Toronto station Citytv has another original and innovative television event planned for viewers – this time with a retro twist.

Recalling the early days of live television, City plans to air a live broadcast on Sept. 19 of the feature-length drama production American Whiskey Bar, directed by Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo, Highway 61).

‘I think it goes back to the roots of television because it’s live, but it’s not exactly a roots traditionalist approach – it’s very adult-oriented material,’ says Diane Boehme, manager of independent production at City.

The show will run in a late-night slot at either 10 p.m. or 11 p.m.

With a script adapted by Noel Baker from Michael Turner’s provocative book of the same name, the production will be shot live-to-air using City facilities.

McDonald’s Shadow Shows and Carolynne Bell of Bellwood Stories (recently nominated for a best short drama Gemini for the coproduction Eb and Flo with Creative Atlantic) will produce.

However, the show is not yet fully financed and is still searching for sponsors to complete costs, which if not found will delay the broadcast, says Boehme. ‘We have a slot for it but a lot of this will be contingent upon whether we can raise the money,’ she says.

‘We’re going to do whatever we can to try and get this thing made and get it done. We’re just keeping our fingers crossed that we’re going to be able to make it happen. If it doesn’t happen right away, we’re still supportive of getting it done eventually.’

Casting details for the live show have not been finalized.

– Kevin Spencer to SNL

Ramping up for its second fall launch, The Comedy Network has commissioned another batch of series from Canadian comedy producers, including Ottawa’s Greg Lawrence, who has reportedly sold his Kevin Spencer shorts to nbc’s Saturday Night Live.

Spencer, the animated ‘chain-smoking, alcoholic sociopath,’ was first seen on Comedy’s Canadian Comedy Shorts.

It seems Lawrence has sold a number of the two-minute shorts to snl, while Comedy has commissioned 13 half-hour versions of the adult toon.

Lawrence will also produce 13 half-hours of Butch Patterson: Private Dick – a live-action send-up of film noire detective thrillers – for Comedy.

Thirteen half-hours of Supertown Challenge, a mock game show where actors playing contestants from real Canadian small towns face off against each other, is being produced by S&S Productions’ Dave Smith and actor Patrick McKenna (Traders, The Red Green Show).

Colin Mochire, who has recently vaulted to fame as a performer on abc’s summer replacement series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, plays Supertown Challenge’s smarmy Richard Dawson-esque host.

– PNA preems Greystone

While struggling to overcome recent debt and cash-flow problems, Toronto’s b-movie king, Producers Network Associates, has created a new production arm, Greystone International, and distribution division, Greystone Releasing.

Company president Daniel D’or says Greystone will produce and distribute higher budget, higher margin projects that will be less susceptible to the downturn in the international market that precipitated pna’s recent woes.

‘ `a pictures’ have saturated the market and a lot of b-movie makers have been squeezed out because there’s less demand for that product,’ says D’or. ‘So we’ve been forced to move into more tv.’

Among the new projects – which are all financed through foreign presales and partners – is a helicopter action series pilot starring Michael Wong, who has been labeled the ‘Tom Cruise of Asia.’

Another tv project is Clover Bend, described as ‘Andy of Mayberry for the ’90s.’ Written by James Whittaker, Clover Bend will be produced as an mow/pilot with hopes for a series.

On the feature side, Greystone projects skedded for the fall include The Rustler, a ranch film about a modern-day cattle rustler, and The Cooler, a ‘casino heist love story’ penned by Hugh Evans. Deadly Spawn, a piranhas-in-the-lake thriller, as well as the Coma-esque Critical Condition are also being prepped for shooting this fall.

The most ambitious project is The Scarlet Crown, a Holocaust-era feature penned by Whittaker that has Hollywood veteran Arthur Hiller attached as director. D’or says the film is budgeted at us$6.5 million (ca$9.8 million).

D’or says Greystone Releasing will be a theatrical, video and tv sales distributor that will also be interested in acquiring films from other producers.

‘There are so few avenues now that Alliance has eaten everybody up,’ says D’or. ‘In order to maintain your connection in the industry you’ve got to have some connection to a Canadian distributor. Our only avenue is to become self-sufficient.’

pna’s mob film Men of Means, starring Michael Pare with an appearance by Toronto Maple Leafs’ tough guy Tie Domi, premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival in Montreal last month, with hopes for a North American sale.

– Fight Night in Toronto

Toronto’s Harvest Television International recently completed a one-day shoot of Fight Night, a seven-minute comedy boasting a bevy of local celebs.

Citytv’s Jennifer Peck, Mark Hebscher of Headline Sports, rapper Snow and the legendary Billy Van (Hilarious House of Frightenstein) join coproducer and fellow performer Joseph Clark for the short.

Directed by Harvest’s Paul Styles, Clark says the finished Fight Night will now be pitched to The Comedy Network and similar international channels.