Acrobats, sassy hoteliers, plastic surgeons and morticians jockeyed for position with Mafia bosses and killer puppets, as the first of Canada’s major broadcasters announced their fall programming lineups for the ’03/04 season.

In recent weeks, CTV, Alliance Atlantis Communications, CBC and CHUM all revealed their schedules and programming strategies for the coming year. Lineups for CanWest Global, Corus Entertainment and Craig Media were not available before press time.

When CTV showed its cards on June 2, the network was holding eight new series: American Juniors, Whoopi, Cold Case, Nip/Tuck and Joan of Arcadia from the U.S., and Keys Cut Here, Comedy Inc. and Corner Gas from Canada.

‘These latest additions – compelling dramas, celebrity-driven comedy and sure-fire reality – are designed to fortify our top-ranked schedule… and make every night a winner,’ said network president of programming Susanne Boyce.

CTV wowed the packed audience at Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre with an hour-long presentation – touting the net’s ratings and recent gains in key demographics, most notably the ‘elusive’ 18- to 34 year-olds. Things wrapped up with three musical numbers, the last of which saw all 100-plus finalists from Canadian Idol singing on stage with American Idol stars Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken.

Whoopi, a new sitcom with Whoopi Goldberg as a New York hotel owner, will air Mondays at 8:30 p.m., following the second season of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, while the one-hour family drama Joan of Arcadia, with Joe Mantegna and Mary Steenburgen, will try to prove itself Fridays at 8 p.m. Cold Case – another forensic science drama from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and a dead ringer for Cold Squad – debuts Sundays at 8 p.m., followed by a 10 p.m. slot which is shared by the drama Nip/Tuck and returning runs of The Sopranos, Cold Squad and The Eleventh Hour. American Idol airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m.

CTV senior VP Bill Mustos admits Cold Squad and Cold Case look very similar. ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,’ he says with a shrug. ‘Besides, it was going to go to someone – it might as well be us.’ This way, he adds, the net can cross-promote both shows and build a franchise.

Comedy Inc., a half-hour of sketch acts with comic Roman Danylo, runs Saturdays at 9:30 p.m., leading into back-to-back eps of The Osbournes. CTV has not yet scheduled Keys Cut Here, the 13 x 30 drama anthology from B.C.’s Water Street Pictures, or the Brent Butt laugher Corner Gas (see story, p.45).

On the specialty and digi channels, CTV’s The Comedy Network picked up a new run of the cult Britcom Absolutely Fabulous along with Just for Laughs: The Lost Tapes. Animal Planet has the new 10-part Canuck series In the Wild and Report on Business Television will soon reveal a CGI reporter, set to cover the digital technology.

More HBO on Showcase

Meanwhile, Alliance Atlantis Communications has snapped up the first season of Six Feet Under and Mind of the Married Man, and will air both HBO series on Showcase, along with returning runs of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Oz. The highly praised Six Feet Under, about a family-run mortuary and also seen on Astral Media’s The Movie Network, will get a jump on the fall competition Aug. 24, taking over the Sunday 10 p.m. timeslot.

AAC has not announced times for its other shows, but confirmed that Showcase will air the six one-hours of Slings and Arrows, from Rhombus Media, TMN and Movie Central. The specialty will also debut the Canuck series Sexual Anthropology, from Cirrus Productions, and Barna-Alper’s Show Me Yours, eight eps about a flirtatious affair between two sexologists. Paradise Falls is also back for a second season, along with seasons three and four, respectively, of Bliss and Trailer Park Boys.

Five easy pieces

CBC’s newest shows will not debut en masse this fall but, in a move announced May 29 at the net’s ’03/04 preview, will roll out gradually over the course of the programming year.

The fall season has become too crowded, programming head Slawko Klymkiw told the crowd, and the pubcaster can’t compete. CBC has instead broken the year into five mini-seasons, each matched to a particular genre. Event shows will dominate the traditional fall season, to be followed by comedy and drama in the weeks after the Grey Cup, then holiday programming, comedy and new series and specials in the new year, followed by the NHL playoffs.

It is the net’s biggest break from traditional scheduling, and is seen by many as a side effect from the spring’s CTF shortfall. Many series slated for later in ’03/04 – This Hour Has 22 Minutes, for one – still don’t have all their funding. But Klymkiw downplays the money factor, arguing he has a better chance of hooking viewers on event shows in the channel-surfing fall, and on series in the winter, when viewing patterns settle down.

The lineup offered few other surprises. Rick Mercer has a new half-hour series spoofing news and current events, and the acrobats of Cirque du Soleil will appear in an hour-long variety series. CBC will also air Wonderland, a 13-ep legal drama from producer Bernie Zuckerman, pending funding, and 72 Hours, a 20 x 30 docudrama about forensic science.

Also back are An American in Canada, the fifth estate, Royal Canadian Air Farce, Disclosure and The Newsroom, among others.

-www.ctv.ca

-www.allianceatlantis.com

-www.cbc.ca

-www.chumlimited.com

Sean Davidson