Six Feet Under is a morbidly fascinating American series about death. But buyers say the HBO series is breathing robust life into Canadian specialty TV.

In fact, at the midway point in the 2003/04 season, the series, which is airing on Showcase, is the top specialty show by average-minute audience against the 18-to-49 demo in Ontario.

Other top-10 champs include Sex and the City on Bravo!, along with various specials and sporting events, such as Home Team NHL Hockey on Sportsnet, the Classic Movie Marathon on Space, and NFL Football and WWE Raw on TSN.

Galumphing along in ninth place is Trailer Park Boys, which is showing signs of hitdom. It recently scored an eight-page cover story in Maclean’s magazine and a pickup by BBC America, which will soon beam the quirky comedy into 50 million American homes during primetime.

As the top performer on the specialty dial (according to Nielsen Media Research figures), Six Feet Under, in particular, seems to have struck a chord with buyers.

‘It was a smart move for Alliance Atlantis to pick up Six Feet Under from HBO and run it on Showcase and I’m not at all surprised that it’s doing so well here,’ says Dennis Dinga, VP/director of broadcast buying at Toronto’s M2 Universal. ‘In fact, some weeks, it’s ranking right up there with conventional programming.’

Adds Kathleen Khoorshed, broadcast buying manager of Toronto’s OMD, ‘Six Feet Under is a huge success story for Showcase and I think our clients [which include automotive, financial and packaged goods] enjoy being in on it.’

New specialty programming to watch for in the months to come includes the eight-episode swan song of Sex and the City, beginning on Feb. 6 on Bravo!. Meanwhile, Showcase is premiering The Mind of the Married Man, new episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and what CEO Phyllis Yaffe terms ‘lots more original drama, including hits from HBO.’

Mid-season additions to Space include the series premieres of Witchblade, Tarzan: The Epic Adventures, Unexplained Mysteries, Mad Mad House, Tripping the Rift and The Collector, as well as new episodes of Dead Man’s Gun and season two of Alienated.

A version of this story appeared in the Jan. 12 issue of Strategy Media.