggles to change her life.

Created and directed by comic book writer Candy Guard, the cartoon sitcom is aimed at women ‘nine to 90.’ It has 11 permanent characters and was created on a $1.8-million budget.

The series will air Mondays at 9:30 p.m., the only night it hits the schedule in primetime, a pseudo teaser for the masses who may be persuaded to stay up and watch it in its late-night 11:30 p.m. slot running Monday through Saturday.

Pond Life is an example of the kind of program which will set teletoon apart from any other animation offerings, says teletoon’s Kevin Wright. It’s high-quality foreign production with a sense of humor which will access its first Canadian window on the animation station.

– Entertainment: Showcase

Thief Takers

Showcase is fulfilling its commitment to high-quality international drama series with Thief Takers, produced by Carlton in the u.k.

Following a pilot in 1995 that drew more than 10 million viewers on itv, the series premiered in Britain in 1996. It centers on the Metropolitan Police’s Armed Robbery Squad whose elite officers are hand-picked to take on some of the underworld’s uglier mugs.

Fused by blood-pumping car chases, explosions, armed raids and high-tension undercover stakeouts, the core of the series is the cops’ private lives and their relationships. The creative team is helmed by executive producer Ted Childs, creator of The Sweeney, one of Britain’s most successful cop series.

Purchased through Thomas Howe and Associates in Vancouver, the program is what Showcase president Phyllis Yaffe calls ‘very accessible.’ It’s an intelligent cop show that’s emotionally driven, recognizing that ‘it’s not the crime people care about, it’s the criminals.’

The cast is pebbled by strong, lovable characters, some almost twisted, who explore the same kind of how-deep-into-this-world-do-I-go territory NYPD Blue caresses.

Thief Takers is the kind of program journalists enjoy, says Yaffe, and should command some mainstream ink come fall. It will be buttressed by promotions support from Showcase and will air Sunday at 10 p.m. behind Due South.

– Entertainment: The Comedy Network

The Comedy Network Presents

Off the blocks as an unconventional comedy source and showcase for the country’s comics, The Comedy Network is spearheading its programming efforts with an hour-long collection of comedy performances called The Comedy Network Presents. The broadcaster has about 20 hours of comedy pieces performed in theater venues across the country, and the program, produced through Sandra Faire Productions, will be the cornerstone of its Sunday night block.

The performances are all small-screen debuts and Comedy Network exec Ed Robinson says the pieces are uncensored, and although primarily designed to bust guts, also deliver some substance between the funny lines.

For example, the series includes Ron James’ Up and Down Shaky Town about the comic’s efforts to make it in l.a.; Bowser and Blue’s Full Frontal Unity from the bilingual anglophone Montreal-based duo; Indian-Canadian comic Russel Peters’ Show Me the Funny and John Rogers’ Sense and Nonsensibility, which explores the always hilarious topic of relationships.

The show is a primary example of the broadcaster’s programming strategy: ‘We’re trying to be more adventuresome in the shows we produce, commission and acquire,’ says Robinson. ‘We’re not going to be doing middle-of-the-road shows; there won’t be repeats of Who’s the Boss. We want an irreverent attitude and a place where the voice of the comic can be expressed.’

Robinson says shows like Larry Sanders and Kids in the Hall, which are featured in the new channel’s lineup, are exemplars of the off-center attitude desired.

He says the channel will also attempt to move in the direction of a daily comedy show, a huge challenge considering the high volume of material needed and the strength of the writing and producing talent necessary for a solid product. ‘I like the idea of us trying to do a show like that because it can speak to what’s happening in the country,’ says Robinson. ‘I like the idea of the home audience talking back to the tv set.’

– Up-market: Bravo!: Making Theatre

Targeting its up-market audience, Bravo! has chosen a show-and-tell product with a demonstrable quality pedigree.

Making Theatre is the third in a trilogy of documentaries on the making of live artistic events, following Making Ballet and Making Opera.

The broadcaster put its prebuy money and support behind producer Anthony Azzopardi based on the quality of the two previous properties it had purchased in spring 1995. While the first two films were made for another broadcaster, Azzopardi approached Bravo! when he was putting together financing for Making Theatre.

Making Theatre centers on a production of the play Rashomon at the Shaw Festival. The play, which deals with the relativity of truth, is based on stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and later inspired the 1951 Akira Kurosawa Oscar-winning film of the same name.

Azzopardi’s film provides a behind-the-scenes look at the process of creating a theater production, from early discussions of the director’s vision through rehearsals to opening night. The production chronicle also provides a window to the storyline of the play and is targeted at theater aficionados as well as those unfamiliar with the art form.

Bravo!’s Paul Gratton says the property was a natural for the broadcaster, particularly for its Wednesday night theater-themed block.

In the cases of both Making Theatre and The Seven Streams of the River Ota (see opposite page), Gratton says Bravo! prebought based on concepts and scripts and the caliber of the creative people involved. ‘We put up money without any footage being shown,’ he says. ‘But in both of these cases we were dealing with some very credible people.’

Bravo! had originally scheduled the program to run in August but Azzopardi requested a delay in order that it would still be eligible for film festival status, so the show will now air later in the fall. Gratton says the broadcaster is continually trying to shift the timing of things to accommodate filmmakers as well as making programming changes which capitalize on funding opportunities and scheduling opportunities, like moving Seven Streams into the August slot.

Gratton says premiering properties in summer slots makes sense for the specialty: shows garner more press and public attention before the conventional schedules come roaring into living rooms and earn a larger share of the audience that’s watching the tube during summer months.

With prebuys and original projects largely the responsibility of Diane B’ehme, manager of independent production, Gratton says Bravo! has done over 200 hours of prebuys through independents in its three years on the air.

– Up-market: Discovery Channel

@discovery.ca

Exhibit A

Once again Discovery is putting its @discovery.ca science show at the head of its programming class, and this year is also talking up a new series about forensic science called Exhibit A.

The broadcaster achieved success with @discovery, a Monday to Friday science news show that has been a mainstay since the launch of the service. The program presents substantial news pieces about scientific happenings around the world presented with a Canadian point of view. The series originated at Discovery with Trina McQueen, Paul Lewis (the show’s original producer) and outside consultants.

The specialty’s high-profile Website, launched concurrent with the broadcast service, and the link between the two media is being exploited to greater degrees. Viewers of @discovery can now refer to the exn (exn.net, formerly discovery.ca) Website to dig deeper into stories addressed on the air. Broadcast programming, including @discovery, displays an exn-enhanced icon to alert viewers to the further content accessible (free) to Web users.

In terms of the broadcaster’s mandate and programming strategies, the @discovery series is a cornerstone, addressing the channel’s main themes of science and technology, nature and adventure. ‘This is the hub of everything else we do,’ says Discovery manager of communications Steve Rayment.

The station’s m.o. is stamped on the program, which covers its topics in sufficient depth and always with a Canadian eye.

This season’s offerings include a five-day special in week one about human aggression and war which runs with an interactive Web component whereby viewers are invited to create beings in the computer, bestow upon them behavioral patterns, and then turn them loose in a virtual society.

Exhibit A is a weekly half-hour series beginning the week of Sept. 29 produced out of Toronto’s Kensington Communications. Kensington’s Robert Lang had produced an episode of Discovery’s The Body: Inside Stories on Siamese twins joined at the head and is now on board with 13 episodes of the new series.

With the subject of dna evidence and cases like oj and Guy Paul Morin fresh in the minds of just about every sentient being on the globe, Exhibit A will present 39 criminal cases from the files of North America’s leading forensic scientists and look at the science of dna, poison, ballistics, arson and other areas of forensics.

The shows open with a reenactment of the case and present a whodunit mystery spotlighting the techniques used by investigators and scientists. Although the series may have a Fox Network feel, Raymen says the subject matter is dealt with in Discovery fashion with serious fact-finding for the intellectually curious.

– Up-market: History Television

Turning Points

From Toronto-based Barna-Alper Productions, History Television will back Turning Points, a primetime entertainment series based on the earth-moving events of history and the people who precipitated them.

The series uses an account of the historical incident as its basis and travels backward and forward in time to explain the events leading up to and the monumental aftermath of the subject.

It will examine such major historical events as Castro’s victory in Cuba, the U2 spy plane incident and Jimmy Carter’s efforts toward Middle East peace at Camp David in the 1970s, focusing on the stories and the characters for their audience appeal and will retell events through the experiences of those who witnessed them.

With Turning Points amongst those application’s rejected by the equity program of the ctcpf, History has upped its ante on the production slightly and Barna-Alper is making up the shortfall to get the series on air on schedule.

– Youth: YTV

Deepwater Black

With a solid success rate for picking winners, this season ytv is banking on a dramatic sci-fi series to capture the mercurial fancies of its tween audience.

Alongside its mainstay flagship ReBoot, the youth specialty is presenting Deepwater Black, a 30-minute, 13-episode weekly series set in the 21st century which tells of a group of six young space adventurers who are charged with the responsibility of repopulating Earth.

The characters, who are actually clones, are sent aboard the Deepwater spaceship as life on Earth is being shut down by a deadly virus. They are awakened from deep sleep by alien intrusion and their mission to repopulate Earth at a later date is interrupted as they deal with the perils of space travel and the dynamics of working and living together.

The series is based on novels by New Zealand author Ken Catran and the project originated with a New Zealand production company, no longer associated with the show. Deepwater is now a coproduction of ytv and Empire Entertainment, executive produced by Wilf Copeland, Alex Nassar and produced by Jeff Copeland and Barry Pearson.

The idea was brought to ytv’s attention two years ago by Empire, with Copeland and Pearson making the pitch. ytv vp of programming Dale Taylor recognized the show’s potential appeal to youngsters and ytv came on board with a prebuy and development money.

At the development stage, the Sci-Fi Channel (through the USA Network) was also a participant. ytv has also been involved in creatively shaping the show, developing the bible and original scripts, says Suzanne French, the broadcaster’s manager of coproduction.

French says while a large-scale sci-fi show on a modest budget is a difficult proposition, Deepwater maximized every dollar in terms of getting high production value on the screen. She says the shoot was very contained, shot mainly on constructed studio sets, with location shooting kept to a minimum and special effects handled in-house. ‘What they’ve managed to accomplish is astounding,’ says French.

The series is a dream fit for ytv’s tween target with the right look stylistically as well as meaningful content dealing with issues pertinent to the age group, says French, and the show’s premise is different enough to stand it significantly apart from other examples of the genre.

‘It’s a home run for us in terms of a great sci-fi show aimed exactly at our audience. There’s not another show like this; it’s not something we could have just gone out and bought.’

– Youth: TELETOON

Pippi Longstocking

Paddington

In keeping with the revolutionary concept of Cancon at the core of its schedule, teletoon is launching Nelvana’s Pippi Longstocking and Cinar Films’ The Adventures of Paddington Bear this September.

Paddington, dressed in his characteristic duffle coat and oversized hat, will find himself alone at Paddington Station when the series opens. The Brown family will arrive and fall in love with the furry waif, take him home and get more than they bargained for over the 12 subsequent episodes.

As for Pippi, the rambunctious nine-year-old redhead known for her characteristic pigtails and freckles will take on all the independence the target audience wishes it had and overcome obstacles on her own terms in ways made famous in the books by Astrid Lindgren. The first season will run 13 x 30 episodes.

Paddington is sandwiched in the preschool block, airing every weekday in alternating slots with Caillou. Monday, Wednesday and Friday it will close a two-hour Canadian block at 2:30 p.m. after episodes of Raccoons, Kassai & Luk, Robinson Sucr’e and Stop the Smoggies. Tuesdays and Thursdays it will open the 10 a.m. hour, followed by Stop the Smoggies.

Pippi will tap into the family audience at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, airing between Blazing Dragons and Night Hood on the former and between Jim Henson’s Dog City and an as-yet-unconfirmed North American series on Thursday.

With both series playing in different spots over the course of the week, Wright says the goal is more to get people to sample the network in the first few months than to nail them in with appointment television.

‘Our goal is to have as much of each of our core demographics get to sample programs of interest to them, to find that underserved audience that craves animation and build from there.’