Less sex for Showcase and more fun on HGTV and the Food Network are two goals for Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting and its specialty channel lineup for 2005/06.

Once thought of as a second-window service for Canadian dramas, Showcase has turned heads recently with its own series and, this year, has returned to the same well with comedies Kenny vs. Spenny, It’s Me Gerald and doc series Webdreams.

It’s Me Gerald, a 6×30 dark comedy about a theater director determined to stage a perfect version of Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler, begins Sept. 4 at 9:30pm. According to AAB’s SVP of programming/dramatic programming, John Gill, the series represents the kind of programming he’d like to see Showcase move toward.

‘I’ve hoped Showcase can develop more of [this sort of thing] in the future; boundary-pushing drama that isn’t just about sex, which has tended to be one of the areas we’ve done really well with. We will continue to do that, but the mandate has been to find other boundaries to push, and I think Gerald does that,’ Gill explains.

Kenny vs. Spenny (15×30) will replace Gerald after its initial six-week run. KvS is the former CBC comedy/reality series from Breakthrough Films and Television and L.A.-based Blueprint Entertainment. It’s about two friends constantly trying to outdo each other in a series of competitions, with humiliating results for the loser. It will air Sundays at 9:30pm, beginning Oct. 16, receiving a nice boost from its hit lead-in, Trailer Park Boys.

Webdreams (10×30), a doc series from Montreal’s Galafilm about Internet porn, begins Sept. 2 in the 10pm timeslot, making a good fit for Showcase’s traditionally racy Fridays Without Borders. Showcase will offer new imports The Grid, Weeds and Dead Like Me, as well as new seasons of Rescue Me, The L-Word, and Six Feet Under, all airing on different nights at 10pm. Returning Showcase originals include new seasons of Trailer Park Boys, Moccasin Flats, Naked Josh and Slings & Arrows.

‘There are a couple of other shows we are negotiating with, and we hope to… announce them fairly soon, but it’s a healthy slate,’ says Gill. ‘It speaks to our commitment to Canadian drama and comedy, but also [to] our commitment to being a self-sufficient channel.’

Kirstine Layfield, AAB’s SVP of programming/lifestyle, says one of the big challenges for the upcoming seasons on HGTV and Food Network will be to increase the reach of both channels. An important first step, she says, will be to make the programming seem fun, and not the type of ‘make work’ educational fare some fear. HGTV is combating this image with new Canadian shows including Handyman Superstar Challenge (6×30) – HG’s search for its next home-reno-show host – and U.S. import Craft Corner Death Match.

New Canadian programs that, it is hoped, will add to HGTV’s big fun image include the revamped Designer Guys (26×30) with three new designers, reDesign (13×30) featuring HGTV personality Kenneth Brown, Restaurant Makeover (12×30), where restaurant pros remodel, re-menu and update struggling dining establishments, and Home to Stay (26×30), in which first-time home-buyers get a lesson in cheap chic.

Food Network will feature the new Frantic Films series Kitchen Crimes (13×30), in which the worst of the worst kitchens in Winnipeg will vie for a $5,000 makeover. As well, affable chef Christine Cushing is back with a new show, No Reservations (52×30). Crash My Kitchen (13×30) will stage weekly cooking interventions for families who have lost their will to cook, and The Family Restaurant (6×30) will follow the inner workings of a Greek eatery in Calgary.

‘With lifestyle TV, people look to have their lives reflected,’ says Layfield. ‘The fact that we have a lot of Canadian content isn’t something we consider to be a challenge, but rather an opportunity. We often get a wider audience for some of our lifestyle programs than [broadcasters] do for their dramas.’

She adds, for example, that it’s not uncommon for HGTV’s hit reno-show Holmes on Homes to receive 400,000 viewers. Holmes will be one of many AAB-produced shows returning with new episodes during the new TV season.

Life Network’s Cancon for 05/06 may not be as consistently peppy as the new Food and HG programs, but it appears just as interesting. Life will feature The Mom Show (65×60), a new daytime talk show about parenting; Till Debt Do Us Part (13 x30), in which a financial planner helps cure people of spending habits before they destroy their families; Birth Days (13x 30), which looks at the way-ups and low-downs of parenthood; and Rich Bride/Poor Bride (13×60), featuring two women preparing for their weddings on vastly different budgets.

To generate interest as they gradually roll out during the broadcast season – Mom Show will premiere in early Oct., while X-Weighted won’t see air until April, for example – some new shows will be programmed with proven U.S. content new to Life, such as Extreme Makeover and the returning Nanny 911.

The rollout pace of AAB’s programs is consistent through all of its lifestyle channels, and being a specialty has some programming advantages over traditional broadcasters, says Layfield.

‘When we see conventionals are having a low season, we put on new programming,’ says Layfield. ‘Finding new programming throughout the year is really important for us. We have about a 97% loyalty rate on our channels, so if [viewers] love us, they can also tire of us quickly. We have to inject new programming throughout the year.’

Gill also programs History Television and has promised a lot of fanfare around Remembrance Week this November to mark the 60th anniversary of WWII’s end. History has picked up the 10-part U.S. miniseries Band of Brothers – which aired on Global in 2002 – and will air it Thursday nights beginning on Nov. 3. Also highlighting that week will be the Frantic Films doc series Bomber Boys, running from Nov. 7 to 11, about the grandchildren of Canadian WWII vets, who served in the ‘Lucky H’ air crew, as they try to live out some of their grandfathers’ wartime experiences.

History will air the Canadian-made documentaries Faces of Victory and Midnight Massacre – The Donnelly Murders, as well as Steven Bochco’s FX drama Over There, and military law drama JAG in the upcoming season.